Text 24734, 90 rader
Skriven 2009-06-05 17:47:03 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: Re: CELL PHONE CAMERAS 90604
====================================
-=> Quoting Glen Jamieson to Nancy Backus on 04 Jun 09  09:13:00 <=-

 NB>> similar pay-for-units services.  I pay $100 a YEAR (to get service I
 NB>> won't need to keep renewing), and get more units with that than I
 NB>> would typically use in a year... but then, I don't use the cell phone

 GJ> I used to have a pre-pay service, which I only used occasionally, and
 GJ> cost less than $10 a month, but recently, as competition between
 GJ> suppliers of phone services here has become more intense and has
 GJ> reduced costs, I have changed to a service which gives me 5 hours talk
 GJ> time a month for a flat rate of $20, to anywhere in Australia. Text

Well, that's 300 minutes, at my calculation, and there's no way, at this
stage of things, that I would use that many in a month... and usually
not even in a year.  Long calls are done on the landline, usually local
(which is unlimited), or when someone long distance calls me... rarely I
call long distance on either landline or cell, but those tend to be
shorter calls.  Obviously, different strokes for different folks... :)

 GJ> messages cost less than 2 cents in Australia, and under 4 cents
 GJ> internationally. That has enabled me to reduce my use of the fixed
 GJ> phone line, and also to hold phone conversations while on-line with my
 GJ> (dial-up) Internet connection.

I haven't gotten into text messaging, and we finally went to DSL instead
of dial-up for the Internet connection (usually... although we do still
have a dial-up service in place for backup).  I can see where having
another option is helpful when online...  :)   We went to DSL when my
niece was living with us, and thought that she had to be connected
almost constantly... at least she helped pay for it then... :)

 NB>> much.  My mother has taken offence to the fact that I don't have it on
 NB>> all the time so that I could be reached anywhere I might be, but I

 GJ> I have been given my succession of ever-better phones by my kids each
 GJ> time they upgrade, as they are the ones who insist on being able to
 GJ> keep in touch with me, wherever I may be.  Even my grandson in Perth
 GJ> feels he has need to phone me from time to time to help with his
 GJ> homework, as "Lolo knows everything!".

My sister supplied my mom with her phone, part of said sister's family
plan... it was originally so that Mommy could call Lydia in the middle
of the night if she needed help with Daddy... they were living in the
same house, but in another part of it, and he was more than she could
handle by herself.  I'm about the only hold-out in the family... except
for my husband who totally refuses to even have a cell phone.

 GJ> Some suppliers have better cover than others, but over 96% of
 GJ> Australia's population is accessible by mobile phone.  I get
 GJ> "international roaming" on my phone when travelling with friends, and
 GJ> there have been occasions when I have become separated from them, and
 GJ> located them by sending a text message at a cost of 50 cents.  That
 GJ> has reached their phone via transmissions across the world from Spain
 GJ> to Australia and back to where they are looking for me in the top of
 GJ> the cathedral tower or in a restaurant 200 metres away.

I can see where that can be useful (and have seen similar in action)...
but all one needs is to have one person in each group have a phone... if
one doesn't have the phone, one just needs to stay with someone who
does... (G)  Even that fails, though, if one is in an area where there
isn't service for anyone... :)  Where my extended family normally camps,
there also is no service, and that is pretty comprehensively the case,
no matter which service anyone has.

 NB>> I have, now, put both my home phone (which she already knew) and my
 NB>> cell phone numbers into my mom's cell phone... so now she can have the
 NB>> fiction of being able to contact me, in a more tangible way.  It's
 NB>> still going to be the case that she can only reach me when I'm actually
 NB>> available, and not just any time that she thinks she might like to get
 NB>> me.  At least she can leave me a message on my cell's voicemail.. but
 NB>> I don't get it until the next time I turn on the cellphone...  But
 NB>> she's somewhat mollified now... :)

 GJ> You only need to have one real emergency for the whole set-up to be
 GJ> worth the cost.

True, to some extent... :)  However, most emergencies seem to happen at
night, and I'm home next to the landline phone then... or already out on
a different emergency...   But I did get my own phone so that I'd have
something in case I was caught out in an emergency, and only later have
also used it somewhat as a convenience.  :)   For my mom, she's hooked
in with lots of other people to contact if she needs them quickly... and
I'm almost an hour away from where she is, anyway, unless she's with me
and I'm taking her somewhere... :)

ttyl        neb

... Chocolate chip cookies: hazardous waist products!
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