Once Upon A Time...

[oldbadger]

When I was a kid, the phone company charged a pretty standard fee for local services. The extras were long distance. You could call and yap all day to people in the area, but out of area was a bit pricey.

With cell phones, you could get unlimited talk for a lump fee. You had to pay a bit extra for text(this was before the smartphone was commonplace). After awhile, they lumped talk/text together(and I think a small amount of data). This is the deal I still have. I can talk all day, but no one wants to.

My wife and I both get 10gig data, unlimited texts and 100 minutes phone time for £10 per month. We never use up our allocated amount, even though we both use IT all the time!

The most expensive telephone I ever used was (40 years ago) when I had a motor yacht and used marine radio. If I needed to make a phone call I would call up Thames radio services, give the telephone number, they would connect me and then I could speak to the called person. I had to press my transmit button to speak (simplex system) and then release it to hear the caller speaking, so it was best to to use radio protocol, and it cost £1 per minute which was rather costly back then.
If only mobiles had been around! I expect that mobile phones would be able to connect anywhere in the southern north sea these days.

 

[ChristineM]

Our landline doesn't have a cord so we can wonder around the house and outside with it, even to the toilet of necessary ;-)

Mobile/cell/portable/handy phones are handy but it took me an age to get used to them. I was of the opinion a camera was for taking pictures, a computer for the internet, a diary for appointments etc. Having a phone that played games was anathema to me. Even now when a portable is a necessary i still feel uncomfortable when someone phones me when I'm out shopping. I have 2 though, a dual chip with an old british number and a french number, a newer one with a single sim for everyday

Talking of shopping, what bugs me is the person speaking loudly to a phone on speaker, the recipient of the call is in the next isle deciding what soap power to buy.

I heard a pair of teens talking to each other by phone from across the road. Why?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Once upon a time, in lands far away, those little boxes people carry on them used to have voices. You know.. the ones with the screens on 'em, that people spend half their day gawking at. People used to hold them against their ear, with the bottom part directed at their mouth, and they would talk to other people, connected to their speakers by their own little box, possibly many miles away.

In an even longer time ago, those boxes were connected to the wall, and had cords. There was limits to how far away the other person could be while you were talking to them, or you'd quickly find yourself broke.

I miss those days, though. Texting is a pain. I could mop the floor and yap on the phone, but texting and mopping just isn't the same. "But I can plan out better what I want to say with text." That's a thing, too. I don't really want your polished replies, I like you as you are(generally speaking).

Anyone else miss the humble phone call?

So much I have this nifty device.

 

[Revoltingest]

Once upon a time, in lands far away, those little boxes people carry on them used to have voices. You know.. the ones with the screens on 'em, that people spend half their day gawking at. People used to hold them against their ear, with the bottom part directed at their mouth, and they would talk to other people, connected to their speakers by their own little box, possibly many miles away.

In an even longer time ago, those boxes were connected to the wall, and had cords. There was limits to how far away the other person could be while you were talking to them, or you'd quickly find yourself broke.

I miss those days, though. Texting is a pain. I could mop the floor and yap on the phone, but texting and mopping just isn't the same. "But I can plan out better what I want to say with text." That's a thing, too. I don't really want your polished replies, I like you as you are(generally speaking).

Anyone else miss the humble phone call?

I don't miss the old days.
But I hate people who use texting to chat.
It means...
1) Pick up phone.
2) Read
3) Respond.
4) Set phone down, thinking we're done.
5) Discover we're not done.
6) Decide whether to say it's not a convenient time.
7) If so, then success. If not, then goto #1

 

[sun rise]

And, I'd have a lot of explaining to do if I took my laptop to the toilet with me while on a zoom meeting.

I used to be on big conference calls with portable headphones. They had mute buttons but sometimes someone forgot to mute and the sound of business being done entertained the rest of us!

But of course it's possible, easy even, to go too far:

 

[JustGeorge]

Talking of shopping, what bugs me is the person speaking loudly to a phone on speaker, the recipient of the call is in the next isle deciding what soap power to buy.

This used to bother me, but now I get excited to hear people actually using the phone.

I don't miss the old days.
But I hate people who use texting to chat.
It means...
1) Pick up phone.
2) Read
3) Respond.
4) Set phone down, thinking we're done.
5) Discover we're not done.
6) Decide whether to say it's not a convenient time.
7) If so, then success. If not, then goto #1

I dislike that as well. I also hate the speed in which the texts come in... Not having a smartphone, it takes me a bit longer to tap out a text, so by the time I've got onealmsot completed, the other person has sent three, and often I have to change my text all over again....

I also hate people who use voice to text to send messages... Half of what the phone sends is complete nonsense. A friend sent me recently "I'm often disappointed that I can't be butter". Made my day, though that one was mild(you can actually understand what he was meaning to say).

 

[Quagmire]

I love cellphones. Now I can walk around in public talking to myself and nobody notices.

 

[Revoltingest]

I love cellphones. Now I can walk around in public talking to myself and nobody notices.

Me too!
And I no longer get questioned about taking my lithium.
I don't know why people obsess over that element.
I'm more into iron, aluminum, & titanium.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

I have no use for a cell phone unless my car breaks down when I go to the grocery store.

Really?! My goodness, I use mine all the time! For way more than talking!
I rarely text, though.

it sounds like the only time you drive is to go to the grocery store. Is that right?

 

[Trailblazer]

it sounds like the only time you drive is to go to the grocery store. Is that right?

Pretty much, except for a weekly trip to the post office since we have a PO box there where we get our mail.
The only other place I go is to doctor or dentist appointments or to take cats to the vet.
My life is pretty boring yet stressful.

 

[Kooky]

I've always disliked talking on the phone. I prefer either writing to people or simply talking to them in person.

Despite what everyone else here seems to experience, I still have to talk to strangers on the phone on a regular basis.

 

[JustGeorge]

I've always disliked talking on the phone. I prefer either writing to people or simply talking to them in person.

I typically enjoy talking in person, though that hasn't been an easy reality. With the pandemic the last few years, one has to be cautious, and previous to that, taking my middle son(who is autistic) to other people's house was typically a train wreck. He'd go all over and get into all sorts of stuff, so I'd pretty much just spend the visit chasing him, and it wasn't worth it. During those years, we also had too small of a house to entertain guests.

The only person I could typically visit was my uncle. A retired engineer, he thought had about the problem and rigged up a series of locks and barricades on several doors to keep my son in an area where we could see him at all times(without having to chase him).