On Tuesday, 1 July 2014 06:58:04 UTC+2, spsffan  wrote:   
   > On 6/30/2014 2:18 PM, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
      
   > > But I will note there are plenty of people out there who don't have a   
   > > cell hone at all, and plenty more who do have one but use it very   
   > > sparingly on a cheap pay-as-you-go plan.   
   >    
   > That would be me. I despise texting on phones. It is lazy and easy to    
   > fraud or spoof with someone's stolen or borrowed phone. If I hear a    
   > voice I know, I know who is there. Text could be anyone from a bot to    
   > Charles Manson. Mostly, it's just rude.   
      
   I find it astounding to accuse the text message of being rude compared with a   
   voice call.  The telephone and the behaviour that society expects of it, is   
   exceedingly rude.  If I was in the middle of having a conversation with   
   someone and another person    
   walked passed, interupted my conversation and demanded I speak with them   
   regardless of who the first person was or how important that other   
   conversation was, that would be regarded as ubelievably rude.  And yet that is   
   precisely what people expect to    
   happen when the phone rings.  If I am in the middle of cooking dinner or   
   reading a book, someone coming over to me and insisting that I stop what I am   
   doing and speak with them would be the height of impoliteness.  Yet society   
   expects we do that with the    
   telephone.   
      
   > If you want my attention, talk to me.   
      
   When I send text messages it is because I don't want the other person's   
   *attention*.  What I want to do is make some information available to them, or   
   to ask a non-urgent question of them in a way that gives them the freedom to   
   answer at a moment that is    
   convenient for them, rather than for me.  Demanding a person's attention is   
   disruptive to them, moreso if you have no idea what they are doing when you   
   make that demand.  The text message allows information to travel in a much   
   less disruptive manner.  A    
   text message can be composed, sent, received, read and replied to all silently.   
      
   > Oh, sure, having access to email and the internet on a device in my    
   > pocket would come in handy now and then. But for the $90 a month or so    
   > that it seems to cost for anything like that, I'll pass unless I have a    
   > regular need.   
   >    
   > Also, from back when I did have a regular cell plan, is that $90 they    
   > quote what I pay or what they charge before the 20-30% of assorted fees    
   > and taxes? I hate buying anything without knowing the price in advance.    
   > Medical care and utilities are bad enough. Heck, even my land line    
   > phone, if I make no calls whatsoever, has about 20% added fees and taxes    
   > to the quoted rate.   
   >    
   > My prepaid phone will NEVER send me a bill I can't afford or don't want    
   > to pay.   
      
   You are living in the past if you think that is the situation (or else you   
   live in a country with a shockingly backwards and exploitative phone system).    
   Where I live, phone companies offer unlimited data for less than the   
   equivalent of $50/month, and    
   the data rates on PAYG are quite cheap.   
      
   Robin   
      
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