DIYbanter - View Single Post - You probably don't know the answer but what allows WiFi scanning anyway?

Michael A. Terrell

wrote:
On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 12:10:15 -0700, mike wrote:

Summary: I use my tablet a lot more than I thought I would.

Tablets come in two sizes.
1) too small to read and operate with fat fingers.
2) too big/heavy to hold comfortably.

SInce I'm elderly, I dont have thge best eyesight anymore. Cellphones
are way to small for me to see anything. One guy I know is always
shoving his phone in my face and saying look at this. I repeatedly have
to tell him I cant read it, and if it's a picture, I only see a blur. I
do not make a habit of carrying around my reading glasses. I only have
them on me if I plan to read something. And yea, the keys are too small
on all that stuff. I like a REAL keyboard. I always have a tough time
doing texts on my flipphone.

Anyhow, even if a laptop computer is large and hard to hold, it is much
better for me to use.

The obvious solution is to have two or four.

Nah, too much stuff to buy and maintain.
My cellphone (flipphone) is just a phone, and that is all I really need
to have with me. But if I want to use a WIFI, I have to plan in advance
and bring my laptop with me. That's not always convenient, but it works.
Besides that, owning a smartphone is too costly for my budget. I mostly
just have a cellphone for emergency calls, but it does come in handy to
call businesses to see if they have what I need, or if they are open,
(when I am not home). But a prepaid cellphone is fairly cheap as long as
the calls are short, whereas a contract for a smartphone is costly,
especially when they allow for enough data to actually watch videos or
spend considerable time shopping ebay or something like that.

These days, a person almost MUST have at least a basic cellphone,
because there are no longer any pay phones, and in an emergency one
needs some way to contact for help. But if I want to call and talk to a
friend for an hour, I use my landline. I must keep my landline, because
where I live (rural area), cellphone service is poor. Heck, a couple
years ago, I saw smoke coming out of a building and could not get a cell
signal, and there were no pay phones. By the time I drove to a place
where I could get a phone signal, that building was entirely in flames
and it was a total loss.

I later spoke with someone from the fire dept, and was told that they
have been trying to get a cell tower in that area for years and all they
get is a runaround. He said the population is too small to make it
profitable. I proceeded to complain about why they removed the pay phone
in that town, which was still there about 7 years ago, when they knew
that there is no cell service there. He said they fought that with the
local phone company too, and was told that pay phones were no longer
maintained. Personally, none of that makes any sense.... Why was there
better service back in the days before 2010? And why is maintaining a
pay phone so difficult? It could have prevented a major fire, and could
even save a life. STUPID STUPID....

Yes, you are. Pay phones started dying, when cell phones became
popular. They started to disappear, as they no longer took in enough
money to pay for the equipment, the line and the labor to service them.
They finally reached the point where the equipment was worn out, and too
expense to maintain. Payphone companies started to disappear, in the mid
'90s. I hauled off trailer loads of aluminum phone booths from one
company when they downsized to a smaller building. A year later, they
were bankrupt. That was in 1995.

As far as cell phone towers, a lot of the cost is in legal fees and
local governments charging out the ass for permits. So it becomes greed,
over safety.

--
Never **** off an Engineer!

They don't get mad.

They don't get even.

They go for over unity! ;-)