According to recent statistics (if you can believe statistics these days) a shocking 85% of landline users have jumped ship in favour of cell phones only. Phone companies are encouraging subscribers to relinquish them so that the expensive copper wiring can be better utilized. Furthermore, they don’t want to be bothered with servicing us! As one of the remaining 15% “hardline” users, I am gobsmacked that people are giving up their landlines so easily. Yikes!
What better service can there be than communicating clearly without signal fades or dropped connections? When there’s a power failure I will be the only person in the city who still has a landline capable of contacting emergency services and relatives. I am guaranteed to be very popular for the first time in my life. I’d suggest you start being nice to me now because I intend to charge hefty admission fees to everyone who suddenly lines up at my door claiming to be my friend and wanting to use my old-fashioned copper-wired phone.
As a senior with hearing issues (two hearing aids), I can never hear callers’ voices on a cellphone as clearly as I can on my hard-wired landline. I’m constantly asking cellphone callers to repeat themselves or speak louder. And, there’s the issue of the technological features of mobile phones that do not exist on landlines which I will never learn how to use properly, if at all. I prefer simplicity and ease of use. I also hate the idea of carrying my phone around the house in my pocket in case someone needs to send me a picture of where they’re having lunch.
On the subject of lunch, I am constantly appalled at the sight of several people sitting together at a table in a restaurant or food court, each glued to their phone and ignoring the live human beings they are sitting with. Do not even consider answering a cell phone call if you’re having lunch with me unless you have a loved one on life-support. Rude barely covers my feelings on that issue.
Call me old-fashioned; call me a luddite, or whatever you want. Just do not call me on your cellphone or mine, especially if I’m at lunch. I rarely use my mobile and I have never even set up the voice mail feature. Me and my copper wire phones are forever soldered together and I will never cut the cord.
When the phone company comes calling wanting me to relinquish my landline so they use the copper wire for something more “valuable”, I will not. Just like the resistance fighters in WW2 who hid their radios from the Nazis, I will never surrender. Do you hear me?
For a more detailed rant on cellphone usage and technology, click on this link from a BoomerBroadcast posting two years ago: I Will Never Give Up My Landline.
