Google Pay and NFC

Thank you

 

A lot of devices want NFC and/or blue tooth switched on to communicate. Personally I see them as a battery drain and security issue and therefore switch them off if ever activated by something (e.g. speakers being set-up). Then again I do the same with wifi.

 

Agree we are being pushed to more and more Online services, so we need to know how to minimise the risks.
Equally some of the services /reminders you can get on the smart phones such as flu and covid jabs and appointment reminders can be very helpful.

NFC is a very short range communcation method between your smart phone and the shops 'till' handset, but the cheaper smart phone may not have that feature, so you need to check which ones do have it.

 

Again not quiet sure what you mean there, though as @Jiffy highlights we do need to keep up with the modern tech but being very careful as we go , otherwise we can fall too far behind !

Banking does seem a dilemma as the banks say their phone apps are more secure than using the laptop, but we do not find it easy using the phones small screen and virtual keyboard.

 

I don't use any of the phone apps to pay for things, talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.
I still use credit and debit cards.

 

It's only threads like this one is where i get to learn about things (modern tec) yes i'm one that has fell behind and some things are so hard to do, i've only just got a cheap smart phone but i'm only using it for calls and texts, wouldn't know what to do in setting it up for any form of banking payments etc, to many big works used so i like basic words

 

Well in a way thats part of the reason we are looking at this NFC method, if we were mugged and /or our cards /wallet pinched or lost, at least we could still have the smart phone to pay with, though the card used by the smart phone would not one we would also carry in our pocket / wallet.

 

Well we could keep this thread going to cover any such points /problems folk like us come up against, its second nature to many, so sure they will come and help if we cannot work things out.

Can we ask what make and model phone you have, so we can see what features it has that you could make use of, eg NFC, 4G / 5G
Ours is a 5g model and surpised that when we did a mobile speed test its actually faster than our fibre home connection ! eg 170mb vs 100mb fibre connection.

 

Sorry for being so vague @ricky101 , but I think we are sleepwalking into a potential future whereby some bot can target people based on information we already have online. Put these things together with a list of bank accounts and away you go. Hopefully the "not so bad guys" come up with a way of protecting us all.
Often I thought it would be handy having the card on the mobile, just in case we forget to bring money, but I’ll wait awhile to see where this is all going and learn to remember the money bags for now.

 

5g depends where you are at the time and it's not likely consent 170. Your fibre will be more stable and likely only vary at peak times (never seen our do so). If you access 5g from the house and get that, it could well be worth using.

 

The reason I use credit/debit cards is because I can cancel them instantly on the bank app if I need to.
Admittedly if I lose the phone and the cards I'm then into calling the bank, but I think phones are pretty high on the local muggers list these days.

My phone is not set up to buy anything in stores.

 

Think most phone thefts are from folk standing in the street taking phone calls or pictures, sad to say , but its really an open invitation in todays semi lawless society.

 

Do you stand in the street looking in your wallet at your credit cards.
I dont but if the phone beeps I might just have a quick look at it, its mostly down to being aware as to what is going on around you and where you are.

A card is easier, I've seen these people fiddling around with their phones at supermarket checkouts, just not for me.

 

Be hopes they don't start taking your finger as well!