Two-step checks cause no-signal pain

My heart sank when I read about plans to introduce two-factor verification to confirm purchases online (News, Issue 514, page 9), not least because the mobile signal where we live is simply not up to the job.

I will never forget the time not long ago that I needed a validation code to access my credit-card bill from Tesco on a new PC. I was talking to a real human on the phone – he said he would text me the code (but he couldn’t see what it was because it was so secret it’s generated automatically somewhere in the void). He said it would be valid for only 10 minutes. I made him stay on the line so that he could override the time limit. The code arrived some 40 minutes later (we had a nice chat while we waited).

To give them credit, Tesco now offers to send a code to a landline. But this so-wonderful idea that we can do everything using our mobile phones simply won’t wash. There are still too many people with really bad signals. It’s another example of those who have will be OK; those who don’t will lose out. Elspeth Christie

There is an easy solution to the inconvenience of two-step verification. Install the free software Pushbullet ( www.pushbullet.com) on your PC and phone, link the two, and hey presto, your verification code will pop up in a small window at the bottom of your screen. It then doesn’t matter where in the house your phone is. Gary Marshall