Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: LC0112G on 23 October 2021, 13:04:57
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Anyone have any good recommendations of a service to allow me to setup a virtual mobile phone number?
I need something that allows me to give the NHS (useless twonks) a 'mobile number' so that they can text me an activation code for the Covid Pass. The text message then needs to be forwarded to my email address, so I can see the activation code and enter it on their web page.
I don't want or need a mobile phone. I don't want or need to be able to receive or make phone calls. I just need an 07 number that will forward texts to my EMAIL address. I've tried a few free ones, but the NHS service appears to be blocking them.
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Just join the 21st century Malc & get a mobile 0h9ne ::) ;D
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God forbid.
Buy a £20 second hand phone from CEX or similar, cash if it matters, then buy a 99p sim card from a shop and add a fiver credit to it. Again cash if it matters.
Do what you need to do, then microwave it... 5 mins should do ::)
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Unfortuntley, the 'burner phone' approach isn't going to work. It appears the NHS app only issues QR codes that are valid for 30 days. You can log in daily and download a new code which is valid for another 30 days, but even on the web interface it wants to text you a new verification code every time you log in.
I've come across other similar sites, but you can usually put in a landline number and our landlines at work will read out text messages to that land line as though they were phone calls. This works Ok. However the NHS system seems hardwired to only accept "07" 'phone numbers, so the works landlines aren't accepted.
So the only way I can see of getting it to work is to effectively 'assign' an 07 mobile number to an EMAIL address, and then read the email.
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Just join the 21st century Malc & get a mobile 0h9ne ::) ;D
that was obviously 'PHONE' .... fat fingers! ::)
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Just join the 21st century Malc & get a mobile 0h9ne ::) ;D
that was obviously 'PHONE' .... fat fingers! ::)
No thanks - I'm quite happy here in the 18th century 8)
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Just join the 21st century Malc & get a mobile 0h9ne ::) ;D
that was obviously 'PHONE' .... fat fingers! ::)
No thanks - I'm quite happy here in the 18th century 8)
exactly why are you opposed to a mobile phone? :-\
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Just join the 21st century Malc & get a mobile 0h9ne ::) ;D
that was obviously 'PHONE' .... fat fingers! ::)
No thanks - I'm quite happy here in the 18th century 8)
exactly why are you opposed to a mobile phone? :-\
I'm not opposed to mobile phones. I'm opposed to ALL phones. It's the expectation of people that they can contact you at any hour of the day or night and dump their sh1t on you. I take the phone off the hook at work on a Friday afternoon. I don't allow people to ask me to do stuff in the last 3 hours of the working week when they suddenly realise something that they should have realised on Monday/Tuesday. Your oversight will not become my emergency.
And reps/suppliers. If the appointment is for (say) 10AM then I expect you there between 09:45 and 10:15. If you phone saying you're going to be late then tough - Book another appointment for another day, and arrive on time. The mobile phone does not give you and excuse to be late. And if you answer your mobile phone on an unrelated matter whilst in a meeting with me then you're allowed to complete the call - and escorted off site.
I've been in buildings with mobile phone detectors/jammers, and I wish they were more widely available. I've also seen first hand some of the stuff GCHQ & other agencies can do, much of which they try very hard to keep out of the public domain.
Back to the point, I have no problem with the NHS offering a service for Android/iPhones for those that want to use it. But what is the point of offering an internet service that can only be accessed via a mobile phone?
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I've been in buildings with mobile phone detectors/jammers, and I wish they were more widely available. I've also seen first hand some of the stuff GCHQ & other agencies can do, much of which they try very hard to keep out of the public domain.
Back to the point, I have no problem with the NHS offering a service for Android/iPhones for those that want to use it. But what is the point of offering an internet service that can only be accessed via a mobile phone?
I think the first sentence above answers your question Malc! ;)
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Seems like these people would do what you want (based on a 30s read) via their netmessenger app, but for a price.
The cost seems exorbitant to me vs just getting a phone and not giving the number to anyone (or even blocking all incoming calls/texts other than the NHS number) but hey, they're your principles not mine. :y
https://fastsms.co.uk (https://fastsms.co.uk)
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Bizarre that someone would use the Internet for forums and sharing information but won't entertain a mobile incase THEY track him ::)
Good luck travelling without documentation on a phone/QR codes etc.
Have read, in preparation for my escape, that printed docs aren't being accepted in certain situations due to TCV transmission. :-\
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Bizarre that someone would use the Internet for forums and sharing information but won't entertain a mobile incase THEY track him ::)
Good luck travelling without documentation on a phone/QR codes etc.
Have read, in preparation for my escape, that printed docs aren't being accepted in certain situations due to TCV transmission. :-\
It's real. It's happening! :-X
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Bizarre that someone would use the Internet for forums and sharing information but won't entertain a mobile incase THEY track him ::)
When I use t'interweb, I'm in one of only two or three locations. 'THEY' could find me easily from that or other information. When I'm out and about, I make sure 'THEY' have to try a little harder.
Good luck travelling without documentation on a phone/QR codes etc.
Have read, in preparation for my escape, that printed docs aren't being accepted in certain situations due to TCV transmission. :-\
I'm not talking about traveling without documentation. For France, currently, it's Passport, Declaration sur'lhoneur, and Covid Pass QR code. All of these are acceptable in printed/hard copy form. The rozzers don't care if they scan a QR code from a phone, or printed out. I believe you can also register your English NHS QR code into the French Tousanticovid (TAC) system, and that gives you a 'French/EU' compatible QR code acceptable in other EU countries (and CH). The French QR code is valid for 9 months.
The NHS website talks about downloading your certificate to a 'wallet' on your iPhone. You could then turn off international roaming. So what's the difference between a printed copy, a PDF on a PC, or a whatever stored in an iPhone wallet? None of them are dynamically updated.
And what's worse is that people have realised that you should download your current certificate before you get tested - if you need to get tested for any reason. Why? Because if you test positive then your certificate is suspended for 21 days, even if you are double vaxxed, so you can't travel. However, if you've got the old certificate stored off line then..... :-X
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Until they scan it and you got to prison/get quarantined :-X
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However, if you've got the old certificate stored off line then..... :-X
This won't last long....
Accept it Malc, you can't hide away forever, especially if you want to go on your ski trips! ;)
Welcome to Dystopia! :)
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Until they scan it and you got to prison/get quarantined :-X
Nope. There is no link to a database from the QR codes. The QR code contains all the information. The apps the rozzers/hotels/bars/resturaunts use just scan the QR code, which will show you've been double jabbed, and contain names and dates of validity. You can download the same scanner app to your own 'phone - it's called TCV Covid verif. They check the passport to make sure that it's 'your' QR code, and look at a calendar to make sure it's in date, and that you're double jabbed. That's it.
The only way they could make sure that the QR code is the most up to date one would be by making you log into the NHS system and making you 'refresh' your QR code in front of them. They don't (currently) do that - the queues at immigration would be endless if they did.
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Until they scan it and you got to prison/get quarantined :-X
Nope. There is no link to a database from the QR codes. The QR code contains all the information. The apps the rozzers/hotels/bars/resturaunts use just scan the QR code, which will show you've been double jabbed, and contain names and dates of validity. You can download the same scanner app to your own 'phone - it's called TCV Covid verif. They check the passport to make sure that it's 'your' QR code, and look at a calendar to make sure it's in date, and that you're double jabbed. That's it.
The only way they could make sure that the QR code is the most up to date one would be by making you log into the NHS system and making you 'refresh' your QR code in front of them. They don't (currently) do that - the queues at immigration would be endless if they did.
It will get more sophisticated with time. The QR code will be live and will be the only Vax pass acceptable. Try and present a dead QR code and it will be do not pass Go! :P
Welcome to dystopia! :)
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Until they scan it and you got to prison/get quarantined :-X
Nope. There is no link to a database from the QR codes. The QR code contains all the information. The apps the rozzers/hotels/bars/resturaunts use just scan the QR code, which will show you've been double jabbed, and contain names and dates of validity. You can download the same scanner app to your own 'phone - it's called TCV Covid verif. They check the passport to make sure that it's 'your' QR code, and look at a calendar to make sure it's in date, and that you're double jabbed. That's it.
The only way they could make sure that the QR code is the most up to date one would be by making you log into the NHS system and making you 'refresh' your QR code in front of them. They don't (currently) do that - the queues at immigration would be endless if they did.
It will get more sophisticated with time. The QR code will be live and will be the only Vax pass acceptable. Try and present a dead QR code and it will be do not pass Go! :P
Welcome to dystopia! :)
So what constitutes a 'dead' QR code? One that's a minute old? An hour old? A day? A Month?
Plus your current dystopia can't even produce a system to validate the day 2 test reference you put on the Passenger Locator Form. Turns out you can put virtually any combination of 5 letters followed by 7 numbers, and the system will accept it. And if you've got a 'real' PLF number from a past trip, you can use it again and again for future trips. ::)
Government and IT just don't work. Never have, never will. So we all just go through the motions doing the yes sir, no sir act knowing there are rarely any repercussions.
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If you down load the certificate from the App, then it's good for 30 days, otherwise it's a new code every time you access it.
The code includes the expiry data. And the system will know every time you access or download it, not to mention scan it.
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If you down load the certificate from the App, then it's good for 30 days, otherwise it's a new code every time you access it.
Yes, and if you then upload the code into the French system, the French system issues a new/different FR/EU QR code valid for 9 months ::)
The code includes the expiry data. And the system will know every time you access or download it
Yup. So you download the code BEFORE you go for a covid test, and if you come back positive you don't access or download it again. ::)
not to mention scan it.
Nope. The scanner apps are self contained. They don't access the NHS systems to check the certificate is valid/genuine.
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I wonder what you do if you break down in the middle of nowhere, pouring rain and wife and kids in the car ???
Cutting off your nose etc springs to mind :-\
I presume you use a card for transactions and that your car is registered to you... As it is filmed driving literally everywhere.
Anyhoo, back to the QR thingy... You assume that the global apps don't communicate data with the various THEMs on the basis that they tell you they don't...
THEY already know where you live, what you buy, where you are (in real time), your medical history, pretty much everything... Having a mobile makes your life more convenient, not theirs, and if you get one with a removable battery you can hide whenever your paranoia gets a bit much.
Obviously you have every right to live as you choose, but the only way to avoid THEM is to head out to sea with a compass and a fishing line and stay there... Even then THEY will know where you went. Escaping the matrix is much harder work than accepting it. I suspect that you're about 70 years too late for what you seem to be hoping to achieve :-\
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For the record, I do technically own 3 mobile phones (all 3G I think). One was my mums, the second was my dads and the third was an aunts - I've inherited all 3 in the boxes of junk they left when they passed away. I did try to use them over the weekend to register the NHS QR code (once I'd found suitable chargers), but all 3 have expired sim cards (they haven't been used for several years). It seems that I can probably get a free Vodaphone sim, and a £10 top up voucher from the post office, and re-activate one of them. Register it with the NHS, and then put it in the cupboard. I just need to remember to 'phone my home land line once a month and talk to myself on the answer phone to keep it 'alive' and the £10 credit will probably last a few years. If I can't find the silent mode setting, I'll probably need to open it up and snip the wires to the ringer to avoid being interrupted by incoming junk phone calls.
I wonder what you do if you break down in the middle of nowhere, pouring rain and wife and kids in the car ???
Classic whataboutery. Wife and kids? Do you know something about me that I don't? Of course you can construct a scenario where a mobile might assist. But so far, the measures I take mean I've either managed to avoid those scenarios, or found other solutions.
The answer to the question is I'd do exactly the same as I would have done in 1984 when I first started driving, and mobile 'phones weren't a thing. Since then I've been stuck in a paddy field in Japan, an irrigation ditch in Arizona, and up a muddy track in Hungary. All three were 'solo' and due to my own stupidity, but I'm still here to tell the tale. Darwinism hasn't got me. Yet. :D
Anyhoo, back to the QR thingy... You assume that the global apps don't communicate data with the various THEMs on the basis that they tell you they don't...
The QR code only proves you've been double jabbed. If 'they' really want to find out who you are, the NHS QR codes are fairly useless. They'd want Photo ID - which means passport.
I know - 100% - that the QR code scanners don't connect with the NHS system. The scanners work on airplane mode, and on systems with the WIFI/3G/4G disabled. The scanners also work in places with no signal - like up mountains. The QR codes contain a sort of digital certificate, similar to those used for signing Windows kernel mode drivers. The security/encryption codes embedded in the QR code ensure that the 'payload' has not been tampered with, and therefore the names and dates etc are valid. Sure a security/border/government agency could then check your records for whatever, but there is no system in place to access NHS records in real time. If there were we wouldn't need NHS QR codes at all because those records could be directly accessed from passport info.
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No immediate family helps with the disconnectability.
Incidentally the NHS gubbins includes face and voice recognition. And you honestly believe that scanners are immune from being downloaded "just because they work without a signal"?
If they can't yet, it won't be long before they do, if only to sell your data... Assuming the NHS haven't already :-X
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Just join the 21st century Malc & get a mobile 0h9ne ::) ;D
that was obviously 'PHONE' .... fat fingers! ::)
No thanks - I'm quite happy here in the 18th century 8)
exactly why are you opposed to a mobile phone? :-\
I'm not opposed to mobile phones. I'm opposed to ALL phones. It's the expectation of people that they can contact you at any hour of the day or night and dump their sh1t on you. I take the phone off the hook at work on a Friday afternoon. I don't allow people to ask me to do stuff in the last 3 hours of the working week when they suddenly realise something that they should have realised on Monday/Tuesday. Your oversight will not become my emergency.
And reps/suppliers. If the appointment is for (say) 10AM then I expect you there between 09:45 and 10:15. If you phone saying you're going to be late then tough - Book another appointment for another day, and arrive on time. The mobile phone does not give you and excuse to be late. And if you answer your mobile phone on an unrelated matter whilst in a meeting with me then you're allowed to complete the call - and escorted off site.
I've been in buildings with mobile phone detectors/jammers, and I wish they were more widely available. I've also seen first hand some of the stuff GCHQ & other agencies can do, much of which they try very hard to keep out of the public domain.
Back to the point, I have no problem with the NHS offering a service for Android/iPhones for those that want to use it. But what is the point of offering an internet service that can only be accessed via a mobile phone?
I can fully understand your sentiments and well done for sticking to those principles :y :y :y
I have often wished I could have done, but all the way through my professional life I had to be available 24/7 by way of the then landline, later via the mobile. Even now in 'retirement' I am still available to Kent Police 24/7 to give advice. So no peace for the wicked eh?!!
I would out of choice never use the phone or internet, rather meeting up with people face to face when I can read body language and assess their character, and really get to know them. Always have always will!
Too late for me to isolate from modern contact LC0112G, but all the best with sticking to the 18th century! :D :D :D :y
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And you honestly believe that scanners are immune from being downloaded "just because they work without a signal"?
I didn't say that. I'm sure the scanners can be downloaded. But that download will only contain the data present in the QR code - which is names, dates and vax state. Agencies may then decide to check that it's the 'latest' information, but that can't be done real time, and probably can't be done for everyone that's ever scanned.
If they can't yet, it won't be long before they do, if only to sell your data... Assuming the NHS haven't already :-X
What value has the data got if the person buying it can't contact you because you're effectively using an NHS burner phone? Of course, if you're stupid enough to use your main phone number, or put your real email address into the registration website….If someone wants to buy useless data off the NHS then I'm all for it ::)
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Went to Nandos last night (not my first choice of eatery, but that's another story) and they expected me to scan a QR code to view the menu online on my phone. No paper menus any more.
Then you're expected to register as a user on the site to order your meal. At this point I told them they could take an order verbally or foxtrott oscar and they reluctantly did so.
I was probably sat at the table an extra 10 minutes as a result, but I was early for my film anyway, so thought I might just as well be wasting their time as my own. ;D
CBA to go through the hassle again to order a desert.
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Went to Nandos last night (not my first choice of eatery, but that's another story) and they expected me to scan a QR code to view the menu online on my phone. No paper menus any more.
Then you're expected to register as a user on the site to order your meal. At this point I told them they could take an order verbally or foxtrott oscar and they reluctantly did so.
I was probably sat at the table an extra 10 minutes as a result, but I was early for my film anyway, so thought I might just as well be wasting their time as my own. ;D
CBA to go through the hassle again to order a desert.
You little devil you ;D
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And you honestly believe that scanners are immune from being downloaded "just because they work without a signal"?
I didn't say that. I'm sure the scanners can be downloaded. But that download will only contain the data present in the QR code - which is names, dates and vax state. Agencies may then decide to check that it's the 'latest' information, but that can't be done real time, and probably can't be done for everyone that's ever scanned.
If they can't yet, it won't be long before they do, if only to sell your data... Assuming the NHS haven't already :-X
What value has the data got if the person buying it can't contact you because you're effectively using an NHS burner phone? Of course, if you're stupid enough to use your main phone number, or put your real email address into the registration website….If someone wants to buy useless data off the NHS then I'm all for it ::)
You assume that they want to talk to you...
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Went to Nandos last night (not my first choice of eatery, but that's another story) and they expected me to scan a QR code to view the menu online on my phone. No paper menus any more.
Then you're expected to register as a user on the site to order your meal. At this point I told them they could take an order verbally or foxtrott oscar and they reluctantly did so.
I was probably sat at the table an extra 10 minutes as a result, but I was early for my film anyway, so thought I might just as well be wasting their time as my own. ;D
CBA to go through the hassle again to order a desert.
Batflu notwithstanding, some places have improved from not having to interact with the staff...
Table service is another improvement for those places that weren't previously geared up for it.
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Went to Nandos last night (not my first choice of eatery, but that's another story) and they expected me to scan a QR code to view the menu online on my phone. No paper menus any more.
Then you're expected to register as a user on the site to order your meal. At this point I told them they could take an order verbally or foxtrott oscar and they reluctantly did so.
I was probably sat at the table an extra 10 minutes as a result, but I was early for my film anyway, so thought I might just as well be wasting their time as my own. ;D
CBA to go through the hassle again to order a desert.
That's part of the reason that i no longer go out for meals. There is no spontaneity in going out. Also i don't have a smart phone, so i suppose i'm a bit like LCO112G in that regard. :D
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That's part of the reason that i no longer go out for meals. There is no spontaneity in going out. Also i don't have a smart phone, so i suppose i'm a bit like LCO112G in that regard. :D
.. and this was after 20 minutes waiting for a table, during which time it was apparently impossible to sit at one of the many empty tables in the premises and have a drink, so we waited outside in the rain and got patronised by the stream of "Excited yet? It's not long now! Your table is almost ready!" texts. Excited? About eating some manky chicken? Nope.