Comments on: Just how I felt!

By: DellaB

DellaB — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 01:36:42 +0000

Hi Claude, I work part time for a telecom company that provides mobile phones. I work on the inbound help phone line, so I get to talk to lots of people with phones they cannot use and features they did not want.

One of the problems is that the people who sell them the phones don’t understand, or they get more commission for the dearer models with all the bells and whistles.

These days many of the phone companies advertise $0 dollar phone repayments if you pick the basic model. And here is the trick, those phones are generally the best option for people who only want a basic phone, cos thats exactly what they get .. basic.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:05:03 +0000

Remember the old Star Trek show from the 60′s and 70′s? I would like a communicator like that, cool sound when opening and then you just talk. Somebody (husband?) told me that there is a company making those now. Just a phone that I can use to talk to people is all I ever need, perhaps send and receive the odd text too. I’ve got a camera that takes out of focus photos. I don’t need my phone to do that as well. I’ve got a cheap “pay as you go” phone that IS just a phone. I hope I never break it.

By: Monica

Monica — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:48:42 +0000

Always said I only needed a phone but I’ve found the camera pretty useful. First I ran into a snapping turtle on the path and wanted to prove how big it was. Then I saw two baby raccoons in a mulberry tree and wanted to show how surprised they were. Finally I saw a deer grazing calmly in the enclosure around our local water treatment plant and had to show everyone the wildlife that inhabited our city right under our noses. I guess that’s why I took all the pictures. It’s just fun.

By: joared

joared — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:24:08 +0000

Have been getting along just fine without a cell phone, thank you very much, after becoming totally turned off with the pitch I received a year or two ago.

The cell phones of others that I’ve used have been disappointing, in that despite all the tech stuff they don’t seem to devote their tech skills where it counts, at least to me — the person’s voice quality is not true compared to land line or portable phone systems.

Will likely be getting a cell though, but just want one with authentic voice quality, user friendly, will put up with camera ’cause that can be kinda fun at times, but I sure do dislike those extended complex contracts that are foisted upon me.

By: Ronni Bennett

Ronni Bennett — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 22:46:44 +0000

I love this cartoon. Same problem here. The best I could do last time I got a new phone was phone plus camera, the latter of which I’ve never used.

And then, THEN – Verizon charged me US$10 to transfer my numbers to my new phone. They should leave off a whole lot of the bells and whistles an include some useful stuff – like number transfer – in the price.

Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.

By: Terri

Terri — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:38:51 +0000

I really chuckled at this because I’ve pretty much spent the entire weekend attempting to do research on my cell phone for when I come to Paris. I have found a company now to purchase a SIM card for my phone, BUT said phone must be GSM. Don’t ya just love all this tech talk? Enough to drive a woman crazy!
I asked if mine was GSM to the Customer Tech and she said, “Honey, your phone will do everything except birth a baby!” Amazing! So NOW…I want to learn how to use it for receiving and sending emails, using my camera on it, etc.
That’ll all be a blog in itself. But it does boggle my mind what these phones are capable of…besides being just a good ole fashioned piece of communication.

By: goldenlucy

goldenlucy — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:02:35 +0000

I don’t expect—or want my cellphone to change the weather. Pleaase. Just let me call people and let them call me. It’s crazy how many things can go wrong with these new phones. I think I might just be too old to want to utlitize all the features. I sincerely believe there’s a market out there for products that just do the principal job for which they were designed. Sort of like the market for clothing with the tags on the OUTSIDE. Oh I am so cranky aren’t I? But this is Grumbleland, isn’t it?
So glad to be back in touch, dear Claude. Thanks for yesterday’s post. I really appreciate it!

By: ginnie

ginnie — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:57:19 +0000

My five year old Tracfone is about to give up the ghost and I dread going through all that set up stuff. I am going to call them and see if I can transfer my 80 minutes that I still have to another phone. Will let you know how it goes.

By: SAZ aka Susan

SAZ aka Susan — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:56:53 +0000

I still have my plain old Nokia that I’ve dropped a thousand times and is looking pretty beat up BUT still works ok. I don’t want all the jazzed up features either and didn’t realize it was hard to get a plain old phone.