BillW50

On 3/09/2014, philo* posted:
Even though I'm retired I still am usually too busy to waste my time
with those *******s...but occasionally I'd be up for such a game.

I'm glad you said "******s" instead of "************s".

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Sun, 09 Mar 2014 14:06:29 -0500, BillW50 wrote:

I thought maybe I should get a cell phone again just in case next time I
am not so lucky. So I got one of those cheap cell phone watches (SVP) on
eBay for about 30 bucks and signed up with bare bones service with
Consumer Cellular for 10 bucks a month. They use AT&T cellphone towers.

If your only requirement is to be able to make emergency calls, then any
cell phone can do that. No service contract required.

On Sat, 8 Mar 2014 15:53:02 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:

R. C. White wrote:

I always liked the story of the guy who just hands the phone to his
3-year-old daughter and lets her talk to the telemarketer. ;)

I'd be leery of doing that. If the kid says anything that can be
interpreted as accepting the telemarketer's offer, you could end up
paying a lot for something you don't want and even be liable for
recurring charges for some minimum subscription period.

Are there any jurisdictions where a 3-year old can legally enter into an
enforceable contract? I think here in the States the answer would be no, but
I realize this is an international group.

I used to "Press 1" at the earliest opportunity to speak to a person - who
was eager to give the pitch to the "Live One" on the line, until I
immediately interrupted and insisted they "put me on the Do Not Call list".

Huh? It's not their responsibility or right to assume your authority to
place you on the federal DNC list. You have to do that.

In addition to the Federal DNC list, unsolicited callers are supposed to
honor requests where the called party asks not to be called again. That's
mostly handled on the honor system, though, with predictable results.

On Sun, 09 Mar 2014 22:18:50 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Sat, 8 Mar 2014 15:53:02 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:

R. C. White wrote:

I always liked the story of the guy who just hands the phone to his
3-year-old daughter and lets her talk to the telemarketer. ;)

I'd be leery of doing that. If the kid says anything that can be
interpreted as accepting the telemarketer's offer, you could end up
paying a lot for something you don't want and even be liable for
recurring charges for some minimum subscription period.

Are there any jurisdictions where a 3-year old can legally enter into an
enforceable contract? I think here in the States the answer would be no, but
I realize this is an international group.

I used to "Press 1" at the earliest opportunity to speak to a person - who
was eager to give the pitch to the "Live One" on the line, until I
immediately interrupted and insisted they "put me on the Do Not Call list".

Huh? It's not their responsibility or right to assume your authority to
place you on the federal DNC list. You have to do that.

In addition to the Federal DNC list, unsolicited callers are supposed to
honor requests where the called party asks not to be called again. That's
mostly handled on the honor system, though, with predictable results.

The callers are virtually guaranteed to be located outside the US. So
they have no interest in the DNC list and will ignore it anyway. They
use VOIP and list a fake telephone number for their Caller ID because
they know there is nothing that can be done to stop them.

On Sun, 09 Mar 2014 14:30:15 -0400, Nil
wrote:

On 09 Mar 2014, wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8:

The most important thing anyone can do with these types of calls
is very simple: Waste as much of the caller's time as possible.

I don't believe that. The callers are very quick to hang up on you if
you take too much of their time. They'd rather move on in search of the
next mark. You're wasting your own time. They don't care.

Your comment proves my point. The idea is to keep them "on the
line"--and wasting their time--as long as possible. Their objective is
income. No sale = no income. Once you know which type of call it is,
play the "old man" and keep them going. I have done it for 10-15
minutes. At the end, they get really ****ed off--which means it
worked. One guy knew it was fake when I asked to finance $17T via a
'card services' call. He just laughed, said 'good one !' and goodbye.

Per BillW50:
I believe what Philo means is what kind of cell phone company do you use
like AT&T, etc.

tMobile prepaid. Seems to be the cheapest deal for my limited use.

Other companies supposedly offer better coverage, but tMob has always
been good enough for me around here.

I think it cost about $120 to start off, but my bottom line is less than
$20 per year to keep the phone active plus whatever minutes I use beyond
that $20 required annual purchase. With the plan I have, unused
minutes never expire - they just keep rolling over year-after-year.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 10 Mar 2014, wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8:

Your comment proves my point. The idea is to keep them "on the
line"--and wasting their time--as long as possible. Their
objective is income. No sale = no income. Once you know which type
of call it is, play the "old man" and keep them going. I have done
it for 10-15 minutes. At the end, they get really ****ed
off--which means it worked. One guy knew it was fake when I asked
to finance $17T via a 'card services' call. He just laughed, said
'good one !' and goodbye.

I still think the impact on them is minimal, and it wastes my valuable
time. It's about as productive as torturing flies. There's a million
more where that one came from.

On 2014-03-10, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per BillW50:
I believe what Philo means is what kind of cell phone company do you use
like AT&T, etc.

tMobile prepaid. Seems to be the cheapest deal for my limited use.

Other companies supposedly offer better coverage, but tMob has always
been good enough for me around here.

I think it cost about $120 to start off, but my bottom line is less than
$20 per year to keep the phone active plus whatever minutes I use beyond
that $20 required annual purchase. With the plan I have, unused
minutes never expire - they just keep rolling over year-after-year.

Will have to check it out. I have Verizon prepaid at $100/yr for my
very limited use; $20/yr is even better for carrying my own
"phone booth" & small enough to fit the 5th pocket of my jeans.

Per lew:
that $20 required annual purchase. With the plan I have, unused
minutes never expire - they just keep rolling over year-after-year.

Will have to check it out. I have Verizon prepaid at $100/yr for my
very limited use; $20/yr is even better for carrying my own
"phone booth" & small enough to fit the 5th pocket of my jeans.

If you do, prepare to dig a little. Last time I looked, I did not see
anything explicit. It's more like if you have so many minutes on day
one and you buy so many minutes before 12 months passes...
--
Pete Cresswell

On Mon, 10 Mar 2014 09:58:17 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:


tMobile prepaid. Seems to be the cheapest deal for my limited use.

Other companies supposedly offer better coverage, but tMob has always
been good enough for me around here.

I think it cost about $120 to start off, but my bottom line is less than
$20 per year to keep the phone active plus whatever minutes I use beyond
that $20 required annual purchase. With the plan I have, unused
minutes never expire - they just keep rolling over year-after-year.


If you use the same T-Mobile plan I do (and it sound like you do), the
unused minutes never expire only *if* you buy more minutes before the
year is over. So at the end of each year, I buy the smallest number I
can--$10 worth. It cost me $100 to buy 1000 minutes the first year,
and whatever the phone cost (I don't remember the price, but it wasn't
much), but now costs me $10 a year. Since my wife and each have the
plan, it costs the two of us the grand total of $20 a year.

Per Ken Blake, MVP:

If you use the same T-Mobile plan I do (and it sound like you do), the
unused minutes never expire only *if* you buy more minutes before the
year is over. So at the end of each year, I buy the smallest number I
can--$10 worth. It cost me $100 to buy 1000 minutes the first year,
and whatever the phone cost (I don't remember the price, but it wasn't
much), but now costs me $10 a year. Since my wife and each have the
plan, it costs the two of us the grand total of $20 a year.

Those specifics ring true to me. It's been so long since I started
that I'd forgotten.... now my use is high enough that I mostly just
respond to the text prompts that my minutes are getting low.

Got a 12-month tickler on my calendar just in case...
--
Pete Cresswell