I thought people would like to use this thread to vent about how prevalent cell phones have become in our society. For instance, when I cashier I hate ringing up a sale while the person could give a flying f___ about you and they keep talking on their cell phone like they don't have a care in the world. Excuse the language but I feel very strongly about this. It is also extremely annoying to have them go off in fancy restaurants, movie theaters, plays, etc. However, IMO, they are useful in emergencies. Have a great day!
I couldnt leave home with my freaking cell phone because I dont use my home phone at all, I have my own phone where all my clients reach me, I cant be without it anyways, so, a phone its as much of a need as you give it to it, many ppl think exactly the same about cars, they think they are not important, and for some they are, this is as personal as it gets, but then again some people are just freaking stupid and they keep it on just for the sake to annoy the crap out of everyone, I lost mine and I got freaking pissed off cuz I've been without it for months and now I get flooded with email instead of voice mssgs, have a nice day yourself
My cell is needed so i can keep in contact with friends and family ;D, i turn it off though when in a cinema for respect towards other ;B
The only time i hated having one was when i got called at 2:00am :'(, it so pissed me off :'(
I find them useful in emergencies, but otherwise find them annoying; especially when they go off during a movie, or class. ::)
Useful, useful, useful. I only have my cell, I don't havea landline in my apt; if there's an emergency, someone can find me, I cna program numbers in and don't have to try and remember all of them, if I'm lost finding a place I can call for help, if someone's late getting somwhere, they can give you a heads up. Useful beyond belief!! I firmly believe cells are eventually going to entirely replace having landline phones.
Plus, it's small and purple and plays "Fraggle Rock." ;D Them going off in theatres bites, yeah, but that's why they have reminders to turn them off before the show starts. People can be inconsiderate with them, but they're the people who would be anyhow, be it ignoring you as you ring them up for something, or talking loudly to a friend next to them and not on the phone during a movie.
My cellphone is my only phone...same as Katie there....without it, I have no way of being reached immediately.
Also you never know when an emergency is going to happen, so it's useful to have around. Ie: when driving to Calgary last summer, I saw four serious motor vehicle accidents. Without cell phones, who knows how long it could have taken to notify the authorities.
Harrison's always on the go... the boy practically lives in his car, so he uses his cell phone pretty frequently. Plus it gets me off the hook for being on the internet at night, since he gets free nights and weekends on it. (sheepish look) Me, the only person who ever calls me is my mom, and that not very often, so my getting a cell phone would be useless. :P
I agree, as a former cashier, that it is annoying as hell when I'm trying to ring someone up and they're yakking away. If they didn't get off soon enough, I actually would set their stuff aside and go to ring up the next customer... when the cell phone person complained, I would smile and say "Oh, I'm sorry! You appeared to be busy, and I didn't want to disturb you, so I thought I would attend to the next person waiting instead."
Needless to say, I never lasted very long in retail... ;P
Peace & Luv, Liz
lost my cell phone 5 months ago.... don't feel the need to replace it.... could be useful though, but i love the peace it gives when i'm not beeing called anymore ; )
Oh, I never get called. I just use it to remind people I'm still alive.
I tell ya, if I got a dollar for every time I heard, "Oh, it's you again...*sigh*", I'D BE RICH! :D
I have a cell phone, but I don't use it that much, and if I do, it's usally just to send SMS-es. It's useful to let someone else you're driving towards know if you've run into something unexpected, but other than that, I have no use for it (yet).
I've never gotten a call or a text message during cinema visits or such, since I've never seen a message on my screen saying that as I turn on the cell phone when I leave. 8)
Yeah same as others here I wouldn't say useful, I'd say vital! I'd be lost without my phone and I'm a freak for all the new ones. Plus I've got the happy tree friends tune as my ring tone <3
I use my mobile 'phone for emergences, and to take when I go out so I can call my mum to get a lift home/she can contact me. I hate them at work, I get the whole cashier/d****** thing too. I end up just ignoring htem, not taking care of their shopping and then serving the next person after they've barely finished. Idiots.
Thanks everyone for your opinions. Who is the best cell phone provider? I currently use T-Mobile but am considering switching to Verizon Wireless when my contract expires. I hear they have better coverage :D but higher rates :( I guess you usually get what you pay for -- :>
I am with Optus and from 8:00pm to 8:00am i can ring ppl for ten minutes and it only costs 30 cents for the first ten minutes ;B
UK geta raw deal when it comes to contracts. I'm on a £25 a month contract and for that I get 100 anytime any network minutes and 100 SMS's per month plus 300 WAP minutes and 3 MB of GPRS data trasfer for free. Then its something like 10p/minute for calls. In the US you get like unlimited calls for a cheap amount a month right?
the contracts in Australia are also pretty expensive and cwappy :-\
Alex: Not usually. Harrison's on a plan where he has unlimited nights and weekends, but he pays per minute during the day, on top of his monthly fee. Most plans, though, have a monthly fee which includes a limited amount of available minutes (and/or other services), then you pay extra they rest of the time. Not any better.
Peace & Luv, Liz
I got my cell phone a year or two ago, and I have definitely used it less that 50 times(maybe much less, I use it so little, I just can't remember). I hate the way people are abusing them recently. I really don't see why people need to talk or text message that much.
I have prepaid, because that is the cheapest for me. I pay a small amount in advance, and I can use it during a year. When I re-load, the amount that's still on the prepaid-'account', together with the added amount lasts another year, and so on.
The other day I tempted asking a teenage female if she'd like me to surgically graft her mobile 'phone to her ear.
I thought better of it. I was at work, and serving her at the time ;)
Heh, if I ever said that to anyone I'd get punched in the face. Hmmm maybe saying it with a British accent would yield a different response. :)
XB
I unfortunately do have a bit of an obnoxious attitude, and often joke about when someone's just gonna turn around and punch me in the face, lol. Nobody's done so yet ;)
I have prepaid too, it helps you to organize your expenses waaaay better because I get called more than what I actually call so it helps me control my expenses better, it never expires, I have my money till I use it all, Its great. (bellsouth)
If you are not a user who uses the cell phone frequently I suggest you prepaid, if you use your phone enough then go the other way around with a minimal fee monthly.
I have a cellphone mostly because my mother needs to know where I am and what I do at any given moment ::)
Cellphones here aren't that expensive - there are 3 providers and the competition between them makes it cheap enough for almost everyone to have at least one cellphone :-\
I have this 36-months contract where I get the device for free, that is, I pay something like $2.5 a month whether I use the cellphone or not, but if I do use it, those $2.5 are subtracted from my cellphone bill. I don't know exactly how much I pay for the calls themselves - the rates are different when calling different networks - but I usually just recieve calls, not make them, so my bill isn't that high at the end of the month.
I currently pay $30 with T-Mobile for 300 anytime minutes and unlimited weekends. My contract ends in June. I was seriously thinking of switching to Verizon but for the same coverage plan it would cost $35 a month. However, I would get much better coverage. I usually use all 300 minutes so I do not think prepay would be the best choice for me.
Very very very very annoying. As soon as I place myself in a restaurant or go to see a movie, there's certainly some cell phone ringing during the next couple of hours. I have a cell phone myself, but only use it for business purpose or in case of an emergency (or to send SMS ;) )
I have a two year contract with o2 - a german mobile provider. It's particularly favorable since I rarely use the cell phone.
May I ask what kind of cell phones you have?
motorola - talkabout
anyhow I lost my phone number :( I r so so sad
i have prepaid also because you know how much you have to spend and you have to stick to it ;B
BTW i had a Motorola Jazz, lol :suffer:
but i now have a Nokia 3315 ;D
Nokia 3310, a present from my parents.
@Say: surely some friend of you has your cell phone number?
can't you call someone with number recog.?? so they will tell you your number?
btw how could you lose your number?? ; )
HAHAHAHAHAHAH, that shows how much of a completly clueless I am sometimes, I MEANT MY PHONE, sorry, not the phone number.
it doesnt matters anyways, noone ever called me :(
i would have called you :D
So everyone in this forum except me has a prepaid plan. I will look into this option. Have a great night!
Quote from: dew7 on April 25, 2004, 03:43:45 AMSo everyone in this forum except me has a prepaid plan. I will look into this option. Have a great night!
I don't know about the other prepaid-people, but in my neck of the woods, prepaid=
no plan.
To me it looks like Storm and krista don't have prepaid. 8)
Quote from: Say on April 25, 2004, 01:27:15 AM
it doesnt matters anyways, noone ever called me :(
yeah, but that was before you knew me <3 ;] ...it is perhaps a good thing that you lost your phone or else i would be calling you non-stop ; )
Awwwr, you're so sickeningly sweet :3 I know my 'phone number, and maybe where my 'phone is. :O
Quote from: B'rrr on April 25, 2004, 12:46:38 PMit is perhaps a good thing that you lost your phone or else i would be calling you non-stop ; )
/me thinks that would get B'rrr a large telephone bill.
Quote from: MangoMercury on April 25, 2004, 01:18:09 PMI know my 'phone number, and maybe where my 'phone is. :O
Quite the contrary, I know where my phone is, but there's one digit from my cell phone-number (I know the fixed phone number by heart) I always have trouble remembering. I know the first two, and the last 6, but not the one inbetween. :-\
yeah i probably would get a high phonebill... but i don't mind... speaking of wich, i heard about a stalker the other day who phones 30.000 times two months :o :o ...that is an avarage of 500 a day!! :o :o
anyway, guess i have to save my money.. so i have enough to phone Say non-stop when she gets a new phone ;] ; ) ...or i save enough for a plane ticket and fly over and stalk her rl (in a very nice way of course... and only if she doesn't mind <3)
Quote from: B'rrr on April 25, 2004, 04:40:21 PMyeah i probably would get a high phonebill... but i don't mind... speaking of wich, i heard about a stalker the other day who phones 30.000 times two months :o :o ...that is an avarage of 500 a day!! :o :o
Current phones have this nice feature called 'number repeat' which lets you repeat the last number entered. So, you'd only have to press that button 500 times/day to do that.
/me thinks his thumb isn't 'trained' enough to press the same button 500 times/day. ;D
Quote from: B'rrr on April 25, 2004, 04:40:21 PManyway, guess i have to save my money.. so i have enough to phone Say non-stop when she gets a new phone ;] ; ) ...or i save enough for a plane ticket and fly over and stalk her rl (in a very nice way of course... and only if she doesn't mind <3)
The plane ticket would probably be the cheapest, certainly in the long run. XD
Quote from: copycat on April 27, 2004, 01:54:50 PM
Current phones have this nice feature called 'number repeat' which lets you repeat the last number entered. So, you'd only have to press that button 500 times/day to do that.
/me thinks his thumb isn't 'trained' enough to press the same button 500 times/day. ;D
oops i said in two months, instead of one... so
she calls250 a day, still a lot op phone calls :o
...ugh, suppose
she calls only 12 hours a day, that would mean 60 times an hour!! ...one every 2 mins!! ...for two months straight!!
they said that she didn't stalked just one person (she stalked a few) and she disconnected immediatly or screamed/shout/scold and disconnected after that.... still, a lot of phone calls ; )
Quote from: copycat on April 27, 2004, 01:54:50 PM
The plane ticket would probably be the cheapest, certainly in the long run. XD
yay... i think so too ;] :lovegoggles: ; )
Hee. About the money for phone calls bit... I'm reminded a little of when my parents were dating. They lived a long-distance call away from each other, and my father joked that he had to marry my mother so he could stop spending all his life savings on phone bills. XD
Peace & Luv, Liz
In my opinion, the government rakes in the dough in with the telephone. They have such high taxes on telephones that I am surprised that people can afford them. See if you can figure out which state I live in -- In the news the government recently suggested a rent tax in order to bring in more revenue. Have fun trying to figure it out. ;)
AT&T, out of contract, but I pay 35 a month for 250 daytime, and like 500 nights & weekends, 100 text messages a month and I have a cute little Nokia 8250 or something like that....I love it! It's purple, it plays fraggle rock.
And AT&T works in all the areas Verizon does. I've never had an issue with service in any place that didn't also cancel out on everyone else.
I guess I will have to do my research to come out with the best plan. Thanks for the information.
Quote from: dew7 on April 28, 2004, 12:23:21 PMIn my opinion, the government rakes in the dough in with the telephone. They have such high taxes on telephones that I am surprised that people can afford them.
Taxes on telephone
machines? Anyway, AFAIK, our government doesn't have any taxes on anything having to do with telephones, apart from the ever-present VAT ofcourse. 8)
The U.S. government adds all kinds of taxes to your monthly phone bill and even more taxes to your monthly cell phone bill. It is one of the costs of owning a phone line in the U.S.
Quote from: dew7 on April 30, 2004, 07:35:56 PMIt is one of the costs of owning a phone line in the U.S.
We don't own the phone
line, we own the phone
number. And I thought the Belgian government was greedy. :-\
Correction: we own the phone number too in the U.S.
Here, there is only one company for regular phone lines, which belongs to the govenment, so not much sense in taxing that - their tariffs should be govenment-controlled anyway. The cellular market is privatized, but I don't think the tax you pay on the cellphone is any different than the one you pay for any other electric appliances :-\
Quote from: KatieHal on April 28, 2004, 01:53:47 PM
AT&T, out of contract, but I pay 35 a month for 250 daytime, and like 500 nights & weekends, 100 text messages a month and I have a cute little Nokia 8250 or something like that....I love it! It's purple, it plays fraggle rock.
My old phone was playing "Boys Don't Cry"... I miss my old phone :( my new one has better sound, but no songs I like :-\
lol... my old phone was so so fukeds up that didnt even sound the freaking beep when it had to!! :D (new txt mssgs, voice mssgs, etc) but I wuved it :( *snifz* I so miss it :(
The best cell phone is one that never rings. ;)
... lol, then why would someone have it?! :P
One-way cellphone for emergencies? I dunno.
Though I would love to have a vibrating cellphone. ;)
I have an phone that doesn't ring ; ) ...ahhh, very peaceful :lovegoggles: ...too bad i can't call in case of emergency ; \ ...but, well.... you can't have it all ; )
Quote from: B'rrr on May 05, 2004, 09:23:35 AMI have an phone that doesn't ring ; ) ...ahhh, very peaceful :lovegoggles: ...too bad i can't call in case of emergency ; \ ...but, well.... you can't have it all ; )
Are you talking about a toy phone? ::)
@bushie: Don't
all cellphones vibrate nowadays when you tell them too? 8)
no... no toy phone ...it's the phone with the locked sim ; ) ...well... I guess a toy phone would be more usefull ; )
You can always replace the sim. 8)
Normally, even a toy phone can ring too. XD
I think my dad has a cellphone that won't vibrate. If it did, I would have used that ability on my trip to NYC. I much prefer good vibrations to painful ringing (even the musical kind). ;)
My phone vibrates or rings or does both. I use it sometimes and find three hundred minutes per month is enough air time for me. I also have unlimited weekend calling.
I barely use my phone for 60 minutes a month... :-\
Quote from: Oldbushie on May 05, 2004, 11:31:35 PMI barely use my phone for 60 minutes a month... :-\
I don't even use it
that much. :-X
Quote from: copycat on May 04, 2004, 02:19:49 PM
Quote from: Storm on May 03, 2004, 08:13:10 AMMy old phone was playing "Boys Don't Cry"... I miss my old phone :( my new one has better sound, but no songs I like :-\
Can't you transfer the song from the old phone to the new phone ???
Nope. Those cellphones are of different makes and from different operating companies, and they have different sound qualities. I think you can upload your own music as a ring, but I couldn't find that option on the company's website :-\
Quote from: copycat on May 05, 2004, 01:48:51 PMDon't all cellphones vibrate nowadays when you tell them too? 8)
My old phone didn't vibrate... you had to get a vibrating battery for that :-\
Ohhh its nearly June! My new phone comes out then *sigh* I've had this one for a year and half now and because its a microsoft phone it keeps freezing! Meh stupid phone.
New phone(Made in Birmingham UK!!): http://www.sendo.co.uk/smartphones/index.asp
A *phone* that keeps freezing? :o Dang, Microsoft is really good at screwing things up.
Just like Microsoft did when they tried to phaze out the 9x code for a less secure in my opinion NT (not there) code. ;D
My phone's a Motorola V.66 and has both vibrate and ring. It doesn't have polyphonic ringtones :'( and is pretty basic. I tried creating some ringtones, but it doesn't allow notes shorter than a quarter, so it sooo sucks. ;)
Anyway, it's set to play "Rondo ala Turca" XD
My interest in waning in this thread and my future replies to this thread will be limited. Have a nice day!
Quote from: Oldbushie on May 08, 2004, 11:30:20 AMDang, Microsoft is really good at screwing things up.
M$ is
very good at screwing things up, haven't you noticed that yet?
Anyway, AFAIK a normal cell phone doesn't have a M$ OS, so it must be an advanced one.
Mine's just a Nokia 3310. Good enough for what it's worth.
My answer for this thread's title question - Mine is useful, everyone else's are annoying :P
:suffer: storm <3 it
well my phone is a siemens and i cant remember which one but its little and sliver.
its useful for many reasons-
1)wen mum wants to be reassured that i hav my phone with me when i got out
2) when i need a lift back from somewhere...muuuuuum, can u pick me uuuup
3) when i am bored and text people random messages
4) i love it wen i get messages coz i feel special lol
but...ring tones can be annoying especially wen u are sittin on a train or somewhere and all of a sudden a group of young people play *lets annoy everyone by playing our ringtones on the highest volume with the most annoying songs we can find*
Quote from: Kimmie on May 19, 2004, 04:44:29 AMbut...ring tones can be annoying especially wen u are sittin on a train or somewhere and all of a sudden a group of young people play *lets annoy everyone by playing our ringtones on the highest volume with the most annoying songs we can find*
Fortunately the few times I use the train are not times when groups of young people are using the (same) train. XD
Sometimes useful, always annoying.