Page 132 Comments
Drop the land line. Change your number to a local Washington DC number!
Dad that wasn't me! That was CK!
We (Mrs. Expat and me) have been living w/o a landline since 2001 and haven't ever looked back.
For those calling "out of area" just make sure they call you from their cell and then it isn't long distance.
Mr. Tan,
We've thought about getting a local number for our cells, but we're on a great plan through my dad's company, so...
Ex,
I've had the same thoughts for the out of area callers. It just seems "unnatural" to not have a land line. I get all excited about making the call to QWest to end our services, but then when it actually comes to making the call, I get all weird... Proposing to my wife was easier than this!
We don't have a standard land line but we have VoIP (Voice over IP)through a company called Packet 8...it's a digital phone service that runs through your broadband line, if you have broadband. Ours is less than what a standard land line costs w/ Qwest and we get unlimited long distance (which may or may not be an issue if you have a good cell plan). We actually did the opposite and gave up cell service instead of land line service. We're kinda weird that way.
So...since not everyone has a cell phone, not everyone could call you locally if you dropped your land line. But VoIP would serve the same purpose for less money.
CK,
I thought it would be unnatural, too. I mean, don't you HAVE to have a landline? But when we moved to Italy, we got cells straightaway, and since we didn't have a land line set up, it was just easier to give everyone our cell numbers than get a landline. After a year of that, I realized there really wasn't any need for a landline.
When we moved to DC, I too was concerned about local callers (we had a Seattle number since we got our phones there) and so we switched to a local number. But I doubt that you'll need to. Who (besides Right Wing Mama -- and even SHE has pay-as-you-go plan for emergencies
doesn't have a cell phone nowadays? And you REALLY don't want to pay for telemarketers to call you!
In DC, we're not alone in our landlinelessness (how's THAT for a word?!). Several of our friends only have cell phones also.
So go for it! I don't think you'll miss the landline -- or the unsolicited phone calls.
Ah, yes, you are correct. But we have ONE phone between the 2 of us that is used exclusively for emergencies. To answer your question, though:
My mother
My father
My mother in law
My father in law
2 or 3 of our friends
Each of my brothers
My pastor
His wife
I'll think of some more people who don't have a cell phone after my nap.
We can't do VoIP out here. The only "local" numbers we could get would be from Spokane or Wenatchee, which are still long distance for anyone calling us locally.
Get rid of the land line!
Like HK said, we checked into VoIP through Skype. It was a great deal (something like $60 for the year!) but the only 509 numbers available weren't Moses Lake numbers... (It was real fun trying to explain that 509 covers about 3/4 of Washington State in terms of area to the Skype people...)
My wife and I haven't had a land line for about five years. Haven't missed it at all. No one we know seems to mind just having our cell numbers. And, we have changed our physical adress four times over these five years and being cell-only has made the moves much easier. But, everyone's situation is different. All the best to you!
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"No one we know seems to mind just having our cell numbers"
That's not entirely accurate.
Keep the land line, CK. Cell phones are a plague.
if by plague, he means one of the single most revolutionary inventions of mankind.
Drop the landline service and go out to dinner once a month. A much better use of the money...
plague: any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation
no argument it's a revolutionary invention. And no surprise that revoltutionary and revolting are from the same root. Some things are definitely better left unchanged.
Though I agree with Guru (which is rare) today would be a day for everyone that I know to have a cell phone. I'm headed to the hospital to pop this kid out, and I can't reach my mom, my dad, or the person babysitting my kids. Luckily Andy was at his desk and his on his way home, so we're assuming the boys are fine and happy and that we'll get a hold of Mom and Dad at some point. Darn people w/o cell phones.
There are those seem to have a hard time distinguishing between the phenomenal convenience and usefulness of a cell phone on the one hand - and the insufferably rude way in which some people use their cell phones on the other.
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"phenomenal convenience"? The world seemed to be surviving just fine with phone use limited to ones that were connected with buildings or booths. It's like guns - there is no need for it. There are those who enjoy it, but their enjoyment never makes up for the negative impact that they have because too many people are using them that really should not be.
Anyone want to bet that someone, somewhere about 1910 had a car that had something go wrong and they turned to a neighbor and said, "phenomenal convenience? The world seemed to be surviving just fine with horses"?
"Negative impact?" What would that be?
"That really should not be?" Who made you the world's Arbitor of Lifestyle? Who is to say who should use a cell phone and who should not? What is the standard for "acceptable" use?
And, in relation to hunting, I don't recall having ever heard of anyone getting shot by a cell phone.
You don't like cell phones, fine. I don't like Country/Western music - but, I'm not going to advocate for it's elimination.
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You're going to compare the impact automobiles have had on the world with cell phones? Might as well compare it with electricity if we're going to be that ridiculous in our comparisons.
Even you referred to some of the negative impact of cell phones in your own comment. Now you are trying to act like they don't exist?
I'm not the world's arbitor of anything - I have thoughts and opinions and I express them here just like everyone else.
No, no one has been shot by a cell phone. But plenty of people have been killed by people misusing their cell phones - generally when they are driving. I really doubt you find a lot of friends or families of people who were killed by guns who are out there strongly advocating gun ownership - and I'm guessing the same thing applies in terms of friends and family of people killed by drivers who were more focused on their cell phone than the road and advocating the the phenomenal convenience of cell phones.
When there is something out there that isn't really greatly enhancing anything and isn't necessary and it is killing innocent people - I don't see any reason we need to keep it around. That applies to guns, cell phones, and if the shoe fits, Country Western music.
I have LONG advocated that cell phone manufacturers be required to build a device into all cell phones that renders them unusable within five feet of a running automobile engine. You want to use your cell phone? Pull over and turn off your motor. No problem.
Cell phones have very likely saved way more lives than they have played a small part in ending. Many times in modern life the immediate communication of cell phones has made a life-or-death difference in an emergency. That, all by itself, more than justifies the value of cell phones.
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Well I don't share your belief about how many lives cell phones have saved versus how many they have cost or about whether their percieved value is justified at all either.
Well, you have the right to be wrong! (ggg)
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