I had been using my sister's "pay as you go" phone but forgot to add money to it before the minutes expired and cannot seem to do so now.

My brother is having issues with figuring out how to get a Covid shot and ID theft. He had no cell phone and doesn't use a computer. Today he went to a T-Mobile store and set us up with some "budget" smart phones. (Sorry Marian.) I have been watching videos which are of no use to me since they all seem to think I understand what they are talking about. I have been going back and forth between the phone and the manual with my magnifying glass (can't see either without it) and getting nowhere. Somehow after moving my fingers around on the screen for about 10 minutes I managed to call my brother but am not sure how (and he did not answer, not knowing who could/would be calling him). I could not duplicate my actions. Then he called me and I didn't know how to answer it.

Hoping somebody can get a laugh out of this!

I definitely got a laugh out of this! Not only because of your apology to me, but your last few sentences sound exactly like what would happen to me in the same situation.

oldbroad, I hate learning new tech! My phone is about the only thing I have a handle on! I have lots of other gadgets gathering dust!

I hear you oldbroad, even though I am great with computers, well Smart phones are another story, I keep messing things up, maybe they come out with an "Idiot phone" for people like myself.

I can build you a computer, but I loathe cell phones! That's what I tell anyone who needs help with a cell phone! Starcom, they actually DO have Idiot Phones AKA old people phones!

Hi Draclvr, do these old people phones! come equipped with a young person who does the dialing, scrolling, etc. for us?

Part of what made me decide it might be time to try to learn how to use a Smart phone is because of more places going cashless, such as Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team). You now need a smart phone to get in and to buy food there. However, in two of the videos I watched, I am under the impression that this particular phone is not capable of that anyway (though I may have mis-understood what I heard).

I didn't intend to actually go anyplace cashless but would like to know how to and have the capability of doing so if I have to.

Hi again oldbroad, from what I read you can also use other Cashless methods to pay for your tickets , food, etc. Below is an excerpt from the Link below the excerpt.

Wrigley Field will be cashless for all purchases in 2021. Payment can include a credit card, debit card or mobile wallet. Reverse ATMs will be available for fans to convert cash to a card that can be used for purchases at Wrigley Field and elsewhere.

https://www.mlb.com/cubs/ballpark/information/guide

Thanks for that link Starcom. My understanding of what I had read, was that you had to have a Smart phone to be scanned (your ticket I guess) into the ballpark and order your food via your smart phone. I don't know how it all works.

https://abc7chicago.com/sports/cubs-unveil-new-touchless-entry-system-at-wrigley-field/10445012/

Whatever the exact method of payment is, it still sounds like you need a smartphone to do it.

My phone has "no NFC for mobile payments or boarding passes" (quote from PC Magazine review). Personally, I have no idea whatsoever what this means!!

I guess you need that MLB Ballpark app and to know how to scan (which I do not).

I am sure their must a Youngster in your family or your area that can help you with the download of the app. And then they can teach you how to use it. Learning how to use an app is not the Hard part for me, it is the D"$n Clicking on it or the aiming of it, Grrrrrrr..
Anyway, good luck and there must be a way to purchase a ticket, I am sure you could do it Online, then print your ticket and when you get to the booth, you put the barcode on the scanner, I know this works for other functions which I used in the past like hockey games, concerts, etc.

Thanks Starcom. I'm not really planning any trips to the ballpark although I used to enjoy going once in a while. It's just the fact that more places are going this route now, especially since this pandemic hit.

I have no youngsters in the family to teach me any of this. I have a young friend in a neighboring state who I emailed some questions to. I also don't have a working printer and wouldn't know anything about "the scanner".
Maybe I will learn something though by fiddling around and from my friend. Keep in mind though, that after almost 10 years of my sister's flip phone, I still had trouble making calls on IT!!

When I tell callers (to my landline) or folk at websites that I don't use a mobile phone, there is usually a shocked silence

But mostly I do then get informed of other ways I can make contact or be contacted.

However, what beats me the most is why so many people seems to feel the need to walk round with a mobile phone glued to their ear in whatever situation or location they might be - and for every minute of the day !!

On top of which, the whole world gets to hear their conversations .... whether they want to or not

Guess I'm just too old fashioned for words, huh ??

I agree with you Mad, I have a cell phone but I use if for car travel emergencies and limited contact. When companies, business, etc. ask me if I have a cell phone # I tell them I don't have one because I know they will use that #, so I tell them they can contact me on my landline. A pain in the buttocks. Now people don't even bother talk to each other ... they just like to text, text, text and on and on back and forth, wouldn't it be just quicker to phone?
Nah, too simple and too Old fashioned, yup, put me in the Old Geezer Category.

oldbroad, I don't live that far from you. If you send me phone model, info, I can figure it out and teach you.

Also, You Tube is good for this. You can usually find a video on You Tube if you put the model in search and perhaps the words how to work... I watched videos when I first got my iphone.. I do better with visuals.

Mad and Starcom, I agree completely. I will not get rid of my landline and I really don't talk much to anybody. Just need the cell phones as a back up because that is the way the world is going. I may try to call an old friend of mine who lives in Florida. I could not call her before because I don't have long distance service on my landline. And my friend in Indiana maybe. My friend in Chicago will continue to be talked to on the landline. That actually covers half of my friends .

I really never cared for people sitting next to me on the bus yakking away on their phone while I was trying to read and relax after a miserable day at work. And I agree talking seems quicker and easier than texting.

Ana, that is nice of you but I think I just need to figure it out myself or it will go in one ear and out the other.

Winfrey, I've been watching but most of the videos seem to assume you are familiar with a cell phone, just maybe not a particular phone. When they say, push the "this" button or the "that" button, I don't know what buttons those are. Or to adjust "this or that", I don't know what the "this or that" is that I'm adjusting. I have that problem with games that have too many options. I don't know what all those options are or mean so I never adjust them. The only game adjustments I like are for volume control and captioning, and with the captioning I can't always tell if it's on or off until I get into the game.

One part of a video I was watching was showing how to change "waking the phone up". I kept pausing the video here and there to try stuff. This part showed what to do so you can just tap the phone two times instead of pushing the button on the side. I find that button awkward to use so I tried this two tap thing. It works only sometimes though, at least for me?? I don't know.

Ah oldbroad, so good to see that I am not the only who curses at this Tap this or double tap this or the Bleep the Bleep bleep.... Swipe, Argh!!!!, are you kidding me, when people see me doing this Swipe thing in the Grocery store they think that I am trying to kill a fly. I really miss my good old Flip phone, no fuss no muss, just flip, dial and talk, finished? close the flip phone and done.

The worst part is that my brother paid double at T-Mobile than what I was going to pay for both the plan and phones at Consumer Cellular, and we are both already considering this a waste of money and time. He tried using it for something he was needing to do and still had issues - not from the phone itself, but from the other end of the call. They are proving to be useless to us so far. I still cannot make a call the same way two times in a row. One time I do it and the next time I do the same exact thing and something else happens. I am so not cut out for this digital stuff. I was either born too early or too late, not sure which!

I actually "fibbed" about not owning a mobile.
I DO have one.
However, it's the most basic of basics and is only switched on when I am out driving somewhere - so I can call family or emergency services if I need to
And no-one but family members have the number

That's how I feel it should be Mad!

Thought I was making progress but NOPE! It all seems to be gone now .

Can't figure it out?

Well, that thing where I should be able to tap the phone instead of use the button to wake it up still almost never works. I don't know why they ask you to "deny" or "accept" everything because if you deny everything, which I did at first since I don't know what any of it is, then the phone won't work. You pretty much HAVE to accept everything so why are you given a choice?

I did finally get it set up including creating a Google account. Then several days ago I put 5 or 6 "contacts" in there. I was trying to figure out how to use them. They were there for those several days. Today, POOF! They're gone. I did, however, manage to dial some number while on "video call" and couldn't figure out how to hang up and get out of it. But, I do know how to dial a number so I can use it.

Such fun!

You gotta love technology, oldbroad!

My husband is a Ph.D. and the smartest person I know, but he cannot get the hang of his phone. If all goes well he can use it to make and take calls, but if by accident he changes a setting or if it updates and something changes, he's completely at sea. I usually have to set it all up for him again.

A younger friend of ours was shocked to see that there were no apps on my husband's phone and added a few that he thinks are essential, but they'll sit unused, for sure.