Aug 6, 2008
Telephony irony: I guess, my phone company wants me to switch to the competition.
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We frustrated Qwest by having no cell they could reach us on while they fixed our broken landline.
They should be happy.
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© 2012 Abuyo. All rights reserved.
What always surprises me is how many people—particularly young couples—have both a landline and two cell phones. Maybe Qwest is assuming that the landline/cellphone deal is not a zero-sum game.
I would not get a cell phone for years…now I have caved and gotten a go-phone for calling out in emergency situations. My children are still frustrated because I will not use it or turn it on…*: ) Voice mail only costs if you answer it and connect to the VM line…this is the cheapest form of cell and makes it available for when you need it..Really a great idea only costs $10 a month…*: )
Once you go cellular, you never go back. Don’t do it. Sometimes I dream of the days when people couldn’t reach us with a call, voicemail, or text. But now we’re stuck. Ugh.
Of course, you will probably be asked to participate in a scientific study soon. I can see the headline now” “Hip Minneapolis Couple is Discovered to Thrive Without Cell Phones”.
@ Nancy: ” *only* ..$10 a month…” hehehe = $120 a year = not cheap.
For me in Australia, I have prepaid, $20 dollars credit, never expires, lasts me more than a year. (hehe im a single uni student, who do i need to call? ;) )
My husband and I bought a Tracfone last summer when we subleased for a few months because it was cheaper than the setup fee and service on a landline. We decided to keep service on it for travelling and emergencies. We’ve used it to deal with Qwest and problems with setting up our landline both times we’ve moved since then.
Well if Pipers landline isn’t working no one will be able to contact them to participate in that study.
In Kenya, all incoming calls are free (so go ahead and call me). Using the text feature in less expensive than calling. I have gotten quite good at it. I probably burn through about $15-20 per month, both work and personal.
If I wanted any contact at all I had to get a cell. Most of the copper telephone lines have been taken for their value. No landline possible at my house.
Cell phones in the rest of the world work anywhere in the world except America. American cell phone industry is a total scam!
Stick to your landline while you can.
Couldn’t you just tell qwest to contact you in the comment section of your blog??? C’MON!!!
conversely (or is it inversely? i always get those mixed up), i hope never to own a landline.
oh, also… so did they fix it?
I’ve made the telephone company mad before because of this. What really burns me up, though, is that the pediatrician’s office we used to use gets very hostile towards me when I don’t give them a cell number to put on my kids’ forms. They’ve seriously implied that I’m an irresponsible parent for not carrying a cell phone. Then one time, we had an appointment scheduled and we were on our way. They called us to cancel 10 MINUTES before the appointment and of course only reached our home phone. When I got there they blamed me because I didn’t have a cell phone.
We no longer go to that doctor’s office.
We just got one two weeks ago because my in-laws gave us one on their plan and didn’t ask us to pay anything for it. But our chief reason for not having one has been that we don’t want to be reached that way.
Now we’ve got one and the temptation to use it for all manner of things is huge. We agreed to use it for emergencies only or on long trips or when one of us is going to be later than expected … but ‘emergency’ starts to morph inot ‘emergency of inconvenience’ so easily.
That’s one of the things I dislike about our culture of technological consumption. It changes of the very nature of what we mean by ‘emergency’ ‘need’ ‘must’ ‘have to,’ etc.
Myrddin-I agree. I remember as a kid having to wait days or even hours before hearing back from a friend. Not so anymore. Technology seems to be offering our culture a pass on learning patience.
Technology rocks!!! Just think of all the tele-marketers who hear the gospel because they called a cellphone number that happened to be a believer’s cell. Embrace the tech.
Yes, they did, Carissa. Thanks for asking.
When I worked for Qwest in 2000, they sold their own cell service. If you’d told me you had no cell phone, I’d have jumped on the sales opportunity.
Apparently I wouldn’t have jumped hard enough, however, because I was let go from that job for not selling enough.