On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 10:27:07 +1000, Barry OGrady
wrote:


Not analog, only digital phones.


in my part of the country ( farmland central california ) analog
cellular service is still alive and kicking. ( and necessary )
my tri-mode phone is most often in analog mode when I'm
away from town. ( a lot ) there are a lot of digital service gaps
here and zillions ( it seems ) of little independent
area service providers ( especially in the foothills areas )
, which nearly always seem to cause my phone to go to
analog mode.
I have 2 old motorola 5 watt bag phones that I carry for emergencies
.... one in the boat and one in the tow car too. both are only analog
and they still log onto the networks and I could use them for
emergency calls if I wanted. I suspect that we will eventually go
mostly or all digital some day .... but area coverage around here is
VERY difficult given the way the mountains and foothills
inter-react with RF transmissions. it looks like it will be some time
before digital is able to cover the whole area by itself. tri-mode
service is nearly mandatory , here, if one wants good coverage
away from towns and the freeways. if you only travel on the freeways
and " hang " around the mega metros , then digital is adequate for
most.



k............

I mainly lurk but I'm an avid radio nut and have a ham radio license. One
thing that drives me nuts with cellphone usage is when somebody is in the
store at the cash register to checkout and they keep on talking as they are
checking out. I work at a photolab in a drugstore and I had to ask for the
name of the customer to give him his film and he was talking on the
cellphone all the time. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I think that is so
rude. At least say to your friend on the phone, "hold on for a minute" or
"I'll have to call you back." I admit there are times I wish cellphones
were never invented, heck if I was like "Cancerman" from "The X-Files," if I
had as much power as he, I'd figure a way to suppress cellphones. I know
there is a good side to them as well and even have one myself so I guess
some would say that is a bit hypocritical which I'll grant them that but
even so, there are times I wish they were never invented. Oh well....

Chuck

DE KA3WRW

"Buzzygirl" wrote in message
news:ASp2d.57220$MQ5.20067@attbi_s52...

"Paul Keenleyside" wrote in message
news:wDk2d.17784$yW6.14751@clgrps12...

"What's that thing?" "It's called a telephone."
"Does it take a picture?" "No".
"Ring tones?" "You can beep off Mary Had a Little Lamb on it"
"Email?" "You use your computer for that"
"Call Waiting?" "Sure. Sit in the chair and wait for it to ring".

ROTFL. My son's in high school, and most of his friends have a cell phone.
He doesn't have one, and he hasn't asked me for one, because he knows what
I
will say. I remember when I was his age, my friends and I would serenade
one
another with "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and other songs via the touch-tone
buttons. We thought we were so clever. :-)

The main thing that really irritates me about cell phones is this. When
I'm
on the highway and happen to glance over at an adjacent driver, I would
conservatively estimate that 75% of the time, he/she is yakking on their
cell phone when they are supposed to be driving. Just another way of
taking
people's attention off the road -- like we all need that.

I cannot even think about paying what these cell service providers ask for
their monthly plans without laughing. I still use public payphones on very
rare occasions, but that is generally only if I am delayed and need to
call
someone to let them know I will be late. Nevertheless, I won't completely
lambast cell phone usage for everyone. I suppose if you travel a lot or
own
your own business and you're out on the road a lot, they are a godsend.
But
I rarely use my home phone! I just can't justify the extra expense of a
cell
phone.

Jackie

Or just telling people "I will be at [name of destination]. If you need me
for something important, call me at
[telephone number].

no they can't. That doesn't work anymore. The phone companies got wise to that
long ago and changed the sysyem so that pay phones will no longer ring. They
did that so that no one can do what you mentined like they used to do.

They did this to prevent the person at the pay phone from telling the other
person they know to call them there, so that the person at the pay phone has to
make the call and pay. (unless they call collect).

If you look closely, there is now signs on pay phones saying "no incoming
calls".

And the pay phones actually do not ring anymore if someone does call them.