"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...
I am being pressured by family, my co-workers and clients to get a
phone that will work in most places I go. While I do not think
anybody needs to be on call 24/7/365,I will have to do something to
placate people. However, the reality is that nothing but a satellite
phone will work in many places I go. Not many cell towers in the N.
FL swamps and none offshore.
However, the reality is that I despise cell audio quality so much that
I simply resist using them. I constantly feel like I am using a cheap
kids walkie talkie even when using a supposedly superior phone and
provider. the quality simply sucks. When some people call me on a
cell phone, I refuse to talk to them until they call back on a land
line. I suspect the real problem is an auditory processing problem in
my head because I also cannot understand audio at movies or tv
although my hearing tests fine for simple tones.
Most of the time, I truly hate talking on the phone to anybody and
even when my cell phone works, I probably do not use even 20 minutes
in 6 months. I think e-mail is a far better way to communicate as it
allows one to think about responses and re-read before sending but
maybe texting has something of that too. I have never tried texting
because I always thought of it as being a kids thing.
So, family says, "Get another cheap cell phone". Clients say, "Get an
iphone". All say, "at least be reachable most of the time". I
wonder, if a sat phone with texting would serve the purpose. I could
ask certain people to text me instead of talking to me sometimes.
Texting is of course cheaper on a sat phone than talking minutes.
Maybe I'll just get a cheap cell phone and keep it turned off when I
want to be alone. NOBODY is so important they need to always be in
touch and being in touch is actually detrimental to solving problems.
Thoughts?

If you want a cell phone, get a cell phone. If you want *apps* and email and
internet on a handheld get a *smart phone*. There are lots of smart phones
out there, not just the iPhone. I had an iPhone from it's inception for
about 1.5 years, and finally got rid of it in favor of a Blackberry. While
the iPhone is good at many things, it's NOT good as a cell phone. That's
just my opinion, but I'm much happier with the Blackberry.

--Mike