I really loathe cell phones

KCee said:

Maybe see if you can get a Moto X for free? I got mine free from Verizon when I re-upped. Took me a bit to figure things out coming from an iPhone 4, but it's worked pretty well for me.

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We do not have verizon coverage where I live, not Sprint or T-Mobile. Stuck with ATT or Us Cellular coverage, which ATT is the lesser of the 2 evils. We also switched to the Mobile Share plan, where we no longer can get a free phone with a 2 year contract, but have to pay full retail price. We don't have the $ to put internet in at home, which is why we have the data plan we have to have internet at home, along with family that put us on their plan, otherwise my wife would still have a prepaid phone without data again, and I would be phoneless or using a Tracfone without data.

I am grateful to have a smartphone, I just wished that the MyFitnessPal would work on it. I have contacted them many times with no success to get the application working on the Windows Platform. I had other phones, but they would not work reliably, from battery issues, to signal issues, to being hacked and getting viruses. All those phones were bought used except the Android that got a virus last week.

I just thought I would vent my frustrations here. I don't expect anyone to be able to help with my issue (Would be a blessing if someone did however). I just don't have anywhere else to vent, as my wife is tired of hearing of my phone issues, and I don't have many I can talk with about things going on in my life, as they are too busy for their own good.

My wife and I both burned out on smart phones as well. We stepped down to "just a phone" -- in other words an older cell phone with text and internet opted out. But then again, I'm a cranky old goat.

larry35967 said:

My wife and I both burned out on smart phones as well. We stepped down to "just a phone" -- in other words an older cell phone with text and internet opted out. But then again, I'm a cranky old goat.

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If we had internet at home we probably would do the same thing, but since we use the cell phone as our way to see the online world.....

kevdogg329 said:

I just thought I would vent my frustrations here. I don't expect anyone to be able to help with my issue (Would be a blessing if someone did however). I just don't have anywhere else to vent, as my wife is tired of hearing of my phone issues, and I don't have many I can talk with about things going on in my life, as they are too busy for their own good.

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I've been tempted to go back to squashed plants, fingers, and a cave wall for all of my communication needs.

In the end I keep the phone powered off and in a drawer. Only taking it out when I need to make a call.

there are many months where we have zero minutes on the phone and I like it like that.

We had to go into the Verizon store yesterday to get a 4g wifi device reactivated. I was blown away.... Greeted outside of the door by someone with a smart tablet who took our info as we walked in and "zapped it" to a person standing 4 feet away who then walked over and talked to us. I asked "wouldn't have been quicker if you walked the 10 steps further and just said can you help these folks?"

Was there over an hour for what should have been done over the internet with a few mouse clicks

Technology. At least it keeps the riff raff employed and off the streets <sigh>

turtle said:

I've been tempted to go back to squashed plants, fingers, and a cave wall for all of my communication needs.

In the end I keep the phone powered off and in a drawer. Only taking it out when I need to make a call.

there are many months where we have zero minutes on the phone and I like it like that.

We had to go into the Verizon store yesterday to get a 4g wifi device reactivated. I was blown away.... Greeted outside of the door by someone with a smart tablet who took our info as we walked in and "zapped it" to a person standing 4 feet away who then walked over and talked to us. I asked "wouldn't have been quicker if you walked the 10 steps further and just said can you help these folks?"

Was there over an hour for what should have been done over the internet with a few mouse clicks

Technology. At least it keeps the riff raff employed and off the streets <sigh>

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Sounds about right.

Question: Did you purchase insurance on the phone?

DoctorShavegood said:

Question: Did you purchase insurance on the phone?

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No. Was not an option with the phone

If the app freezes then it sounds like it's an app issue and not a phone issue. In which case there isn't much you can do about it but complain to the app developers and look for another app to use.

Are you on LTE, 4G, 3g, or no G service in your area?

Anything but LTE is slower than slow. If your app uses data and transfers data to update your fitness statistics AND your phone is using anything but LTE then it will seem like it is frozen, but it is really just in the middle of transferring data. Does the little spinning wheel of lines spin (next to ATT) on your phone screen? It's a sign that it's transferring data.


Something else to consider....
How many open apps do you have open? Do you ever double click the home button and "swipe up" on the open apps to close them?
Is your WiFi on? is your Bluetooth on? Is Location Services on?

You're phone is essentially a small computer, it has a processor and ram so to speak. The more apps and services that are running the slower your phone will run. Some folks won't notice a difference and some will. Supposedly it's not supposed to matter - but why take the chance. Just turn off all you can and close all the apps you are not using.

I also like to power cycle my phone once per week. I look at it as a refresh. Shutdown and power on. I don't know if it actually does any good, but again...why take the chance. I want my phone to run efficiently. If I can take 30 seconds a week to power cycle the phone then why not do it.

Toothpick said:

If the app freezes then it sounds like it's an app issue and not a phone issue. In which case there isn't much you can do about it but complain to the app developers and look for another app to use.

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Been trying to find another app to use, so far no luck on that endeavor.

Toothpick said:

Are you on LTE, 4G, 3g, or no G service in your area?

Anything but LTE is slower than slow. If your app uses data and transfers data to update your fitness statistics AND your phone is using anything but LTE then it will seem like it is frozen, but it is really just in the middle of transferring data. Does the little spinning wheel of lines spin (next to ATT) on your phone screen? It's a sign that it's transferring data.

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I have LTE in my area on ATT. When I run speedtest i end up between 1 and 21 MB down and .5 to 2 MB up.

Toothpick said:

Something else to consider....
How many open apps do you have open? Do you ever double click the home button and "swipe up" on the open apps to close them?
Is your WiFi on? is your Bluetooth on? Is Location Services on?

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I close all my apps after using them. I don't use bluetooth, or location services. I use Wi-fi at work, and still have issues.

Toothpick said:

You're phone is essentially a small computer, it has a processor and ram so to speak. The more apps and services that are running the slower your phone will run. Some folks won't notice a difference and some will. Supposedly it's not supposed to matter - but why take the chance. Just turn off all you can and close all the apps you are not using.

I also like to power cycle my phone once per week. I look at it as a refresh. Shutdown and power on. I don't know if it actually does any good, but again...why take the chance. I want my phone to run efficiently. If I can take 30 seconds a week to power cycle the phone then why not do it.

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I power cycle the phone at least once a week (sometimes more depending on what I am doing.)

My wife has no issues with her Lumia 1020 except MyFitnessPal does not work on Windows. I have had nothing but issues with all major OS's. I have swapped SIM cards to rule that out as well. The best phone I have used is my Windows phone, but it does not have a decent app to track my food intake, and with my weight loss journey, that app is critical in that journey.

kevdogg329 said:

Been trying to find another app to use, so far no luck on that endeavor.

I have LTE in my area on ATT. When I run speedtest i end up between 1 and 21 MB down and .5 to 2 MB up.

I close all my apps after using them. I don't use bluetooth, or location services. I use Wi-fi at work, and still have issues.

I power cycle the phone at least once a week (sometimes more depending on what I am doing.)

My wife has no issues with her Lumia 1020 except MyFitnessPal does not work on Windows. I have had nothing but issues with all major OS's. I have swapped SIM cards to rule that out as well. The best phone I have used is my Windows phone, but it does not have a decent app to track my food intake, and with my weight loss journey, that app is critical in that journey.

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Toothpick said:

View attachment 475403

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good explanation on my thoughts

kevdogg329 said:

good explanation on my thoughts

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mine too. I'm sorry buddy, I got nothing.

I may have missed it somewhere upthread, but have you tried a factory reset to wipe everything off the phone and start from scratch? I had an iPhone flake out on me after a software update and I wound up doing that to fix the problem; I also had to do it with a Windows Phone after an update. Android is a somewhat different beast, of course, but the basic idea is the same. I'd get to a known good state and reload the apps one by one until the problem reappears. If the problem doesn't come back, hooray!

DougK said:

I may have missed it somewhere upthread, but have you tried a factory reset to wipe everything off the phone and start from scratch? I had an iPhone flake out on me after a software update and I wound up doing that to fix the problem; I also had to do it with a Windows Phone after an update. Android is a somewhat different beast, of course, but the basic idea is the same. I'd get to a known good state and reload the apps one by one until the problem reappears. If the problem doesn't come back, hooray!

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It did not help with my issue.

kevdogg329 said:

It did not help with my issue.

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Thanks, I figured you'd tried it, just didn't see it. In that case, you could be looking at a RAM failure or other hardware issue.

DougK said:

Thanks, I figured you'd tried it, just didn't see it. In that case, you could be looking at a RAM failure or other hardware issue.

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I'm looking for a new phone. Ram and hardware failure is not going to be fixed with my tools.

Get a Windows phone. The only apps not supported are mostly useless anyway. WP is intuitive and very easy to use. Lumia makes good WP phones

kevdogg329 said:

It also has Android, which is a big pet peeve of mine, as I have never had good luck with any, and have gotten viruses on them.

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I have never personally met anyone that has gotten a virus on their smart phone! And I have visited several very questionable sites on my phone.

Herm2502 said:

Get a Windows phone. The only apps not supported are mostly useless anyway. WP is intuitive and very easy to use. Lumia makes good WP phones

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I have one, but it does not run MyFitnessPal, and I use that for my weight loss.

Jawaburger said:

I have never personally met anyone that has gotten a virus on their smart phone! And I have visited several very questionable sites on my phone.

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http://botcrawl.com/how-to-remove-the-fbi-moneypak-ransomware-virus-fake-fbi-malware-removal/


http://malwaretips.com/blogs/android-police-virus-removal/


Got that FBI Ransomware virus on the Android somehow.

The trick does not work...

If the malicious app is &#8220;Adobe Flash Player&#8220;, then your Android phone is infected with the latest version of ScarePakage ransomware. This app will most likely will not allow you to uninstall it.
To remove it, some variants of ScarePakage (fake Adobe Flash Player app) will uninstall themselves if you enter a random, long-enough number to satisfy the MoneyPak (15-digits) demand. However, this is not the case with all variants and there&#8217;s always the risk that the malware authors will create future functionality to harm the user if they input incorrect data.

the phone is no longer a working phone to try to fix it as a hammer destroys glass quickly...........