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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

#121

Post by fragmede »

jefftk wrote: post #107
fragmede wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

There aren't enough phone numbers to make this work. There are only ~5.7B phone numbers in the NANP that can be assigned to individuals [1] and these countries have >400M people, so it's just ~14 phone numbers per person. Which works if we each have a couple, but not if we start handing out many per person. [1] 10B ten-digit numbers, less prohibited ones like area codes starting with 0 or 1, the 555 exchange, etc.

Sigh. Yes, you're right. Like IPv4 address space and private jets, it's a limited resource and it won't work the same as you can do for email addresses. Though, maybe adding an office extension number to it might work.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#122

Post by Grombobulous »

jefftk wrote: post #115
Grombobulous wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Fitbit Ace LTE is Google’s kids watch, although it wasn’t yet available when OP first bought watches.

With Google moving their smartwatch efforts to the pixel brand I'm worried about longevity here. It also has a lot of the downsides of the Gizmo: 20 contacts max, texting only through the app, can't interact with friends. If I'm going to get new ones for the kids I'll probably do a TickTalk or Cosmo that don't have these drawbacks.

I almost started talking about how I think the best solution is really just a customized/locked down normal smartphone but I’m not sure how helpful that is to the discussion.

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#123

Post by diego_moita »

karavelov wrote: post #48
diego_moita wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Since beginning of 2025 I suggest you to study the birth of consumer protection laws on the beginning of the 20th century, such as the birth of the FTC in 1914. It was a time when milk and beer were routinely adulterated, most meat was contaminated and all sorts of cartels did price fixing [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Trade_Commission_Act_o...

So what happened to FTC in 2025 that it’s not doing anymore consumer protection?

Hmm, could it possible be a change in government's policies, more friendly towards corporations? Nah, I am probably inventing conspiracy theories... /s

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#124

Post by fragmede »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #73
fragmede wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The victim is complaining that they were hurt. I seek to empower them to not be hurt further. What are you bringing to the table? Snide comments?

Your "seeking to empower" looks a lot like victim blaming in this case. Maybe if you didn't claim the problem was a mistake on the part of the victim, rather than unearned mistreatment by the carrier? Or if you provided any solutions or ways to solve the problem other than, don't do the totally normal things for which you were victimized ?

Yes I suppose my position of "Verizon is a pile of shit heads and you're an idiot for trusting them" could be been phrased better

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#125

Post by snapplebobapple »

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…

Tieing it to a real person will juat make the pressure to hack real peoples accounts much higher. Just maje a way for a user to cost them money if irs spam. Like deposit a quarter to call if no complaints for a month you get it back. If they report you youlose the quarter. Spam phonecalls gone in a month

Re: Verizon is about to break our Gizmo watches

#126

Post by jefftk »

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.

A Verizon tech called me yesterday and told me that they were not going to take Gizmohub down until they'd resolved these issues. They also walked me through getting set up, including getting me the 2FA code that was not coming through. Apparently delivery of 2FA codes to Google Fi has been an issue for them. After our call I saw that this 2FA code (but not the earlier codes) did actually come through under "Spam and Blocked", so if others are having issues I'd recommend looking there.
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