Thanks for the insight, all. We got our cable internet yesterday and I have officially cancelled the phone service as of the end of the month (goodbye forever, SBC!) I forgot about the fax machine…oh well, we hardly used it anyway. I can fax from work if I need to.
I think the biggest thing will be to get used to carrying my cell phone around with me all the time. Usually it sits in my purse and I only use it when I go out. As others have mentioned, it is hard to hear it when it’s in another room.
Now I guess we’ll see who people really want to talk to - they will have to choose my husband or me instead of calling ‘us.’
It still feels strange to me to think about not having a ‘home’ number though. We have an infant son and when he gets older and has friends call and such it seems odd to have them call our cell phones, but such is the World of Tomorrow I guess. I just feel a little uneasy about it but hearing how others have done it no problem makes me feel better. I don’t know why I’m so attached to the land line especially since I have real issues with SBC. I cling to the old ways! I will smile fondly as I tell our son of the olden days of land lines and even, when I was a child, rotary phones!
We still have our landline because of the TiVo/Satellite programming. Our TiVo doesn’t have the USB ports enabled (it’s one of the very basic units), so until we get a newer unit we have to use the phone lines to download prgramming schedules. We don’t want to buy a new TiVO unit until the HD units come down in price (or, if we switch to digital cable they provide HD DVRs in our area), so we hang onto our landline.
I tend to not give my cell phone number out to too many people because I am not a phone person to begin with and a ringing cell irritates me (I sometimes forget to turn it off), and sometimes I like having an excuse for not being available, but YMMV.
Before I got my cell phone, I didn’t WANT to be one of those people. I hate talking on the phone (I always prefer face to face or email/IM), and I hate the attitudes that cell phone users have. However, when I moved out of my parents house and got my own place, I knew that I was going to need a phone, so I decided to just get a cell phone to simplify things, knowing that I can always leave it in the house or turn it off when I am out.
So far, not one complaint. I live in the heart of NYC, where Verizon coverage is perfect, so I never have to worry about reception problems (the blackout of aug 2003 being the exception). I got a # with a NYC-based area code, so when I give out my number as my home number, nobody ever bats an eye. I almost never get solicitations, and the one time I did by a credit card company who absolutely WOULD NOT leave me alone even after I told them I was never going to buy from them, I was able to add them to my address book and set a silent ring so that they wouldn’t even have to distract me to check my caller ID. Also, I see not being listed in the phone book as a GOOD thing. If somebody needs to call me, they can get my # straight from me, otherwise it can’t be that crucial. Since I get my internet and DVR service through the cable line, I don’t even need a phone jack.
i am 99.999% cellular (I do make my longish calls at work). I have one wall charger (i.e.: no car charger) and i can get away with charging overnight every other night. i order pizza without problems and i have a GPS enabled phone (SANYO/Sprint PCS) so 911 isn’t a problem.
i WAS getting solicitation calls but it was when i installed cable for the first time in my name and they wanted to see me cable modem. i always tell people that “Work Pays for It” whether it be my ISP, mobile, gasoline, whatever.
i’ve never had anyone say that they won’t accept my mobile as my primary number because i never TELL them it’s a mobile. It’s none of their business.
