I can’t seem to get my land-line monthly fee below $60, and on top of that, my land-line phone system is dying and I don’t want to replace it. Add in the fact that going through the caller ID, I realize that 90% of the land-line calls come from either one of our mothers or some sort of telemarketing (charities seem to love us), and I don’t relish the fact that I spend $60/month because the mothers can’t remember our cell phone numbers or someone wants us to give them money.
So, in conclusion, the Athena household is going to join the modern era and get rid of the land line.
The main issue I have is that, though I love my iPhone, it’s horrendously uncomfortable to use for more than quick conversations. I use the headphones that came with it for most calls, but I don’t want to leave them in my ears all day, and it takes too long to grab 'em and hook 'em up when the phone is ringing. So I’m wondering if those little bluetooth headsets are better. I’m thinking of a Jawbone, unless someone tells me to get something else.
I don’t want to wear that all day, either, so I’m wondering if it’s sitting next to you on the desk, and the phone rings, can you grab it and put it on quickly enough to answer the incoming call? What if it’s in the next room - can you answer the call, then run and get it and put it in without too much trouble?
OK, so once you do the bluetooth pairing, it stays paired?
I’ve had bad experiences with bluetooth before. Seems like every bluetooth device I own forgets that it’s paired with something at least half the time and it’s a major hassle to get it to re-connect. I don’t want to be losing calls because the stupid earpiece doesn’t work.
I don’t use a headset, but my iPhone is paired by Bluetooth to hands-free systems in two different cars, and the pairing holds up much more reliably than in other phones I have owned.
I have a bluetooth stereo headset that I’ve never had to re-pair in the 10 months I’ve had it.
I use it mostly for music but if a call comes in while iPod is running, it stops the music and answers the call. If I turn it off to recharge or something, it takes a few seconds for it and the phone to find each other again, but they don’t have to go through the re-pairing rigmarole.
If you’re talking about one of the single-ear pieces, why wouldn’t you just keep it on your ear? There is the tool factor of people who wear them constantly but I suppose it depends on how much you use it. If your phone stays in your bag and you just place the headset on your desk, it wouldn’t be much to grab it and press the “answer” button at the same time you’re putting it in your ear. That gives you time to say hello before you need to worry about hearing from the earpiece. You wouldn’t have time to turn the earpiece “on” before answering the phone, but you would already have it on anyway.
I have an iPhone and a Jawbone.
I love my jawbone. I wear it all day long (I am constantly on and off the phone).
with my prior phone and bluetooth (I’m looking at you, Razr and Jabra) when not on a call, the phone would drop the bluetooth link, and then reestablish it. So I had a constant beeping in my ear. :mad:
You might want to look at the Jawbone reviews at Amazon, a lot of people find the Jawbone not easy to keep in their ear, and retrofit it with a Jabra ear jel. FTR Jawbone has come out with their own available at their website for about $10.
I don’t want it in my ear all day because I am usually not on the phone all that often. I have conference calls a couple times a week that last less than an hour. Other than that, I primarily need to respond to occasional calls, 1 or 2 a day. It seems like it would be uncomfortable to have something in your ear all day, and I’m concerned that it’s not all that healthy to block your ear passage all day, every day.
Except, of course, the times we have big huge long calls that last anywhere from 2 to 8 hours (really - I work remotely, when we do upgrades of our system, it can take a long time, and I need to be on the phone that whole time.) So I do need something that’s comfortable for long-term use. I’ll take a look at the Amazon reviews.
But I’m mostly concerned with something that I can quickly pick up and jam in my ear when a call comes in. Seems like the jawbone is the way to go. Thanks everyone!
I’ve never had trouble with the phone forgetting the pairing (or the headset forgetting it either).
One thing I would recommend looking for though: a headset that has a separate on/off switch.
A lot of them just have you press and hold the single multifunction button to turn it on, or off. Of course if you don’t hold that damn button long enough, then you wind up accidentally redialling someone, or some other unintented action. This is taking simplification too far.
You may have a hard time finding a headset that can last that long - be prepared to have to turn it off mid-call and switch to holding the phone.
Oh… and if you do get rid of the landline, you’ll need to give out your cell number to businesses, which means calls to the cell… including marketing calls from those businesses.
Yeah, I realize that. I figure in that case I can always switch to the iPhone headphones.
Hmm? I never get many marketing calls on any line now. Doesn’t the national do-not-call registry take care of that?
Regardless, minute-wise, I’m not at all worried about stuff like that. We use about 800 minutes a month; the minute levels at AT&T are set to 700 and 1400. It’s cheaper to have the 1400 minute a month plan, so we always have some huge number of “rollover” minutes. I seriously can’t use them up, no matter how hard I try.