On Mar 13, 2024, at 10:19?PM, Christopher Collins <maclist@...> wrote:

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On 14 Mar 2024, at 11:58?am, jimrobertson via groups.io <jimrobertson@...> wrote:

On Mar 13, 2024, at 2:19?PM, JAMES ROBERTSON <jimrobertson@...> wrote:

Looking to inform my decision as to whether I should change carriers (particularly thinking about the fairly dramatic reduction in home internet access charges I might garner from going back to T-Mobile, I visited their website, where my initial reading was encouraging:

On their website, it’s made?

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On Mar 13, 2024, at 3:20?PM, jimrobertson via groups.io <jimrobertson@...> wrote:

?Last week I was the almost wounded target of a “social engineering” cell-network enabled bank fraud attack. (A text message identified itself as originating from my Credit Union’s fraud detection department and asked me to verify a round-number withdrawal attempt from my checking account, originating from the VERY popular vacation destination of Orlando, FL). I was asked simply to provide a “Y or N” response as to whether the access attempt was valid.

I answered “N” but the social engineering bit was typical (far away from anywhere I’d been, yet VERY popular).

This message came to me almost immediately after I terminated “Airplane Mode” on return from a 3 day trip. It was followed by another, announcing that an employee from the bank would reach out to me and that I’d be asked by another text (allegedly originating from the Credit Union’s fraud protection department) to confirm my intention to block my account from further criminal access. Of course, what happened next was that the perpetrator of this fraud tried to convince me of the vital importance of providing my bank account username to the “automated system,” and of course HE blew his opportunity by behaving like a crook when that request raised my own fraud detection antennae.

However, the incident also made me wonder whether I still had the best cell network provider for general purposes. I changed from T-mobile to Spectrum about a year ago primarily to obtain 5G access, at a time EACH of the major providers was claiming THEIR 5G implementation was best, while that little bit of Left Upper Corner iPhone Screen real estate rarely presented a “5G” logo to me in my daily wanderings.

That remains partly true where I most often wander (in downtown and neighboring out-of-town Bozeman, MT. Spectrum made the most aggressive assertions as being first with the best, but now I’m still on LTE at my home and anywhere outside the core downtown area. Additionally, having read up a bit regarding John Hay’s suggestion that my 2FA security might be enhanced by activating a second eSIM on my iPhone 14 Pro to provide a private number used NEVER for outgoing calls but used EXCLUSIVELY for reception of 2FA codes, I went to my local Spectrum Store to inquire about doing that. At the store, I confirmed several things:

1. Spectrum’s year-ago promise of first-to-offer 5G at my home remains unfulfilled.
2. Spectrum’s promise of superior spam blocking is fallacious (not only that, but the company says it does not work with Robokiller, identified as THE most popular spam blocker downloadable from the iOS App Store). And, I would guess that at the moment well over 50% of my few dozen daily spam calls arrive with the checkmark imprimatur that claims Spectrum regards them as valid phone numbers!
3. If I DID decide to add a private second number on my iPhone, Spectrum cannot facilitate THAT (I’d have to get the second number from another carrier, and the first I checked (Verizon) says they would not PERMIT it—I’d have to be their exclusive customer in order to activate both eSIM slots on my phone.

Then, I wandered down Main Street to T-Mobile, who had readily confessed to being late to the 5G party in Bozeman a year ago when I WAS their customer, but who NOW claim to have superior 5G penetration (thanks to an infrastructure partnership with ATT) locally, AND deals that would get both my wife hardware upgrades “on us” (meaning them, of course), she from a 13 Pro and I from a 14 Pro). AND, they claimed, better internet service at the fastest possible download rates for home internet with a free router from them (I’m suspicious of that claim, since the service is over the cell network)!

Changing carriers back to T-Mobile MIGHT make things better, but the math says my monthly outlay for service (2 iPhones, 2 cell-activated watches, AND home internet with included streaming from a few providers) would total more than I’m paying now.

Looking to inform my decision as to whether I should change carriers (particularly thinking about the fairly dramatic reduction in home internet access charges I might garner from going back to T-Mobile, I visited their website, where my initial reading was encouraging:

T-Mobile Completes STIR/SHAKEN with ALL Major Carriers to Help Protect Customers from Scams and Spam

March 25, 2021

5 min read

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
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• What’s the news:?T-Mobile is the first US wireless provider to work with all other major networks – including those with slower 5G networks (which is all of them) – to implement STIR/SHAKEN to fight number spoofing and further protect customers from scammers. With these partnerships, T-Mobile now authenticates calls with wireless and network providers that collectively represent around 98% of wireless customers in the U.S.

• Why it matters:?Scam calls are returning to pre-pandemic levels as scammers return to call centers across the globe. T-Mobile leads the industry in protecting customers from scam and unwanted robocalls, but wireless companies must work together to authenticate calls coming across networks and help stop these scammers in their tracks.

Then I looked at the date of this press release (right AFTER my B-day in 2021), which MUCH diminished its credence in my view, because T-Mobile’s press release said it was a partly a partnership with Spectrum/Charter (my current 2024?carrier) that was making that superior spam protection possible!.

Still, T-Mobile DOES offer promised 5G cell service at my home where my Spectrum coverage is only LTE and averages only 2 bars of 4G LTE coverage at the moment.

Looks like it’s worth another trip to the nearest T-Mobile store!

Anyone have advice for the technically challenged?

--?
Jim Robertson

On Mar 13, 2024, at 15:31, Louise Stewart <veggie236.art@...> wrote:

?I just had my Mac upgraded from Mojave to Sonoma. The tech at Microcenter told me I now have LOTS of space on the computer but just now these popped up. The 2024 ID must have appeared with the upgrade and I didn’t know that it and 2021 were both open so I quit both. I’m truly a tech ignoramus and don’t understand any of this. I thought that my 8 GB of memory could be upgraded but the tech told me it can’t. Can it?

Louise (Creative but not techie at all)








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On Mar 13, 2024, at 3:25?PM, jimrobertson via groups.io <jimrobertson@...> wrote:

On Mar 13, 2024, at 1:56?PM, Bev in TX via groups.io <countryone77@...> wrote:

Others don’t need to use your Apple ID. ?You can share files and folders on iCloud Drive

Thanks for that. A quick read of the linked article suggests to me that it’s still quite limiting if I’m wanting to create an electronic document and then distribute it to different people at different times, because I’m not “giving” them the document, I’m only “sharing” it. So, for example, if my iCloud drive becomes the default storage location for documents created in Word, Excel, or Photos, or even for quite public PDFs obtained from commercial sources, no one not IN my Apple ID will be able to READ those documents except by me “sharing” them individually.

That seems FAR too limiting to be my default way of working, unless I’m missing something.

On 13 Mar 2024, at 22:36, jimrobertson via groups.io <jimrobertson@...> wrote:

On Mar 13, 2024, at 3:57?PM, David G Brooks via groups.io <davidandtrishab@...> wrote:

Forgive me if I’m missing something, Jim, but if you wish to distribute items, why not simply distribute a copy of them as attachments to an email message?

The originals may remain on your computer and/or your iCloud.

David, that’s exactly the essence of my original question; i.e.,?if I turn on “advanced data protection” for any document that finds its way into or onto my iCloud drive, does that compromise or terminate my ability to distribute that same file to others except by “sharing” it? In other words, if I compose an email message to someone, then click the paper clip to attach it to an email composed in Apple’s (or any 3rd party) email app, does the recipient receive a readable file, or instead receive just encoded gibberish? THAT’s what’s unclear to me.

--?
Jim Robertson

On 13 Mar 2024, at 20:25, jimrobertson via groups.io <jimrobertson@...> wrote:

On Mar 13, 2024, at 1:56?PM, Bev in TX via groups.io <countryone77@...> wrote:

Others don’t need to use your Apple ID. ?You can share files and folders on iCloud Drive

Thanks for that. A quick read of the linked article suggests to me that it’s still quite limiting if I’m wanting to create an electronic document and then distribute it to different people at different times, because I’m not “giving” them the document, I’m only “sharing” it. So, for example, if my iCloud drive becomes the default storage location for documents created in Word, Excel, or Photos, or even for quite public PDFs obtained from commercial sources, no one not IN my Apple ID will be able to READ those documents except by me “sharing” them individually.

That seems FAR too limiting to be my default way of working, unless I’m missing something.

Still, thanks for the link!

--?
Jim Robertson

On 13 Mar 2024, at 21:19, Tony M via groups.io <nyrngrz@...> wrote:

All of a sudden, when the VirusBarrier Scanner is scanning my MBP, it is taking a very long time to complete the scan. Any ideas why that would happen?

Tony M