Posted on 01/09/2009 11:13:55 AM PST by MNDude
Never spend time on the road, and the land line never goes out. Never liked phones, don’t make many phone calls (like could count all the calls in a month on the fingers of one hand). Cellphones seem to get people addicted to pointless communication, seems 90% of the cell calls I wind up over hearing involve the admission of not doing anything, maybe that’s why I don’t like them, I’m never not doing anything.
I’m getting ready to sign a new wireless agreement with someone, and I want a phone. I don’t want a camera, an ipod, a personal organizer, or a gameboy, I want a phone. And, I want it to be rock solid, dependable, and durable. I want it for one use, and I want it to be excellent at that one mission. I’m willing to pay for high-quality, too. I have a feeling I’m going to be very disappointed at what’s available.
But the phone, no way. I had one growing out of my ear for 30 years and don't have the need to talk to anyone. My land line has almost never failed in 40 years, but cell phones are always out of signal or broken most of the time. I'll bet my daughter has had 5 phones in 4 years. They quit working and they go apoplectic. Where we live, we are out of signal more than in.
Just as a side note, I thought we were in the 2nd great depression? Why would someone selling apples to eat have a $500 phone? I was just hearing MSFT say they had a record year for the XBox and software in 2008. I know we need those to pay the rent. Maybe if we had less IPhones, laptop's, plasma's, and XBox's we wouldn't need bailouts to pay the rent.
The last straw was when wifey totaled up the thousands spent over the years — poof they were gone. She had things to buy with the money saved so there was no net gain as far as I was concerned -- Bet you know how that goes.
I liked mine, but not at the costs involved, I guess. If I was in business, where my job required remote net access, I would likely get a netbook with a wireless net card now and a cheap talky phone phone. To each his own, you need to decide the costs and benefits. Another friend just dumped his phone, he was spending more than his income is these days. He ran a thriving contract business before.
We all have moved to the pay per call Tracfone style phones and the bills have gone down by 100s a month for us. There really was no point for us.
Most of the tracfone style phones use the same network, so reliability is going to be the same as the contract phones. The beauty with these phones is if the bust, stolen or lost, the contract is not attached to a defunct phone. Another cheap new one is as close as the nearest Walmart.
I would stick with the pay per call phones. All the major companies now have them for sale at Walmart and other places. We just happen to have a Walmart as one of the few stores within 20 miles.
And that is the way it is supposed to be ......individual needs warrant what is bought. I agree 100% !
When I retire.....again, I will do the same thing, simple reliable phone with basic contract. Till then this is a aid that rids me of the weight and bulk of many other items that the BB replaces. I had choice of a couple other “smart” phones yet after talking to others my local reception and need for range etc I chose the BB Curve and it fits my needs for now.
Your correct to do what fits your needs, I will adjust accordingly as well as time goes on. When I look at grand total I can surf FR, WSJ, read any one of 20 plus version of the bible with software on the BB, I “save” money by having such versus subscriptions to the papers, magazines or buying the books. PDF versions are free at many places on the internet and I download em and blue tooth em on to the BB !
Mine fits my needs........:o)
Stay safe !
At first I wondered why you mentioned Blackberry Bold instead of the Storm, then realized you were comparing apples to apples.
BTW here is some info on the Storm.
Initially it was shipped (in a hurry) by Verizon with the original Beta software loaded. And that was as bad as it could be with noting really working as it should and requiring multiple cold boots a day! Everything was painfully slow even if it worked.
I got mine earlyish on Dec 01. By Dec 05 there was a temporary software patch that ended up preventing my throwing the unit back at Verizon, an otherwise very decent cell provider with whom I have been prior to their existence (grandfathered from previous cellular incarnations).
One of the problems that still exist is that Bluetooth earpieces are not all compatible. And voice dial commands did not work with the patch with any of the four late models I have.
About Dec 10th they deployed a software Upgrade which has turned the unit into a usable device and with reasonable reaction times. Still not perfect but as someone in Blackberry support said, compare this “infant” to the glitches and poor speeds on the iPhone after two years in action.
Finally, Balckberry performed, walked me through, a “new install” of their upgrade and some earpieces worked.
Jabras seem to work fine. The bt8040 (no earhook and fine in cold weather but inclined to slide out in hot weather when you sweat) and the bt530 have been solid enough.
Plantronics work but not always.
Neither the Motorola original Jawbone One nor the newer Jawbone II worked. The older version sounded like some squeeky cartoon character and the II can receive/handle voice dial commands manually triggered on the Storm Device itself but does not send a signal to trigger a voice dial command though you can end the call from the earpiece, so some “command” connectivity exists.
Even after the Upgrade, clean install, the Jawbone II still only works partially if voice dialing is triggered on the handset. Voice quality (unlike the original Jawbone model) is reasonably decent.
I believe that deliveries of the Balckberry Storm are now all with the Upgrade installed.
One of the big plusses of the Storm is the ability to zoom in/out on the texts when Internet browsing. Also the unit seems to “learn” and adjust to the user based on the usage.
And something not in the manuals, if you are in a browser page, a light tap on the lower part of the screen brings up a taskbar at the bottom with option buttons to zoom in, zoom out, go to favorites etc.
Be well, be happy
Long before I retired, I grew fed up with having all my time structured and being "on a leash" that was "yanked via cellphone" frequently by various clients and supervisors.
So, when I retired and settled out in the boonies in 2001, I got rid of my wristwatch, DayTimer, and cellphone.
Haven't missed them one bit... :-)
My son (13) volunteers at the local charity food pantry. He complains that he doesn’t have a cell phone but the people and their kids coming to get free food have cell phones.
How about a Bluetooth headset for hands free? And if you used the mp3 player, there are actually bluetooth stereo headsets which are great. I use mine when I'm working outside, and it has the added feature of working the phone side as well. The music automatically pauses to to take the call and resume when you hang up.
Don't have one either. I DO have one that work issued me. Told them point blank that yes I will use this for my personal calls. Don't like it, don't keep me employed or take the phone back. They dealt with it.
Poor things. She probably talks them to death...
A cell phone is great. The secret is to keep it turned off until you need to make a call.
Word!
I average one call a day. When I get out of work, I call my wife so dinner is ready when I get home.
Worth every penny.
I also carry it with me when I’m working on the tractor or cutting firewood. You never know when you might get penned down and need to call for help. My neighbor got pinned under his tractor and wasn’t found for about 6 hours. They think he was conscious for several hours before it finally shifted and suffocated him. A cell phone would have probably saved his life. Oh yeah, I carry it when burning fields, never know when you may need some help.
My old boss got a cellphone (this was back when they were pretty new) because he road his motorcycle like a madman and figured it would be useful just in case. On the day just in case happened he landed on it and broke it. Luckily he wasn’t hurt too badly and got help. But that’s how it goes sometimes, maybe your neighbor would have been helped, maybe the phone would have wound up where he couldn’t get to it.
Note I’m not saying people shouldn’t get cellphones and they don’t have the potential to be useful. Just pointing out that some people don’t actually need, and a lot of the people who have them do nothing with them but over share (oh the things we learn about cellphone owners in the grocery stores and elevators of this nation).
I use my iphone when I’m at auctions or book sales looking for items to buy (I’m a fulltime ebay seller). Having a powerful internet browser in my hand cuts down on buying mistakes. The iphone was expensive, but it’s paid for itself many times over.
Yep. That's why I have Opera on my Treo.
Thanks for the ping FARS. I miss out on all these great gadgets because of bad hearing, it’s really frustrating. I carry a cellphone on trips purely for safety purposes.
On the other hand, I would not like getting phone calls no matter where I am. I see young couples walking together and both of them are talking on cellphones, what kind of togetherness is that? LOL.
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