Smart phone only way to enter Optus stadium Perth

Thousands of everyday people will no longer be able to attend Optus Stadium because they do not own a smart phone.
Downloaded tickets have been scrapped. No smart phone, no entry.
Most organisations care little for senior citizens, move with the times or stand aside.
Surely it is time for those overpaid pollies to stand up for their constituents and mandate a percentage of tickets be allocated for those who want nothing to do with the all-encompassing technology.
It can be done; mandates are applied for new builds regarding affordable and social housing.
What it shows me is that senior citizens are no longer valued and a huge portion of society would rather that seniors stay locked away in their homes.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Sadly, so many companies and agencies are doing their damndest make us all live only by so-called "smart"-'phone.

I refuse too: they are costly, over-complicated, physically bulky things.

I am not one of those who want everything for nothing, I appreciate we have to pay for things. Nevertheless even if it's possible to buy one even second-hand for <£100, I assume it would need a contract costing a lot more than my actual call charges, from an outfit determined to push all sorts of surplus guff onto it.

None of it is for our benefit and it's not a matter of age.

It is purely to suit US and Chinese IT "oligarchs", stock-market spivs and the spreadsheet-jockeys and Chief Customer Ignoring Officers in Head Office.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@ArishMell Most ticket apps do not need the phone to have a SIM and generally they only need a network connection to buy the ticket. So you can connect to WiFi to buy the ticket. The problem is that many of them also need a neailatwork connection to activate the ticket which can be very inconvenient if there is no free WiFi near the bus stop. I'll be in that situation later today, luckily the bus stop I'll use is only a few minutes walk from the railway station where there is free WiFi. And that reminds me that I'd better check that I actually have the bus ticket app installed!

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@ninalanyon Our local buses still take cash but the operator, First, is trying to persuade us to use electronic payment, which can be by bus-pass (as mine), bank-card, portable telephone or something First calls "Tap-on-tap-off".

I think the last, which is the most recent and not yet on all buses, uses your phone (I think) and an exit reader; but I wonder what middle-man fees are added to the fares when using 'phones for paying for anything.

I have booked tickets to events on-line, though.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@ArishMell Tap on/off usually uses contactless/NFC [1] so debit card, credit card, or mobile with NFC should work.

[1] Near-field communication. Extremely short range radio connection where the chip in the card is powered by the incoming signal from the payment terminal.

what middle-man fees are added to the fares

Much less than you might expect and anyway more than offset by the reduced cost of handling cash as well as making the driver's life safer because he can't be robbed of cash he hasn't got.

ArtieKat · M

@ArishMell You can buy NEW smartphones in the UK for under £80; you don't need a contract with companies like Giffgaff or Lebara - topups from £5 or £6 which is plenty for my use. Nor are smartphones bulky or complicated and I'm in the same age cohort as you.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@ArtieKat Oh, thankyou for that! All the advertising seems to be for ones costing £hundreds, and the cheapest second-hand one I saw in a shop window today was more than £80.

My present portable phone is a basic type, on PAYG. Speech calls first, text a rather poor second, plus a few accessories like a simple camera and an alarm-clock. I suppose I use the alarm twice a year at most, the camera even less.

I did have a "smart"-'phone a few years ago. Bulky, heavy, very difficult to use so I missed calls or could not reply to them. I sold after six months to my sister, cancelled the remaining three-quartyers of the contract and bought the one I have now.