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Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

jefftk.com

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Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#91

Post by MobiusHorizons »

jitix wrote: post #42
zdw wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blocking specific service providers in this way should be made illegal. It's an abuse of market power primarily used to eliminate competition.

How is it eliminating market competition? Uber, etc don’t compete with google voice and similar services. And its a valid reason for preventing scammers. I am literally tired of scammers on every single app. I still want an open internet but I think ALL phone numbers should be tied to real human identity and geolocation. Yes, it seems dystopian but it’s no different than the time when we only had landlines with verif…

> How is it eliminating market competition?

Verizon is the company powering the service for these watches, and is the company not sending 2fa to non-Verizon customers.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#92

Post by bastawhiz »

anonymousiam wrote: post #26

So the author probably could have migrated if he hadn't used a Google Fi phone number for 2FA. Some banks and businesses (such as Uber) will detect a Google Fi or Google Voice number and not let you use them. Other businesses don't do the detection, but the 2FA texts will never arrive. Like the author, I've got some accounts that I was able to set up for 2FA using a Google account, but 2FA no longer works on them.

I've used Google Voice since it was Grand Central and switched to Fi the month it came out, and I have never experienced what you're describing.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#93

Post by fragmede »

anonymousiam wrote: post #26

So the author probably could have migrated if he hadn't used a Google Fi phone number for 2FA. Some banks and businesses (such as Uber) will detect a Google Fi or Google Voice number and not let you use them. Other businesses don't do the detection, but the 2FA texts will never arrive. Like the author, I've got some accounts that I was able to set up for 2FA using a Google account, but 2FA no longer works on them.

switching to voice calls seems to help.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#94

Post by fragmede »

jitix wrote: post #54
LPisGood wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why platform providers should not be the primary rule makers; there is a fundamental problem of incentives.

Its a market positioning thing. I will pay platforms that reduce my daily friction over those that don’t. You may not. The overall market sentiment will determine which companies win. I’m saying this as someone who moved 100% off of public cloud storage recently and who has self hosted my own email from 2010 to 2017. Phone numbers is one thing where I want less privacy. I personally can vet but it’s still super annoy…

that hack I've wanted to do is to set up myself as a phone company and then be able to give out different phone numbers to different people so that if only one person has that phone number than I know where that phone number got leaked from. if it is being handled digitally and everything gets forwards, calls to 0001 are from my family, 0002 is friends 0003 is work, 0004 and up are given to each business that wants to contact me. If 0042 gets called by a company that isn't the one I signed up 0042 with, then I know their database leaked.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#95

Post by snowwrestler »

anonymousiam wrote: post #26

So the author probably could have migrated if he hadn't used a Google Fi phone number for 2FA. Some banks and businesses (such as Uber) will detect a Google Fi or Google Voice number and not let you use them. Other businesses don't do the detection, but the 2FA texts will never arrive. Like the author, I've got some accounts that I was able to set up for 2FA using a Google account, but 2FA no longer works on them.

Nah, this is not correct. The Gizmo watches work fine with the GizmoHub app, but not the new Verizon Family app. You have to authenticate in both apps.

I have Verizon service and use a Google Voice number as my MFA and it has worked fine for many years: in the GizmoHub app, in the Verizon website, and in the My Verizon app. The only place I can’t properly authenticate is the new Verizon Family app. They just screwed up that new app.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#96

Post by [deleted] »

Melatonic wrote: post #30
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago, I signed up for an Apple Watch eSIM plan (which is a special type of eSIM plan that Apple make cell carriers agree to offer as an add-on to a normal cell subscription for your iPhone, and there is no other way go get an eSIM for it). I then started regularly receiving phone calls (to my iPhone) intended for someone else. At first I thought it was a wrong number or an old number and kept telling them…

Or opportunity for fun Surprises you didn't give that secret number out - could have been fun for yourself (or your close friends or family) to be able to call direct. I wonder if you could even use it for texts or notifications that only go to the watch ?

[deleted]

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#97

Post by sulam »

hansvm wrote: post #60
sulam wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The body both absorbs RF, meaning there has to be a safe absorption rate (SAR) and creates impedance with it. It also creates radio shadows. What’s more, larger individuals have more of this effect. At Fitbit there was a guy who I’ll refer to only by his first name — Tim — who was our first port of call for whether or not our prototypes were getting the job done, RF-wise. He was a very large human. (proportionally sp…

I've found my calling. Is this "Tim" role open now that he's left?

Fitbit is owned by Google now — are you sure you want that job? ;)

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#98

Post by jefftk »

Grombobulous wrote: post #37
teliskr wrote: post #19

I have a verizon watch only account. I was able to get the new app working, but it was a struggle. I think it worked on the 3rd or 4th attempt. I had to start over and lost all of the contacts that were connected to the watch. Fortunately, there were only a few. Overall, the Gizmo watch has been nice to have, but it leaves a lot to be desired. It's surprising that there are not better products in this market segment.

The Apple Watch isn’t a better product? https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-for-your-kids/

Not an option, unfortunately, since my wife and I are both on Android.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#99

Post by jefftk »

Grombobulous wrote: post #36

I hate to blame the victim here, but anyone in the 2020s buying a carrier-branded piece of cellular hardware should have expected this sort of thing. We already learned this lesson back in the days before the iPhone when phones had carrier logos printed on them and GPS apps cost $5/month. Apple Watch Kids Mode is what you want. If the watches cost too much grab a used one. The author complained about the high price i…

Apple watch only works if a parent has an iPhone, and we're both on Android.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#100

Post by jefftk »

corpoposter wrote: post #58
Barrin92 wrote: post #57

"Without the app we won't be able to text back and forth, see where they are, or add new contacts (the watch blocks calls except to/from contacts)." "Our older two kids, Lily and Anna, are ten and eight, and are mature enough that they're able to cross streets and handle unusual situations. They can go to the park or a nearby friends house on their own, but we do need to know where they are" "Meet Gizmo Watch 3, the…

Seems like you are getting caught up on the watch form-factor. If you think of it as a stripped down cell phone for a kid you don't want to have a cell phone yet, this product makes perfect sense.

Definitely! But the form factor is really important: since it's strapped to their wrist they don't lose it. Classmates with phone-shaped phones seem to loose theirs a lot.
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