The saga of my new smart meters

I used to have a smart phone, in fact I went through at least two or three but I eventually decided they were so useless as phones that I've now moved back to a 'feature phone'. For the things that I use a phone for (making phone calls mostly) it's far better than a smartphone.

I'm finding it's useful having *2* smartphones.

My real personal out and about phone which makes calls.

And a second to sat nav/media play/control smart thermostat with

Ah, yes, I do still have a (pseudo?) smartphone that I use as a satnav, there's no SIM in it.

That's what they told us. Out of calibration.

I called them. I don't want a smart meter I said, they don't work round here.

Pause.

Confirmation of my belief - they didn't work for some of my neighbours.

Them: "OK, we don't need to do anything"

Me: "But you said it's out of calibration"

Them: "Doesn't matter".

Andy

I know someone who has that combined with a Tesla powerwall.

He's complained he can't sell the power back at peak rates :)

Andy

More fool you.

Bullshit.

Interesting.

For the uninitiated.. does that mean you can load the map data via wi-fi without bothering your mobile provider?

No reason you cant. I do that every update

OK. Thanks. I have an otherwise unused Moto e5.

well check that it can download a free app from the playstore simless. Or pop a payg sim in it

Yes, I use Here Wego and all it needs is downloaded maps and GPS, there's no need for web connectivity while using it as a satnav.

Yup.

Only SIMless, you can't get 3/4G when out and about (or traffic updates).

Of course you could tether it to your "real" phone, if you want.

I suspect this will be a thing moving forward - thus depressing the need for the new shiny. My 5-year old Wileyfox Swift is still comparable to anything new today.

At one point I had about 5 smartphones from Windows CE era onwards. They'd all be serviceable now, if they took a f****ng standard charger.

SWMBO has been due a new phone for 18 months too (Tesco). The only reason she hasn't take the offer is their new phones aren't as large screened as her current Pixi 4 6". And her primary need is big screen.

I have a Vodafone sim. It means breaking it down to the smaller size and then carefully reassembling:-(

OK.

er. Unlikely with an Alkatel one touch:-)

I seem to be a recipient of my gardener's *last year* phones but the Alkatel does all I need for farming and working from home.

YMMV

WiFi works fine, so maps etc are just downloaded at home. Or, at a push, a supermarkets "Free" WiFi.

Just a little addon ... before I repurposed it, I put LineageOS on it, instead of the Google-Tesco abomination they call "Android". So it's not feeding anything back to Big Brother.

You can download apps with wifi without a sim.

And I can vouch that an E5 runs TomTom OK (if slowly).

The real issue with simless is live traffic updates.

I've renewed with Avro (after checking other suppliers) for 4 years running now. I'm happy with their service, competative fixed for one year prices, no pressure for smart meters, I read the meters every month and enter them via their website, sometimes a meter man turns up (I guess just to check). Just don't let them do an auto renewal at the end of the year, their standard tariff is a lot more expensive. Phone/email them and they'll quote you their cheapest tariff (they add new tariffs very frequently).