loves to check up on her kids' adventures.
To me - the telephone is one of the greatest inventions of all time.
It is amazing - with just the punching of 10 digits - one can speak to
almost anyone in the world - just as long you know their number.
For 30 years we had the same telephone number back in Pennsylvania.
When we first got the phone - long distance calls were expensive. I
remember having to give up a girlfriend mainly because calls to her
were 5 cents a minute - and Cokes were only 5 cents. Needless to say -
I wanted more of the latter than the former. Bell Telephone had a
monopoly and if you wanted a phone - you paid the piper. Any color of
phone was available as long as it was a black desk model.
Then - our government decided to break up the telephone company
offering competition in the market. The rest is history. Now we have
several telephone plans to choose from. We have thousands of different
styles and colors of phones with infinite features - like answering
services and different ring tones. You can have your phone warn you
when your mother in law is calling with a different alarming sound.
Probably the biggest innovation was the cellphone. With the cell phone
- one can have a telephone anywhere they want it without being attach
with a wire. Even when driving down the highway at 70 MPH - the
telephone keeps you connected during a phone call as it hands off the
signal from tower to tower every few miles. All of this is done
transparently - you just keep talking.
The price of telephone service has dropped dramatically. In 1994 - we
bought our first cellphone. Lulu drove a long distance to work - and
we walked the safety feature in case her car broke down. At the time -
the cost for $30 a month for 30 minutes. The price was high by today's
standards - but in an emergency it was money well spent.
When we moved to Tallahassee 4 years ago - we had a home telephone and
cellphones. We were not used to all the nuisance calls we received.
Not just sales calls and wrong numbers - but survey calls and
political calls. Even when we put our phone on the "do not call" list
- we kept getting calls from politicians. Also - the person that had
our phone number before us was very popular. After a while - I started
answering all the calls for "Morgan" with "one minute while she puts
her clothes back on."
The one that pushed me over the age was all the political phone calls
during the 2006 election. That was it. I called up Verizon and said,
"Please disconnect our home telelphone." After offering me all sorts
of discounts and plans - they finally let me go. We were free of the
"land line."
The first thing you think about is one less bill to pay. But there are
many other benefits besides the money.
One of the benefits of a cell phone only - no reviewing a bunch of
calls on the answering machine when you get home. No more missing
important calls - with a cell phone they come right to your pocket.
With a cell phone - you can screen your cars immediately. Although I
never ignore a call - you can just look at the screen to see who is
calling. If you have the phone set on vibrate - no one else but you
knows when someone is calling. Since I keep my phone in my right front
pocket - although sometime I do not hear the phone with my hearing - I
certainly feel it there.
Even when you are on a trip - your phone calls travel with you. The
person calling you has no idea where you are. They usually assume you
are in your home or office. They never know you are on a tropical
beach unless you blurt out, "Guess where I am - Hawaii!" One can call
in sick from anywhere - and the boss is never sure.
One of the nice things about having just one phone number is when
filling our form on line or in the doctor's office - only one number
to contact - and you can keep that phone number forever - even if you
move across the country.
Many of the features on a cellphone are on regular telephones now -
they just seem to be easier to use on the cellphone. One of my
favorites is speed dialing. I can call Lulu - just by pressing one
digit on the phone. Same way for my kids. Also if someone calls you -
your cellphone immediately records their number so you can return the
call. It has gotten so good - I sometimes forget my phone number - and
have no idea what my kids' phone numbers are. I just press one button
and - bam- they are on the line.
Some people just can't give up that home telephone. It is a security
blanket. They love looking in the phone book - feeling important when
they see their name. Also - make no mistake - the land line is still a
better connection. Sometimes - when using a cellphone - only one
person can talk at a time - and the callers "walk over each other."
This only happens when you have a poor connection - maybe the tower is
too far away.
Another great feature is family plans. If everyone in your family is
using the same company - all of their calls are free to each other.
Most cellphone companies offer free weekend calling and free calling
after 9 PM.
Prices have dropped dramatically. A typical family plan of 4 phones
and 700 minutes a month costs about $80. Remember - weekend calls are
free and calls to family are free. So that is a lot of phone calls.
Imagine that 4 people - 4 cellphones - it comes out to about $20 a
month per person. In our family - we have kids in Syracuse and
Washington - and helps is always only one button away.
I won't even get into text messages - taking and sending pictures -
and transferring files. Also - about 4 years ago - I was hooking my
cellphone up to my computer and getting on the Internet for free. Now
they have special little modems to put in your computer to surf the
net and check email.
With each new cellphone - the service gets better and better - also
cheaper and cheaper.
This summer I will be trailing Lulu to London - my next phone report
will be using cellphones to call overseas.
After 2 years of exclusive cellphone use - I will never go back to the
old black home telephone. "Once you leave black - you will never come
back."
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