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What's the deal with dimwits who think everyone has a cell phone?

I tried to register a prepaid debit card online and could not do it because I do not have a cell phone to receive a verification code. I then tried to do it with my landline and the prerecorded speaker said to enter a cell phone number. They could have sent me the verification to my email or sent a voice code to my landline. I know they could have done those because I have received email verification codes and have seen options to receive voice codes to register other things.

Posted - October 29, 2019

Responses


  • 17364
    Be sure to let them know the problem.  I run into this myself.  I do have a cell phone but refuse to use it on any kind of registration.  I refuse for it to be a known way to contact me because it is usually turned off and in my purse.  And, on registrations, it is assumed that a cell phone is a phone on which you are interested in texting.  I don't text.  I have a landline and that is my "phone" for people to call me.  If I don't answer, leave a message on the answer machine.  And if you don't hear back within a day, it's OK.  I might not check the machine for a couple days sometimes. This post was edited by Thriftymaid at October 30, 2019 11:50 AM MDT
      October 29, 2019 8:15 PM MDT
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  • 4631
    I have a VISA debit card with my local credit union.
    I have a landline but no mobile phone.

    Never had that problem - but it might be different in Australia.
      October 29, 2019 8:50 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    How would mobiles work in Austraila if you don't live in a city....you would need a Satellite phone if you were in the middle of nowhere ? 
    On flat ground the range is only about thirty miles to a really tall mast....
      October 29, 2019 10:17 PM MDT
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  • 4631
    You guessed right, Nice Jugs.
    Mobiles are problematic in rural Australia, the more remote, the more so.
    In the early days, you could only get reception close to the country towns.
    Gradually over the last twenty years, Telstra and Optus have been extending their towers.
    But even that doesn't work too well in a hilly area like ours. People who have mobiles find the dratted things cut out in the valleys and wherever there are objects like trees or buildings between their position and a tower.
    Now the companies are trying to roll out 5G which is immensely more powerful.
    There's huge opposition from activists worried about EMR radiation -- but so far these guys have never managed to win one of these battles. The rest of the population is complacent - thinking we don't really need it because the existing coverage is adequate for most purposes.

    Out in the remote regions, people use GPS, satellites and CB radio.
      October 30, 2019 3:57 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    You get RF waves from any electrical thing that has electric motors in them like washing machines and even  electric  drills   ....
    To be honest,I don't know anymore what is safe to eat or even use as well...:( 
      October 30, 2019 4:25 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    They want everyone to have a mobile phone as it tracks your every move and records it permantly .
    In England they want to do away with cash ,so you have to pay by debit cards for every single item you buy....
    Both banks and the government want it as it give them both finite control over you....
    Once cash ceases to be legal tender.....we will loose all our independence and the bank's and government will have complete control over your finances....
    How will you pay for things if they either puts a stop on your cards .....how would you be able to buy food or fuel for your car...
    If you have a stash of cash in your home ,you still have your independence and what you choose to buy is your business and no one else's... 

    Big igs brother is here to stay....we are all excepting dictatorship by stealth ....:( 
      October 29, 2019 10:07 PM MDT
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  • 4631
    I agree that they're using all kinds of technologies to gain more power.

    In hippie circles there are systems called LETS - local exchange trading system.  
    They are not-for-profit community enterprises that provide a directory and a record of exchanges of local goods and services.
    It works almost like barter, but means the trade is centralised so each person gets exactly what they need.
    People give the item or service a value equal to standard costs. 

    In some places, they mint their own local currencies -- low key enough that authorities haven't cottoned on.
    They're sure to at some point because it allows people to get income without paying tax.
      October 30, 2019 4:07 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Get a job in Goverment and your made for life...
    Nice idea ,making and using  your own currency....how on earth could they stop people trading services for food or whatever....?  
      October 30, 2019 4:31 PM MDT
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  • 1305
    I'm not a fan of the modern world.  I can't see why they couldn't send it by email, they could just use one of the secure ways of doing so. We now have contactless payment, mobile phones, it's only a matter of time before it's a chip under our skin, because that's what the government and big businesses were really aiming for, especially after 9/11. 


    I always think of Minority Report on matters like this...



    My partner and I were joking yesterday about the invasion of privacy, I said it will get to a point that we'll go to the doctors, and not only our name will show up on the screen but what we have gone there for...."MR SMITH, HEMORRHOIDS ROOM 4." 





















    This post was edited by kjames at October 30, 2019 7:04 AM MDT
      October 30, 2019 5:08 AM MDT
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  • 195
    The debit card is a Walmart moneycard.
      October 30, 2019 9:22 AM MDT
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  • 13251
    There's an awful lot of paranoia on this string. One could just flip the script and ask, "What's the deal with dimwits who don't have cell phones?" It's 2019, and cell phones aren't going away. And that doesn't mean that someone or other is out to get you or that some horrible thing will happen to you if you have one.

    And not everyone who disagrees with or thinks differently from you, or mistakenly thinks that you've gone off the deep end, gotten a cell phone and - horrors! - actually joined us in the 21st century, is automatically deserving of an epithet such as "dimwit."
      October 30, 2019 9:42 AM MDT
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  • 2836
    Yes..It can be annoying. Technology will give one a knot in their knickers sometimes. 

    As a suggestion, try using Google Voice. It's free and you can receive SMS txts from it. You just load it on your PC after you register.
    If you are one of those who is against google, then there are other services that can do the same thing. I believe Vonage does but you will pay. You will pay big. You will pay until you bleed
      October 30, 2019 12:23 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    Because almost everyone does. When 5-year-olds have one and half the homeless, can you blame them? 
      October 30, 2019 12:25 PM MDT
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