My old Samsung Galaxy S6 died. When calling/receiving, I can hear the other party, but they cannot hear me. No one is willing to repair. So, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy A52 5G. Everything was transferred from the old phone to the new one. I was testing the old one, expecting not to be able to get on the internet or YT. But to my surprise, everything still works on the old phone, except phone service (which is now working on the new phone). Anyone knows what the deal is? Provider is AT&T. And, I am typing this on the old phone.

Maybe the old phone is using WiFi to connect to the net?

Is it using cell data or connected to Wi-Fi?

Phones that are inactive for cell service will still function just fine over Wi-Fi fir everything except phone calls.

My guess is that the old phone is simply latching onto Wi-Fi.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
Maybe the old phone is using WiFi to connect to the net?

Sounds about right.

Man, you guys are right. Connected to home Wi-Fi. Shows you how illiterate I am about tech things. Thanks!

I've got an older Moto phone that was getting slowish and starting to run low on memory, but otherwise fully functional, and upgraded to a new Moto. Switched phone service to the new phone and transferred some of the data. No cell data on the old phone now but the camera, apps, and wifi still work on it.

So, rather than loading some apps on my new phone and chewing up memory or bogging it down with ads and bloatware, I still occasionally carry both phones with me for certain errands like grocery shopping as I have the store app on the old phone and connect the old phone to the store's wifi when grocery shopping and using their online shopping list.

I can use the old phone while charging the new one, and often use the old phone for internet surfing duty at home, while saving the new phone's batt for away from home duty. Sometimes post on the forum from the old phone.

I tend to be security and privacy focused so any chance I can to skip uneeded or ever-increading invasive tracking, or reduce ads/ bloatware I'll take it.

Besides the obvious downside of the extra weight of carrying 2 phones, whatever apps I keep on it still require updates, and the manufacturer and apps providers will probably eventually discontinue support... but even then it can be used as a camera and a storage or back up storage devivlce.

Just like carrying a 'throw away' wallet, I figure if I'm ever mugged in a stick up I'll just hand them the old phone.

We use all our old phones for internet access both at home and outside the house at stores and such where there is free wifi. Can use email, youtube, netflix and whatever apps you use on internet.

Saves wearing down the battery on my cellphone in case I need it for calls and texts.

Yup. My old IPhone works over a WiFi connection, but no cellular service.

It is sort of like a mini-iPad.

My wife and I use our old phones when we go on Disney cruises. The phones we use no longer have phone/data/texting but they can have wifi that can be used on the ship to connect to the on board app.
The reason we use the old phones with no service is so they don't connect to the ships cell service or any service in the ports we visit. This avoids any surprises to our monthly bill.
From what I have been told a deactivated phone can still be used to call 911,not sure if that is true or not.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
The reason we use the old phones with no service is so they don't connect to the ships cell service or any service in the ports we visit. This avoids any surprises to our monthly bill.

Or you could just turn off roaming on your regular phones.

quote:

Man, you guys are right. Connected to home Wi-Fi. Shows you how illiterate I am about tech things. Thanks!

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good to know. I belong to the illiterate tech club as well. Sometimes I think I am a charter member.

I know a guy,,,,,,


srsly, on another forum, that uses an older cell phone just to take pics and surf the net, and forums via tapatalk,

basically like a pocket sized tablet

he uses a basic cheap cell to text and make calls,

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
The reason we use the old phones with no service is so they don't connect to the ships cell service or any service in the ports we visit. This avoids any surprises to our monthly bill.

Or you could just turn off roaming on your regular phones.

Yea, Disney says to just put your phone on air plane mode I just don't want to take the chance I accidentally turn air plane mode off.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
My wife and I use our old phones when we go on Disney cruises. The phones we use no longer have phone/data/texting but they can have wifi that can be used on the ship to connect to the on board app.
The reason we use the old phones with no service is so they don't connect to the ships cell service or any service in the ports we visit. This avoids any surprises to our monthly bill.
From what I have been told a deactivated phone can still be used to call 911,not sure if that is true or not.

That was true year's ago and probably true today. Just as when payphones were in wide use, 911 could be called without and cost.

Old ones were collected and agencies gave them out to victim's of domestic violence to call 911. But today it's rare that someone doesn't have their own cell phone.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Phones that are inactive for cell service will still function just fine over Wi-Fi fir everything except phone calls.

And even those if they are configured to use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Marketed as "Wi-Fi calling" by wireless providers, VoIP is a much more widespread facility, and has replaced much of classic "land line" telephony, especially in the business market.

So it is very likely that Q's old phone is still able to make calls through a Wi-Fi connection, and his provider's SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) server. Incoming calls may not work so well, as his provider undoubtedly routes incoming calls to the new phone (via the cellular network).

It isn't going to fix the problem with the microphone, however, so there isn't much use for this capability.

At some point, I expect a market to arise for the millions (billions?) of discarded/no-onger-in-use phones that are still perfectly functional network devices. Figure out how to make them work as a cluster, and you'll have the biggest supercomputer ever imagined, much bigger than Skynet.