Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy LOL@John! <They are not allowed to text message, IM or e-mail with the phone. Neither has a camera phone> I would consider that a blessing if I were y'all's tall 2oonlet---I use my hands enough typin' as it is, I cringe at the idea of usin' a tiny keypad to communicate. <Every month I scrutinize the phone bill to see where and when they are calling> "scrutinize", great word...I picture you hunched over a kitchen table under a bright light with a magnifying glass and penciles and highlighters, lol.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^ hint - use different color markers/highlghters for different people - helps make points easily--LOL !
Originally Posted By mj9401 My son who will be 12 next month has a mobile phone (I love how you call them cell phones) for 'just in case' moments. It is nothing flash, has no camera etc. It is on a prepaid account which we put in $50 back in December last year and it is down to $40 so I think he is using it responsibly. Each to their own but I prefer knowing that if my son needs to contact me or I need to contact him urgently we can.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <I love how you call them cell phones> I love how you call them "MO-byles", lol.
Originally Posted By smeeeko re: post 60 <<I'm confused...did he have his cell phone, or was there some kind of frequency thing where he couldn't call? (sorry for my naivete, I don't have a cell, lol)>> uh.. I didn't have a cel at the time so he had nowhere to call me as I was calling him from a payphone. He could only just get to the store as quickly as he could after making a statement and all (so no he was technically busy & out of area). =) now I'm confused!
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Well I knew you were callin' him, so I wondered why he couldn't answer his cell phone all those times you called if he was just stuck in a car (which I assume he was from the traffic you mentioned)...so I'm still confused, lol!
Originally Posted By smeeeko The thing about celphones is that it's not a smart thing to answer them in traffic and if my husband is at a client site or on a concall he lets his voicemail pick up. Many buildings & data centers don't get good cel coverage anyway. The particular day I mentioned he couldn't call me if he wanted to and that was the point I was making about needing to reach family in a real emergency. I guess if someone had onstar or something or if the person was at a place where they could be reached (and I wasn't) that would be something else. =) I do find that having a cel phone has spoiled me a little in that I feel better knowing if I have to take the bus somewhere and something happens or I am running late I can let people know. If something happens that I need to call 911 or my hubby has change of plans I won't be stuck somewhere wondering if he got delayed or something bad happened (which I try not to think about). So yeah the cel is an important tool. All the other stuff. sports scores, camera phones, emailing and text messaging thats the icing to get you to choose one over the other. Many of our friends don't have landlines and prefer to only have their cel. Not sure how I feel about that (having a secure landline is always a good thing). Still having people reach us on the cel ensure that we are reached and don't miss important calls.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Interested that you view a landline as ' secure' - in what way...no being critical, just curious
Originally Posted By smeeeko landline vs. cordless phone or cel phone. =) not really gov't secure but more secure in that your call isn't being intercepted by your next door neighbor with a scanner. Not sure if that's really an issue with the crop of cordless/ celphones these days.. if your power goes out you can still use a corded phone. If your cel is dead (like mine has been for the past 5months) and your cordless phone goes out.. that kind of thing. The other thing is with a cel phone you can still have issues with connectivity.. having to stand by a window for example when taking a work call. Also some of the earlier Bluetooth handsfree have a habit of dropping calls in certain areas, (or it could be the provider that they are using I dunno). We don't have a bluetooth thingy for that very reason.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<When I don't want to have a cell phone or be reached I do this amazing thing. I turn it off.>> When my wife does that the kids really complain. If they try calling her cell and it isn’t on they ask “What good is it to have one if you never have it on?†It’s better in my view to not set up the expectation that you can always be reached. By the way... my kids are 29 and 22 so I don't feel any need to be available to them 24x7.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper A lot of good points have been made about the need for cellphones and I appreciate the thoughtful feedback. Has anyone give a cellphone to a child 10 and under?
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I would check your provider on the drop calls-- as well as connectivity -- I have had Cingular for 20 years ( when they were Cellular One ) - and really have very very few issues -- I have gotten 4 bars in the mountains of Tennessee... yeah anything over the air is still somewhat susceptible to interception-- but in todays world I would not feel totally 'safe' on a corded land line either... One thing you may want to look at for your cell phone is a thing called Booster -- it is a spare battery pack that will give you 20 - 30 minutes of talk time -- you can carry it in like your glove box of your car in case of emergencies --they are made for specific brands of phones and plug in where charger would go.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <<<When I don't want to have a cell phone or be reached I do this amazing thing. I turn it off.>> When my wife does that the kids really complain. If they try calling her cell and it isn’t on they ask “What good is it to have one if you never have it on?†< Yeah, we have this conversation in my house a lot -- my wife either forgets to charge her phone- or turn it on ( I tell her never to turn it off) - or is so technically challenged - no clue how to retrieve a missed call / or take a call while you are on another... My 12 year old is working with her though - LOL !
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <A lot of good points have been made about the need for cellphones and I appreciate the thoughtful feedback. Has anyone give a cellphone to a child 10 and under?< No, my daughter got hers when she was 12 -- there was an occasion or two when she was eleven that we gave her her Mom's phone to take with - both were going to the show/movies with others - birthday parties where we didn't know the parents/kids that well. We do our best to avoid those situations, and in some cases she just is not allowed to go.
Originally Posted By smeeeko ^^vbdad.. we have cingular also.. I don't usually get the dropped calls but SeanYoda used to before the merger thingy.. but I think we were on a lot of roaming plans before the upgrade. Starting next month I will get mobile to mobile nationwide. I was thinking about an unamed friend that has Verizon that has trouble with their dropped calls and the bluetooth handsfree thingy they try using. One of the things about cellular technology is that within the 2years I've had my celphone, the model was obsolete or almost obsolete to begin with. The 'free' phone I could have gotten is the same model Nokia my husband's company has been providing him since we moved down here to SoCal. I had a Sony Erikson which was nice but the buttons took getting used to, and there were virutually no accessories or support for the thing. When it didn't work in December we got the runaround.. Sunday I was ready to turn the thing in and have done with it til we did more research.. but then we met the nicest cel rep.. I mean he must own the company or something. I could have gotten an upgrade in FEBRUARY! SeanYoda got me a LG C2000 with cameraphone (and NO I don't need a cameraphone..but now we can take a bunch of LP live photos like the rest of you crazy cats... and I have a working phone with unlimited mobile to mobile and no roaming.. whoo hoo! It's nice to know I can get calls from potential employers now when I start looking again. After the rebate it's 29.99 something like that. Also the guy gave me a car charger, a regular charger *AND* a celcase sling for it (my choice of 3 different ones to choose from) The Erikson we had to hunt through like 10different stores before finding one that worked at Fry's and that was 20bucks. sheesh. I hate the way a lot of cel companies work but this guy in Buena Park was a MAJOR exception to the bad customer service experience we had previously. =) Need to find his business card so I can tell everyone to go see him. He was totally helpful!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I know a number of people who had trouble with verizon here also..and one of my daughhters friends had to cancel ( and they let her out of her contact because she could get no service at her college location) the LG phone is a more than decent brand -- I am partial to Samsung's --
Originally Posted By PlainoLJoe My main concern with Verizon is that they handicap their phones. All the good features like bluetooth are limited to a headset and dont allow for data transfer. Thus making you pay 3 bucks for ringtones instead of just loading an mp3 or audio clip. You have to e-mail your photos at a cost instead of just transfering them to a palm or PC. Yes I know this wasnt this way before but in the past year all the verizon phones have done that. A false advertisement on their part.
Originally Posted By HRM WoW... an interesting thread, with lots of good points... My input regarding age appropriateness is that unfortunately I've come across a few adults who seem to be "too inmature to have a cell phone - nuff said on that topic. As far as giving a child a cell phone, it comes down to a parenting issue; I feel that as long as parents are having conversations about age appropriateness in other areas - participation in extra-curricular activities, going out with friends, being on the family phone, video game play, allowances, etc - then the use of a cell phone is just another family decision that has to be negotiated. I feel this is another OPPORTUNITY for a parent to pass on some values to a child. What works for one family, may not work for another. There are certain phones that may be more appropriate for children, and if a child abuses the phone (or loses it) then certain consequences must follow. Something to think about, exposing a child to new technology is the perfect opportunity for us old-fuddy-duddy parents to learn about new technology also. Again, some very valued opinions and experiences shared throughout this thread. Somewhere in our fast-moving world there must be a balance between learning and awareness of new technology and good old-fashion values.
