Do we really need cell phones?

[SpyridonOCA]

I'm thinking about canceling my cell phone service and just having a home phone, since it is cheaper and would allow me to have internet at home. Is a cell phone really necessary? Should I really pay a monthly fee to give myself brain cancer?

[OnTheWay]

1.There's no proof cell phone use causes cancer.
2.Considering people lived without cell phones for thousands of years it's pretty cut and dry that we don't need them.
3.I agree paying for cell phones and a land line is silly, unless you perhaps need the landline for some use. Our internet is through our cable service, so we have no use for a landline and don't have one. I would personally rather have a cell phone than a landline.
4.A landline is probably not cheaper than cell phone service, nor can it be customized to fit user needs like cell phone service can be.

[Kolya]

I'm thinking about canceling my cell phone service and just having a home phone, since it is cheaper and would allow me to have internet at home. Is a cell phone really necessary? Should I really pay a monthly fee to give myself brain cancer?

I've been carrying a cell phone for over 10 years now, and don't know what we did before them! We were always looking for a call box that worked if we needed to make an urgent call.

Now one does not need to worry if you break down on the highway, or need to call home about something else we needed from the grocery store.

In this country land line calls are cheaper, and we take it on pre-paid - that helps control the costs. My internet comes in through the cell phone towers, but I use a separate SIM card for that and it is connected to a home wi-fi and so all our computers (3 laptops and one desktop) at home are wireless. My wife and I each carry our own cell phone, and in our circumstances, we always need to be in touch. With a cell phone one can always reject unwanted calls too.

If one is worrying about contracting cancer from a cell phone, we live in a magnetic electronic soup anyway from all the cell towers around us. Even normal land line phones and electric clocks near our heads in our bedrooms and TV and computers cause electronic magnetic radiation anyhow. So the cancer worry does not concern me too much.

[gzt]

Well, you can literally do whatever you want. It's cheaper for me to have a cell phone, actually, and it meets my needs much better.

[choirfiend]

With most members of my family being on the provider, with free-long distance for all other members including land lines, with roll-over minutes, and the benefit of grouping my and my fiance's lines into a family plan, it makes a lot more sense for me to have a cell phone---even if I do cringe a little at the cost b/c I'm so poor.

[Anhelyna]

We have both :)

Our Landline comes from our Internet provider and we [ for a small extra fee each month ] get any calls calls to 'normal' numbers free . We still have to pay from some - premium rate numbers but we don't believe in using those .

Our cell phones are really for emergency use - but we have had them for years - literally . The phones are not terribly High Tec but we can make and receive calls and SMS.

Certainly these last few months the cell phones have been very very useful as I can send SMS to my husband in Hospital about anything that crops up between visits to him. We normally use our cellphones [ mobiles is our term] in France too - though I usually use a Fench SIM card there - so I can keep in touch with my GodPapa as that works out cheaper for me .

We do not have a payment plan for our mobiles - Pay As You Go does OK for us

[Matrona]

I have both because I need both. I need a cell so that I can call for help if I'm away from home. It's cheaper for calling my peeps both local and long distance. Sometimes people have called me during church or class because of an emergency and texting lets me respond discreetly and immediately rather than waiting an hour or more until I'm available.

And I need a land line because the emergency number (911 for all you fur'ners) finds landlines much easier to deal with than cell phones. They can almost always locate you instantly on a landline; with cell phones, you usually have to be able to tell them - and what if you don't even know where you are? With all the slimeball morons I've been unfortunate enough to encounter who might suddenly decide to hunt me down and try to kill me, 911 service is not something I'm going to do without.

[Kolya]

I have both because I need both. I need a cell so that I can call for help if I'm away from home. It's cheaper for calling my peeps both local and long distance. Sometimes people have called me during church or class because of an emergency and texting lets me respond discreetly and immediately rather than waiting an hour or more until I'm available.

And I need a land line because the emergency number (911 for all you fur'ners) finds landlines much easier to deal with than cell phones. They can almost always locate you instantly on a landline; with cell phones, you usually have to be able to tell them - and what if you don't even know where you are? With all the slimeball morons I've been unfortunate enough to encounter who might suddenly decide to hunt me down and try to kill me, 911 service is not something I'm going to do without.

Very so true!

BTW, we can rep you again!:)

[Matrona]

Very so true!

BTW, we can rep you again!:)

Only because stupid CF won't let me turn them off. Please don't rep me: I only like giving them out. I don't want to receive them.

[Kolya]

Only because stupid CF won't let me turn them off. Please don't rep me: I only like giving them out. I don't want to receive them.

OK I shall respect your wishes!

[Kolya]

We have both :)

We do not have a payment plan for our mobiles - Pay As You Go does OK for us

:amen: to that!!!!

BTW, I don't know how many other's here have done it, but as GSM is the Global standard for Cell (Mobile) systems, I have sent SMS's to all the worlds' continents (Except Antarctica :)). My sister in California is on the 'other' system, so I can't text her. but when my other sister was in Canada, they had a Canadian GSM SIM, and I could SMS them.

Now why the USA has ALWAYS got to be different to the rest of us, I could never understand.:scratch::scratch:

Miles, gallons, Fahrenheit, NTSC TV, the list goes on and on.:D We in the rest of the world can pop in any DVD (including an NTSC one) and it plays perfectly. But try to play a PAL or SECAM disc in the USA....

[Matrona]

OK I shall respect your wishes!

Thanks Kolya. :hug: I don't mean this as anything against you. I just got fed up with the whole "reps" thing a long time ago because some stupid people decided to abuse the system and they didn't mean anything anymore. Also, the system makes it a pain in the butt to get harassing comments removed. I'd really rather just have a post or PM that says the nice thing with no points attached. :)

[Kolya]

I just got fed up with the whole "reps" thing a long time ago because some stupid people decided to abuse the system and they didn't mean anything anymore. Also, the system makes it a pain in the butt to get harassing comments removed. I'd really rather just have a post or PM that says the nice thing with no points attached. :)

*Sidebar to OP* - I quite agree! A much better way to express appreciation!

[Kristos]

I'm thinking about canceling my cell phone service and just having a home phone, since it is cheaper and would allow me to have internet at home. Is a cell phone really necessary? Should I really pay a monthly fee to give myself brain cancer?


Nope - you don't need cable TV either. Cancel it all and give the money to OCMC instead.

[Kolya]

Nope - you don't need cable TV either. Cancel it all and give the money to OCMC instead.

Yea! Just like you did!:D

[Kreikkalainen]

I really need all you guys to need mobile phones otherwise I'll lose my job :D. You don't need subscriptions connections and all, just buy the device :D.

Seriously though - I resisted for several years. My friends started verbally abusing me for not being able to find me (which was the whole point :D). Then even my spiritual father of the time complained he couldn't find me to give me nameday wishes. At that point I yielded & bought my first mobile at the age of 29.

Of course, life with its usual sense of humour dictated that a few years later I have found myself working for a company making the bloody things :P.

[-Kyriaki-]

I have one, but I don't really use it. Mostly people call *me*, and that doesn't cost me anything (unless they go to the answering service, which I can't figure out how to turn off again, sigh) which is fine with me - I have no money.

Cell phones are useful, but I'm happy with mine as a pay as you go. Saves me spending lots of money, and means if I have to call I can - but mostly I don't :) But I can always be contacted, and when you don't have a car and do long trips by public transport with a chronic illness...hoo boy, it's useful.

My phone is quite new (my old one stopped working), and it's pink and shiny. I like it a lot :) The wallpaper is the icon Our Lady Joy of All Who Sorrow, thanks to my friend Jo who bluetoothed it to me.

[Anhelyna]

I really need all you guys to need mobile phones otherwise I'll lose my job :D. You don't need subscriptions connections and all, just buy the device :D.

Seriously though - I resisted for several years. My friends started verbally abusing me for not being able to find me (which was the whole point :D). Then even my spiritual father of the time complained he couldn't find me to give me nameday wishes. At that point I yielded & bought my first mobile at the age of 29.

Of course, life with its usual sense of humour dictated that a few years later I have found myself working for a company making the bloody things :P.

Don't worry - our cellphones are all from your company -- the pair that my husband and I use daily , and the other 2 that I have for use in France [ one is really really old - but it still works and was a discard from daughter number 2 ]

We had also resisted but eventually caved in and it proved itself when we were in France on holiday and had to rush off home to Son-in-law as it was feared he had had a heart attack aged 35.

[Kolya]

I really need all you guys to need mobile phones otherwise I'll lose my job :D. You don't need subscriptions connections and all, just buy the device :D.


You need not worry! I'll never use another brand! ;)
BTW, Father was wanting to speak to my wife and I today, and the speaker phone device came in very handy for a conference call!

I usually use the Speaker Phone in the car so the cops can't see I'm on the mobile!:P

[MsDahl]

And I need a land line because the emergency number (911 for all you fur'ners) finds landlines much easier to deal with than cell phones. They can almost always locate you instantly on a landline; with cell phones, you usually have to be able to tell them - and what if you don't even know where you are? With all the slimeball morons I've been unfortunate enough to encounter who might suddenly decide to hunt me down and try to kill me, 911 service is not something I'm going to do without.

The only drawback to having a landline through one's cable company is if the cable goes out due to tech issues, your ability to call 911 does as well. I was tempted to forgo phone through cable and get it through a standard telephone company because of this very real need but then I realized, hey, I have my cell phone so I suppose in that rare case, I'm still covered.


To the OP, if you are worried about cancer using the cell phone, why not just use the speakerphone feature?

[Matrona]

The only drawback to having a landline through one's cable company is if the cable goes out due to tech issues, your ability to call 911 does as well. I was tempted to forgo phone through cable and get it through a standard telephone company because of this very real need but then I realized, hey, I have my cell phone so I suppose in that rare case, I'm still covered.

That's why I don't have phone service through my cable company, I just have a old-fashioned plain vanilla phone line. I remember reading about a woman with Vonage whose baby girl actually died because the mother couldn't call 911. :eek:

[Anhelyna]

Hang on - Vonage is a different thing all together

Here internet phones remind you that you cannot make emergency calls from them

[Kolya]

The only drawback to having a land line through one's cable company is if the cable goes out due to tech issues, your ability to call 911 does as well. I was tempted to forgo phone through cable and get it through a standard telephone company because of this very real need but then I realized, hey, I have my cell phone so I suppose in that rare case, I'm still covered.


To the OP, if you are worried about cancer using the cell phone, why not just use the speakerphone feature?

Here we have 2 land line companies and 4 cell (Mobile) companies. (Most offer digital internet services, one does not.) We have no 'Cable' in the American sense. Our TV only works with 'Terrestrial" towers or satellite TV.

In our country, in emergencies, the cell companies can locate you very easily through "Triangulation". IOW, they trace your call through the 3 closest towers, and can locate you to 20 yrds (meters) (You dial 112 for emergencies for all companies)

Yes, the speaker phone is a very useful feature!

[Chocolatesa]

My cell phone is my only phone, and I have internet with cable. I never get telemarketers :D

[Kreikkalainen]

Dad called me earlier tonight on my mobile from his mobile, from the other end of this continent... from mum's grave... just to tell me he took care of it, put a photo of her on top & decorated it as we had discussed.

We didn't say much, but I realised it was important for him to speak to me from the particular place at the particular time. OK, I admit they can be useful :).

[SpyridonOCA]

What has happened to our once great nation? Are we such mindless consumers that yesterday's luxuries are today's absolute necessities? I agree that cell phones might be good for emergencies, which is why pay-as-you-go is not a bad idea.

[choirfiend]

I dont know. Obviously our once great nation has been overtaken and defeated by cell phones.

Oh, I hope these pages are still cached in internet memory when you're 35.

[Shubunkin]

I get solicitation ads on my cellphone. :eek: Something leaked my number to them... :doh:

I don't like having a cellphone - but wish my hubby had one so I could get a hold of him, sometimes!! HE won't use one! :help:

He gave me one so he could get a hold of me at times!! :sigh:

[Sothron]

I do not have a cell phone, neither does my wife. We have those tracker phones for emergency use only. Our landline is a package deal with our cable and cable modem so its cheaper for us than cell phones. Considering the amount of people ruining the roads on their cell phones I'm rather proud to not be in that group!

[Rowan]

My cell phone is my only phone, and I have internet with cable. I never get telemarketers :D

Me too and here here!

And I don't think I have to go through the reasons why young college girls need cell phones.

[gzt]

choirfiend: indeed, these truly are the last days. there is a waning of righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, there are wars, rumors of wars, people are getting shorter, dogs are living with cats, etc etc.

sothron: indeed, how else am I supposed to call them and trick them into marrying me?

more seriously, spyridon, our modes of participation in modern society require these luxuries. if you don't participate in society in these modes, you do not need a cell phone. if i were to drop out and become a goatherd in a village, a cell phone would be superfluous, though perhaps handy occasionally (i may fall in a pit). if i am going to live hundreds of miles away from my family and want to maintain occasional contact with them, well, i suppose letters are perfectly adequate and were for generations, but if one can, why not use a telephone? but one doesn't need to be hundreds of miles away from one's family, if you really think about it. frankly, i find it risible that you are complaining about this on the INTERNET. YOU'RE ON THE INTERNET. COME ON!

[SpyridonOCA]

Yes, I'm on the internet. I don't pay to use the internet. I'm at a school library. If cell phones were free, I'd probably want one too.

[gzt]

The Internet isn't quite free, you are enrolled in school, which costs money. That gives you access to the library, which gives you access to the Internet. At the very least, you're living in untold luxury to not have to toil endlessly to guarantee, as far as possible with nature being what it is, that you can eat today and tomorrow. The free time to complain on the Internet, quite seriously, that's untold bourgeois luxury.

[SpyridonOCA]

I understand having a cell phone if it is your primary phone, but why would one also have a home phone? Given how expensive these calling plans are, you could be making a monthly donation to a charity.

[gzt]

And you could be volunteering at a soup kitchen right now.

[Kolya]

I understand having a cell phone if it is your primary phone, but why would one also have a home phone? Given how expensive these calling plans are, you could be making a monthly donation to a charity.

You should move to Africa!:D We have pre paid landlines. US$25 keeps me talking for a month, and I can speak to the USA and Europe cheaper per minute than I pay per minute for a local cell call!

Under my roof are 5 cell phones (I have a 'spare') plus a land line with 3 room extensions and two wireless handsets. Do I live in "luxury"or not?:P

[Dorothea]

I have both. I prefer landline at home because that's when I babble the longest, and I need a place to rest my neck while doing things around the house while talking. :P

[cassc]

I am addicted. At the same time I am totally incompetent, I am forever forgetting my phone places, or letting the battery die, but I get so lost when I don't have it!!

[Akathist]

I need a cell phone for security reasons. I need to be able to call for help anywhere. Counting on someone else to call in an emergency is risky as too many people "don't want to get involved."

I have two cell phones. One is with me almost all the time (should be all the time). The other is plugged into a wall socket in my bedroom if needing to be charged, otherwise it is on the floor next to the wall socket the rest of the time. That one has no service to it. But, it can still dial 911.

The draw back to using a cell to call 911 is that they won't have your address. Most of the time when using a landline calling 911 means they automatically get your address on their computer which speeds up response time and also makes it more accurate.

The other draw back is that sometimes cell phone service is unreliable due to getting too far away from cell towers. Sometimes I lose service briefly in my home.

But a land phone line is too expensive for me. The loss in cell phone signal is usually no more then a minute or two and it is rare. So, I take the risk to keep the cell.

I also need the cell because I run my own business and do most of my contact work with referral sources as well as just communicating with clients over the phone. With a cell I am not trapped at home or in the office. I can take calls just about anywhere.

More then once having a cell with me while traveling has been extremely helpful as I am geographically challenged and have needed directions. Stopping for directions wastes a lot of gas. In some neighborhoods it is not safe.

I don't need the internet or cable TV. I think I do but there is no safety issue connected to either. But, for my safety, I need my cell. If not for my business, I would at least carry the cell that has no service on it just for 911 purposes when away from home.

[SpyridonOCA]

I'm not judging people based on their cell phone use. I'm just saying that if you don't need it, maybe you shouldn't have it.

[Andrew21091]

I don't think it is really a need. Sure it is always good for emergencies but some young people today are totally enslaved by their cell phones. You take the phones away, I don't think they would know what to do. I own a cell phone but it just sits on a shelf in my room collecting dust.