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Is your cell phone actually used as a phone?

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
So what is the primary use of your cellphone?

I just realized that I actually take/make very few phone calls with my cellphone.

On the other hand, I read a lot of emails . . . yet I don't answer many via cell phone. I mostly delete emails that I get from relatives, seems they all forward me the same damn email. So I get 5 emails, then I get the same 5 another 3 times later that day!!! Apparently none of the relatives bother to look at who was on the distribution list the first time, so they send it to everyone. I don't have the heart to tell them to stop, but damn :hammer:

I use it for reminding me about appointments, reminders, etc every day. Its programmed to remind me to change the furnace filter, write paychecks, pay sales taxes, give my daughter pills at various times each day, track doctor's appointments, etc etc etc

And then there is the address book. That is also used every day.

Phone? Not so much.

Never play games. Don't know what an Angry Bird is. Occasionally I will surf the net, if I'm stuck in a parking lot waiting for someone to come out of the mall.

So what are the real uses for your phone? Is it a phone? Or a pocket watch? Or what?
 
Cell phone. The only time it's on is when I'm using it, or occasionally if I'm on the road and expecting a call. If you leave a message on my cell, I might not get it for 3 weeks. It's only a leash if you put it around your neck. Otherwise it's just a piece of string.

And I got rid of Verizon. Page Plus is getting my $80 for 2000 minutes, take up to a year to use them Verizon is the carrier, though. Good signal where I spend time. Actually, there hasn't been any change in service, just no monthly bill. The most time I used in a single year (including "free time") was 1960 minutes - so the 2000 is just about right. Miss Kate uses about 400 minutes a year, so she's on the 100 minutes for $10 plan, 4 times a year. Our monthly bill used to be $120 - now that's our ANNUAL bill. It was a no brainer decision to cut the phone bill by $1,320 per year and have no change in service.

Of course, if you're a heavy data user or a big texter, your results will vary.
 
100% phone.

I don't even text. EVER!

Wife, on the other hand, uses hers for everything, E-mail, Texting, Games, Location, maps, weather, camera, videos, and sometimes,,,,,,, voice.:whistling:
 
Phone only and like Dan if I ain't using it I never turn it on. $100 for like 30hrs. each year. It renews in September and I still have 19 hrs left right now.
 
Heck I have one of those "Jitterbug" phones they sell to old timers I only use it for making calls & very few of those. I hate spending the monthly fee on it but I need it for emergencies.
 
I use my for everything. Phone calls...not so much. Texting quite often. Web browsing. Only have a couple mindless games on there to pass the time every now and then. I watch youtube videos on there. Actually, it comes in handy when I'm outside working on something and struggling to get a part off or figure out what to do. I just google what I'm looking for with the phone and I can usually find a video showing how to do it. I have all my songs on there. I use it as a camera. Haven't turned on my digital camera in over a year. I have mine set as my morning alarm clock every morning. Never have to set it or turn it on. At camp, I set it to hot spot and use it as a modem for my tablet so I can check things out online while I'm there. When I was in Toronto yesterday, I noticed a lot of people using their cell phones as their boarding pass. There's an app for that too apparently that will show your ticket on your phone and the just scan the screen.
 
leadarrows said:
100% phone. I have text blocked.
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Me too although my text isn't blocked, I just never answer it. Actually, it's not used as phone very much either. First off, service where I live sucks and second, only 2 people have the number. It leads to a quiet life. I suppose if I ever get in an emergency away from home it'll be useful to have.

Why would I want to check email umteen times a day? Why would I want to surf the internet on a little 4" screen. Why would I want to listen to "music" every waking moment, what's wrong with peace and quiet? Why would I want to facebook and Twitter to let the whole world know that I'm about to have a bowel movement? Do I have so many appointments to keep that I can't remember them? I'm retired, why do I need an alarm clock? Same goes for using it as a clock. Why do I need to use it to take pictures and videos, I have cameras that do a much better job and are just as easy to carry? In other words, why do I need a cell phone in the first place?

Why am I a cantankerous ol' bastard!!!!
 
EastTexFrank said:
I suppose if I ever get in an emergency away from home it'll be useful to have.
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Yup, +1 on that. I won't tell the long version of the story, but on a particular April 1, while out snowmobiling, I came around a turn to see one of my friends lying on the ground with her spouse bringing his sled to a sliding stop. I was thinking it was a really crappy April Fools joke, and I was wrong. He'd gone through the center of a spring snow well, 12 feet wide, 6 feet deep; she'd gotten bucked off the back and ended up with a T12 compression fracture. We had GPS but nobody brought their cell phone. We got ground coordinates and I headed back to home base, 8 miles away, to make the call from the land line. (There was a cell signal 200 yards from the accident site.)

By the time I got back, the helicopter was on the ground, from 42 air miles away. Pilot said they'd come out over the coordinates I'd called, and couldn't stop in time - had to go around - because the GPS was spot on. IF we'd had a cell phone that day, we'd have saved a bunch of time and worry.

That was the day I figured out that GPS and cell phones weren't toys - they're tools. Get them, learn how to use them, but don't be their slave. They work for us, not the other way around.
 
I recently got a new phone that has a feature I'm finding real handy, for me at least. It's a form of note pad, where I can log brief notes to myself on my phone rather than scrounging for paper and something to wright with all the time. In my job as maintenance I'm always encountering things that need attention but I may be needing materials to complete. So now I can be out at a supply somewhere for parts and materials with my list in my phone instead of left at work somewhere, or in the truck, in my tool bag wherever I may have stored it, etc. So far it's actually saved me a lot of time tracking down my "Notes".
 
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