== 2026-08-17 Monday ==

I've mentioned elsewhere my hope that once I finally retire from
work and no longer need to be contactable 24/7/365 I'll be able to
disconnect myself from being tethered to a smartphone.

I've had a dumbphone as a backup for a few years - something I can
slip a SIM card into should my smartphone get damaged or break.

It's a CAT B30, with dual SIM cards and 3G / GSM technology.

I've used it a few times and occasionally try to ditch a smartphone
and rely on it totally - but that's always a shortlived experiment
that ends in frustration. I always come to the sad conclusion that
in today's world of work and freelancing, with relying on other
people to offer work, that a smartphone is necessary.

So, until the happy day that I can walk away I'll have to keep the
smartphone.

But.... I'm still interested in using a dumbphone for "normal life"
so I've charged up the CAT B30. Put a Pay-as-you-Go SIM card in and
bought £10 of credit.

We don't use 'phones as 'phones any more - apparently - and looking
for a SIM deal that just provided plain voice and SMS, without a
huge Data Plan was almost impossible. 

ALmost all the PAYG SIMs expect you to use up the data within a
month and then top-up. Any remaining data and call credit etc.
vanishes each month and forces you to top-up again...!

I found GiffGaff (in the UK) have a simple "no plan, plan" whereby
your credit doesn't time-out, as long as you make a call/send a SMS
once in 6 months. That makes much more sense for a phone that I
don't WANT to be "online" and in use continuousl. I just want to be
able make/take phone calls and send/receive simple SMS texts. 

Like the olde days.

So that's what I've done. Got a £10 PAYG top-up on GiffGaff.
GiffGaff Uses the O2 cell-network in the UK.

I plan occasionally to divert all calls to my smartphone's number
to my Dumb-phone and turn the smartphone off. I can still be
reached for work. And if necesary can turn the smartphone back
on...if I need internet access for work purposes.

Despite de-googling and (long ago) deleting Facebook I still find I
"need" Whatsapp for both work and for my small bunch of local
friends who expect to be able message via Whatsapp. 

Once I'm free of the work-related need to be on Whatsapp I'll think
seriously about ditching that, too. Even if it means disconnecting
from my small social online circle. It's all people I see face to
face regularly anyway, and WA can easily be replaced with SMS
should a text message be necessary.

I miss the days when you weren't intimately and continuously up to
date with everyone. Why do we need to be instanly reachable 24/7?

I've put the new Dumb Phone number on the gopher site's "About this
server" page - it anyone fancies a chat, or dropping an SMS. Old
School...

it's +44 7599 383176

Cheers,

J