December 07, 2012

Phone spam

I bought my cell phone yesterday morning, and got my first spam message at 8:30 last night. I wonder how much of that's going to happen?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Daily Life at 12:45 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I disabled texting on my cellphone for that reason. A computer that is programmable by the end user affords its owner a great latitude in fighting spam. But cellphone is entirely, 100% defenceless against text spam (spim).

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at December 07, 2012 12:54 PM (RqRa5)

2

Do I get charged for incoming messages (beyond a certain number)?

I'll have to look around and see if I can figure out how to block them, since I don't expect to receive any legitimate ones.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 07, 2012 01:39 PM (+rSRq)

3 Many cell plans do charge for incoming texts, but some don't.  You did thoroughly read all the fine print of plan before signing, didn't you? 

Posted by: Siergen at December 07, 2012 02:57 PM (Ao4Kw)

4 I don't get a lot, honestly.  One every two weeks?
I wouldn't worry unless you're getting a big amount.

Posted by: tellu541 at December 07, 2012 04:33 PM (omETO)

5 tellu, he's had his phone for a day.  One a day is a big amount.

Steven, I get maybe two spam texts a year, unless you count Brickmuppet.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 07, 2012 05:05 PM (LbiZL)

6 I don't get many on my personal phone, but I get a fair amount on my work phone (possibly more because the number's been in service for a long time, I inherited it from someone else who got laid off... who actually got rehired a year ago but I still have his phone number. Heh.)

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at December 07, 2012 05:40 PM (pWQz4)

7 SMS spam is usually pretty rare, although I've actually gotten three in the last week. (And probably only one or two in the couple years before that.)

Posted by: RickC at December 07, 2012 06:29 PM (WQ6Vb)

8

I actually got a second one, but it was Verizon itself, so I suppose it doesn't count.

I won't worry about it unless it starts happening a lot. But it confused me; my phone make one ring, and then the power light started blinking. Now I know what that means.

I haven't gotten an incoming call yet. Probably the next time my brother needs to talk to me. He came over today and mounted a couple of grab bars in my bathroom, and tonight I took my first shower since getting home again.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 07, 2012 06:35 PM (+rSRq)

9 Like Wonderduck, I get about one spam text a year.  I assume it's somewhat like with email, they have to get your number first.  If you get lots, presumably it's because the person who had the number before you was naughty, in which case your only defense is to get a plan where texting is free, or get a new number.

Posted by: David at December 07, 2012 09:37 PM (vyRm+)

10 It used to be that Telemarketing to Cell Phones was "Illegal" but "Yeah, Right".  So hie thee to the Federal Trade Commission's web site and put your new number on the Do Not Call list.  (And be careful to avoid the fake sites pretending to be the FTC site.  There are some very convincing ones that have the opposite effect, and others that try to charge you for the free service.)

Posted by: Mauser at December 08, 2012 01:48 AM (cZPoz)

11 Done.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 08, 2012 06:19 AM (+rSRq)

12 I'm a little surprised by the battery life, or lack thereof. Now it shows 43% after 1 day, 21 hours. Back at Qualcomm, we tried for at least a week on a charge, and more was better.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 08, 2012 03:40 PM (+rSRq)

13 Steven, if you're using it to browse the 'net, that uses more battery than just using it as a phone.

I don't have a smartphone... hell, I barely have an idiotphone... but I've turned off what net-related features it has (on my plan, it costs an arm and a leg), and the battery life is incredible.  If I get no calls and send no texts, it'll go four days before the battery drops to 75% charge.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 08, 2012 03:56 PM (LbiZL)

14 I haven't been doing anything with it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 08, 2012 04:23 PM (+rSRq)

15 And by my standards, 4 days of battery life is terrible. Our goal, which we never met but got close to, was 2 weeks.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 08, 2012 04:24 PM (+rSRq)

16 If it has bluetooth or WiFi or such, and those can be turned off, that should extend battery life.  Same for many other features that are useless to most users; they tend to come from the factory with all the bells, whistles, gongs, and flugelhorns enabled.  Mine lasts much longer when I ask it to stop trying to talk to every other computer in the house.

Posted by: Mikeski at December 09, 2012 01:11 AM (DU6Ja)

17 Yeah, modern smartphones do so much more than old-style phones the batteries don't last nearly as long.  If you use it much for talking and/or web browsing, etc., you will be lucky to get two days out of it.
Mikeski's got a point about turning off radios you don't need, altho that doesn't always buy you a lot.  Also, you can do things like reduce the frequency of syncing with Google and the like, but week-plus charges are a thing of the past.

Posted by: RickC at December 09, 2012 09:13 PM (WQ6Vb)

18 My ancient Motorola C139 TracPhone will go about 8 days or so on a charge.  But then, it's a dumb little candy bar, nobody calls me, I get 5 bars wherever I go, and it's set to turn itself off overnight.  I also spend MAYBE $100 a year on it.

Posted by: Mauser at December 10, 2012 02:03 AM (cZPoz)

19 Another battery hog, at least on my samsung epic, is the GPS radio.  Depending on what your overhead coverage is like, it might be constantly having to rediscover (the same) sats.

Posted by: ReallyBored at December 10, 2012 08:13 AM (HRMe/)

20 That's a good point, ReallyBored.  I have mine off, normally; apps will turn it on on demand.
Modern GPSes are impressive in how far indoors they can still get a signal; I have one that's a few years old that can't get a single satellite if it's more than a few inches from a window.

Posted by: RickC at December 10, 2012 04:17 PM (WQ6Vb)

21 On the page in my phone that reports the current battery level, there's a page that lists all the place which are using power. The only entry there was WiFi, and I've turned that off now, until I can figure out my DHCP problem.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 10, 2012 05:36 PM (+rSRq)

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