Help comes

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

To be fair, things are not all that hopeless in the cyber and mobile front, as I might have sounded in my last two columns – the one on having two phones and four lines, and the other on applications that clog our windows.

Readers were fast and quick in sending their suggestions and comments, and I thought it is worthwhile to discuss some of them here.

Online reader N, who said he always makes sure to read all the entries in the opinion section of the DAILY STAR online, sent me a private message on Facebook and it was perhaps the one most useful reaction, zeroing in on my problem with the precision of a laser light.

“I will be quick,” he said. “Regarding your column today on apps, you can actually disable all of them and game invites. Just click your privacy setting, then turn off all apps and games invites. You will never receive any invite from there on.”

As simple as that. And to think, poor me has been languishing in cyberspace trying to think of ways and means to lessen the problem of these computer applications thickening our traffic lines. I thought there was no way out, and here was the solution, as easy as one click.

Several other readers who have texted, PMed and emailed me to commiserate with my problem with these apps would benefit from N’s suggestion. I haven’t tried it yet, however, because knowing how such a dill I am when it comes to computers, I always proceed with caution when I am in cyberspace. But Good Friend D, the computer whiz, said its okay to proceed disabling the apps because in case you want them back, you can enable them back. We’ll see.

And then there’s the matter with my phones services. I am a heavy mobile user, yes, and like a drug addict or alcoholic, I do not want to disclose how much I used to pay for phone services. But it was that bad, and I thought I’d try to take advantage of the “unli” promos of the telcos and save money.

Savings I got, sure, but that came with having to juggle calls with two phones and four lines, a lot of wasted time and even frayed nerves, threatened friendships and near-loss of jobs.

In fact, I am now at the point when I am reviewing the wisdom of having to use two dual-sim phones and stressing myself in making sure that when I call, I do use the same telco line so I can talk unli without pushing the cost too high.

Well, Good Friend J has a suggestion: Try Cherry Mobile Q70. It has four SIMS in one unit. It has a numeric code for each telco so you'd know which is which and allows you to select which SIM to use in replying.

This costs less than P3K, he said, and has a TV but no cable. This sounds interesting, J, but I recall I had also used a Cherry with three SIMs and the experience wasn’t all that nice. In fact, I had already passed on the unit to a niece who had in turn passed it on to somebody else. The problem stays on but it isn’t such a hopeless case now – maybe, there are others out there who have more suggestions.

As to the services of the telcos, you really can feel they are in such intense competition they are all trying to bolster their relevance in our lives. In fact, I think, they are moving in the direction when things will eventually be designed according to each of our needs, so that we will all have individualized plans and unique services.

I sure hope they’d do that fast – and make sure things are kept within reasonable costs.*

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