Hell must be cold: I bought a cellphone

[Bamspeedy]

Well, this seems like a good place to ask this:

I have a friend who tells me that I do not need to have a home phone, but still be able to use a dial-up from home to get the internet. Is this true? Don't I have to have a home number (to use the phone line) for my computer to hook up to the internet? Or is it just a pretty small fee that I would have to pay the local phone company, or would MSN charge a small fee? I'm thinking the local phone company would have to get some reimbursement if I'm using the phone line. (and who would I call if there is a problem with the phone line?) How does this work?

Right now I have a home phone and hooking up to the internet is a local call, so I can be on it as long as I want. I certainly don't want to end up having the computer make a long distance call to get on the internet, as those charges will really kill me. Having both a home phone and cell phone isn't really feasible for me, but having just a cell phone would be nice if I can still hook up to the internet.

I don't really need a cell phone, but it would be handy to use on occassion. I don't make long distance calls and don't use it much, so I wouldn't worry about going over the limit for minutes. But looking at the costs it's only about $5/month more to have just a cell phone than to have a home phone, so for that little bit it would be more worth having a cell phone.

 

[WickedSmurf]

I have some friends who connect their laptops to the internet via their cellphones. I how no idea how though, but it would most likely work at home as well.

I've had cellphones for some 7-8 years now. It is great to have one (or, 3 in my case), I really don't understand why people regard them as something bad and unwanted. Techophobia?

 

[samildanach]

A week after Gannon extols the virtues of licking cell phones, DP goes out and buys one....coincidence I think not. The hallucinagenic toad population must be down this year in Alabama.

 

[Illustrious]

I have some friends who connect their laptops to the internet via their cellphones. I how no idea how though

Expensively, that's how. Even the best of the current generation of mobile phones transmit data ve-e-e-e-e-ry slowly compared to landlines. If you're used to broadband internet connection, dial-up via a cellphone will drive you insane, and the added time on air will run up a large bill very fast.

In my experience, the laptop-cellphone combo is useful for grabbing your e-mail and some brief web access while away on business, but not yet a viable home solution for prolonged surfing.

 

[IglooDame]

Well, this seems like a good place to ask this:

I have a friend who tells me that I do not need to have a home phone, but still be able to use a dial-up from home to get the internet. Is this true? Don't I have to have a home number (to use the phone line) for my computer to hook up to the internet? Or is it just a pretty small fee that I would have to pay the local phone company, or would MSN charge a small fee? I'm thinking the local phone company would have to get some reimbursement if I'm using the phone line. (and who would I call if there is a problem with the phone line?) How does this work?

Right now I have a home phone and hooking up to the internet is a local call, so I can be on it as long as I want. I certainly don't want to end up having the computer make a long distance call to get on the internet, as those charges will really kill me. Having both a home phone and cell phone isn't really feasible for me, but having just a cell phone would be nice if I can still hook up to the internet.

I don't really need a cell phone, but it would be handy to use on occassion. I don't make long distance calls and don't use it much, so I wouldn't worry about going over the limit for minutes. But looking at the costs it's only about $5/month more to have just a cell phone than to have a home phone, so for that little bit it would be more worth having a cell phone.

Bamspeedy,

I'm not clear on what you're talking about. If you want to use a dial-up (56K modem, "POTS line") from your home, you have to have a phone line. This can either be of the plain 'ol wired kind that we all know and love, or nowadays some wireless phones/networks will hook up to a laptop and be the phone hookup - though as far as I know the wireless carriers are the ISPs themselves, you cannot use the wireless phone purely as a regular modem phone line.

DSL uses a regular wired phone line, but does not require that you have regular analog phone service over that line. It is pricier ($40-60/month) but is also 10x faster than regular 56K dialup service.

If you want to go over this further, PM me, and perhaps we could discuss it in the computer forum.

 

[The Last Conformist]

It makes little beeping sounds

They knew they had hit gold when they invented something that's techy (attracts geeks), cute (attracts women and DP), and communicative (attracts people with a life).

My parents gave me one when I went to uni. I didn't think I needed one, and objectively speaking I hardly did, but I got addicted pretty quickly.

 

[Tassadar]

I guess I am the last guy without a cell phone. I don't have anything against them, I just don't care much for having to talk to people over the phone(I can hardly carry on a conversation in person) I just wish people would turn them off when it would be inappropriate to have them go off(like the movie theaters) and I wish they wouldn't make them so small.

Lol, no you are not the last, i will never try those modern leash, either your girlfriend or your boss is at the other end.

I just got a normal phone line, primarly for my 56 k connection, i had 1 phone call since 3 month, it was a wrong number, lol , but true.

Why using phone when you have internet?

And if a car accident happen, then there is already xillion of cellphone fanatic ready to call for help.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well, Curt. A cellphone with a pay-as-you-go card, carried around in a lead box when not needed , and with the opportunity to get a new number fast is a lot more difficult to trace than a landline.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Curt if you knew how it makes being antisocial easier, you'd run out and buy one right away.

 

[The Last Conformist]

One of the nice things about cellphones is that you can be unreachable whenever you want. With a landline, the assumption is very much you don't unplug it when you're at home, and doing so is seen as antisocial.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

You can easily block whatever numbers you want too. Btw, this one has a built in flashlight too

 

[Archer 007]

I guess I am the last guy without a cell phone. I don't have anything against them, I just don't care much for having to talk to people over the phone(I can hardly carry on a conversation in person) I just wish people would turn them off when it would be inappropriate to have them go off(like the movie theaters) and I wish they wouldn't make them so small.

Same over here.

 

[CurtSibling]

Curt if you knew how it makes being antisocial easier, you'd run out and buy one right away.

I am already a master at the art of being anti-social.

I don't need sheeplism and gamma-poisoning to go with it!

 

[CurtSibling]

A week after Gannon extols the virtues of licking cell phones, DP goes out and buys one....coincidence I think not. The hallucinagenic toad population must be down this year in Alabama.

Classic!

 

[Hundegesicht]

Never have had one, probably never will get one. If I ever need to make a call I just pull over and make someone on the sidewalk call for me. Works just fine.

 

[Dell19]

How often to you pull over and ask to use someone's phone? I guess most people would let you use their phone if it was an emergency but if you were just making a call to let someone know where you was then they might not be so keen since you could get your own phone...

 

[The Last Conformist]

You can always claim that your battery ran out ...

 

[Dell19]

But then you are clearly evil since you are lying...

 

[IglooDame]

You can always claim that your battery ran out ...

If someone drove up to me and asked to use my phone, I'd dial the number for them, and relay the message to whoever they're calling (and if that message is not something of an emergency, the conversation would be ending abruptly).