Curious if I'm the "only one"...

[Zulu Romeo]

I do not have a cell phone. How can you keep out of touch with a cell phone? Like I really want to be walking through the Blue Hills and hear my phone go off....

Switch the phone off, then.

Ancient Ravescenian saying: man without mobile phone, out of touch with common people.

 

[Hoser]

Never had one, still don't want one.

 

[Goliath]

I owned one briefly, about four years ago. I don't ever plan to own one again.

In fact, I hate cellphones. Keeping one in your car, I understand. A cell phone saved the lives of two of my family members once. They ditched their car on a gravel road in rural Saskatchewan, in the dead of winter. Without a cell, they might well have frozen to death. If I owned a car, I'd keep a cell phone inside.

But for the most part, cellphones are a scam. They're the bottled water of telecommunications. Why should I buy water in bottles, when I can get it from the tap?

I don't even own a cordless phone. My home phone is a Panasonic KX-TS3C, which is being sold on eBay as a "vintage" item. It looks like this, only black:

And yet, somehow, I manage to live very well.

 

[SeerSGB]

Well I'll say this: Once we're out of our current contract-- if I don't out and out kill it and pay the lesser of two evils: the kill fee or 3 times as much in monthly charges till it runs out-- we're back on prepaid.

Cellphone contracts are a scam, flat out. My father aside, we don't use a cellphone enough to justify the expense of a contract over prepaid.

Now me and my wife have talked about when we move to an area with good cell coverage ditching a landline and getting a flat rate montly unlimited no contract cellphone over paying for a landline. We've seen some nice bundles that would get us wi-fi, cellphone at a $200+ a month savings to us. And like my wife said, if we have hi-speed internet we don't need cable TV, seeing as we watch most shows online or we just rent/buy DVDs.

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm addicted to my cell phone. I don't have a landline, though. And I suspect I never will.

 

[freak]

I have one..but only when I'm driving so in case of an accident I can call home or someone. I try not to use it very often either. Only in emergencies. But I do use it to call our mechanic sometimes and lie to him.

 

[Middle Earther]

Interesting! I do think a lot of the plans are scams like some posters here. I've heard that in Canada, especially, the hidden fees make it tons more expensive than the States. I have digital phone service for $21/ month for my landline. 4 cents a minute for long distance, which we hardly ever do - I can't find a cell plan to beat that!

 

[SeerSGB]

Interesting! I do think a lot of the plans are scams like some posters here. I've heard that in Canada, especially, the hidden fees make it tons more expensive than the States. I have digital phone service for $21/ month for my landline. 4 cents a minute for long distance, which we hardly ever do - I can't find a cell plan to beat that!

I don't know about that. My wife had a plan-phone in Toronto that she was using to call me when we were dating and her fees and long-distance was a lot less than what I was paying with Verizon here in TN. about 30 or 40 percent less per a bill. And in terms of minutes and features both plans were more or less the same.

 

[Similitude]

I don't know what I would do without my iPhone. Its my video game system, CD Book, PDA and GPS all in one on my hip. Oh yea, and It makes calls too.

I don't have a landline and I get a sweet deal on my Cell Contract.

 

[Me-Ike]

Ugh, cell phones.

My friends and family are permanently trying to convince me to get one. But the thought of being in reach all the time makes me shudder. (True, I could turn it off, but I had a cell once and whenever it wasn't on the Why Couldn't I Reach You questions came raining down.)

Besides, I have a landline. I don't need the extra costs.

 

[Mr. B]

I have one although I was comparatively late in getting one (Christmas 2004, age 19). It was a welcome convenience after some botched outings that could have been easily corrected if I had a cell phone.

I can understand why people wouldn't want one due to the expense or contracts but I don't get people who are worried about being too accessible. Even an iPhone can be turned off.

 

[nevermore]

I don't have a cell phone. But I do keep a prepaid one in each of the cars just in case.

Same here, for the last several years. But apparently my mother-in-law decided my wife and I really need the iPhone 3Gs, so my reign as a cell phone holdout will be over.

I'm grateful for the gift, but some part of me is dreading being so reachable.

You don't have to answer. I almost never actually answer the phone unless I want to hear from whoever is calling.

I do not have a cell phone. How can you keep out of touch with a cell phone? Like I really want to be walking through the Blue Hills and hear my phone go off....

They have power buttons.

 

[RoJoHen]

I don't have a cell phone. But I do keep a prepaid one in each of the cars just in case.

Same here, for the last several years. But apparently my mother-in-law decided my wife and I really need the iPhone 3Gs, so my reign as a cell phone holdout will be over.

I'm grateful for the gift, but some part of me is dreading being so reachable.

You don't have to answer. I almost never actually answer the phone unless I want to hear from whoever is calling.

Same here.

Just because it rings doesn't mean I have to accept the call.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I don't even own a cordless phone. My home phone is a Panasonic KX-TS3C, which is being sold on eBay as a "vintage" item. It looks like this, only black:

I still use the same phone I bought when I moved into this apartment in 1989.

They have power buttons.

Don't give me that logic.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

If I nicked that phone off you would you cry?

 

[Goliath]

They have power buttons.

If you don't have one, you never have to turn it on or off.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I had cellphone service for about two or more years, but currently -- none. It's mainly because I don't have a job, but also because even if I had one and the money to afford monthly payments, I just don't use a cellphone with enough frequency to warrent it. In fact, unless a job calls for one, I don't have any plans to get one. Heck, unless its bundled in a service package, I don't even intend to get a landline.

 

[Jan]

Ugh, cell phones.

My friends and family are permanently trying to convince me to get one. But the thought of being in reach all the time makes me shudder. (True, I could turn it off, but I had a cell once and whenever it wasn't on the Why Couldn't I Reach You questions came raining down.)

When I first got my cell phone it was because I wanted to have that convenience in case of car trouble or the like. When people would ask me for the number I simply told them that I didn't give it out since it was turned off unless I was actually making a call. You'd've thought I was somehow rejecting them when I told them to use my home or work numbers instead.

Nowadays I've got a part-time job that requires leaving it on most of the time but if the call's not work-related I'm perfectly content to not answer if I don't feel like it.

Jan

 

[SeerSGB]

I leave my private one on mostly out of habit. My business line I turn off.

Frankly I don't like giving out my private number to clients. Oh so much fun to get woke up at 4 in the morning after just crashing 30 minutes ago from a all night rush to meet a deadline to a ringer and someone on the other end: So can you give me a quote on a project I'm thinking about....I know your card said between 9am and 5pm, but I thought all you webheads were night owls." So I got a cheapo prepaid for a "business line" and after 5pm I turn it off and let it all go to voice mail, and give my private number only to people and clients I know won't abuse it.

 

[Small White Car]

Interesting! I do think a lot of the plans are scams like some posters here.

Ugh. Whatever.

You know what the real scam is? Food! What if I want to stop eating? I can't! And yet they have the nerve to charge me for something I can't stop using.

What a scam! Compared to that, cell phones are the best product ever. I mean, you've managed to avoid them...try doing that with food!

(You see where I'm going with this...if cell phones are a "scam" I'm not sure how to define anything else as "not a scam.")