Phone activated functions on an RV???

[rockhillmanor]

omg, Thought I'd seen it all but guess not.

There is another thread where an RV'er is locked out of opening his slides and awning on his RV.

WHY? Because he is using his cell phone to open them and it is malfunctioning. :S

First of all I did not know that there is an app you can buy where you use a cell phone to operate almost all of the functions on an RV.
https://www.asaelectronics.com/downloads/dl/file/id/832/jrvcs105_in-command_owners_manual.pdf

Have we as RVers gotten that lazy that we need to use a cell phone to operate our RV's when our RV 'comes with already installed' buttons/switches to operate everything?

Not to mention the lack of security of using a device like a cell phone having access to all of your RV inside an out.

I certainly would NOT want to own an RV that is hackable, 'phone activated'.

What happens when you don't have good cell phone coverage where you are parked? Do you sit there refusing to go inside the RV and flip the switch to activate your slides?

How many of you would use a phone app to operate your RV?

[2oldman]

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I get paid once a month. I take that check to the bank. I know how much my credit card bill will be. I know how much my electric and water bills will be by watching my meters and calculating the amount I have used..

That explains a lot...you don't travel and apparently don't get bill notices online.

If you were travelling, as most of us are, all that would be near impossible.

[CavemanCharlie]

2oldman wrote:

Crowe wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I DO NOT use my phone for online banking. That seems crazy to me.

Why? Use your data plan and not Wi-Fi. Much easier to check balances, transfer money, etc., than running back to the unit to use a laptop or having to wait until you get home. It's no more dangerous than using a credit card at a store or online, possibly even less. If the want you they will get you.

x2

If you don't use your phone, what do you do? Go into a bank?

Actually ,,, Yes, that is exactly what I do. I get paid once a month. I take that check to the bank. I know how much my credit card bill will be. I know how much my electric and water bills will be by watching my meters and calculating the amount I have used. I know how much my Satellite TV bill is and how much my phone bills are. I make sure that I put "at least" that much money in my checking account. (Actually I end up putting in much more) Then I get the cash I plan to spend over the months time and take it home. I pay the bills, spend the cash, and write checks for a lot of things.

The only thing that I mostly use the credit card for is Amazon. I try to shop local when I can but, I live in a rural area and most of the stores are gone so I have to use Amazon for a lot of things.

I write checks at gas stations . I have found a few stations that will not take checks so I just go down the road to a station that will.

I have never used a ATM and I don't know why I would want to. I simply keep that much cash ahead of time at the beginning of the month when I cash my paycheck. I don't carry all of that cash all month. I keep some of it hidden at home and carry 100 or less in my wallet. In case of emergency I have a few 20's hidden here and there in my pickup and camper.

I could not use an ATM if I wanted too. I forget the PIN on my credit card decades ago. I called once to try an get a new one and they told me it was impossible. I would have to cancel the card and get a different one. I didn't want to do that because I have the card number memorized and so I just didn't worry about it.

There are a few other things I must use the card for like reservations at state parks and such but, when I don't have to use it, I don't. To easy to loose track of how much I have spent if I use it a lot.

I should add here, to be completely honest, that I hardly ever go more then a few hundred miles from home and rarely that far. If I was traveling across country I would probably have to consider other options.

I rarely have had any problems writing checks. In fact, a few years ago, (one of the first times I went across a state line a more then a hundred miles away,) With the idea in my head that they would not take my check I tried to use my card. It was blocked (I was terribly embarrassed) so I asked the attendant if I could write a check from my small town bank over a hundred miles away in a different state and they had no problem accepting it. Seems that because I had never used the card in that state before the credit card company assumed that it was stolen and blocked it. I guess that you have to tell the company each time you cross a state line or something.

I never tried to use it again like that.

I have no idea how to use my phone for on-line banking. I didn't even get a smart phone until 4 years ago. The only reason I have one now is because my employer bought it for me. I can turn it on, make and receive calls and texts, check the weather, and do a simple google search. Last summer the teenagers I took 3 states away to see the solar eclipse taught me how to use the driving directions thingie. I haven't had to use it since.

[2oldman]

You ever gone into a bank and asked them this question?

[Lantley]

pnichols wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Yes and if the internet fails unless you have your money under the mattress you will be caught in the same dilemma as the rest of the world.

Nope .... what little bit we have relies on a part of the world still being around that most likely will not be in the path of radioactive fallout or nuclear powered cruise missiles. And we keep hard copies of just how much that part of the world owes us at any point in time.

Besides ... Mattress-Money could have no value if the Internet fails catastrophically. Only spring water and firewood trees and a backyard garden and plenty of solar panels will help then - along with a good old shortwave radio. 😉

I hear you but as soon as you give those hard copies to someone. They will promptly tell you sorry we have no records are systems have been destroyed and you will be in the same dilemma with the rest of us.
The idea that you can somehow avoid computerized record keeping is silly.
Internet or not, unless your funds are in your possession or physically in a safe deposit box a computer is maintaining the records.

[pnichols]

2oldman wrote:
I worry about tires and bad roads, but that? Nah, I'll leave that to you.

I don't worry about that either for myself or the DW. It's our children, and their children, and their children, and their children, and etc. that I am concerned about.

Until then ... keep all tanks full that should be full, all tanks empty that should be empty, and all tires new that should be new ... just in case. :C

(Ooooh ... also keep a shortwave radio in the rig and a navigator in the rig that depends upon satellites instead of cell towers ... along with paper maps. Satellites will be the last to go cuz it's still tough to take them out.)

[pnichols]

Lantley wrote:
Yes and if the internet fails unless you have your money under the mattress you will be caught in the same dilemma as the rest of the world.

Nope .... what little bit we have relies on a part of the world still being around that most likely will not be in the path of radioactive fallout or nuclear powered cruise missiles. And we keep hard copies of just how much that part of the world owes us at any point in time.

Besides ... Mattress-Money could have no value if the Internet fails catastrophically. Only spring water and firewood trees and a backyard garden and plenty of solar panels will help then - along with a good old shortwave radio. 😉

[toedtoes]

Didn't that already happen at the turn of the century?




Oh yeah, it was much ado about nothing.

[Lantley]

pnichols wrote:

Crowe wrote:
What are you going to do when everyone stops accepting checks? A lot of places not longer take them. I don't have the time nor energy to write out checks, put them in the mail and hope the PO doesn't lose them. The only time I've ever had my identity stolen was off of a check years ago. Have I been hacked-yes, multiple times but I KNOW I've been hacked immediately-I monitor all my accounts online daily. I don't have to wait for a paper statement to come. Many banks also will not send out a paper statement any more. Each to their own but my time and convenience are far more valuable than worrying about the risk.

And .... what are you and millions of others who rely too much on "paperless" going to do when the Internet goes down for weeks and/or months in a large area where you/they happen to live?

Study up (some of the info is classified, however) on exactly what's going on within the guts of our wonderful Internet system. It might seriously scare you from an "ultimate reliability" point of view.

Or course I use the Internet (with a very complex password and with dual source verification) for our financial life ... BUT I still have all account information in hardcopy form for backup. IMHO - the Internet WILL FAIL someday - and in a big way. May God help us all when that happens.

Yes and if the internet fails unless you have your money under the mattress you will be caught in the same dilemma as the rest of the world.

[2oldman]

pnichols wrote:
IMHO - the Internet WILL FAIL someday - and in a big way. May God help us all when that happens.

I worry about tires and bad roads, but that? Nah, I'll leave that to you.

[pnichols]

Crowe wrote:
What are you going to do when everyone stops accepting checks? A lot of places not longer take them. I don't have the time nor energy to write out checks, put them in the mail and hope the PO doesn't lose them. The only time I've ever had my identity stolen was off of a check years ago. Have I been hacked-yes, multiple times but I KNOW I've been hacked immediately-I monitor all my accounts online daily. I don't have to wait for a paper statement to come. Many banks also will not send out a paper statement any more. Each to their own but my time and convenience are far more valuable than worrying about the risk.

And .... what are you and millions of others who rely too much on "paperless" going to do when the Internet goes down for weeks and/or months in a large area where you/they happen to live?

Study up (some of the info is classified, however) on exactly what's going on within the guts of our wonderful Internet system. It might seriously scare you from an "ultimate reliability" point of view.

Or course I use the Internet (with a very complex password and with dual source verification) for our financial life ... BUT I still have all account information in hardcopy form for backup. IMHO - the Internet WILL FAIL someday - and in a big way. May God help us all when that happens.

[Walaby]

drsteve wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:


Visa's Zero Liability* Policy is our guarantee that you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your account or account information. You're protected if your Visa credit or debit card is lost, stolen or fraudulently used, online or offline. 

Sure, they will fix it... eventually. I didn't mean to imply that you'll be SOL if someone drains your bank account, but until the bank gets it straightened out, you will not have use of your funds. With a credit card, all you're looking at is a temporarily bigger number on your monthly statement.

My debit card was compromised and used in another state. I got reimbursed in less than 24 hours by my credit union.

Mike

[Mr_Mark1]

Crowe wrote:
ou all need to find a better bank to do business with. My wife's balance was whacked from 4500+ to 0 one morning with fraudulent charges made at an Apple store in Philly, we live near Pittsburgh. She discovered it early morning on the way to work at 5 AM. Called the bank when they opened. Stopped in at 3:30 PM, had her funds restored and a new card on the way in the mail at 3:35.

They ABSOLUTELY need to find a better bank. Have had a similar situation as above with a similar outcome.

99% of the time Credit Cards work for everything. If I want cash, which is not often, I'll cash a check to keep a few extra bucks with me. As I have mentioned before, I have never had an ATM card (they keep asking when I go cash a check, LOL).

What are you going to do when everyone stops accepting checks? A lot of places not longer take them. I don't have the time nor energy to write out checks, put them in the mail and hope the PO doesn't lose them. The only time I've ever had my identity stolen was off of a check years ago. Have I been hacked-yes, multiple times but I KNOW I've been hacked immediately-I monitor all my accounts online daily. I don't have to wait for a paper statement to come. Many banks also will not send out a paper statement any more. Each to their own but my time and convenience are far more valuable than worrying about the risk.

Personally, I never write a check when out shopping. Most all of the businesses that I do business with take checks. Only the Chinese restaurants have signs: "no check please". :W

I do have a lot of regular bills automatically charged to my CC. Generally, I only write checks to 'service' people (Gardeners, housekeepers, etc.). Amex and MC take monthly checks just fine.

MM.

[rjsurfer]

I installed a dometic Blue Tooth thermostat which connects to any tablet or phone. I keep my phone next to the bed so when I get up in the morning and its chilly in a few keystrokes the heats on. It also works with the air conditioning side as well.

When I bring up the app on the phone I see the image of the thermostat display and work the touch screen as if I'm in front of it.

Ron W.

[2oldman]

toedtoes wrote:
Oh, last month, I went to the bank for the first time in over a year - used the drive up ATM to deposit a check.

I get checks occasionally and deposit a picture of them over the air. It's very cool, and a whole lot faster and safer than the US mail.

My GF, who is otherwise very tech savvy, does not (for reasons she will not share with me) use online banking. Once in a while I'll put money into her account (Zelle or eq) and later she'll ask me if I've done that. I tell her "Jees honey, just go online and check it. You don't have to ask me." She never laughs.. but it is kinda silly.

How does anyone function not knowing what their bank balance is? My days of writing checks and keeping a running check register balance are long gone.