Mar
25
(2007)
I’m a cell phone luddite
Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: cellphone, luddite, technology.
It was pointed out to me in a recent email exchange that it’s a little odd that I don’t have a cell phone.
There. I said it. I don’t have a cell phone.
My wife has one, for work, but I don’t have one. Never have.
Why?
The cell telcos in Canada basically suck. By design. Every transaction with the phone is intended, designed, counted on, to suck cash from my pockets into theirs.
Take the new family (i.e., her) cell phone. It’s a relatively uncrappy Samsung. Has a decent-ish built in camera. Actually takes pictures that don’t make me cringe. And I can take lots of pictures with it. But, if I actually want to KEEP any of those photos, they cost me 50 cents each, because the only way to get them off the phone is via Rogers’ email service. I can’t use the bluetooth functions of the phone. And the phone ships without a USB cable.
Hitting the “menu” button is another example of who actually owns the phone. What’s the most common action I’d want to do with the menu system? Probably look up a phone number in the contacts list. What’s the default-selected menu item when activating the Menu? Rogers Store. Yeah. By default, they expect me to shop for crap on the Rogers Store. When I’m done with that, maybe I’ll remember to look up that phone number…
Want to change the ringtone? SURE! Enter the Rogers Store. They’re only a couple of bucks. Never mind that you’ve got a computer capable of processing audio files, and should be able to add your own sound clips as audio files (I have the absolutely perfect ringtone sitting on my hard drive, but no way to push it to the phone).
Want to check email or view a web page? Sure! First, it’s painfully slow. Second, it’s even more painfully expensive. I’ll pass.
So, when a Canadian cell telco gets hit with a clue, and decides to make the phone work for me, instead of for them, I might have an incentive to get a phone.
On top of that, I hate phones in the first place. They’re all about “stop what you’re doing! someone else has something they need, right frakking now!” synchronous communication. Maybe I’m spoiled with email and IM, but there is very little of my communication with anyone that demands RIGHT FRAKKING NOW responses. I don’t really look forward to bringing that level of intrusiveness with me in my pocket…
Maybe an iPhone with the ringer turned off most of the time? Except I have very little faith in Canadian cell telcos to not completely screw up the iPhone by locking stuff down in order to maximize revenue generation. In the meantime, this is my ideal phone:
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16 Responses to “I’m a cell phone luddite”
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Until less than a month ago, I too did not own a mobile phone. I finally took the plunge mostly because I want my wife to be able to reach me in an emergency (and vice versa). I think it must have something to do with getting old.
Anyway, I opted for Rogers’ pay-as-you-go, which seemed to me the least expensive option for someone who plans to use the phone only very occasionally (let’s see how long that lasts…). I had to buy the phone outright, which was more expensive up front, but less money out of my pocket in the long run (you can buy a $100 card that’s valid for a year, and they transfer the balance to a new card if you renew before the year is up). Eventually, I plan to get it unlocked so I can pick up a cheap local plan if I need to go on the road.
And incidentally, the phone I got (SE W300i) shipped with a USB cable, but I have no trouble transferring the crappy pictures (640×480) and video it takes to my computer over bluetooth. Heck, I can even get it to sync with my Mac (with an iSync plugin).
So far, it’s not so very horrible, though I feel your pain.
I can’t speak to your hatred of phones in general (remember the Twilight Zone haunted phone stories?), but the US mobile phone scene is pretty bad, too.
I participated in an online survey a little while ago about cell phones. I was asked to rate a variety of features as to their relative importance in my life. All of them rated a 1 (not important). The last question was what features in a cell phone are most important to me. My answer was that I can make and receive phone calls. I just want to make a frickin’ phone call on a phone that has exactly 12 buttons - 10 digits, send and off. If the buttons were large enough for my clumsy fingers and had big enough digits for me to read easily, that would be even better.
Huh?
BTW, who is Rob Wall, why did his info come up even after I input my own? Something is not quite right.
(Teddy - http://www.tblog.ca)
Teddy - that’s bizarre. The only thing I can think of is a bug in the Comment Info module that provides “sticky” guest comment info. I’ve disabled it, just in case that was the cause. Sorry about that…
D’Arcy,
Funny enough, i don’t have one either. I tend to agree with you about the intrusiveness of cell phones. I have always thought of the cellphone as more of a ball and chain than a source of freedom. I can see the occasional uses for the cell phone, none of them, for me, outweigh what a drag it would be to have a device that allows anyone to get in touch with you anywhere, any time. It’s almost as bad as twitter.
Cell phone…. CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT!
A couple of weeks ago I managed to drive my truck over my Telus MIKE Phone (Don’t ASK!).
For the first hour I was unaware of the loss, that is until my HOME phone rang. It never rings!! Less than 5 people have the number. Fortunately the person who found my phone ground into the dirt had it. Needless to say, losing an arm would have been easier than losing my cell phone.
Worry not. I have replaced it with the top of the line MIKE phone, complete with bluetooth technology, usb cable, 1gb micro-sd card, 2 megapixel camera, mp3 player, podcast playback etc etc etc….. ALL OF WHICH I USE!!
My kids have MIKE phones. My company uses MIKE phones and most of my friends have them. The price tag for my family’s phones and plans is a really quite reasonable and all inclusive 180.00 per month (3 phones, unlimited North America wide PTT and 1000 shared LD minutes in Canada).
My home phone (Shaw Digital) is $29.00 a month and never gets used. Go Figure!!
I suppose being a High Tech Redneck has it’s price. I can’t get into my Freightliner without a laptop, digital camera, satellite radio and cell phone. Being without one or the other would cause stress beyond belief!!
Always, always, your mileage may vary. But here’s my ode to my cell phone:
For me, it’s convenience and microbursts of family scheduling updates: we’re here now, Jenny has to stay late, Ian’s over at a friend’s, I’m working late tonight, etc. etc. It’s also welcome little reminders of stuff on my schedule, via Google Calendar. The camera ain’t great, but I’ve been able to grab shots that would have otherwise disappeared. And ordering Chinese for carryout on the way home has never been easier.
I really love the idea that I can be in contact anywhere, anytime. If I don’t want to take the call, I don’t. Problem solved.
But I suspect the most important aspect to me has become, yes and I’m not ashamed to say it, the reach-out-and-touch factor. I get little text messages from my wife throughout the day, just little “thinking of you” things, and those can keep me going. As can the texts and photos from my brother, a high-school English teacher, and my kids, both of whom have the same model phone as I (the LG 8100). Customizing ringtones has at times been a nice family activity. Etc. There’s plenty of hackware on the net for me to unlock anything I want on my phone, and I have (except for freeing it from my provider).
But your mileage may vary!
D’Arcy, hear hear! I’ve owned a few cell phones in my life but am currently cell phone-less again. High costs, nefarious vendor behaviour and crappy service are definitely the causes. It’s not that I am opposed to cell phones; they can be very handy and have their place, and certainly can change some dynamics for the better. But for now I refuse to bow to the telcos out here. I am sure by the time my kids hit 11 or 12 I will be singing a different tune, but for now I am going to concentrate on improving my telepathic abilities
The thing is - I don’t feel as though I’m missing out on anything. If anyone wants to get in touch, it’s easy enough. And there are very few instances where a call needs to get to me wherever/whenever I am. I can see the value of the cell phone for emergencies (stuck at the side of a highway, etc…) but constant, pervasiveness connectedness just seems over the top to me. Especially when we’re expected to pay a fortune for the pleasure. I’ll take some offline time, thanks.
I’m sure as The Boy™ gets older and more mobile, I’ll appreciate being able to call him wherever, or vice versa, but for now I’m completely fine being unavailable for a portion of the day. If anything truly important comes up, there are lots of ways to find someone without requiring a cell phone. Society managed for decades without surgically attached cell phones (well, I’m sure it was fine much longer than that, but since the advent of the phone, I mean…)
One thing they are beginning to introduce over here is location tracking via cells, if it becomes viable it would be nice to be able to track my daughter wherever she is. All I would need after that is some system to alert me if she is with a boy .. and I guess a gun license ..
I went cell phone only several years ago and dropped the land line. Reception is a bit spotty in certain areas, but it’s handy just having the one number, and I don’t find it too expensive since I’m not paying for a land line, too.
Word of caution to anyone traveling with D’Arcy: He may not have his own cell phone, but he knows how to give out other people’s cell phone numbers.
Ha ha! Hilarious. I have exactly the same sentiments as yours when it comes to “frakking” cell phones. I hate them. I don’t *want* to be available 24/7. In fact, I’ve noticed that the more available I am, the more people start to rely on me disproportionately, which translates into huge piles of workload on my desk rather than the desk of the person whose job it is, but who couldn’t be located in time to be presented with the task.
I leave my cell phone off at all times and only use it for outgoing calls: *my* convenience.
I think the major reason Apple is really eating up the market right now is because they understand that fundamental issue you lamented above: they make their technology adapt to the needs and wants of the person, not vice versa, like Rogers et al. We’re at this crux point, I think, where other corporations still spamming us with the down-your-throat model are getting a vague inkling that something is amiss with their world-view.
I hope.
Found your page by accident…
I have the same phone as you and have cingular service. You can edit mp3’s and email them to your MMS service and they will work as ringtones on your phone. I do it all the time. I have songs that are not available for download, clips from radio shows I like and even the ring tone that you hear on 24.
If you are really interested in finding out how to do this, feel free to email me. But it is really easy, just send a photo via mms to your email address to get the mms address then email back with mp3’s as attachments. If you are tech savy you will figure it out in no time. If you (or your readers) need further instruction email me (my name is Angel).
To the best of my knowledge, it only works with the Samsung. I know it doesnt work on the Motorola Razor
For most of the US cell carriers, Mexico, and a few in Canada this site works for sending ringtones, music, podcasts, video upload and if you sign up you can use the web site http://www.viiblast.com from your cell phone to view all uploaded pics and videos. It works, pretty easy to set up and it has a free signup for limited use per month.
Also if you email them with your carrier they can add it to their evergrowing carrier lists.
Robert