# Crappy cell phone apologists **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190 "2018-03-26T04:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/1 "2018-03-26T04:58:53Z")
What is it with people who defend their phones that sound like shit? **"It must be your phone, that’s why I sound like I’m in a tin can"** No, because it doesn’t matter if I call you from my cell phone or a landline. You sound terrible and I have to keep asking you to repeat what you said. **"It must be your hearing"** No, because everyone says they can’t hear you right when talking to you on your phone. **"I was lying down, that’s why I don’t sound right.** **"I can hear you fine. So there is nothing wrong with my phone".** No, everyone who calls you says they can’t hear you and/or it sounds like you are speaking through a bullhorn into a tin can. Your phone is a piece of junk. What is so hard about admitting you need to exchange your phone because it sounds terrible? What is so hard about that? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/2 "2018-03-26T05:09:25Z")
Just text. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/3 "2018-03-26T05:41:10Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/4 "2018-03-26T06:04:46Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Just text. Problem solved. Early telephones weren’t that great, either. Nobody said “just sent a telegram”. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/5 "2018-03-26T06:07:17Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Early telephones weren’t that great, either. Nobody said “just sent a telegram”. Yes, because that’s exactly the same. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/6 "2018-03-26T08:41:33Z")
Talk on a phone? How quaint. You must be of a certain age. But seriously, nobody buys phones for their talking capabilities any more. Look at phone commercials. They advertise the phone’s movie-taking capabilities or that they can put hats or glitter on pictures of people. Phone reviews talk about processors, memory, and screen technology. Almost all monthly phone plans come with unlimited talk because the companies know that almost no one will use much of it, but “unlimited” still excites people. Remember when people used to worry about “overages”? To most people under a certain age, a “phone” is a hand-held computer that fits in your pocket. Yes, the manufacturers still squeeze some rudimentary voice equipment into the case so they can call it a “phone” instead of a “tablet.” But hardly anybody cares about that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/7 "2018-03-26T10:27:24Z")
I’ve never encountered this. Just the opposite–not wanting to tell someone that the reason I couldn’t understand them was their new Bluetooth dongle that they were so happy about. But my guess is simply the same reason people defend any big purchase–they don’t want to feel bad about having done it. Not wanting to feel bad for a choice is a huge part of human behavior, from buying expensive things to how you voted. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/8 "2018-03-26T10:40:17Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > What is it with people who defend their phones that sound like shit? Because sometimes it really is the connection. Sometimes I speak to someone and it’s hard to hear them. We hang up, someone calls right back (from and to the same number) and the connection is much clearer. Sometimes the conversation will go from clear to inaudible to clear again. I don’t think it’s the speaker’s voice fading away without them noticing. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/9 "2018-03-26T11:08:59Z")
Text. The only time I talk on a phone is when an antiquated system does not support nonverbal communication. Even my doctor’s office has an app that allows me to schedule appointments or request information by typing. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/10 "2018-03-26T11:50:12Z")
I was talking to a customer on her cell phone a while back. Over and over I kept telling her I couldn’t hear her or that we have a bad connection. Each time I’d say that, she was doing something, turning off speaker, turning off bluetooth etc. What ever the deal was, I could barely understand anything she was saying. She finally hung up and called back and the connection, while not great, was much better. She said ‘are you sure it’s not your phone’, I told her I didn’t think it was. She said something along those lines again and I told her that I’d been using the phone here at work all day and she was the first person that I was having trouble with. We get on with whatever she called about and at the end of our conversation she said ‘maybe I should take my phone in, you’re the third person today to tell me they couldn’t hear me’. So why the hell would you even question if my phone is the problem? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/11 "2018-03-26T14:59:25Z")
\ Excuse me, I can’t follow your mini-pitting. Are you calling people who defend phones crappy, or are you calling the phones crappy? Maybe you should get a better phone? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/12 "2018-03-26T16:14:28Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > So why the hell would you even question if my phone is the problem? Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I’ve had the same trouble with my brother’s phone for about two years now. He dropped it the other day so I’ve got my hopes up. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/13 "2018-03-26T16:43:58Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > What is it with people who defend their phones that sound like shit? Well, cost is a big factor these days if you really want a good phone, and some people just can’t swing it. Perhaps they are desperately trying to find someone else to blame so they can hang on to the belief that their old clunker is, in fact, “good enough”. Sometimes you just slip slowly out of date without realizing it. I had my iPhone 5s for over 4 years. I thought it still plenty good enough but, when my SiL spilled potato soup on hers and pretty much killed it, we both decided to go phone shopping together. Based on performance versus cost, we settled on the iPhone 7 Plus. The difference is nothing less than impressive. The phone itself is flawless, the device as a whole is faster because it can take advantage of 4G capability, the camera is MUCH better, and the battery lasts a LOT longer. The display, of course, is much bigger. All of this was something I wouldn’t have realized if my SiL hadn’t spilled that potato soup! LOL ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/14 "2018-03-26T16:44:22Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Talk on a phone? How quaint. You must be of a certain age. Well, driving age. I assume texting while driving is illegal almost everywhere by now but I can get a lot of communicating done during my commute by talking on the phone. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/15 "2018-03-26T18:50:58Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Well, cost is a big factor these days if you really want a good phone, and some people just can’t swing it. Perhaps they are desperately trying to find someone else to blame so they can hang on to the belief that their old clunker is, in fact, “good enough”. It can be the carrier, as well as the phone. My mother-in-law is extremely frugal. Several years ago, she got rid of her landline, and now only has a cell phone. But, because she’s so frugal, she insists on going with the lower-cost carriers. it doesn’t help that she lives in one of the outer suburbs of Chicago, in amongst several golf courses and forest preserves, where _any_ cell phone signal may be a little spotty. At first, she had T-Mobile, as well as an inexpensive flip-phone. It wouldn’t be so bad, if it weren’t for the fact that she’s known to have hour-long calls with my wife at least once a week. When she was with T-Mobile, dropped calls and distorted signals happened nearly every time she called…and, half the time, when my wife would try to call her, the call wouldn’t go through at all. Through all of that, MIL continued to insist that, “it’s not really that bad.” (Yes, it was. :D) She finally changed carriers last year, but to Sprint, and her service is only marginally better. She’s also now finally on a smartphone, but calls not going through, or dropping, still happen fairly frequently. I have, more than once, volunteered to pay for a basic landline for her house, simply because reaching her on the phone has become so unreliable. It’s a suggestion that hasn’t gotten any traction yet. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/16 "2018-03-26T19:14:01Z")
I thought this must be the name of a song by The Fall, but I guess I am mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/17 "2018-03-26T19:34:34Z")
Crappy cell phone apologists, stop blamin’ my phone or face my fists! Your phone is junk, way past it’s prime. Get off of your a$$ and spend a dime! You sound like you are in a hole, like talkin’ to a mumblin’ mole. Don’t call no more ‘til you upgrade, I’m done dealin’ with your voice fade. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/18 "2018-03-26T20:44:03Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > … it doesn’t matter if I call you from my cell phone or a **landline**.… > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Just text. Problem solved. Uh, some things do not work on a landline. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/19 "2018-03-26T21:15:52Z")
One thing to keep in mind–calls that stay within a carrier can be better quality than calls between two different carriers, or from cell phone to land line. You now have multiple parties involved, and possibly multiple protocols that may not speak well with one another and drop to whatever codec they both understand, etc. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190/20 "2018-03-26T22:02:38Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Crappy cell phone > apologists, > stop blamin’ my phone > or face my fists! > > Your phone is junk, > way past it’s prime. > Get off of your a$$ > and spend a dime! > > You sound like you > are in a hole, > like talkin’ to > a mumblin’ mole. > > Don’t call no more > ‘til you upgrade, > I’m done dealin’ > with your voice fade. “A” for effort. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crappy-cell-phone-apologists/811190.md?page=2)