Completely OT: What is the cost of your smart phone?

[Michael Trew]

I watched the first 15 minutes or so. This is a documentary linked
below about mobile phone production. Almost every mobile phone
component in the world comes from one of these factories in China. Over
half of the people working here are children under 16 years old.

One girl who they discreetly interviewed was 13, has worked here for 4
months. She has to work every other night, and most days, 13 hour
shifts. She makes the equivalent of $180 USD per month. Only one day
off every 2 weeks. They sleep 8 people per "dorm" room where the
employees live.

Samsung, Apple, and others have a few dollars in parts/labor into these
phones that they sell for as much as well over $1,000 each. Also, they
literally work their poor child labor to death in China. It's Just
something to think about when you look down at your smart phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxLHXHjpal8

[John Kuthe]

Another reason CELL PHONES are EVIL!

Mine is right now in a state of OFF and lays under my big computer monitor!

I only use it when I need it! But when I went to use it the other day it had run out of Charge! The Fucker!

My HOME PHONE never runs out of charge because it plugs into the house 120VAC line which is always ON!

And old ATT phones were self powered! Never needed charging.


John Kuthe, RN, BSN...

[GM]

We wish Y - O - U would "run out of Charge", ya lazy useless FUCKWIT...!!!

Lol...

;-P

--
GM

[itsjoan...@webtv.net]

On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 8:38:15 PM UTC-6, jwk...@bjc.org wrote:
>
> Mine is right now in a state of OFF and lays under my big computer monitor!
>
> I only use it when I need it! But when I went to use it the other day it had run out of Charge! The Fucker!
>

Hey mental midget, it's just like your Duracell car, it needs to have a charge
to work properly. If you leave it under your pc monitor and on, yes, it will
will be dead when you go to use it. Even if it's off it will still slowly drain
and require charging. But you can leave it on and charging at the same time.
But as an EE engineer, you already knew this, right???
>
> John Kuthe, RN, BSN... ← Dunce

[Ed Pawlowski]

On 1/17/2022 9:38 PM, John Kuthe wrote:

>
> Another reason CELL PHONES are EVIL!
>
> Mine is right now in a state of OFF and lays under my big computer monitor!
>
> I only use it when I need it! But when I went to use it the other day it had run out of Charge! The Fucker!
>
> My HOME PHONE never runs out of charge because it plugs into the house 120VAC line which is always ON!
>
> And old ATT phones were self powered! Never needed charging.
>
>
> John Kuthe, RN, BSN...
>

Self powered?> You are allegedly an EE and would make a statement like
that?

[GM]

Sure, Ed, you've not heard of solar cells... or in his case maybe some hampsters running
around in a wheel powering a dynamo to power that phone...

--
GM

[Cindy Hamilton]

Certainly working conditions should be improved, and the price
of a cell phone (Apple, in particular) needn't increase, since so
much of the price is in its branding.

However, what would that 13-year-old girl be doing if that smart phone
factory weren't there? Why did she take the job? How does her quality
of life compare to other children in her city?

Finally, how hard did your great-great grandfather work when he was 13?

Cindy Hamilton

[Gary]

Heck, I might be as stupid as them. I have a landline Verizon phone.
Unlimited local calls but no long distant calls or text or other
features. I need to fix this.

Might soon join in with my daughter's plan. You get a free smart phone
to start with and unlimited talk (and long distant calls) and text and
way more 'internet stuff' than I would ever use...like apps or calling
uber, etc.

Their plan allows for up to 5 phones on the account and about $20 each
month for each one. That's about the best deal I've found.

[GM]

I was just gonna say, you distilled the essence of the situation...

Those working conditions may be shocking to us, but in all probability she is doing
*far* better than she would have a few decades ago, especially if she was in a rural
"situation". The pay she is now getting is princely compared to what it might have been
a few decades ago, *if* she would even have had a factory - or any - job...

A worker's dorm room is far better than a mud hut or a cave, and that is how many millions
of poor Chinese lived... it was only a short 60+ years ago that scores of millions of Chinese
died of famine. This young woman probably will not have to worry about dying in a famine, she
has food to eat at least...

I know Graham here has condemned Victorian England's "dark satanic mills". Yes, to us they
are horrible, but at the time for those working in them they were a better alternative than
grinding rural poverty, where they would be making *no* money...

Despite the horrible conditions of many working poor, life expectancy in Victorian UK rose, progress
was fitful at times but there was progress. Life expectancy was 28 in 1800, by 1900 it was 49. China has
undergone a similar metamorphosis, lifespan has almost doubled in 70 years:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Overall-life-expectancy-at-birth-years-London-1730-to-1910_tbl1_229937211

China life expectancy:

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHN/china/life-expectancy

The current life expectancy for China in 2022 is 77.30 years, a 0.22% increase from 2021

In 1950 it was 43.5...

</>

[Gary]

Gary wrote:
> Heck, I might be as stupid as them. I have a landline Verizon phone.
> Unlimited local calls but no long distant calls or text or other
> features. I need to fix this.

I forgot to add that my landline phone costs $45 per month. >:-o

[Ed Pawlowski]

You can get better deals with a cell phone these days. I have landline
as part of a cable bundle but it is $20.
If your cell supplier uses ATT or Verizon towers you will have good
coverage. T Mobile is spotty.

[songbird]

Michael Trew wrote:
...

> Samsung, Apple, and others have a few dollars in parts/labor into these
> phones that they sell for as much as well over $1,000 each. Also, they
> literally work their poor child labor to death in China. It's Just
> something to think about when you look down at your smart phone.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxLHXHjpal8

i've never bought one of those and have no plans on doing
it.

dumb flip phone works fine for us. about $30/mo and is
less than ATnT was charging for the landline.


songbird

[Cindy Hamilton]

Is it 4G compatible? Rumor has it that most carriers are going
to dismantle their 3G networks this year.

Cindy Hamilton

[dsi1]

Now that buying a PC every two years or so has been played out - people are now compelled to spend their thousand or so bucks on a newer model phone every couple of years. It's kind of a brilliant scheme to make people money and to keep people (Chinese) working.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5v8D-alAKE&t=583s

[dsi1]

This is bad news for old people. My friend had to buy a new phone because the sales guys told him that his phone had to be 5G capable. I told him that's just a scam to get him to buy a phone that they want him to buy. In the end, he said he spend a lot of dough on his new Samsung. He fell for that cell phone scare tactic.
OTOH, the cellular providers will probably shut down the 3G systems and certain cell phones without Voice over LTE (VoLTE) might not work. My phone is 3 years old and should work just fine. OTOH, this probably is bad news for people with non-smart phones i.e., "feature phones."

[Jeßus]

On Tue, 18 Jan 2022 11:27:59 -0500, songbird <song...@anthive.com>
wrote:

For basic communications, sure. My phones tend to be amongst the most
expensive, because my priority is having a good camera, ruggedness and
long battery life. Also the ability to say, book a hotel whilst on the
move. So, I appreciate the benefits of dumbphones - but for anyone
that travels, a normal smartphone has advantages in weight saving and
convenience.

[Jeßus]

This. Obviously it's more complicated than mere 'child slavery' and
there is never any nuance involved on this topic. China could ban
child workers, then what? Westerners get all preachy but care little
beyond the more difficult questions.

[Bryan Simmons]

On Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 3:58:28 AM UTC-6, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 7:19:22 PM UTC-5, Michael Trew wrote:
> > I watched the first 15 minutes or so. This is a documentary linked
> > below about mobile phone production. Almost every mobile phone
> > component in the world comes from one of these factories in China. Over
> > half of the people working here are children under 16 years old.
> >
> > One girl who they discreetly interviewed was 13, has worked here for 4
> > months. She has to work every other night, and most days, 13 hour
> > shifts. She makes the equivalent of $180 USD per month. Only one day
> > off every 2 weeks. They sleep 8 people per "dorm" room where the
> > employees live.
> >
> > Samsung, Apple, and others have a few dollars in parts/labor into these
> > phones that they sell for as much as well over $1,000 each. Also, they
> > literally work their poor child labor to death in China. It's Just
> > something to think about when you look down at your smart phone.
> >
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxLHXHjpal8
> Certainly working conditions should be improved, and the price
> of a cell phone (Apple, in particular) needn't increase, since so
> much of the price is in its branding.
>
> However, what would that 13-year-old girl be doing if that smart phone
> factory weren't there?
>

I'm sure that John could think of some things for her to do,
but I suspect that she'd rather be assembling cell phones.
>
> Cindy Hamilton

--Bryan

[Michael Trew]

I recall her saying that her poor family pulled her from school and sent
her to work. Regardless, you are looking at this the wrong way.

I think the point of the video is more of to bring up the terrible
working conditions and low, low pay in many foreign countries... the
major cell companies could stop this, but they'd rather be that much
more rich.

> Finally, how hard did your great-great grandfather work when he was 13?
>
> Cindy Hamilton

That I don't know, but what I can say, is thank God for first-world
countries (even though you don't seem to think that the US is one),
where Children are no longer sent into a mine with a canary.

Samsung, Apple, etc. -- the companies who buy these phone parts from
China, could put pressure on them to force higher pay and better
conditions for their workers, and in turn could double, triple, or more
what they pay for the parts, which would be a small hit to their profit
margin, CEO's pay, etc. The cell companies could do better, but they
don't care.

[Michael Trew]

I have a basic AT&T landline with no features or long distance. Well, I
pay TCI Long distance 5 cents per minute, about an hour of LD per month
is billed at $5 or so; not to shabby.

I pay per minute on my cell, but I don't like it. You'll never beat the
landline reliability. If you can live without call ID, call waiting,
cut those services. I'd sooner ditch my cell than the land line.

[Michael Trew]

With no features/long distance, I pay AT&T about 41/mo for the land
line. www.tcild.com <-- I probably pay the same total as you, once you
factor in LD usage.

[Michael Trew]

Verizon has been saying since 2019 that they are shutting down 2/3G.
Remains to be seen, but they won't activate phones that aren't 4G now.
Anyone that says 5G is mandated is scamming you.

AT&T has shut down 3G and below. Sprint is part of T-Mobile now, and
T-Mobile is shutting down 3G this summer. Any 3G phone will continue to
work on 2G, which T-Mobile is shutting down at the end of 2022, but they
might extend it again. Basically all other phone companies run off of
the 3 big networks for their service in the US.

[Mike Duffy]

On Wed, 19 Jan 2022 06:26:25 +1100, Jeßus wrote:


> long battery life.

Just before support was discontinued on my analog MicroTac phone, I took
apart a run-down Ni-Cad battery pack and soldered a set of lithium (metal
NOT ion) AA batteries in place. That was to be my 10 year 911-type
emergency battery pack to keep in the car.

A few months later I was forced to by a 1X model. (I now have a 3X model.)

I can still turn on my MicroTac to hear the distinctive 'beep' and see
the 'No Service' LED light up, 20 years later.

[Alex]

We converted our landline phone to a cell phone with the same number for
that reason.  We were paying about $60 without long distance. It's
through Xfinity Mobile and costs about $15 per month with taxes.  It
uses no data since it's always on wifi.  They use the Verizon network.

[GM]

JEEZ, Gary, you are wasting your coin...

I've been using Tracfone for many years now, you can choose a monthly plan or
pay - as - you - go, which is what I do. I got a decent LG smartphone for like forty
bux...

Even with date use, I doubt I pay more than $75 or so per year for
everything... lotsa flexibility. With the money saved you could easily afford
another MISTER KITTY:

https://www.tracfone.com/

</>

[John Kuthe]

On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 8:54:18 PM UTC-6, itsjoan...@webtv.net wrote:
...

> Hey mental midget, it's just like your Duracell car, it needs to have a charge
> to work properly. If you leave it under your pc monitor and on, yes, it will
> will be dead when you go to use it. Even if it's off it will still slowly drain
> and require charging. But you can leave it on and charging at the same time.
> But as an EE engineer, you already knew this, right???
> >
> > John Kuthe, RN, BSN... ← Dunce

Leaving it on is exactly what the Surveillance Capitalists WANT YOU TO DO!

I NEVER leave my phone plugged in or turned on!

John Kuthe, RN, BSN...

[Hank Rogers]

Why don't you just throw the damn thing away?

Nobody is going to call you anyway.

[Gary]

On 1/18/2022 12:29 PM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:

> songbird wrote:
>> dumb flip phone works fine for us. about $30/mo and is
>> less than ATnT was charging for the landline.
>
> Is it 4G compatible? Rumor has it that most carriers are going
> to dismantle their 3G networks this year.

The airlines don't like it. Saw on the news that several have already
cancelled flights to airports near a 4G network.

I don't know much about it all, just the conflict. Sounds like it might
be too much of a good thing at least until that problem is fixed.

I doubt I'll ever fly again. So many flights cancelled for weather
mainly and so many people spending their holidays sitting stranded in an
airport.

Doesn't sound like a very reliable way to travel.

What's wrong with the 3G networks for phones?
I *DO* understand problem with RFC's '3 ghe ghe ghe' communications lately.

;-D

[Cindy Hamilton]

On Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 4:21:33 AM UTC-5, Gary wrote:
> On 1/18/2022 12:29 PM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> > songbird wrote:
> >> dumb flip phone works fine for us. about $30/mo and is
> >> less than ATnT was charging for the landline.
> >
> > Is it 4G compatible? Rumor has it that most carriers are going
> > to dismantle their 3G networks this year.
> The airlines don't like it. Saw on the news that several have already
> cancelled flights to airports near a 4G network.

No, they cancelled flights near a 5G network.

> I don't know much about it all, just the conflict. Sounds like it might
> be too much of a good thing at least until that problem is fixed.
>
> I doubt I'll ever fly again. So many flights cancelled for weather
> mainly and so many people spending their holidays sitting stranded in an
> airport.
>
> Doesn't sound like a very reliable way to travel.
>
> What's wrong with the 3G networks for phones?

Too slow. Not enough bandwidth. A lot of people use their phones
for stuff besides making voice calls. For example, streaming movies
(although I can't see the attraction of viewing a movie on a screen
2 inches across).

Cindy Hamilton

[Gary]

Many food places offer good deals but only by using their app on a smart
phone. I'll switch to one someday. Time to rejoin the "future."

[GM]

I often use it for Zoom or Teams for work, don't necessarily have to be tied to a computer for that... very handy...

--
GM

[GM]

I put public transit tickets on phone apps, very handy to have, don't have to fuck with separate cards/tickets...

And yeah, ordering food via apps is nifty...

--
GM

[Ed Pawlowski]

The FAA is testing the compatibility of airplane equipment with the 5G
signal. Not all have been approved yet.

The FCC approved the use of 5G but the FAA is saying there may be
problems.

Like you, no plans to fly in the near future.

[songbird]

Cindy Hamilton wrote:
...

> Is it 4G compatible? Rumor has it that most carriers are going
> to dismantle their 3G networks this year.

yes, it's ok.


songbird

[Jeßus]

On Wed, 19 Jan 2022 05:05:48 -0500, Gary <g.ma...@att.net> wrote:

Personally, I couldn't be bothered with those kind of apps. You'd end
up with too many of them... I dunno, I tend not to care about 'deals'
like that. I don't frequent those kinds of stores much.

[Bryan Simmons]

Turn ON, tune IN and drop OUT of the labor market. No PEDO
nursie jobs for pervert John.
>
> John Kuthe, RN, BSN...

--Bryan

[GM]

On Wed, 19 Jan 2022 02:14:57 -0800 (PST), GM
<gregorymorr...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 4:05:07 AM UTC-6, Gary wrote:

Uhm Yes. Ghe Ghe Ghe :)))))))))))

--
This is a post by Bruce

[Bruce]

On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 8:38:15 PM UTC-6, jwk...@bjc.org wrote:

> On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 6:19:22 PM UTC-6, Michael Trew wrote:
> > I watched the first 15 minutes or so. This is a documentary linked
> > below about mobile phone production. Almost every mobile phone
> > component in the world comes from one of these factories in China. Over
> > half of the people working here are children under 16 years old.
> >
> > One girl who they discreetly interviewed was 13, has worked here for 4
> > months. She has to work every other night, and most days, 13 hour
> > shifts. She makes the equivalent of $180 USD per month. Only one day
> > off every 2 weeks. They sleep 8 people per "dorm" room where the
> > employees live.
> >

> > Samsung, Apple, and others have a few dollars in parts/labor into these
> > phones that they sell for as much as well over $1,000 each. Also, they
> > literally work their poor child labor to death in China. It's Just
> > something to think about when you look down at your smart phone.
> >
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxLHXHjpal8

> Another reason CELL PHONES are EVIL!
>
> Mine is right now in a state of OFF and lays under my big computer monitor!
>
> I only use it when I need it! But when I went to use it the other day it had run out of Charge! The Fucker!
>
> My HOME PHONE never runs out of charge because it plugs into the house 120VAC line which is always ON!
>
> And old ATT phones were self powered! Never needed charging.
>
>
> John Kuthe, RN, BSN...