# Telephone usage survey



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Polling users. Would like to know what people are using.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm a land-line-only guy, but my wife and older son have their cells. The principal house-phone, though, is a landline.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I have a land-line but never use it. I pretty do all my calling from my cell, though even that is pretty nominal.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I use Rogers. Is that considered traditional lan line? I don't think so. Its not run on bell lines, has a modem but is it truly a VOIP system?


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

I tried to cancel my landline a year ago because I rely on the cell phone...I just need the landline for the internet...

Bell asked me "How would you like if we cut your phone bill in half instead of dropping the landline...???..."...I said "Sounds good...but I'd really prefer to just cut off the landline..."...That's when the Bell rep stated..."You can't...you just signed on for another year by vocally agreeing to having your bill cut in half...if you try to break your oral contract you'll be subjected to penalties...!!!..." 

WTF...???...I protested that I never signed onto anything...orally or otherwise...but decided to see wait-and-see if my bills were really reduced by half...sure enough...they were...I'm still gonna cancel the landline when my "contract" is up...because I don't like the dirty tactics that utility companies employ....


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

jimihendrix said:


> I tried to cancel my landline a year ago because I rely on the cell phone...I just need the landline for the internet...
> 
> Bell asked me "How would you like if we cut your phone bill in half instead of dropping the landline...???..."...I said "Sounds good...but I'd really prefer to just cut off the landline..."...That's when the Bell rep stated..."You can't...you just signed on for another year by vocally agreeing to having your bill cut in half...if you try to break your oral contract you'll be subjected to penalties...!!!..."
> 
> WTF...???...I protested that I never signed onto anything...orally or otherwise...but decided to see wait-and-see if my bills were really reduced by half...sure enough...they were...I'm still gonna cancel the landline when my "contract" is up...because I don't like the dirty tactics that utility companies employ....


That is total bullshit. I would report this to the BBB. Admitting that something is a good deal is NOT the same as agreeing to terms on a deal.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

We just have a land line. I had a cell phone when I worked as a freelancer with irregular hours but got rid of it as soon as I could after that. I was about to make a switch to Voice-Over-Internet, but our local family-owned cable company just got bought out by Rogers - so we'll stick with the "devil we know" for a while longer.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

We have VOIP here but it's just 'cause my girlfriend want a home phone. She's using her cell most of the time (seriously really not often).
Was me...cut everything, tv and phone and just keep the internet. The ringing is the worst sound ever!


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Man, so many Bell horror stories. They're not perfect, but Telus out here is very reasonable to deal with and responsive for the most part. Still have a land line here, that plus my in home work land line and fax line, and my family's 4 cells, are all on Telus. My cell is company supplied, (and on Rogers) so a) I don't use it that much for personal stuff, just family calls for the most part - no surfing, music, texting other things I watch my wife and kids doing all day long and b) at the same time, I don't see any value in going out and getting a personal cell at this point. 

There is still value to us in having 1 centralized family contact point number, so we keep the land line for now.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

My wife and I decided to get rid of our landline 6 years ago and we have not missed it at all. We both have cellphones but really seldom use the phones specially during the day. When I was off work for a couple of months and I had to make a lot of phone calls during the day and instead of using my cell phone as I have very limited minutes (150/month), I got myself a gmail account and installed Google Talk. Google talk allows me to call any phone in North America for free. If I get phone calls during the day, I just wait to see who called and call them back using google talk on my laptop. Works perfectly. Saves on long distance calls too. And if the other party has google talk, you can even do video at the same time.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I can't really vote. Right now the principal line in the house is a land-line, but we are using it less and less with both of us owning cell phones. And it's going to go completely because we can't really justify the bill for 3 phones.

The only real reason to keep the land line is because the buzzer in our apartment comes through it. But the new system can be routed to the cell phone now, so we really don't even need that.

So ideally, I would vote for cell phone only. Right now it's probably equal though, solely because the landline is still there lol. If it was gone, I wouldn't miss it.


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## Short Circuit (Mar 25, 2007)

We just use cell phones now, no land line.And we don't miss the it either
We really only used the land line for internet and when we got high speed, I cancelled my Bell internet and land line. I had a heck of a time cancelling the land line, the Bell rep tried everything he could to get me to stay on but I stuck to my guns and said no. Now to get rid of my Bell satelite dish and I will be "Bell Free" !!!!!

Mark


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Chito said:


> I got myself a gmail account and installed Google Talk. Google talk allows me to call any phone in North America for free. If I get phone calls during the day, I just wait to see who called and call them back using google talk on my laptop. Works perfectly. Saves on long distance calls too. And if the other party has google talk, you can even do video at the same time.


Seriously? Damn, I was sure Skype was the only provider of free phone over the web. And I have a gmail account...learning stuff everyday!


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Ti-Ron said:


> Seriously? Damn, I was sure Skype was the only provider of free phone over the web. And I have a gmail account...learning stuff everyday!


There is a bit of a difference though. Skype to Skype or pc to pc calls are free. But Skype charges for calls to mobiles or landlines (PC to any phone). With Google talk you can call any phone in North America for free. Since you already have an account, it's just a matter of downloading Google Talk. There would be something on the left hand side of your screen saying "Call Phone". Click on it and a numeric pad pops up. If your pc is equipped with a mic and speaker, like my laptop, you won't need anything else.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Chito said:


> There is a bit of a difference though. Skype to Skype or pc to pc calls are free. But Skype charges for calls to mobiles or landlines (PC to any phone). With Google talk you can call any phone in North America for free. Since you already have an account, it's just a matter of downloading Google Talk. There would be something on the left hand side of your screen saying "Call Phone". Click on it and a numeric pad pops up. If your pc is equipped with a mic and speaker, like my laptop, you won't need anything else.


The only thing is I have read in several places that Google Voice will not be free forever.

The other catch is there are come quality issues. I don't use it, but a buddy who calls me does and there are frequently connection issues and dropped calls. His connection is a mid-level rogers high speed package as well, so I don't think it's a speed issue. it's great for him because he has no landline or cell phone. I could never rely on it for something like business calls from my experience so far though.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Happy Vonage customer for some 6 years now. As soon as they came to Canada we dropped the land line for Vonage.

But I'm a heavy, heavy user of Skype and Google Voice for work. Both are essentially free the way I use them.

Also carry an iPhone and I'll use Skype from that also.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I have to admit I have never heard of Google Voice. I used Skype a lot when it first came out. Had a buddy living in China and we used to gab over Skype and it worked fantastic. I will have to take a look at this Google thing. We have Vonage at home and have had it ever since it came out years ago. My bill is a constant $24.00 per month and it is fine. But we seem to take less and less calls at home with the phone. 98% of the calls we do get are not of a personal nature and we dont even answer it half the time. Friends are starting to migrate to text message and cell phones more and more. I am wondering if its even worth having the Vonage.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

I've heard some good things about these. Anybody here try it?

magicJack USB Telephone Jack (A921) : VoIP / Internet Phone - Future Shop


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

We have a land line and also a cell phone. But I run a business, so at the moment, there is no choice. 

However, we just switched over to Primus and are saving about 40 on our phone and internet package per month.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

Bell landline with none of the trimmings, 1 cell phone that we share (no text option), Skype to talk to my daughter in BC and brother-in-law in South Carolina. Walkie-talkies when one of us goes to the corner store or walking the dogs. Nothing when were chilling outback at the pool - nobody needs me that badly........


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> The only thing is I have read in several places that Google Voice will not be free forever.
> 
> The other catch is there are come quality issues. I don't use it, but a buddy who calls me does and there are frequently connection issues and dropped calls. His connection is a mid-level rogers high speed package as well, so I don't think it's a speed issue. it's great for him because he has no landline or cell phone. I could never rely on it for something like business calls from my experience so far though.


Google Voice is only free when you call a phone that's in North America. Otherwise like skype, there are charges. Yeah there are times when the connection is not that good. What I do is hangup and call back and most times, it's fine. 

Voice over IP has improved quite a bit since the first time I've tried it using a program called "Powwow". That was 15 years ago, specially running on a 14.4kbit modem.  But the improvements have not been dramatic over the last few years now though.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I have a land line but honestly it's probably been a year or more since I've used it. Everyone in my house has a cell. I'm likely going to cancel the land line soon. 

I've been told I don't need a land line account to maintain my internet service with Bell. Is this correct?


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i'm amazed that people still use a landline. perhaps its a necessity if you have a family?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I like a phone that, when you've dialed it, you know you've reached a *place*, not a person. I like the fact that we have a phone book listing. I like the fact that it obliges me to make a choice about what I am going to be doing at this moment (talking, or something else). I like the fact that it has buttons to call someone, and redial, but *nothing else*. I like the fact that it never gets into the washing machine accidentally, or goes missing, and contains nothing that makes it worthy of theft or "investigation" by authorities. I like the fact it doesn't have to be recharged. I like the fact that it will never really need to be "upgraded", apart from spending a couple of bucks to replace the cord every couple of years. I like the fact that it stays at home when I'm on the bus or in the car.

Cell phones are a toy, developed largely for the youth market that has money to piss away, and believes its conversations are more important than anything else. Remarkable how easily people can believe advertising copy and think something is important even when it isn't. Regular phones work just fine. My wife bought into the cell phone BS, and uses hers largely to play solitaire, for my kid to hold up to the TV speaker to find out what a song is on a TV show show soundtrack, and to call me from 50yds away from the house to ask me to open the back door for her, or to tell me it's slippery outside and I should be careful. Man, I have no idea how civilization ever got as far as it did without being able to do any of that.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Right now I have a land line. But when my brother and I sell my mum's house (our house now, really), I will have a cell phone only. Even being on the national no call list, most of the calls I get on the land line are from &%%$ telemarketers, with whom I enjoy making threats to report. I get an average of 3 calls a week on the land line, telemarketers excluded.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Land line through Primus (was Rogers but they sold off the business to Primus)
and MagicJack VoIP long distance.

So, I didn't vote.

I'm slowly collecting the components I need for a system that will let me integrate the two services and automatically route outgoing LD calls over MagicJack - no matter which phone I pick up in the house.
I really just need a card or gateway and I could start putting it together. I have the software for the main system and I'd run the MagicJack(s) on virtual machines on the same box.

*spins propeller on beanie*


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Wouldn't building and running your own PBX be higher cost than just say, migrating to Vonage? Parts, support, electricity...


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

mhammer said:


> I like a phone that, when you've dialed it, you know you've reached a *place*, not a person. I like the fact that we have a phone book listing. I like the fact that it obliges me to make a choice about what I am going to be doing at this moment (talking, or something else). I like the fact that it has buttons to call someone, and redial, but *nothing else*. I like the fact that it never gets into the washing machine accidentally, or goes missing, and contains nothing that makes it worthy of theft or "investigation" by authorities. I like the fact it doesn't have to be recharged. I like the fact that it will never really need to be "upgraded", apart from spending a couple of bucks to replace the cord every couple of years. I like the fact that it stays at home when I'm on the bus or in the car.
> 
> Cell phones are a toy, developed largely for the youth market that has money to piss away, and believes its conversations are more important than anything else. Remarkable how easily people can believe advertising copy and think something is important even when it isn't. Regular phones work just fine. My wife bought into the cell phone BS, and uses hers largely to play solitaire, for my kid to hold up to the TV speaker to find out what a song is on a TV show show soundtrack, and to call me from 50yds away from the house to ask me to open the back door for her, or to tell me it's slippery outside and I should be careful. Man, I have no idea how civilization ever got as far as it did without being able to do any of that.


My girlfriend and I have our cell phones because we own small businesses and we have to have them to compete. I don't have the option of saying "I don't need a cell phone". I held off forever getting one, but in the end I did need one. I do not take my phone to movies, restaurants, or any other public places. It stays in my car or turned off in my pocket if I even have it with on me on my downtime. While I am on site doing jobs though, I need access to it. That is the reality of both industries I work in.

I don't like the 'cell phone etiquette' I see either, but you can't dismiss their usefulness based on a few morons. In a case like ours were we do need the cell phones, it's completely redundant to have a land line as well. And for what the landline is, and how much we use it, it's just an added bill we don't need.

Robert1950, I say one out of every three calls we get on our landline is telemarketers.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

double post


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Wouldn't building and running your own PBX be higher cost than just say, migrating to Vonage? Parts, support, electricity...


Yes and no..
The hardware is a PC that I'm running anyway.
I can get the software for free. Legally.
I have some IP phones, but I don't really need them to do what I want - it's just a bonus.
We could use softphones on our PCs
I would get rid of the land line, but there'd be a mutiny in the house.
And it'd be cool.. 'cause I built it myself.

Plus the PBX would have voice mail for everyone.
While travelling, I could VPN back to my home network, launch my softphone and get dial tone from the system... or just dial an extension of someone in the house if I'm just calling home.

The one expense that is stopping me is the card or gateway to connect the house inside phone line and outside trunk line and MagicJacks.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Time for an upgrade...


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

torndownunit said:


> My girlfriend and I have our cell phones because we own small businesses and we have to have them to compete. I don't have the option of saying "I don't need a cell phone". I held off forever getting one, but in the end I did need one. I do not take my phone to movies, restaurants, or any other public places. It stays in my car or turned off in my pocket if I even have it with on me on my downtime. While I am on site doing jobs though, I need access to it. That is the reality of both industries I work in.
> 
> I don't like the 'cell phone etiquette' I see either, but you can't dismiss their usefulness based on a few morons. In a case like ours were we do need the cell phones, it's completely redundant to have a land line as well. And for what the landline is, and how much we use it, it's just an added bill we don't need.
> 
> Robert1950, I say one out of every three calls we get on our landline is telemarketers.


And you are _exactly_ the sort of person who would have had one of those quart-of-milk-sized things in your car or whatever, 30 years ago, with a big-ass antennae on the roof; a "car-phone". I.E., what I would consider a *legitimate* user. That's not who the manufacturers target by including games and fart apps, though, is it?


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

mhammer said:


> And you are _exactly_ the sort of person who would have had one of those quart-of-milk-sized things in your car or whatever, 30 years ago, with a big-ass antennae on the roof; a "car-phone". I.E., what I would consider a *legitimate* user. That's not who the manufacturers target by including games and fart apps, though, is it?


Actually I wouldn't have had one of those because I refuse to talk on the phone in my car either lol. The main thing I need it for is to access voicemail and get back to clients as soon as I am able, and check email from clients. Basically, just enough to keep clients happy. I work a job, and have a small business. So the phone allows me to give the illusion that I am on call for my business while working the other job lol.

Here is the one I really don't get. People who pay to go see a movie... then text through it. It's mostly kids though, and I guess their parents are paying for the movie for them anyway. It's discouraging to see how manners and etiquette are becoming a thing of the past though.

But whatever. We love our guitars, some people love their gadgets. I don't get spending hours a day playing video games either, but everyone has their hobbies I guess.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

torndownunit said:


> Here is the one I really don't get. People who pay to go see a movie... then text through it. It's mostly kids though, and I guess their parents are paying for the movie for them anyway. It's discouraging to see how manners and etiquette are becoming a thing of the past though.


Here is one I really dont get. The next time you are watching any major sporting event take a good look at the crowd. Three quarters of them will have their heads down texting. Court side seats for basketball run $500 plus a seat and they will sit there texting half the night.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

The phones we have nowadays have 'evolved' into something more than it's original purpose which allowed us to talk to someone who is not physically present in front of us. For instance, I, myself use my BB for almost everything I do now that is related to the internet when I'm not at home. Emails, news, scores on sports events, checking out the weather, GPS which now even includes traffic conditions, blogging, tweeting, facebook, posting on boards like this, taking photos and recording movies, etc... We sure can't compare it with the phones of yesteryear. I call it the latest and greatest distraction to life that mankind has created. But no matter whether we like it or not, smartphones are here to stay.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

As I said to my banker yesterday if my landlord had an online means of paying rent I would never have a reason to walk into a bank. Technology moves forward and with it people. We lived in cities for two reasons: easy access to the factory, easy access to food. Before that most people lived on the farm. We had no choice but to get together in large groups; and one thing humans do poorly at is getting together in large groups for long periods of time. Oh sure, we tolerate each other, but often that snaps and what starts with name calling ends in a call to 911. So we invent all sorts of "manners" and "etiquette" to keep each other from killing each other in large numbers (which was not a hard thing to do, existing manners were what kept Pa from taking a branch from a tree and hiding our backsides on the farm so there was a foundation there to expand on already), and we invent means to psychologically escape from the situation of being crammed in with other people most of whom smell bad. We do this because we cannot go back to the farms, too many excess people littering the landscape and not enough landscape to easily feed the people (we import food from other countries to fill the need). So, we pull up the internet and turn off the crowds around us. Even at events does meat space take a back seat to the inner need to not be crowded. We can pay attention enough to be entertained, and that is as much attention to the crowd that is wanted to be paid because looking up from the phone means realizing not only do other people smell bad they look funny too.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...you make some excellent points. however, cell phone (and other digital devices) etiquette is a separate issue altogether, and should be addressed in a separate thread. i agree with most of the comments being made in that context. i think many people are actually struggling with an addiction to their digital devices, and that they are either in denial, or are blissfully ignorant. i am eternally grateful, for example, that i am no longer part of the dating scene, because the moment a date pulled out her digital device on a date, for any reason other than an emergency, like a death in the family, that date would be over, and any future dates cancelled.
however, i completely disagree that cell phones are a toy. despite that fact that i only rarely use mine, it is an absolutely essential (and cost-effective) means of staying in touch with family and band members. i do agree that many people use these devices as toys, or as a means of coping with their boring existence.




mhammer said:


> I like a phone that, when you've dialed it, you know you've reached a *place*, not a person. I like the fact that we have a phone book listing. I like the fact that it obliges me to make a choice about what I am going to be doing at this moment (talking, or something else). I like the fact that it has buttons to call someone, and redial, but *nothing else*. I like the fact that it never gets into the washing machine accidentally, or goes missing, and contains nothing that makes it worthy of theft or "investigation" by authorities. I like the fact it doesn't have to be recharged. I like the fact that it will never really need to be "upgraded", apart from spending a couple of bucks to replace the cord every couple of years. I like the fact that it stays at home when I'm on the bus or in the car.
> 
> Cell phones are a toy, developed largely for the youth market that has money to piss away, and believes its conversations are more important than anything else. Remarkable how easily people can believe advertising copy and think something is important even when it isn't. Regular phones work just fine. My wife bought into the cell phone BS, and uses hers largely to play solitaire, for my kid to hold up to the TV speaker to find out what a song is on a TV show show soundtrack, and to call me from 50yds away from the house to ask me to open the back door for her, or to tell me it's slippery outside and I should be careful. Man, I have no idea how civilization ever got as far as it did without being able to do any of that.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> Robert1950, I say one out of every three calls we get on our landline is telemarketers.



...right! yet another advantage to no longer having a landline. i cancelled my landline years ago, and not once ever missed it. not once. in fact, not once have i even thought about it. and my cell phone is actually turned off mosty of the time.

i only ever use my cell phone for making and receiving...yes, you guessed it...telephone calls. although i have discovered that texting can be a convenient and non-invasive feature.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

david henman said:


> ...you make some excellent points. however, cell phone (and other digital devices) etiquette is a separate issue altogether, and should be addressed in a separate thread. i agree with most of the comments being made in that context. i think many people are actually struggling with an addiction to their digital devices, and that they are either in denial, or are blissfully ignorant. i am eternally grateful, for example, that i am no longer part of the dating scene, because the moment a date pulled out her digital device on a date, for any reason other than an emergency, like a death in the family, that date would be over, and any future dates cancelled.
> however, i completely disagree that cell phones are a toy. despite that fact that i only rarely use mine, it is an absolutely essential (and cost-effective) means of staying in touch with family and band members. i do agree that many people use these devices as toys, or as a means of coping with their boring existence.


Fair enough. I find it ironic when people bitch about their phone plan, or people trying to sell them a phone plan, or how big their bill is. There has been a progressive collusion between the market and the phone companies. The latter tells us its important to have all those features and access. We buy into it and believe the sales pitch, further entrenching the companies' belief that we will be willing participants. WE are the ones who create the very things we bitch about.








I think the industry has made a VERY concerted effort to target people under 20, and even younger. It is not unlike the manner in which tobacco companies hope to ensnare adolescent smokers. The hope is that if you can get them feeling like a cell phone is indispensible from the get go, that virtually everything they do is planned around it, then you will have them as consumers for life. Nokia, Telus, and RIM are the new "pushers", the new Rothman's and Imperial Tobacco. 

Some may object to the stated equivalence between tobacco and cellphnes, but I think it is reasonable. I have no qualms about those who want to have a pipe, or a stogey now and then, or maybe even a smoke after particularly pleasing sex. But the notion of having one dangle off the lip at all times is, well, a clinical pathology, not a "choice".

Do some folks "need" one for their work? Yeah. And that's why, since portable radio-telecommunications existed, there have always been mobile devices, precisely for those folks, whether CB radios, walkie-talkies, "car-phones", etc. Are there people whose only access to telecommunications is via cell, such as many parts of Africa, or other underdeveloped regions without a wire/cable infrastructure? Yes. 

But those folks are not what sustains the industry. The industry is sustained by the tens and hundreds of millions who believe they need one and swear by all its conveniences. All those folks who believe they need to be reachable, and capable of reaching, at all times. All the folks who have been meticulously trained to feel that their impatience is to be treasured, valued, and constantly served, and that if it isn't...something must be wrong. Folks who have come to believe that if it is "kewl" then it is also important. We whine about our schools failing, and yet we willingly raise our kids to believe they should not have to wait....EVER, by handing them technology predicated upon that very assumption.

Maybe you're right David. Maybe cellphones are not the toy. Maybe WE'RE the toy to the industry.

To quote Neil Postman, we are "amusing ourselves to death".


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