[off-topic] Dumb mobile phones

[gavinwc]

Sorry, Bill but you're wrong. See my posting that would just have come
through :-)

Best regards,
Gavin

On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 at 15:53, William Kenworthy <billk at iinet.net.au> wrote:

> Hi Margaret, I am thinking you have left it too late to get a dumb
> phone. Some of the financial entities I deal with now require an
> authenticator app to deal with logins and I can see plain sms 2 factor
> auth going away at some point - some still have it as optional or use it
> as well, but its changing.  The auth app uses a closed system to verify
> its really you/your device being used by you. Some apps also check the
> phone to make sure its up to date etc. Google/MS/Apple are also
> inserting themselves into this process as they see a financial benefit
> (to them) as well as the improved security.  Even dealing with
> mygov/centrelink (via their apps) is getting irksome.  Its fast becoming
> a case of participating or being sidelined and have to move to Tasmania
> ** :(
>
> BillK
>
> * a trip to India in December was an eye opener - to get two sim cards
> valid for 1 month took an hour and a half with photographs of us,
> passports and visas being sent via the shop assistants smart phone to
> the InGov servers.  The shop assistant had to photograph us to verify us
> against the passport/evisa data they hold from our entry into the
> country, then use the selfie mode every step to confirm by photo that it
> was them using their phone.  A long, painful, slow and error prone
> process - but no simcard unless you do it. And to add to the weirdness
> of it, there had to be physical printouts of the electronic documents to
> go on file as well!  1984 anyone!
>
> ** Apologies to Tasmanians!
>
>
> On 1/1/24 14:33, Daniel wrote:
> > Hi Margaret
> > If you get a cheap smart phone and turn wifi and data off … I think you
> still get text messages but not fancy ones with pictures and I suspect that
> stops voip with faked numbers?
> >
> > Will you just get a number and not a url for authentication?
> >
> > Is that adequate security that would allow you to confidently get a low
> priced smartphone (sold without updating the operating system and already
> out of date and despite suggestions that security would be enhanced many
> may never get updates made for it let alone made available )?
> >
> > You may be quite sensibly flinching at the cost of a smart phone you
> don’t intend to use much  …
> >
> > Daniel
> >
> >
> >> On 1 Jan 2024, at 11:53, M S R Wood <msrwood at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> I don't want a smart phone, but I have reluctantly decided it is time
> >> for me to get a moblle phone. The main reason is to receive codes from
> >> banks and other organisations who think this is the best/only method
> >> of two-factor authentication. I only expect to make outgoing calls in
> >> a emergency (e.g. car breakdown), and will hardly ever send texts.
> >>
> >> So my ideal phone would be voice calls and text only - no internet, no
> >> apps, no camera, no torch, no music. It would have keys/buttons rather
> >> than a touchscreen, and a display in muted colours - preferably text
> >> only, rather than icons. That's probably impossible to find nowadays,
> >> but is there anything that comes close?
> >>
> >> I'm also looking for a low cost, pre-paid phone plan, where unused
> >> credit lasts as long as possible,
> >>
> >> Any recommendations?
> >>
> >> Margaret
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