Alright, there were no Boxing Day sales on this model, & despite my uncertainty now about potential #Linux kernel shenanigans possibly breaking #USBTethering, i am so utterly exasperated by the pathetic #3G speeds i get when tethering my current Moto G [given the #ClimateCrisis is generating severe local #thunderstorms daily & even infra-daily now], that i went ahead anyway & ordered one of these online from a local well-known chain.

Their site indicated right up to checkout & purchase that they have four in stock atm, & that it'd be delivered tomorrow. Cool. Post-order, i was puzzled not to receive a prompt order confirmation email as indicated. Eventually it came, except... it wasn't a confirmation, it was a notice to possibly contemplate a potential confirmation in the fullness of time when the moment is ripe at the end of the day in due course when the necessary procedures have been completed, nothing precipitate, of course oh damn you Sir Humphrey! 😜​

Hi Most Droppy of Bears,

We are currently reviewing your order. Given the current demand, you may experience a delay in receiving an order confirmation.

Once our review is completed, we will send you an order confirmation email and then start the process of getting your order ready.

You cheeky buggers 😲​. You could have mentioned this before! I mean, i get it, this time of the year, big rush on & all, i totally get it. But to hide this til after you got my money, when i could easily instead have ordered it from half a dozen of your competitors, feels slightly... dirty... to me. 🙁

#4G #Australia #Dumbphone #OpelTouchFlip4G

Hmmm, nobody noticed this toot afaict, or nobody knows anything about this #dumbphone, but anyway, i've still been thinking this is the phone i'll buy. I was waiting to see if any of the [many] Oz retailers of this model might have some temporary discounts on either Boxing Day or New Year's sales, but if not, buy it anyway soon after. Now however my plan feels like it might be in disarray, for a completely left-field asinine tech reason...

I've just stumbled across https://libreddit.lunar.icu/r/linux/comments/18orwnc/usb_tethering_will_stop_working_on_linux_for_most/, which then lead me to https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Disable-RNDIS-Drivers. As best i can grasp this discussion, it seems like one of the main #Linux #kernel devs / maintainers intends to remove the driver from kernel version 6.7, otherwise one soon after, specifically & deliberately to STOP #USBTethering from working. My mind is reeling from the shock of this cretinous proposal, if i've understood correctly.

Were that to really occur, there would be no point at all in me buying any replacement phone [neither smart nor dumb] predicated on its inclusion of USB Tethering capability, coz once my #ArchLinux pc updated to this idiot new kernel, it would stop being able to be usb-tethered-to, by any device.

In turn that would mean that each & every time one of the increasingly-frequent severe #thunderstorms affects my town, & does the increasingly-frequent "trick" of hovering over it rather than just sweeping by as used to occur in pre-#ClimateCrisis years, i'd be without internet access on my pc for hours, given that to protect the #modem i need to disconnect it each time. As such, for a few years now, my workaround was to USB Tether my crappy old #Motorola #MotoG to the pc, until the t/s is eventually gone.

• https://fosstodon.org/@dropbear42/110069850504613833
• https://infosec.exchange/@MsDropbear425/111606261481312177

Looks like i'd better suspend my plan to buy a replacement phone a few months, to see what actually happens with the next few kernels. I hope i get clarity on this before the day later next year that the #3G network is finally deactivated.

@rood Yes, but first one needs to root the phone [to delete so-called "core" apps which i don't need], which atm i don't want to do. Turning off data & WiFi i already do now, on my soon-to-be-useless Moto G.

Context:

Since 2010 i've rarely left my house, & for the last ~3 years not at all. That scenario will continue into the foreseeable future, til Cark City. Until only a week or two ago i had been thinking i would [need to] buy a 5G #smartphone next year to replace the 3G Moto. However within the last fortnight i had an epiphany... given I am not mobile beyond my house, a fancy expensive 5G smartphone would be a stupid waste of money. I don't need it for data*, for media, music, camera... essentially ALL the apps on it beyond phone & sms would be totally redundant for me [coz i do ALL that stuff all day every day on my pc], ergo, to proceed with getting such a device would be foolish.

* there is one substantial fly in the ointment. Ordinarily i don't need data usage on my phone, but sometimes i do, in that, sometimes i have to switch off & unplug my Linux pc's broadband modem [my town seems to be a damn magnet for thunderstorms, & historically i've fried two modems by not unplugging during storms, only for nearby lightning strikes to then zoom up the line to my poor little modem]. It's becoming more common that these "exciting" thunderstorms sit over my town for hours, such that i can't use my modem for hours. For a few years since i realised i could do this, i've used my Moto G with #USBTethering to my pc, during these storms, so i can remain online whilst the thunder crashes & the lightning flashes. As i discovered during the past fortnight's research, most #dumbphones do not support data, &/or do not provide any tethering capability. Luckily i've found one that does, so that's what i'll prolly be buying.