Funny how, even after editing, it’s still a grammatical trainwreck.
Yes, and phones in public places were often fastened inside little privacy boxes, as well. It was a good design.
It was a good design in particular because talk tends to be louder on a phone (any phone) than in person. It’s the lack of shared environment and nonverbal cues and channels for communication. It’s always a little harder to tell whether one is understanding properly and being understood, in phone conversations versus the same talk in person. Talking on the phone in a sense is more work, and as far as I can tell almost everybody unconsciously compensates some with volume.
A while back I did a “Things You Only Hear On The SDMB” thread, and “Cellphone Hate” was, if not at the top, then very near the top of that list- along with “Not owning a TV by choice” and other such weirdness that I’ve never encountered in the real world.
I still bow in respect to a man in a Chinese restaurant about three years ago.
Another patron’s phone rang and he began having a very loud conversation, smack in the center of the place. Another man walked over, leaned in close and advised him that the rest of us didn’t need to hear his conversation and perhaps he should either take it outside of talk a bit more softly. The man with the phone got up, walked outside and finished his conversation. When he came back in, he walked up to the other man and apologized for his rudeness.
And actually, I respect that too. He didn’t throw a fit, or get angry at the first guy for saying something, or try to ignore him. He got up, went outside until he was done, then came back in and apologized.
That’s got nothing to do with the cell service, I keep having to remind my mother that when she’s on the phone she’s trying to convey information through the phone, not by air. “There’s no need to shout, Mom. Mom, if you shout I can’t understand you. Mom, I’m taking the headset off unless you lower your volume now.” “Oh, but I’m excited!” “That’s fine and lovely, you’re excited and my ears are hurting. Lower the volume; I’m your daughter, not your mother.”
That is moving. A similar scenario at a Chuck E. Cheese’s would result in 12 people dead.
Yeah, AT&T is a shitty network with shitty coverage, period. It has nothing to do with an iPhone–they just have a bad network. Swing and a miss; care to try again, or are you going to just admit that you were fucking wrong and had no clue what you were talking about?
Beyond that–I’d call it a *syntactical *trainwreck.
You need to get out more, then. People everywhere complain about the way everyone else uses cellphones, and I’d met people who don’t own a TV by choice (besides myself!) before I started posting here.
The US is behind Europe and Japan when it comes to cell phone tech, true, but I can vouch that it’s AT&T’s problem specifically. I have a top-line Android smartphone on Verizon’s network, and I’ve had nothing but crystal clear calls on it.
The whole SHOUTING INTO YOUR PHONE thing does seem to be an American trait, though- whilst every country has idiots who talk on their phone during movies etc, it’s only in America that I’ve witnessed people actually SHOUTING into their phone in public.
Well, see, this is where the smart people come.
If you’d read the thread - the one you’re reading right now - you’d have seen that my point was that American cell phone service was often crappy; you’ve just proved me right by saying that one of the biggest cellular providers in the U.S. does indeed provide crappy service. I guess I must have *some *clue about what I’m talking about.
In Japan, I learned the neat trick of cupping my hand over my mouth with the phone also under it when I need to make a call somewhere like on a bus. It’s great–I can have a conversation without feeling like an ass.