74 18 Sept - 1 Oct 2019 Do you agree? Let us know [email protected]
put through to the old boy’s phone.
Google Home is even more impressive
in this regard, because it can call
numbers you don’t know. If you tell
Google to call the Ask restaurant in
Lewes, for example, it wi ll look upthe
number and put
you through. It’s
like Directory
Enquirie s, except
you don’t needto
remortgage your
house to pay for it
first.
Call quality via
both Alexa and Google Assistant is
decent and reliable (Alexa slightly more
so, in my experience), and you can tell
both services your mobile phone
numberso that when you call friends
and family, your name – rather than
“Unkno wn caller” – pops up ontheir
mobile screen.
The only downsi des are that you’re
completely snookeredif the company
you’re calling has one of th ose “press 1Barry Collins finds the best way to make
calls is to avoid the phone altogether
Page 404
for sales” switchboar ds, and you feel a
bit of a plumsaying “Alexa, end call”
when you’ve finished your conversation- it’s normally best to let the other
person hang upfirst.
The Amazon and Google options will
deal with most outgoing call scenarios,
but what about incomingcalls? Here,
I’m working on a Heath Robinson
solution. Skype lets you buy UK
numbers at a relatively modest cost of a
fiver a month, so I can divert all my
mobile calls to that number andpick up
my incomingmobile calls on Skype,
without worrying too much that the call
will dropafter five seconds.
The prob lem with this approach?
Skype itself, which has an uncanny
knack of ringing every device except the
one you actually want to pick up the call
from. This leads to hilarious scenarios
where I find myself pressing an iPadto
my ear. Yes – it looks ridiculous, but it’s
still nowhere near as ridiculous asthe
Crystal Palace-sized mast Nicky Morgan
wants to erec t in my back garden.
5G signalsstandasmuch
chance of passing through trees,
walls and other obstaclesas
I do of passing through
a Pirelli calendar auditionI
s that the EiffelTower I can see from
my bedroom window in Sussex? My
mistake, it’s a 5G phone mast. Orat
least it will be, if thisweek’s Digital
Secretary, Nicky Morgan, gets herway.
Morgan has launched a “consultat ion”- government jargon for something
they’r e going to do anyway, but want to
make it look like they’r e listening – that
will eventually allow mobile operators to
build mast s talle r than 25m. Bigger
mast s meansignals that stretch further,
meaning us out here in the boondocks
might stand a fighting chance of getting
a decent mobile signal without having
to lean out of th e loft skylight.
That’s the theory, anyway. The truth
is that 5G signals stand as much chance
of passing through trees, walls and
other obstacles asI do of passing
through a Pirelli calendar audition.
With 4G nothing but a rumour in these
parts, I’m not holdingmy brea th for 5G.
In fact, I’m beginning to give up onthe
‘phone’altogether.
I’ve tried several means of boosting
my pathetic
signal. I’ve
switched
mobile
networks,
switched
handsets,
switched on BT
Mobile’s risible
Wi-Fi Calling service. The latter made
yoghur t pots and string sound like
Dolby Cinema.
The best solution I’ve found is to av oid
the phone – full stop.They don’t shout
about it a grea t deal, but both Amazon
Echo and Google Home speakers al low
you to make free mobile and landline
calls over the Wi-Fi network. You say
“Alexa, ring Dad’s mobile” and after a
couple of seconds of th inkin g, you get Illust
ra
tion
:Andr
ew
To
rr
ens
Why you don’t
need 5G – or a phone