I am seriously considering giving up my cell phone

[Bruce Wayne]

I used to have a Treo 750 & I traded that in on a Blackberry Torch in August of 2010. I recently swapped that with my Mothers cell phone. I have been out of work for over 2 years & she & I combined our cellular plans together since I am unemployed.

Although I haven't been out & about as much as in the past, I truely feel better when I do leave the house & I am unreachable. I am always concerned that I will need it for an emergency such as being stuck in the snow or needing a jump or something of the sort. I just do not feel the need for it anymore. The only real reason I would like to keep it is so I can retain the number if in the future I deciede I want a phone.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thanx!!!
Charlie

 

[Tomasso]

To economize I would give up my landline phone before my cell phone.

 

[brspiritus]

I gave up my cell phone. Amazingly, Jacksonville has pay phones all over the place so there's always one at hand and by giving up the cell I'm saving myself $60/month. I still keep a prepaid cell but I don't give anyone the number and it just stays in the car when I go on long trips in case of emergency in the boondocks.

 

[DJH]

To economize I would give up my landline phone before my cell phone.

We've not had a landline for nearly 10 years. I don't think there has ever been an occasion where I've missed having one.

 

[kamikat]

I have not had a cell phone for 3 years. There have been quite a few times when I needed one, but I managed, but mostly by walking home 3 miles from a broken down car or relying on others when I had a car accident and a slip and fall. There are no pay phones around here. However, I would never give up my landline while I have children living in the house. Most of the families I know that have given their kids cell phones do it because there is no landline for the kids to use. My kids will have cell phones when they can afford to pay for it themselves. In fact, my 12 yr old son has a pay-as-you-go phone and has never asked for help paying for his minutes.

 

[Bluebird Marsha]

I gave up my landline also. My cell is just all around more useful. But I hear what you're saying about feeling better when you're unreachable. My first cell plan was a "gift" from my mother. Meaning it quickly became an electronic leash. It takes effort, but if you are consistent, eventually you can train family and friends into understanding that the phone is for your convenience, not theirs. You don't have to answer every call! Treat your voice mail like it's your butler. It takes the calls- YOU decide when you'll return the call.

And most models come with a lovely "off" button.

 

[sheeplady]

I personally couldn't be without a cell phone. I'm expected to be reachable for my job at least once or twice a day by email- basically every 12 hours. Before I got a phone that could "do" email, I had to twist my schedule to make sure that I was checking my email that often and it was just stressful and got to be expensive.

If I don't want to be bothered I don't pick it up. I'd say half the time I don't answer it when I hear it and it's accessible. I don't jump and check my email everytime it beeps. I control it, it doesn't control me. Even if I think it might be important, if I don't want to answer I don't. My philosophy is that technology is supposed to make my life easier, not make me more stressed out. If a personal technology stresses me out, it's going in the garbage.

The one thing you could do is get a pay-as-you-go phone and just not use it- you could even just leave it buried in your car and not carry it on you (if you can charge it occassionally from your car). Just make sure you know when your minutes expire. But chances are, unless you live in a rural area, somebody who sees you break down will have a phone.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I pay $28 a month for a Plain Old Telephone Service line, and it's never failed me once when I've needed it. Ice storms, power failures, no matter what. And people can always understand what I'm saying. Never had a cell, don't want one, ain't gettin' one.

 

[rue]

^ Yup. I had cable phone service a few years ago... went out with the lights every storm...... Had a cell when 9/11 hit (lived in Virginia) and you couldn't use it. Guess what still worked every time?

 

[Hawkcigar]

We gave up our land line and don't miss it a bit. My wife has an iphone and I have a Droid and we've both become pretty reliant on them for work. Having my work email and calendar with me at all times has saved me on more than one occasion in the hospital where I work. I'd have a very difficult time getting rid of the cell phone now.

 

[HeyMoe]

my android is never farther than an arms reach away. Being in management in mental health I am on call 24-7-365 and as such I answer calls and emails all the time. The phone allows me to get out of the house and still be available if needed.

 

[kamikat]

I pay $28 a month for a Plain Old Telephone Service line, and it's never failed me once when I've needed it. Ice storms, power failures, no matter what. And people can always understand what I'm saying. Never had a cell, don't want one, ain't gettin' one.

Up until about 2 years ago, that was us. Our old copper line started going out whenever we'd get rain, then we had about a month of no dial tone. Verizon, our local phone company, decided they were no longer going to maintain the old copper wiring because they were in the process of upgrading the whole county to FiOS. We HAD to get FiOS if we wanted a landline. They didn't tell us that when the power goes out, you lose your phone, too. We have a 6hr back-up battery but that's it. When our power goes out, it tends to go out for days, not hours.

 

[brspiritus]

We HAD to get FiOS if we wanted a landline. They didn't tell us that when the power goes out, you lose your phone, too. We have a 6hr back-up battery but that's it. When our power goes out, it tends to go out for days, not hours.

We have AT&T U-Verse and it's the same way with the phones, there's a backup battery but it lasts 6 hours or so and that's it. Hence the pre-paid cellphone for emergency purposes. Luckily, our power never goes out longer than a few hours here, but I can relate to Maryland. I lived 5 years in Frederick and the power would go out for days after a bad storm.

 

[Feraud]

I just do not feel the need for it anymore.

Sounds like you have the answer.

 

[Dan'l]

I've never owned a cell phone and so I don't know what I'm missing

A teaching assistant once asked, "How do people get in touch with you?" I replied that I have a phone with an answering machine and the post office, for now, is still in business.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Up until about 2 years ago, that was us. Our old copper line started going out whenever we'd get rain, then we had about a month of no dial tone. Verizon, our local phone company, decided they were no longer going to maintain the old copper wiring because they were in the process of upgrading the whole county to FiOS. We HAD to get FiOS if we wanted a landline. They didn't tell us that when the power goes out, you lose your phone, too. We have a 6hr back-up battery but that's it. When our power goes out, it tends to go out for days, not hours.

Yup, Verizon has a bad reputation for such "upgrades." One more reason why breaking up the Bell System was a mistake of epic proportions.

 

[hchilder]

I'm actually torn betweem Samsung galaxy ace and htc desire S.

Samsung seems to have a bigger and better screen.. i really can't decide [huh]

 

[Stray Cat]

a Plain Old Telephone Service line, and it's never failed me once when I've needed it. Ice storms, power failures, no matter what. And people can always understand what I'm saying.

I have a thing to add here:
..texting is COSTLY. :brick:

And before I know it.. I'm all out of credit.
I prefer a prepaid service. As my grandpa always used to say "Koliko para toliko muzike" ..or in English "You get as much music as you paid for.. no less, no more"

 

[Atticus Finch]

Naw...dump the cell....you gotta keep your land line. Without it, how would condominium time-share salesmen and the Police Benevolent Society get in touch with you?

AF

 

[scottyrocks]

When I was living on my own, all I had was a cell phone. The reception wasn't as good as a land line, but my books had to balance so I had to give up one, and it was the land line.

The cell phone is always with me. I had an unlimited plan and used it like a regular phone. Plus I could text. It was the better choice of the two.

In my house now, the kids don't answer the house phone so if you want to get a hold of any of them, you need to dial their cells.

During the last couple of power outages, the only way to make a phone call was on a cell because 99% of the phones out there now need to be plugged into a power outlet to work. I just got a 1940s Stromberg/Carlson rotary which will work in a power outage just like all phones used to before they needed a full 110 rom the wall.

But if I had to make a choice, even today, between a land or cell, I'd choose cell.

Edit: Apparently, I missed that even the land lines go out now, upwind of the 110v plug-in phones? I was hoping the old phone I bought would remedy that situation.