Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => Apple Related => Topic started by: Ronski on September 30, 2015, 10:09:06 AM
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Seems the can do nothing wrong Apple has slipped (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/phones/2015/09/iphone-warning-if-youve-upgraded-beware-the-data-trap?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=nt-oneliners-one&utm_term=29-Sep-15-v2&utm_campaign=news&utm_content=4) up again :P
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Sounds like just another bit of hysteria dreamed up by Apple haters
I haven't installed iOS 9 yet, but every smartphone I have ever had has had the tendency to switch to mobile data when out of range of WiFi. Sounds to me like they're simply adding the capability to have fine grained control of that handover, ie that are adding a cost-saving facility that happens to be off by default, for backwards compatibility with earlier versions.
If you don't want that to happen, there has always been a setting to completely disable mobile data, has that changed with iOS 9?
But as I say, I've not yet installed iOS 9, so may be missing something.
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I can't see a problem here, I thought switching to mobile data from wifi was the default behaviour anyway.
It just seems that now you can turn off the default behaviour but why would anyone want to?
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This is not in many ways unique to Apple. My Android phone will always use the phone network if it has wi-fi turned off or if the wi-fi connection fails and loses connection, however it wont switch if the internet connection via my router goes down or if the signal is bad. I can also turn off mobile data as well. I do use a monitoring app which I check regularly to see how I'm doing. So I guess whether you are Apple or Android you just need to be careful.
Stuart
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There certainly seems to be some issue with going by all the complaints if you Google.
If MS had done this you'd all be slating them >:D
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Only those 2 people who use a Windows phone.
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Only those 2 people who use a Windows phone.
I didn't realise Windows Phone users had gone into 'Double' figures :D :lol: ??
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There certainly seems to be some issue with going by all the complaints if you Google.
I do agree it seems to be getting a lot of coverage. And not just the ad-laden web sites and redtops, even the Washington Post had covered it. But it does seem to be the same old story recycled - I guess anything that's critical of Apple is guaranteed to sell a few copies, to lovers and haters of Apple alike.
The Guardian has a more measured discussion...
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/30/ignore-the-haters-wi-fi-assist-is-ios-9
From the Guardian, I liked...
One user posted on the Apple support forums asking how to turn off Wi-Fi Assist on their iPhone 4S, blaming it for making their phone be “super slow, glitchy, and losing battery fast”. A few posts later, they got their answer: Wi-Fi Assist isn’t actually on the iPhone 4S.
:D
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That does indeed seem a much better write up 7LM, and now it's clear what the features doing as well.
I'm also happy to say that I'm not one of the two Windows Phone users, I'm a reasonably happy Android user with an unlimited data plan on Three for the princely sum of £15 a month and that includes tethering ;D
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I'm also happy to say that I'm not one of the two Windows Phone users, I'm a reasonably happy Android user with an unlimited data plan on Three for the princely sum of £15 a month and that includes tethering ;D
That's pretty good. I'm on Vodafone PAYG, for which a £10 monthly payment (they call it a 'bundle' or a 'freebie' or some such marketing twaddle) gets me all the calls and texts I need and 500MB of data. I have never got anywhere near that limit but, if I were ever to accidentally exceed it, costs do indeed become crippling. So when I install iOS 9 I shall be keeping an eye on usage, but then I always have done.
And of course, with the Vodafone £10 deal I also have to buy the phone.
One curious thing is, Vodafone have always been quite clear that tethering is not available on PAYG. Yet I have been using it for years now in occasional emergencies such as hotel rooms with no free broadband, so the various tablets we carry around can work in addition to the phone. Maybe I should keep quiet about it, just in case Vodafone read this and decide to fix it. Oops, too late? :D
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I have to buy my own phone to, currently an S4. The plan I have is the One Plan sim only which was always £25, for a short while they offered it at a £10 discount so I very quickly signed up.
I always tethered on my previous sim, but only Android device's so as not to raise suspicions, but every so often I'd get blocked (I think the mail app on my tablet triggered it when sending) until I rebooted the phone. I don't generally use much data, but it does come in very useful sometimes especially with threes feel at home countries - great for holidays, recently got through nearly 2GB whilst it Spain with the whole families devices tethered. Also on a drive back from Manchester recently my daughter got through about 1GB watching Netflix all the way back.
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im considering moving to 3 now that ee got bought out (payg most likely).
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im considering moving to 3 now that ee got bought out (payg most likely).
One advantage of PAYG is, if your phone gets stolen, your maximum liability for calls made by the thief is limited to whatever credit is on the phone.
That, and a deep-seated mistrust of small print in the phone company T&C, and a similar distrust of insurance contracts that might appear to cover the liability, is the main reason I stick with PAYG.
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I think your mistrust is well founded. I do exactly the same.
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I've always been on PAYG, I've never felt my usage justified a contract. But I've never used mobile data.
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I do likewise. (With the same Nokia telephone that was new in 2005.) PAYG, telephony and text messages only. ;)
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Hats off to those who resist mobile data.
I tried for a while, but then I enabled email download which I'd use when very occasionally needed, away from home. Then I discovered things such as that the rail departures online are often more up accurate than the station signs. Then I discovered that while sipping a beer in the station bar, waiting for the train I knew to be late, I could catch up on BBC news. Or I could even visit Kitz's forums.
And by that time I was hooked, I can no longer restrain myself and even now use data freely when abroad. So do beware, maintain your resolve, else the slippery slope will prevail... :-[
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It can get a bit addictive, but also is extremely useful. On our recent holiday to Spain we decided to go by train from Barcelona to Salou, with my phone/tablet I could check train times and fares.With Google maps we could very easily find our way around. And on the last day which we spent in Barcelona I used an excellent app on my phone which showed the routes, bus stops and actual live locations of all that companies tour buses, simply brilliant. Oh and we could also check in and choose our seats for the return flight all thanks to mobile data.
When we go to London I use an app for the underground, an app for train times, again so very useful, I wouldn't be without it now.
PS. Facebook has recently been uninstalled, luckily it's not something I ever got into.
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I think the issue with this "Wifi Assist" is that people are finding that they're using their mobile bandwidth allowance at home when they think that they're actually using their home wireless connection.
From what I can see iOS9 will switch to 3G/4G when the wifi connectivity is "poor" - which is pretty ambiguous IMHO.
Eg my daughter's phone has "issues" with a Ruckus access point in uni halls & frequently drops below 20Mbps PHY speed (ie the reported connection speed) which results in 3-4Mbps max data speed but often around 1-2Mbps. At this point the phone decides to switch to 3G as its much faster but there's no indication that this has actually occurred. She had no clue this was happening and has used around half her monthly allowance in the first week.
So I think there is in fact an issue here which is going to bite a fair few users on the bum.....
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It can get a bit addictive, but also is extremely useful. On our recent holiday to Spain we decided to go by train from Barcelona to Salou, with my phone/tablet I could check train times and fares.With Google maps we could very easily find our way around. And on the last day which we spent in Barcelona I used an excellent app on my phone which showed the routes, bus stops and actual live locations of all that companies tour buses, simply brilliant. Oh and we could also check in and choose our seats for the return flight all thanks to mobile data.
When we go to London I use an app for the underground, an app for train times, again so very useful, I wouldn't be without it now.
PS. Facebook has recently been uninstalled, luckily it's not something I ever got into.
I recommend you don't change your phone/plan ever again :D Reason being that if you do then the "One Plan" is no longer available, nor is tethering (that'll get you booted if you do it). My other daughter upgraded a year or so back to a S4 mini but her "unlimited" data plan is now toast.
Edit - it wouldn't have mattered if she had bought it herself as it needed a different sized SIM & its the SIM change which triggers the change in plan - so for example if you needed a 4G SIM then 3 will not provide it on the same terms as the One Plan.
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Don't worry Rizla, I have no intention of changing, well aware of the situation thanks.
If you get a new phone you can get tools to trim the sim card, you can even get adapters to go back to the original size.
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Aye but you can't turn a 3G SIM into a 4G SIM :)
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I wasn't aware the sims were different, but to be honest I have no need for 4G speeds. I've actually managed to get 27/9mbps on 3G in the past, but normal 3G speeds are fine for what I use it for.
I'm not even sure if I need a new sim, this page (http://blog.three.co.uk/2013/08/29/get-ready-for-4g/) states the following
Every Three customer with a 4G Ready device will get a 4G upgrade at no extra cost. It’ll be easy to switch over too, all that’s required is a simple software update. You won’t even need to go in to a store. There’ll be no new contract to sign, no new SIM and no tariff change. We really want this transition to be as easy as possible for our customers.
Not only that, but our famous All You Can Eat data offering will still be available on 4G. So you’ll be able to share even more, ponies, pugs and kittens. Which can only be a good thing, right?
Now I've just enabled the option (https://smokeys.wordpress.com/tag/persist-radio-lteon/) on my phone to use LTE networks, now all I need to do is find a 4G signal to test it. We're going up to London next week (another hospital visit) so that should be a good test, although according to Three we should have a 4G signal here, although I'm on the borders and it states outside only.
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Ronski you dont need to go to the Smoke for 4G, I get 4G here in Broadstairs and it is quite good up at Westwood Cross as well.
Stuart
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Yeah I see that from Three's coverage checker (thanks for confirming we do actually have it though), but it doe's show my location as poor indoors reception - without a known good 4G phone I don't if I just have bad reception or the phone/sim/settings are not correct. I'll keep an eye on it when I'm out and about over the weekend.
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I've also found that 4G is just as likely as 3G when out in the sticks, that's Vodafone. Most of the time it's just gprs or edge, mind, but there are a few places where 3G or 4G kick in.
Curiously, 4G on Vodafone PAYG not meant to work at all for me with my £10 'poverty' bundles. According to their website 4G only meant to work on PAYG if you get a £20 bundle (which also gives more data and airtime) but a few months ago mine suddenly started displaying 4G, I also got a text from Vodafone telling I now had 4G. It has continued ever since, including when travelling in Europe.
Can't say I've noticed much difference though apart from feeling smug about the '4G icon'. But then 3G was always adequate for me anyway.
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Yeah I see that from Three's coverage checker (thanks for confirming we do actually have it though), but it doe's show my location as poor indoors reception - without a known good 4G phone I don't if I just have bad reception or the phone/sim/settings are not correct. I'll keep an eye on it when I'm out and about over the weekend.
Don't get too focused on the coverage checker.
Three are prone to a little bit of 'fiction' when stating their coverage.
I am a Three users of many years, for the 'all you can eat data', and the coverage at my home is supposed to be good indoors & out.
It is NOT ...... I cannot make a call if I am downstairs and even using the '3 in Touch - via WiFi' app is a bit flaky.
It is always fine anywhere whilst driving but gets flaky indoors.
I am hoping the O2 takeover will give them better coverage and signal strength. (Not holding breath just yet. ;D ;D )
BTW: My Phone is an LG G3, approx 14 months old, which should be more than capable of working if the signal is good. (Picks up Vodafone, O2 perfectly fine indoors ???)
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To be honest I've not done any speed tests on my 4G but it fairly zips through my email download when checking it, it feels as fast as I get at home on the PC on FTTC.
Stuart
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I've found the signal varies a lot around Broadstairs, here's a 3G H+ speed test from inside my house this morning, last night it was a lot slower.
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1487614055
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Well good news for me, 4G is now working on my phone, just don't seem to be able to receive it at home, ,which doesn't really matter. PS no change of sim required on 3 ;D
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I'm with EE, and we have double speed 4G here, and when in town I can manage around 75mbps download if its quiet!
I don't personally like 3, their coverage is very poor here and we live very close to town :no:
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When in town I can manage around 75mbps download if its quiet!
God in heaven! Imagine if they upgrade my two local EE basestations from 3G to 4G. Then I could get ~75Mbps, instead of 1.75Mbps over copper. Presumably the data costs would bankrupt me?
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You mean your 3 AA lines are not bankrupting you ;)
I guess it all depends on how much data you will use, what would of done you nicely is one of the truly unlimited packages with tethering, but I don't think they exist any more to take out as a new contract. Also my experience of 4G on Three so far has been a bit lacking, I've had better speeds on 3G.
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You mean your 3 AA lines are not bankrupting you ;)
Not at the speeds he can run at :)
If you have EE basestations nearby Weaver then keep an eye out for the 100GB promos. They run them every few months & you can (could last time) use them in dongles/routers. TBB generally posts the deals but MSE gets there first.
That way you could see how it worked for a variety of protocols/apps without much in the way of up-front costs.
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The _lines_ x 3 cost about £90 per month in total, including £30 for BTW Premium prioritisation, and then there's the cost of data inbound on top of that, which varies a bit.
I have two EE basestations in reach, good signal because I am so high up, while neighbours down nearer the shore ha almost nothing, SMS only if they're really really lucky, and have to drive up the hill for the most part to get incoming messages.
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Just got 86/28 on 4G in the middle of Broadstairs
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1542945308