Calling electronic nerds on the tin-can!

[abifae]

i've heard good things. only downside is it won't work if your power or internet is down. so maybe a prepaid phone for emergencies and magic jack for phone.

 

[dragonlaurel]

i've heard good things. only downside is it won't work if your power or internet is down. so maybe a prepaid phone for emergencies and magic jack for phone.

She's right on this. It connects to your computer so you can use the internet signal to make phone calls. It is legal and is much cheaper than a phone company line- if you have internet service already.

You might ask some young techie people in your area what the CHEAPEST way to go is in your area. Different companies have great or really bad deals.

 

[elijahboy]

vonage here its good

 

[FarmerDenise]

I have Consumer Cellular. They are month to month starting at $10. You pay for a certain set of minutes. You can set it up so they email you when you are getting close to your limit. Then you can go online and change your minutes to the next higher level for another $10 if you want. Then as soon as the billing cycle is over, I go and change it back. It is a pretty basic phone. You can add stuff to it, for a price of course. I just stick with the simple stuff.

I like having my cell phone, it is easy to carry around with me in a pocket. I have used it as a weapon on more than one occasion. I have the sherrif's phone number on my speed dial. My phone also has the ability to take photos, but since I don't pay for the wireless connection, I cannot upload them

But I have found some pretty nifty uses for the camera. I parked in a huge parking lot and was afraid I would not be able to find my car. I took pictures of where it was. Someone had parked awkwardly close to the parking spot I needed to use, I took a picture, including their license plate, that way in case my car got dented, I could report them to the police. I see something "not right", I can easily take a picture. In case of an accident, I can take pictures. I used to carry a disposable camera in my glove compartment for that purpose.

ETA: when I have called them with questions or problems, I always got a person and they were always friendly, polite and knowledgable.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Anyone here tried Virgin Mobile? I hear bad stuff about Cricket.

I used Virgin Mobile for a couple of years. I liked it for a pay-as-you-go. They actually have "monthly plans" that aren't attached to contracts, so you can pay a certain amount per month for certain privileges but not sign a contract. I liked that about them. And when i lived in the city, they were great. I could continue to use it when i traveled without a problem. (My husband's Cricket would stop working when we got away from our home city.)

When we moved to the sticks, i had to walk to the middle of the road to use it, and i wasn't working anymore, so we just shut off our cell phones and now use a land line.

Virgin may have improved now, but a couple of years ago, they didn't have nearly as good coverage as AT&T or Verizon, which is what most people in my woods use.....and they don't have to walk to the middle of the road to make a call.

We've talked about getting an emergency cell to carry in the truck. If we do, it will be AT&T or Verizon pay-as-you-go type phone.

 

[xpc]

I know nothing about cell phones, only that when your car is broken down on the side of the road and you're being chased by a mad man with an axe - they never work.

I got my first cellphone about 1995 when I started a HVAC repair business and needed a way for customers to contact me, never thought about having the expense for personal use as it wouldn't be tax deductible. I did have to use it in a kind of an emergency once in 98' when my car battery died on a country road, called my brother for a jump. That was my fault as I knew the alternator was going bad and didn't fix it until after being stranded twice.

The second time I was at a Tucker's 2fer and came out with 10 hot sirloin steak burgers and the car was dead again, a nice lady who just pulled in at the perfect spot gave me a jump. The ironic thing was when I later went to a small repair shop to have it fixed she was the owners wife and never mentioned they had a shop either.

As far as brands go it will be dependent on whose towers are in the area and in a big city not really an issue but out here I had to go with Virgin mobile as ATT and Verizon could not get a signal, Trac phone worked but was always in roam so charged double minutes. I pay $20 every 3 months and get 100 minutes, I never use them but is necessary to keep your number active and believe they all work the same now.

If you go with DSL for high speed internet you may want to consider getting the cheapest land line they offer, for me it was $16 a month for 60 local calls but unlimited incoming calls, it was moot because I never gave out the number. A cheap $10 corded phone will work during power outages as the phone company uses huge battery banks for operation, and thanks to me in the early 90's all the substations in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois had back-up generators installed.

As far as a mad man with an axe on a dark deserted road I don't have to worry about that because I'm the creepy one.

 

[xpc]

Yes...axe murderers all seem to have jamming devices of some sort

I have been with Sprint for about 10 years. I now have a blackberry, but that is WAY more technology than you might want to be bothered with. They have simple pay as you go phones you might want to look in to.

Anyone here tried Virgin Mobile? I hear bad stuff about Cricket.

Cell jammers are highly illegal for us regular humans to possess but did find a circuit online and thought it would be fun to build so I could take it to the grocery store where all the giant hogs blocked the Twinkie aisle while yapping away oblivious to their surroundings. I never built it because of complications of the multiple frequency modes but did build a universal TV remote that would power down just about 90% of all TVs made and was a real blast when sitting in a tavern shutting off sports games at a pivotal moment.

As said before only Virgin mobile works out by me and believe they use Sprint's towers, I do use a Verizon usb cell modem for my internet but had to install a 30 foot outside cell antenna for it to work.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Now see, I would just love to have a device that causes cell phone reception to go wonky on people around me. Hee hee hee. Sometimes when someone in a crowd near me is yackin' away (about nothing much) on their phone I can't think about anything but "will y'all just shut up already?" and then suddenly the person's phone just cuts out and they have to hang up.

 

[bibliophile birds]

The other thing about this big city is that there are many different nationalities living there, and if they speak English, they prefer not to. I worry I might accidentally offend someone by trying to be nice or something like that.

don't be scared! just be polite, use your judgment, and make friends- especially with old ladies who speak little English and always want to pinch your cheek! they always are great cooks and will keep you full of yummy ethnic food.

well, that's always been my plan of attack when moving to new, diverse places!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yeah, I think we English-speaking types are more easily offended than most other ethnic groups.