| ??? 05/15/07 05:32 Read: times |
#139264 - Yes, it's lifestyle differences Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Richard Erlacher said:
Andy Peters said: Richard Erlacher said: Funny, most everyone I know has a cellphone, and NOBODY uses them as a leash to the office.
I don't like "being on a leash" and that's what a cellphone or pager represent to me. They're like cigarettes ... an excuse to waste a moment here and another there. If somebody's got urgent personal business, they should handle it elsewhere. I rarely get personal calls during business hours. Everyone's busy working! I don't get 'em much either. When I said "leash" I meant to the phone, not to the office. In fact, a bunch of my friends don't have landlines.
Yes, a lot of folks, e.g. illegal aliens, folks with ultra-poor credit, etc, do that. If it's cheaper or more convenient, I don't blame anybody for doing things that way. However, land lines cost <$15, while cellular service, which is terrible (low audio quality, dropped calls, "dead" spots, etc.) seems to cost about $40. None of my friends who are cell-only are illegal aliens or have ultra-poor credit. They just don't see the point of giving Qwest $40 a month AND paying the cell-phone company another $30. Well, I never believed they were. My girlfriend's brother does things that way. It's inconvenient when he forgets his phone at the office, though. However, nobody I know pays the phone company quite that much, taxes and fees included. It's about $33 in Denver. However, most of those fees are added to what the cable company charges as well. Maybe you guys get a better deal from Qwest where you are. My girlfriend gets her land line through the cable company (ComCast), and pays about $2 more than my Mom, who uses Qwest. They both have cable, but with different providers. I don't like TV enough to pay for cable. I just go over to my girlfriend's or my Mom's. They're both within less than a mile. Before we gave up Qwest and bundled the landline service with the cable and cable-modem, the basic service was $30 a month, and that didn't include long distance, which was easily another $30. That long distance benefit is an attractive feature for some, but, as I said, I don't like TV enough to pay more tha $2 for cable service so their phone service isn't as attractive for me. I don't know anybody I want to talk to that's not local or toll-free. My cellphone costs $40/month, with more minutes than I can use, and I don't pay roaming charges or long distance. And I travel out of area often enough so it's worked out in my favor. Let's see: use a phone in a hotel and pay their ridiculous charges, or use the cell phone? It's a no-brainer.
I'm sure that our differences over the use of cell phones has more to do with our lifestyles than any technical reasons. -a No doubt. I like to be left alone most of the time, unless I'm "out" in public. I prefer the relative convenience of email rather than voice. I misnuderstand a lot less that way. I find I don't blurt out things in email that I might on the phone. RE |
