Does anybody NOT have a cell phone?

[Balrog006]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Been many years since Dish Network was around these parts in Michigan. Are they still in business, anywhere in the USA?


They’re definitely still a thing, we have had Dish here since we moved in 6 years ago. My brother had them in the SE part of the state until he moved back into Metro Detroit and my in-laws have them in Northern MI.

Dish Network is far better than DirectTV IMHO and in the locations I mentioned it is usually the sole available source for TV/Cable programming available-there is no Comcast/Spectrum/AT&T/ WOW/etc. here.

 

[blupupher]

My mother in law does not have one. She had a PAYG plan for a few years, but dropped it when she never used it.
My father in law does have one though.

Otherwise i can't say I know anyone offhand that does not have one.

My wife has had a cell phone since like 1999 (mostly for just in case), but I did not get one till 2005 or so (after twice being stranded and having no way to contact anyone).

 

[Blaze]

Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: Blaze
We don't own one. Live out in the sticks and a in a black cell hole. In fact we are still on very slow darn near dial-up speed internet.

I think you can get internet through a satellite dish, like Dish Network and/or DirecTV, not sure which has it. Certainly download speeds (the most important) are very fast from the satellite, and uploads can be done on the hard phone lines. .... I thought I once heard uploads are possible on the dish, but I don't see how one can focus the signal well enough to get it to a geosynchronous orbit satellite way out there in space.


Yes, most off the off-griders etc use Hughes Net around here. Much better than land line internet I have. They can both upload and download off Hughes Net satellite. Its just the cost factor and we don't use the internet that much or own a business.

 

[caravanmike]

My sister (50years old) doesn't have a cell phone, and she has a long commute. I wish she would get one, but she makes her own decisions.

With that said, I am jealous and wish people (outside My wife and kids) didn't have instant access to me!

 

[Garak]

I don't. I used to many years back, but no longer.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted By: Blaze
Yes, most off the off-griders etc use Hughes Net around here. Much better than land line internet I have. They can both upload and download off Hughes Net satellite. Its just the cost factor and we don't use the internet that much or own a business.
Aw yes, that's it. IIRC, Hughes Net is a spin-off from EchoStar, which is now Dish Network, or something like that.
Uploading to the satellite, you'd think, would be tough, since the geosynch HughesNet satellite is almost 3 earth diameters above the surface of the equator. Gotta get the signal through the atmosphere, then it fans out a bit in space on the way, weakening. I'll try to look up what kind of power the little dish must put out to push a signal up.

 

[chainblu]

I have a little TracFone smartphone. I pay $7 a month (one of the older triple minute deals) for it. Strictly for convenience and at my wife's request. I could absolutely live without it. Having said that, I can't remember the last time I saw a pay phone.

 

[Blaze]

I still remember by bosses cell phone that was contained inside a large brief case and took up the front seat of his truck. Massive phone compared to today's standard.

It was available to the work crew for emergency use only or to order time-matter things like concrete for our construction crew. It was something like $5.00 minute to use it. This was the late 80's or early 90's.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted By: Blaze
Yes, most off the off-griders etc use Hughes Net around here.

Just to follow up with my discussion with Blaze above about Hughes Net, I did find out how much power is used to transmit a signal from that small HughesNet dish to the satellite 3 earth-diameters away: 1 watt. Amazing how small that number is. I guess the parabolic dish, however small it is, still makes a nicely focused 'spotlight' beam for the satellite to hear. http://planetfox.net/microwaves/internet.html --> "required transmit power, which can be as high as 1 watt in some of the newer models" ... and upload speeds are 3 megabits/second on that puny 1 watt, downloads of course faster at 25 megabits/second.

If you have a HughesNet, you can do internet phone too. VOIP, and you can use a magicJack or maybe you don't even need that.

 

[Toy4x4]

Just turned 50 and have had a cell only 2.5 years barring a disposable that I would fire up and add minutes to when I went on a road trip. Republic Wireless 2.0 refund plan which gave me a bill of $12.38 last month. I still have a home phone through Ooma which is $4.29 an month. That is the number I give out so I don't get bothered when I'm out and about. Wanna get ahold of me...call that number and leave a message. I give out the cell number as little as possible, too. Close friends and family only.

 

[BJD78]

I use an LG flip phone by Trac fone. It is a double minute phone. I rarely use it and 120 minutes easily last me a year. I do not like to text and though it does have internet, using internet will burn up minutes too fast so I never use it. it has camera which I never use and it does have a calculator which I have used a few times. It does not do apps or games or none of that stuff. it makes and receives phones calls and for me that is enough. It also gets a signal almost anywhere. I was fishing in Wyoming a couple of years back and 2 friends with fancy Verizon smart phones could not get a good signal and had to ask to use my $15.00 tracfone to call home. My wife and daughter have samsung S7 smart phones, but i do not need or want a smart phone. I will keep my $15.00 tracfone that I bought at Shopko about 5 years ago, as long as I can. No monthly fees or time limit to use minutes. very few scam calls. A 60 minute card is $20.00 and since I have a double minute phone it means 120 minutes. more than I can ever use in a year.I have 40 minutes left today and that will probably last me until December.

 

[JTK]

I held off until about 2008-09 before I got my first cell phone and was reluctant to even get one at the time. It would be difficult to be without one now, especially given we no longer have a land line.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: alex_at
Originally Posted By: MCompact
I only switched to a smart phone a few years ago; it's indispensable for Apps that allow me to send information to my i3 and 2er- and in the case of the i3 I can also monitor charging. When I worked at BMW I delivered a new 7 Series to an older couple. Really nice people, very humble and polite. The husband didn't have a phone and the wife only had a cheap flip phone. On another board I frequent there is a guy who owns two homes and three late model Mercedes. He only has a burner phone. He's kind of odd in other ways as well. Some of us think he's a prime candidate for an autonomous car, so you can figure it out from there...


Which other board / thread is this? Seems like an interesting read ....


He doesn't post nearly as many inane comments as he used to; here are some of his greatest hits:

On why he thinks paddle shifters can damage a transmission:

"I was reaching for something in my wife's GLK, and I accidentally hit the downshift paddle, just as we were going up a steep hill. The car lurched to a slower speed, the engine was revving, and since I don't drive the car to[sic] often I pulled over to the side of the road and turned it off and then started it again so it would be in the proper gear....I didn't want to drop the poor thing into a lower gear."

On why he thinks no-name $4.00 HDMI cables bought from the Dollar Store are just great:

"It was bought from one of the largest chains of dollar stores in the country, so I am sure they wouldn't risk buying a poor quality product."

On why he won't consider an electric car:

"Do I really want to plug and unplug my car whenever I leave it in the garage? What if I think I am going to go out again and I end up not going out, and forgetting? I want to simplify my life......I come home, I know how much gas I have, I leave the car in the garage.....no plugging in and unplugging in the morning."

On the superiority of the column shifter:

"The nice thing about the small column shifter is you can pretty well change gears with your hand still on the steering wheel....whereas, with a console shifter you have to remove your right hand from the wheel, and bring it down to the console."

That was the post which resulted in his being told that he was a perfect candidate for an autonomous car; he put us all in our place with this withering reply:

"I taught driving to high school students, so I probably know more than the posters who make the senseless comments."