"Jackie" wrote in message news:O%iRb.123920$5V2.643646@attbi_s53...
"Jim Douglas" wrote in message
newsCgRb.157167$xy6.750562@attbi_s02...

It there anybody out there who DOES NOT have a cell phone?

I don't. I have never been in a situation where I've told myself, "god, I
wish I had a cellphone". The day I do, I may get one, but for now it is an
expense I don't need.

Jackie

I disagree. I have some twenty, possibly more, cellphones. I buy them
at yard sales or retrieve them from trash piles. The going rate, for
me, is twenty-five cents. If I'm in a good mood, I might go as high as
a dollar. The most I've ver paid is $2 but that phone came with lots
of accessories. By now I have achieved a critical mass of battery
packs, power adapters, and cigarette lighter adapters.

Although it is widely known to listers at
misc.consumers.frugal-living, most members of the general public are
not aware that calls made to 911 on a working cellphone, even if the
phone has not been activated, must go through. If you can hit an
antenna, even if you are not paying for service, any working cellphone
can be used to make an emergency call to 911. It's federal law.

You can test an inactivated phone by dialing - whoops, entering - a
long string of nonsense digits and hitting "send." If the phone can
send and receive but it inactivated, you will hear an error message to
the effect of "we are sorry, but we cannot place your call at this
time. Please call your service provider for assistance." Translation -
"pay up, deadbeat."

No bills to pay, no incoming calls, no chitchat: there's really no
reason not to have an inactivated cellphone for emergency use only.
Or, in my case, twenty of them.

Best wishes.