In message , at 08:05:44 on Wed, 17 Jul
2019, Recliner remarked:

Most people can get through a day on one charge. And if they can't, there
are plenty of places to recharge. And if they're not available, it's easy
to carry a small power bank separately in a bag.

Bingo.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 09:30:00 on Wed, 17 Jul
2019, Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 08:49:30 on Wed, 17 Jul
2019, Anna Noyd-Dryver remarked:

Now you mention it, I did once have a case for a smartphone that had
power bank integrated, which meant having a pass-through connector. But
the battery inside that died very quickly (a matter of months). The fact
they are so rare makes me think there's something systemically wrong
with them.

Is it also perhaps because the backs of phones increasingly have buttons
and camera lenses/flashes and so on - which would tend to get obscured
unless the case had exactly the correct cut-outs in it.

The case has to be designed to fit the size, shape and connectors of the
phone anyway; putting holes in the right place for camera, microphone,
speaker etc isn’t rocket science. Plain cases for every variety of phone
manage it, so do the powered cases.

I just went to Amazon to look, for my LG phone. A choice of 13 products,
every single one "Currently unavailable".

Presumably because your phone is ancient?

It's only three years old, but a design that's five years old. Sadly it
just missed out having a major Android version change installed from
new.

The assumption is that people buy accessories when they first buy a
phone,

Really? They don't stop getting apps for them a week into ownership, so
why would they stop buying accessories.

not when they unearth one in an archaeological dig.

If I'm unearthing old phones, then they'll be from the 90's, not the mid
2010's

Of course, there's a small chance you might be able to find a well-used one
on eBay.

I don't think a booster-back ever existed. eBay as many people selling
the user-replaceable batteries though.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 08:05:44 on Wed, 17 Jul
2019, Recliner remarked:

Most people can get through a day on one charge. And if they can't, there
are plenty of places to recharge. And if they're not available, it's easy
to carry a small power bank separately in a bag.

Bingo.

Did you only read the last sentence?

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:30:00 on Wed, 17 Jul
2019, Recliner remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 08:49:30 on Wed, 17 Jul
2019, Anna Noyd-Dryver remarked:

Now you mention it, I did once have a case for a smartphone that had
power bank integrated, which meant having a pass-through connector. But
the battery inside that died very quickly (a matter of months). The fact
they are so rare makes me think there's something systemically wrong
with them.

Is it also perhaps because the backs of phones increasingly have buttons
and camera lenses/flashes and so on - which would tend to get obscured
unless the case had exactly the correct cut-outs in it.

The case has to be designed to fit the size, shape and connectors of the
phone anyway; putting holes in the right place for camera, microphone,
speaker etc isn’t rocket science. Plain cases for every variety of phone
manage it, so do the powered cases.

I just went to Amazon to look, for my LG phone. A choice of 13 products,
every single one "Currently unavailable".

Presumably because your phone is ancient?

It's only three years old, but a design that's five years old. Sadly it
just missed out having a major Android version change installed from
new.

The assumption is that people buy accessories when they first buy a
phone,

Really? They don't stop getting apps for them a week into ownership, so
why would they stop buying accessories.

Because the phone hardware doesn't change.



not when they unearth one in an archaeological dig.

If I'm unearthing old phones, then they'll be from the 90's, not the mid
2010's

Of course, there's a small chance you might be able to find a well-used one
on eBay.

I don't think a booster-back ever existed. eBay as many people selling
the user-replaceable batteries though.

In message , at 15:30:47 on Wed, 24 Jul
2019, Recliner remarked:
Most people can get through a day on one charge. And if they can't, there
are plenty of places to recharge. And if they're not available, it's easy
to carry a small power bank separately in a bag.

Bingo.

Did you only read the last sentence?

Why; are you doing a u-turn on the last sentence now?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 15:30:47 on Wed, 24 Jul
2019, Recliner remarked:

The assumption is that people buy accessories when they first buy a
phone,

Really? They don't stop getting apps for them a week into ownership, so
why would they stop buying accessories.

Because the phone hardware doesn't change.

But people's needs change, and new opportunities arise. That's why I'm
sure some buy new sexier earbuds, without buying a whole new phone (or
indeed waiting until it's time for them to buy a new phone and get the
together).
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 19:31:53 on Wed, 24 Jul
2019, Clank remarked:
Roland Perry Wrote in message:
In message , at 09:13:10 on Wed, 24 Jul
2019, Clank remarked:
Please can you provide an example of one of these "hybrid" deals then?
Virgin pay-monthly.

Huh? What's hybrid about that? I've just checked their site,
it's a bog standard contract.
Actually, two contracts, one for
the phone and one for the call plan which is - drumroll - a 30
day contract.

In that case they've changed it. The plan used to be disjoint from
hardware and therefore a pay-in-arrears PAYG monthly rolling thing.

The "hook" (compared with a regular PAYG SIM) was that international
roaming was available, and a very attractive set of prices. Of course,
as time went on that price advantage rotted away... (Until EU roaming
kicked in, but that was much later).

I moved to Giff-Gaff, who have a different kind of hybrid deal which
involves an underlying PAYG-in-Advance where the credit rolls over, but
you need to buy special top-up packages (which you can set up to
auto-topup monthly) for loadsa data/calls/txts.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry Wrote in message:
In message , at 09:13:10 on Wed, 24 Jul 2019, Clank remarked:
Please can you provide an example of one of these "hybrid" deals then?
Virgin pay-monthly.

Huh? What's hybrid about that? I've just checked their site,
it's a bog standard contract. Actually, two contracts, one for
the phone and one for the call plan which is - drumroll - a 30
day contract.

It even says it on their own site FFS. "Our flexible Freestyle
contracts have two parts... One contract for your phone (24 or
36 month) + one contract for your minutes, texts and data (30-day
rolling.)"



(I suspect that separating the phone subsidy loan quite so clearly
from the mobile service contract is Virgin being one step in
front of Ofcom making it mandatory to do so at some point - the
inertia-marketing scam of making customers carry on paying for a
handset long after the actual subsidy was paid off is one of the
unattractive features of the UK mobile market.)

--

Roland Perry Wrote in message:
That's why I'm sure some buy new sexier earbuds, without buying a whole new phone (or indeed waiting until it's time for them to buy a new phone and get the together).

It's telling that earphones are now considered a mobile phone
accessory, despite predating the invention of the mobile phone by
decades...

--

On Wed, 24 Jul 2019 08:52:08 +0100,
wrote:

On 24/07/2019 05:20, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:25:58 -0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

wrote:
On 23/07/2019 23:12, Recliner wrote:
wrote:
On 23/07/2019 22:21, Recliner wrote:
wrote:
On 23/07/2019 17:27, Clank wrote:
MissRiaElaine Wrote in message:
calls to German mobiles costs ?20 per month. My mother-in-law now has a
mobile instead of a land line in her OAP home.
So how do you get broadband..? *Reliable and fast* mobile broadband is
still some way off, certainly here in the UK.

That's because the UK has ****ing terrible infrastructure.

I just did a quick speedtest.net test of my mobile broadband:

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/5143807298


Unfortunately the UK population seems more interested in blaming
foreigners and electing clowns than actually doing anything about
said woeful infrastructure, so ¯\_(?)_/¯.


23-07-2019 16:38:46 (GMT) 10.4 Mbps 0.5 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:54:27 (GMT) 8.2 Mbps 0.5 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:52:52 (GMT) 8.0 Mbps 0.6 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:51:23 (GMT) 3.1 Mbps 0.6 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:49:57 (GMT) 9.1 Mbps 0.6 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:41:25 (GMT) 6.1 Mbps 0.6 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:38:20 (GMT) 7.7 Mbps 0.6 Mbps EE
23-07-2019 15:23:15 (GMT) 1.3 Mbps 0.4 Mbps EE

This is my crap broadband this afternoon.


Is that mobile (4G), WiFi or wired data?

Sorry. Wired internet.

The amazing thing is I've managed to persuade EE something is wrong!


Is that ADSL or VDSL (ie, FTTC)? It would be mediocre for the former, but
terrible for the latter.

For a period I was getting similar poor performance from my FTTC line. I
kept complaining, and each time they sent an Openreach technician who
usually got me back up to 50Mbps download/10 upload, but it didn't last.
Finally, I told BT that I'd had enough, and demanded that they release me
from my contract. They reluctantly agreed, and I've changed ISP. I've now
got my final BT bill with the hefty cancellation charge, which I hope they
will cancel as promised.

With my new ISP, I now get completely consistent speeds on a wired
connection (it's more variable on WiFi). You probably don't want to look at
the speeds I get now…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/recliner/48239986081/in/dateposted-friend/lightbox/

If I want faster, it's readily available, with no hardware changes, but the
price goes up. However, I really don't think I have any conceivable need
for more.

It's VDSL. My line is so bad that the maximum realistic speed is 13Mbps
which it has been since it was repaired a few weeks ago. Our evening
storm has just started and the speed has dropped again. Normally this
means the connections in my outside waterproof master socket (which
isn't waterproof) have corroded... again.

Outside ? Do you actually mean the terminal block ? None of the jacks
are made for outdoor use.
BT do have an outdoor waterproof socket available. It can be quite fun
as most engineers have not seen one before.

That's too bad, particularly the upload speeds. You must be a long way from
the cabinet.

Allegedly "They don't install them anymore, and OR engineers bypass
them on FTTC installs because it can cause interference and lower
speeds ......"
https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Fibre...E/td-p/1667903
and
"BT Openreach will discontinue the use of the XNTE when current stocks
are exhausted."
https://www.run-it-direct.co.uk/blog...nte-xnte-6.php
both from 2016

Photographs suggest they aren't as sealed as an external electrical
box would be and that the ID connections don't have any sign of jelly
on them so they look like a potential place for corrosion as seems to
be backed up by mention of engineers bypassing them by crimping the
wires through.