How does one survive without a phone? Easy. I had dinner at Jeannie's when I took her home from her chiropractor last night, and somehow the cell phone came out of my pocket. I looked all over for it when I got home and sent a text msg to Jeanne asking her to call my number so I could tell where it was. She answered that she had already tried to call me and realized I had left my phone on the couch.
She wanted to drive it over to me but I told her I'd get it today. This morning I decided I didn't want it badly enough to drive over for it, and she wanted to bring it to me. I agree the phone is good for an emergency, but I have text message capability set up on my computer to my kids' phones, which I'm pretty sure have become permanently attached to their hands 24/7.
The end result is that I will get my phone when I get it, and I'm not making a special trip nor do I want them to. I really wish I could get a plain home phone that doesn't do all sorts of things having something to do with blue teeth, or syncing, or cell phone calls going simultaneously to the home phone, etc. What a bunch of crap when you just need a device to communicate with family, friends, or businesses (of your own choosing) once in a while. I briefly had home phone service with AT&T but the entire day it was ringing with unwanted sales calls.
I've tried to search the internet for something plain and easy to set up, that doesn't do all the tap dancing that most devices do these days. What ever happened to simplicity. All the searches come up with references to cell phones, so I suppose a simple land line is no longer available. I also looked at phones on the Costco website, and the minimum you can buy is a set with 4 phones. That would be a phone for every room in my house except the bathroom, although the rest of their phones include 5 and 6 devices! Talk about overkill - I'll just enjoy being unconnected for a while, although the computer prevents me from being truly unconnected.
That's my rant for today and hopefully I won't have anything else to rant about for a while.
Statistics for the month of January to date: In 14 days I've walked 28.65 miles! I used to go a bit over the 2 mile mark but now I just stop at 2.
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Don't give up easily. I don't have a landline, but I do have VOIP via my internet. It works just like a land line, but costs only $9.99 a month plus tax, about $12.25 total. I use Basic Talk, but Magic Jack is very similar; cheaper, but more money up front. You get what essentially is an unlisted number, with call waiting and caller I.D. Also voice mail. And long distance calls are no charge. You can go on line and see who has called you at any time. I have had no problems. I did port my landline number to it. Some people calling me may have to dial an area code when they didn't have to before. Your computer does not have to be on, but you do have to have a router It has 3 wires to it: the power adapter, the cable to the router, and a jack where your phone plugs in..
ReplyDeleteI bought a princess style ATT phone from Amazon for $9.99, which has 3 dedicated one touch direct buttons. Just push the button once and it will dial whatever number is programmed in to it. This is a wired phone. I think it is model 210. I can pick it up and push one button to talk to my nephew in San Diego.
I got a search result for VOIP when I was checking out phones earlier. After reading a bit about it I realized I'd have to call on Donald to hook it up, although he loves technology and might fix it so that I get way more than I want. I will look into it further, as well as getting a phone on Amazon. Thanks for tuning me into it. I like the idea that I would get an unlisted number.
DeleteDavid is always after me because I don't carry my phone with me every where I go. What if someone was trying to reach me? If I'm with him and he has his phone then he's covered and I don't care if they can't reach me 24/7. They can leave a message and I'll call them back.
ReplyDeleteThat's the way I feel. What if I don't want to be reached right now? It's really getting to me that even people I'm with and talking to always have their phone in hand and keep glancing at it, sometimes typing in a response, etc. I sometimes feel like telling them if they want to talk to me just call me sometime when they are free of their phones.
DeleteBoth my wife and I have cell phones but I also have two landlines into my home. One is for the phone the other is for the internet. If the grid, phone service, and internet go down, I guess we could start using smoke signals. . .
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what the big deal is to be without a phone for a couple of days. The only drawback is if I needed to I couldn't call 911, but I could try to get one of my kids to call for me. Good luck in the middle of the night though. I am not the least bit worried about anyone trying to break into my house and kill me, so I will sleep well tonight as I did last night. Phones and being in constant contact are highly overrated.
DeleteI think the constant carrying of cell phones is more the younger generation. I use my cell phone but I certainly could live without it. I think they do still have land lines though. At least I see the phones for sale in places like Best Buy.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the walking!!! That is a great number!!
Thanks. I am beginning to look forward to my walk every day, and think I will also enjoy it when I can walk outside for part of my routine.
DeleteI'm going to look into land lines but if I think about it I only am one person in my household and I only need one phone. I will give it some consideration though.
a few years back I read an article that spoke of land lines being totally unavailable one day. I guess that is true, so we must all bite that bullet 'one day'. My landline service w/internet is almost $50 mo. and 5 incoming calls a month at the most. Lonely? Well, I sometimes call Time and Temperature so I can hear a human voice! I'd lose a cell phone probably before I got it unpacked. Besides, I sure like having two usable hands and arms on a regular basis.
DeleteI pay AT&T $50 a month just for my internet. They would probably tack on an additional $20 or 25 if I added a phone, so I would look for one that I could just hook up myself. I don't think the "magic jack" type of service has to go through AT&T but i may be wrong. I'm going to check into it in February - right now I've spent most of January's money and we're only halfway through!
DeleteCongratulations on the miles you have logged this month!
ReplyDeleteYou need high speed internet to use Magicjack and I absolutely loved mine when I had it. I liked that you could pick your own number and area code...you could even get a number in New York if you wanted it. Worked just like a landline and free long distance calls nationwide.
When I dropped Time Warner Cable and got DISH, I had to give up MagicJack as Internet speeds on DISH are worst than dial-up.
I admit that I might have gone after my phone right away:(
ReplyDelete