How prevalent are cellphones? In a smart piece written for The Huffington Post last week, Democratic pollster Brian Stryker pointed to industry statistics that show there were 326 million active cellphones in the U.S. as of December 2012 — 1.04 per person, infants and children included, in the entire country.
Here’s the dramatic change in households that rely on cell phones versus landlines that Stryker used to illustrate his point:
Those who use cellphones look remarkably different, demographically speaking, than those who use landlines. More than 60 percent of adults under age 45 use only their cellphones, Stryker reported, using data collected by the CDC, versus just 13 percent of those 65 and older.If you don't mind sharing, do you have a land line, cell phone, both, or maybe none at all? I didn't consider that last possibility until just now.
Washington Post
38 comments:
I want to get rid of my landline, but my cell doesn't work out in the mountains.
Thinking of going Skype, using a set of headphones, in place of the landline.
I've been cell only for over a dozen years. Why do people have them if the also have a cell?
Have intermittent cell service, so still maintain LL service
bagoh20 ... is there a speaker phone desk set available on cellular service? I admit I have not checked it out (but I will)...but think you might have given your business operations.
Currently, both Judi and I have cell phones....hers the most current iPhone and mine a Motorola Flip suitable for a retired caveman. We still retain a "land line" of sorts, it is VOIP to a speaker phone on my desk and a couple modular phones in Judi's office area.
90% of all calles either of us answer are on our cell phones. The land line gets all the garbage (give me money or buy my shit) calls....but it still serves my purpose for a speaker phone that I need periodically.
To answer my own question, yes there are desk top speaker phone sets for using cellular. At the price of this one I would need to upgrade my phone but could do without the VOIP.
Thanks for bringing the subject up :)
Two land lines. Both are business related and listed in our two directories with yellow pages ads. Our internet services is also provided by the land line provider. We could go with a satellite, like Dish, for internet but still would need the business lines....so, we keep the bundle.
One ATT cell phone which we pay just the barest minimum and hubby only uses for work and occasionally if we are traveling. Never text. Never send emails or use the internet functions that we have to pay for anyway.
I have a pay as you go phone. I paid $25 for 25 minutes of time for the quarter and probably used 5 of the minutes before it ran out. It is only for emergency traveling purposes when I drive alone. A waste of money but peace of mind.
We have spotty (at best) cell phone coverage. Many dead zones. You have drive for miles to park and make a phone call or retrieve messages. Even so, driving 10 miles to get a signal is better than 30 to 50 to get back to the land line and find out you have to retrace your steps back to the job site.
I envy those who can only survive with just a cell phone.
I envy those who can only survive with just a cell phone.
My sister's land line has saved my but a bunch of times.
There is something about my cell phone battery I cant quite figure out. Out of the blue, the battery dies. I try not to leave anything open but I must be forgetting sometimes. So, of course the battery is dead at inconvenient times. Otherwise I wouldn't notice it... that's they way it works I suppose.
You think a smart phone would know he is not being used and close the app.
But, no, it rather give me the bad news in the form of something like "here lies what used to be your phone". Thank you for no feeding me.
No Soup For You.
I don't have a cell phone at all.
I have cell only for a decade and I hate it so. It is unreliable. It cannot even pick up a photo. But then my friends haven't a clue how to optimize a photo for transfer. It goes like this:
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
transferring data
I give up and try again.
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
transferring datatransferring datatransferring data
Nothing.
I'll probably be charged 134.00 for it trying.
It sits there for days plugged in full charged. A call. It is so surprised at an actual call coming through it simply cannot handle it, freaks out and dies. Dies! I shut it off, but it's already off, I turn it on, but it refuses to respond, I unplug it, nothing, re-plug it, turn it off, turn it on, off, on, off, on, off, on,
offonoffonoffonoffonoffonoff
A light!
It returns to life. The slow way. A proper resurrection. It contacts central authority. Realizes it really is a cell phone, it really does make connections, it really can process a call, it's systems are checked and everything is fine, get on with the call already you dummkopf what is your holdup, can't you see you have messages stacked up? Get to it.
It's assigned to the front door. It is required to allow access for guests and has been no end of problem for me and for everybody else. Each visit requires multiple call, multiple attempts, "I'm at Lincoln and 12th" to get me prepared for the task of opening the door, something that should be simple and easy.
OT gripe.
I am often ill prepared for a pop quiz when using the phone to pay bills. I do not appreciate being surprised by suddenly being asked for a pin or a zip code for the first time or an cc expiration date that breaks the pattern of previous calls, or my favorite teacher or some such, I have that info but do not spring a question on me where before you did not. It pisses me off, I want to go, #1, #1, #1, #1 like before, not #1 interrogation #1 interrogation, #1 interrogation #1 interrogation. The little surprise but reasonable questions before proceeding are pissing me off.
Because my phone is shit. And I don't want to look things up.
I have both a cell and a land line. I have both because, first, they serve different purposes; and second, each has its own advantages.
My cell is my personal phone, and only some people get it. I don't like to do parish business on it, so only a few get the number. My secretary has my cell and will call me if there's an emergency and I'm off-campus.
Also, my cell is simply for my convenience; not others'. So, when I came overseas for several months, I didn't bring it. Why should I? People can reach me via email just as well, at no extra cost.
My landline is for parish business, although since I live at the parish, I often use it for personal calls as well. If I don't want someone calling me back on my cell, I use the landline. That makes sense when I'm calling, not as "Martin Fox," but as the parish priest here.
Also, a landline can't get lost and isn't likely to get stolen; both can happen to a cell. I suppose you could have an office use only cell phones, but that seems odd to me.
I have become very attached to it. Specially the NJ Transit app. it tells me when the next bus/train is coming GPS tracked.
Other than having my own car, something in the realm of impossibility right now, the app is the best thing.
We have both.
Though, I don't even know our landline # and it's never used. Why have it? Because of emergencies. I've lived in placed that lost power for a long while, and the phone service was still on. And for 911, with the one phone by our bed.
Also, because we wanted internet. Verizon makes internet cheaper if you get a landline and cable. So, we pay less with all three than we would for just internet.
Maybe I should explain, my cell phone isn't anything like what lots of people carry nowadays. Not very "smart" at all.
Quite stupid, in fact.
It doesn't even take pictures.
It just makes and receives calls and texts, plus it tells time!
All that other stuff, to my mind, represents a double-whammy: I have even more ways to waste time playing online or with games -- and, I get to pay extra for that!
Fr Fox, you mentioned you're in Rome, and now you say you're there for a few months. Out of curiosity, what are you up to? Sorry if that's too personal, I'm just curious. Sounds like either a good adventure or a substantive learning/training time.
It is also true that Hispanics are much more likely to be found in cells than the rest of the population.
It's like the old joke:
"What do you say to a Puerto Rican in a three piece suit?"
"Will the defendant please rise."
As a loyal son of the Dominican the proprietor of this blog encourages all Puerto Rican jokes.
A duck and skunk were trying to cross a heavily traveled highway. There were all of these huge tractor trailers whizzing by.
"I am pretty scared" said the skunk. "Don't be such a pussy skunk, I will go first" said the duck. "I have good insurance. Afleck."
"Alfeck? What does a shitty actor have to do with insurance" said the bewildered skunk?
The duck just shook his head and gingerly started to cross the road. Suddenly a huge truck whizzed by and grazed him....knocking him down and disorienting him. The skunk helped him up but the poor duck was the victim of concussion.
The duck said "What happened? Where am I? Who am I?" The skunk was ready to help his fine feathered friend. "Look. You walk like a duck...you talk like a duck...you even quack like a duck. You are a duck." "Thanks buddy I was lost there for a moment."
The skunk gathered up all of his courage and started across the road. He got a little farther but don't you know it a minivan hit him and he flew back across the road. He wasn't quite roadkill so he wasn't Garage Mahals dinner. His friend the duck limped over and helped him up. He too was concussed and disoriented like a poor Jewish woman who had just been punched in the head by a disadvantaged yute.
"Oh woe is me" said the overly dramatic skunk. "What am I doing here? Where am I? Who am I?"
The duck was ready to help his friend. "It's very easy to tell who you are my friend. You are half white and half black. And you stink. You are a Puerto Rican."
If Desi Arnaz were alive he would laugh. Because he was Cuban.
Those Hispanic types don't really like each other very much.
Patrick O:
Well, don't tell anyone, but I'm on a secret project for the pope. Not even my bishop knows. I'm not supposed to say anything about it -- even it's existence.
So don't tell anyone -- certainly don't publish this on the Internet.
Wait. Which button did I hit?
Crud.
Just kidding. You know that was a joke, right? I mean, of course...right?
Anyway, I've been traveling in the Holy Land, Turkey, Germany and Rome since mid-January on a sabbatical. That is sort of a vacation-plus. It hasn't been all fun and games, but some; it hasn't been all work; but some.
I'll get back to Cincinnati by Palm Sunday.
1. Landline mostly for safety as cell not dependable where we live)Also because we get DSL over it. Don't actually use it except if power is out.
2. VOIP - we could keep our 31 year old phone number when we moved.
3. Cell phone (2 = one for each spouse. One is $10 a month, 1 is $25 month)
4. [This doesn't count, really.]One un-connected old iPhone used as a camera, web connection when around wifi (shopping etc), for various games and apps, including Kindle.
Oh wait -- make that 2 VOIPs. I have an "office" line here also.
As Paddy said, for safety. If you lose power, your land line will still work. If you dial 911 many communities have your address linked to the phone, so even if you can't speak, they can send someone.
Also, if you opt out of long distance you will only be paying for local service.
Thank you Chip Ahoy...you convinced me to keep my antique flip phone for as long as possible. I do not want "aps" or "photos" and the like on my phone..it is a phone. I have a bag full of cameras for well thought out photos. No thanks on the selfies from friends...and darling daughter.
My old phone does have a camera, low resolution, but I don't use it. If somehting really bad is happening right in fdront of me, I doing one of two things...in this order:
1. Running like hell as fast as I can away from the bad thing.
2. Shooting the bad thing with my .45 ACP...if insufficient (and it is with bears)...see item 1.
Take a picture. Not in my survival guide. Don't recall it from SERE either. Sorry.
PS: darling daughter's loft sounds like your place to try to enter. Bar a special occasion I phone ahead and tell her to meet me in the alley behind the place...getting in to her lobby is only slightly less daunting that trying to sneak in to the FBI's offices in the McNamara Bldg.
Probably one of the youngest people here and we only have VOIP and a pay as you go cell phone we use for vacations and traveling. We are definitely the exception. Most of our friends just have cell phones.
We are pretty cheap, so I just can't bring myself to pay $40/month for a cell phone plan. The VOIP is $3/month. The "Pay as you go" gets $100 put on it every year and we never run out of minutes. But we live pretty boring lives, we are either at home, at work, or in transit (which is usually never more than 20 minutes away).
I do find it amusing that one of the reasons we have the PAYGo cell phone is because when we go home to visit my mother, we need our own phone since my mom only has a cell. We must be real luddites.
I am not a tablet of smart phone expert, or even a novice idiot...so any advice from others would be welcome on what I say below ...reall.
I am only partially a luddite...I am planning on buying a tablet for all the mobility of them. I was anxiously awaiting Asustek's distribution of their already developed Android/MS Windows OS combo tablet. Whoops. Not going to happen now...for at least a while until Android (Google) and Microsoft can make nice with each other (according to the WSJ this week). Dang!
I wanted MS Outlook, Word, and Excel on my tablet as well as the Android features. Oh, and Adobe Acrobat Pro...I cannot live without that! My travel antiqu Dell 410 LT has only 40GB and it is enough for what I've cited, so any 64 GB tablet that can run the software would do fine IMO. (What do I know tho...) Looks I am left with MS "Surface" sort-of tablet ...and I am not a fan of MS Office 365...due to its storage on a cloud. The luddite re-arises in me!
Of course my better half, ms Judi, says I am a punk and to just man up and buy an iPad like she did (or actually like I did for her a few birthdays ago...it seemed feminine, etc. :-)
Might have to do that, learn no stuff, and to fulfill my needs I want two, one for my truck and one for travel or wandering around the house. I don't like carrying cases of stuff back and forth to my vehicle. Ms Judi is a consummate "bag lady" and doesn't mind....I figure it's a genetic thing like having a purse :)
Other related matters....by the end of the month I will have completed an experiment with a 1 TB ( or larger) external HDD as file storage by hard wire and/or wireless Using our NetGear Router as a shared HDD for Judi's iPhone and iPad. I know it should work...but my soul is from Missouri .... etc.
Post a Comment