Paq

ok, so i have been back from manhattan for a week now...my cell phone bill comes...

some background: I don't have a cell phone, my parents have one with a dinky contract that has a few free minutes and free long distance, etc..so they give it to me to take in case i don't have a phone in manhattan...all well and good as i didn't have a land phone in manhattan....

so i used it to make reservations, call home, and get in touch wtih 3 people on a few occasions...

i get home..my bill comes...

it's a dollar a fucking minute....A FUCKING DOLLAR PER MINUTE after the free minutes.......

just had to rant a few minutes there and get over my sticker shock..a dollar a fucking minute...ooo, i'm pissed..

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Chris

ARTelevision

No matter what pricing scheme solutions there are out there and no matter what the evolution of this particular device brings, my opinion is that cell phones are totally insignificant objects that have been shoved at us as if they have some earth-shattering importance.

I ignore mine for the most part. I have one because it is necessary to some very small degree for business - but certainly not as much as it is hyped to be. As all technology - they had some usefulness when they were simple. Now, like everything else electronic, they are evolving toward the video-game bell-and-whistle paradigm and seem to be created exclusively for a teenage market.

I can't say enough about how absurd it is that this piece of high-tech nonsense has become a "necessary" part of our lives.

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Lasereth

Yeah, cell-phones' importance are seriously over-hyped. People did without them until 5 or 6 years ago when they became mainstream...so why are they so important now? I use my cellphone rarely. Are they good for conversations that people wouldn't normally have? Yeah, if you wanna waste money. The only thing I like about cellphones is their emergency usage...as far as I'm concerned, I don't think they should be used outside of emergencies. Using them as an extra-curricular communcation device is a waste of time and money! Just wait until ya get home.

PS: I feel for ya Paq. Cell phone companies enjoy wallet-raping their "victims."

-Lasereth

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pinkie

I'm getting one of the pre paid ones for my daughter to have when she's not able to get to a phone, in cases of emergency only.

The other day, there was a power line accident, and a severe weather alert. Her bus was stuck about a mile away from home, and she was going on 20 minutes late. A girl on her bus had one, and let her use it to call me. I spoke to the bus driver and got an idea of the situation, and when she'd be dropped off at home. I appreciated the technology at that moment.

Cynthetiq

they all suck. and those that think that they are more important than the movie, play, seminar, dinner, etc. that they are attending and disrupting suck too.

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CoachAlan

I have switched over completely to my Nextel. I don't even have a home phone any more. My plan allows for unlimited incoming calls, so using up my minutes is not an issue. Also, my work pays the first $50 of the bill.

Cynthetiq, I hope you can take some small comfort in the fact that I always turn off the phone while dining, as well as at other places where silence is appreciated or attention is paid.

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Destrox

I have one my self so I cant really say much without being a hypocrite, but for the living hell get off your damn phone when buying somthing at a register. (I work sales, so this really bugs me.)

As for your bill, yeah that is a major bummer. The minutes really add up faster then you'd think. (Been there burned there. )

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billege

I think that hating cell phones is almost as big a popular fad as hating SUVs. Not quite there yet, but awfully close.

If you don't like the behavior of a cell user, I can see that. Now, having a problem with a piece of technology because you don't see a need for it. That's....interesting.

I think it's important to see the seperation between a device and a device's usage.

I agree that they are insignificant in and of themselves, but I'm sure that a million people could tell you about the value they put on the communication it allows.

I also agree that cells are marketed and developed for kids, mostly they are. There are a few business oriented models, but most are about the flash factor.

"I can't say enough about how absurd it is that this piece of high-tech nonsense has become a "necessary" part of our lives."---ARTelevison

Isn't it that you're saying people's desire to use these phones in the manner you see them doing, is absurd? I mean, the phones didn't deliver themselves to the customer and make them make calls. Or, are you coming from the point that the consumer had his choice made for him to get a cell via media bombardment; and, given that, the consumer had no choice to buy, use, and enjoy the cell?

I get a little lost on people who get up on a horse about what they feel is appropriate cell usage. By that, they always say 'business' or 'emergency use.'

Okay, let's get me straight here. Some of you out there are somehow able to inturpet why a person made a call, and judge if that phone call should have happened on a cell or a home phone? Really? WTF are you even thinking about it for? Why in the world would you care why someone else made a call? Is it your business somehow? Do you not have enough to worry about of your own? (I'd ask you here to withhold the standard boring rant detailing the asshole on the cell who made 12 calls during your movie, or talked the WHOLE time they were in a restaurant, etc. Those are behaviors. They were not caused by the phone. Rude people are rude. The ways they expressed that attitude differ, but the root cause is their rudness.)

If someone wants to stand on a streetcorner for 8 hours and talk via cell to people 10 feet away about the weather they are all experiancing, what would you care? Is that a bit odd? Sure. But, I can't see being pompus about deciding if that was unecessary conversation. I mean, I sure didn't get a rule book at birth that said all phone calls would be made from home, unless they were an emergency.

There are many behaviors that annoy other people in society. Some people go out of their way to be offended by other's behavior. Remember to keep seperate the behavior from the device.

Back to the topic.
Yeah, you're about the 5 millionth person to get asshumped by a cellular company. They're not charities you know.

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maleficent

I think people using a cell phone whilst using a rest room is freakish -- no phone call is that important - one of the other can wait while you do your business.

That being said... I really don't care that dumb dora in the seat ahead of me is talking about her illicit affairs of the weekend, her choice to air her dirty laundry, However, when I can clearly hear her conversation, then she's makiing it my business and intruding on my right to peace and quiet. People can talk on their phones all they want to -- however they have to remember they are out in public, and they need to speak in library voices because they are not alone - and it's just plain rude...

I feel the same way about the people who have their IPods and CD Players on headphones and I can hear the feedback from it - -IT DOESN"T HAVE TO BE THAT LOUD, you are intruding on my right to peace and quiet...

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Date the Banana

My 2 yen on this (and living in Japan I probably have a different experience of cell phones than you do...) Is that these things are completely useless for long conversations. Too expensive. However, they are indispensible for getting ahold of anybody! Apartments are tiny here, most people are never home. 95% of my cell phone usage isn't even calling, it's e-mail. Trust me, wander around the cavernous osaka rail station for an hour, when your friend is moving to Canada the next day and you only have 2 hours to see her, then you see the need for a cell phone. If I could have phoned her I would have been able to find out where she was in seconds. Instead I wandered for an hour. I got a cell phone the following week. It's eaten into my wallet, but it's saved me so much time that it's worth it.

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MrFlux

See the problem is... you don't have a right to peace and quiet. It would be nice, but that then invades the rights of the person who's playing the music or having a conversation, doesn't it? I don't mind when people do this unless it's some place where you're supposed to be quiet, like a restaurant or a movie theatre...

While you may believe you have a right to peace and quiet, other people believe they have a right to listen to something as loud as they like (assuming it's not violating noise regulations, but I don't think an iPod can manage that) and talk as loud as they like. I personally have my discman up quite loud on the bus so a) I can't hear other people's chatter and b) I can't hear the engine.

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Cynthetiq

actually they recently amended the laws here in NYC to encompass someone having earphones that "sound leak" in some public spaces where radios are prohibited, so there are lots of people here who have noise cancelling full over the ear studio monitors as their headphones of choice.

MrFlux

Well fuck me blind, I had no idea

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Church

Yeah, it was a dollar pre minute because of your roaming charges. You weren't in the same state that you bought your phone, so you weren't making local calls. Roaming charged mean that basically they have the right to rape you up the ass if they see fit. Sad, but true.

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analog

I think you all have SHITTY cell carriers to be complaining about how much it costs. And a dollar a minute? Do you have Tracphone or something? Sweet Jesus. Major carriers are really very reasonable- and I mean most all of them. I've sold every major carrier in the states, and I have no idea where you are all getting this notion of "expensive"- unless you have Nextel. Those bastards ARE expensive... and the service blows. I've sold them as well at one point.

With unlimited night and weekend calling, how many minutes do you need a month? I mean, my cell is my ONLY phone- no home phone at all- and I don't use so much during the day that my cost would be anything but reasonable (if i had to pay for it). Stop going with small carriers, stick to the big guys. Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, maybe T-mobile, forget AT&T garbage, forget Nextel, and stay away from small regional carriers. They make you think you're getting a better deal. You're obviously not.

Trisk

I actually find cell phones to be really useful. Mostly, I just use mine to check the time, but it's nice to know, when you're out with your friends, that you don't have to worry about losing them in a store or going seperate ways for a minute or whatever. They're great for those two minute "where are you?" or "let me into the house" calls .

However, in the hands of the wrong person, cell phones give a whole new meaning to the term "annoying". I hate people who talk on their phone in the gym, in a nice resturaunt, on a bus/train, or when you are hanging out with them one on one. IMO, they need to make those cell-phone blockers (I'm not sure what these things are called, but they block the radio waves within a certain radius so that you can't get service where they put it) legal in the US, just to make things for peaceful for the rest of us.

analog

I hear this a lot, so when i say "you" in this, I don't mean YOU, Trisk.

So... if you and I were standing near each other on a train... and we were talking... and then some other person standing right next to us started talking to me, and I carried on a conversation with that person right there and then, that's somehow ok... but if that person is on a phone i'm talking into, you feel the need to bother yourself with paying attention to the fact i'm having a conversation that doesn't involve you? That makes no sense. And if it's because they're talking loud, then they're a loud talker or need to learn they do not need to yell into a cell phone to be heard perfectly fine. Either way, it's a quick fix on their part to not have to listen to you (again, the infinite "you") whine and bitch about something we use as a tool for communication. I like staying in touch. If I don't want to be bothered, i ignore it. Simple as that.

Oh, and i forgot to mention... if you think cell phones are mostly for the young crowd, and not marketed for professionals, then you're shopping for cell phones in 3rd-party stores... stores that already exist and just happen to also sell some cellular phone service(s). If you go to an actual store for that company, most have a decent amount of business solutions (I know about half of my company's phones are), and not just the "hip" teen stuff, although we have that too.

Trisk

Actually, If I was standing on a subway with someone and they just turned to someone else in the middle of our conversation and started talking to them, I would be kind of pissed off. It's rude. You can finish your conversation with one person and start another with someone else somewhere else, but completely excluding one person from a conversation you are having right next to them is bad behavior, especially if you abruptly ended the first conversation.
That's why talking on a cell phone with someone for an hour when you're with someone else in person is so rude. At least when you're talking to someone else that's there with you, the third person has the option of joining the conversation. With a cell phone, it's a one-on-one conversation. The third person is just a rejected onlooker - listening to half the conversation but unable to give any input. When people get together, it's generally for some type of social purpose. Talking to someone else on a phone the whole time kind of ruins the whole point of getting together.

Generally, I'm not going to whine and bitch about cell phones. If you do that to me every time we hang out, I just won't hang out with you as much (and when I do, I'll remember to bring a third person). Hell, I don't even care if it's a fifteen minute call. Anything over that, though, is pushing it. Do you really need to bitch about your boyfriend to whoever's on the phone for an hour when someone else is in front of you? If you have something you need to get off your chest, tell it to the person that's with you and call the person on the phone back later.

animosity

My company hit me with a wopper today, $150. I called and told them I would not pay it. I have been a good customer for 3 years and they are insane if they think I will put up with this shit. They took off $90. I hate cell phone companies. I think I am going to get rid of mine.

smooth

Exactly my thoughts. I also think it's just plain ridiculous when a group of people go out and each of them is on the damn phone. I see couples walking together on campus all the time, each speaking to someone on the phone. The whole thing is disrusptive of interpersonal relationships. Maybe for just one damn minute, people could start talking to each other on the bus instead of each being invovled in their own private worlds--perhaps that'd go some way toward reducing urban dissociation.

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Paq

Ok, a bit more detail
1. I didn't say i didn't 'need' the phone as it was my only line of communication in nyc until i got a wireless internet carrier. I used the phone daily for about 6 MINUTES each day on average so i could meet someone, find out where i was going, and put in reservations
However, i have never HAD a cell phone until that month in manhattan. I have never needed one when at home or near home bc i don't have to talk to that many people who cannot simply email me or see me in person. They are a total convenience that i do just fine w/out. I don't like for people to be able to get in touch with me that often.

2. My overage/roaming charges were .50/minute according to the contract...which i did not know about bc it is my parent's phone. Likei said, i dont' have one/don't ever need one at this stage in life...


3. i normally do hate cell phones bc of the way they make people forget about certain actions....like looking before turning the car, or running red lights or having obscenely loud conversations in bookstores or talkign on them while making a date sit there patiently or any number of just rude behaviors...I am not even considering these points in this little rant.

I would say i 'needed' one as the only other option would be to carry hundreds of quarters and call long distance when i founda pay phone. i could do it, i guess, but it would be hard to do in a city full of cell phone users...( i really didn't notice many pay phones other than two or three in the month i was there..)

as for my actual use, 174 minutes...my bill was almost $250...usage was over the course of 45 days including the calls to nyc to set up the apartment...needless to say, i would have had another option had i known the charges that would apply over the 50 cents per minute thing

That's the other thing...it's the total private world everyone lives in now...It's like, you're walking across campus,a time when you normally meet strangers, talk about classes, scream about professors, etc bc you have a 10 minute walk with someoen else and there's nothing better ot do on the way to class...not anymore, "Oops, hold on, i've gotta call so and so" fifty times...cmon, just enjoy the day and walk and talk in person...its' so much more fun and you meet new people taht you can call when you're alone....

I'm thinking about writing a paper on how cell phones are causing society to emulate the "computer geek" type person that's always in the dark with a computer and no human to human contact.....

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Chris

Snakebyt

i couldnt make it without muy cell phone, as it is my only phone