I am not particularly a high tech kind of person even if I have been using various PCs since 1981. I can still remember obscure programs like WordStar, Visi-Cal and the need to know Basic. I didn’t get a VCR till 1994 and we made do without a DVD player till 2 years ago but I did discover gaming long before we got a DVD player. Consequently, we have Xbox, PS2 and Game Cube as well as a number of gaming platforms regulated to obscurity in the closets around the house. I bought my stereo in 1984 and it still kicks ass.
I have long been suspicious of the need for cell phones and not because of any alleged health concerns. I just don’t want to be that connected. The phone rings constantly at work but do I have to be a slave to it at home too? I think that whoever invented the answering machine should have won a Nobel prize. My attitude is that bad news can always wait and it won’t be any the less bad just because you answered the phone on the first or second ring.
I finally broke down and bought a cell phone when my own phone got disconnected due to a flood in the flat upstairs. It took me an hour to find a working pay phone so that I could call Bell Canada and report the problem but I still couldn’t report it because it was an AT&T payphone and you cannot call Bell Canada 411 service on an AT&T payphone. Who knew that AT&T had payphones in Canada? That horrendous experience convinced me that the times had changed so radically that I needed a cell phone for emergencies, if nothing else.
I bought the cheapest low tech version with the cheapest plan that locked me into a plan for 12 months. The plan was to cost me $20 a month for 150 minutes and unlimited weekend calling. Once the taxes and all the hidden fees were totaled it cost me close to $35 a month and I never came close to passing the 150 minute mark. I didn’t renew the plan and canceled my service once the 12 month period passed.
It worked out until the Last Amazon started high school. She would have to do a great deal of independent traveling and I didn’t want her to get stuck in an emergency and not have access to help immediately if she needed it. I settled on a Fido with a pay-as-you-go plan. It costs me $10 a month but it does give me peace of mind. Now the man is doing a fair bit of traveling, and so, I broke down and bought another pay-as-you-go phone last spring. Again, it’s the cheapest one available. It doesn’t do pictures, you can’t watch TV on it, but it only costs $10 a month, and if he loses it, so what? I am not going to cry me a river over it.
The Globe and Mail is carrying a cautionary tale of what happens if you lose your cell phone which only convinces me that I am right to be so suspect of the value of cell phones for people whose professions do not require them to be connected at all times.
What I find so astonishing is that the standard Roger’s Wireless service contract demands that you waive the right to sue the company or take part in a class action suit if the company violates your service agreement. I am a big believer in living up to one’s responsibilities and this kind of clause makes a complete mockery of contractual law. If wireless providers are allowed to get away with this, how long before other industries follow suit? What’s next – a pacemaker manufacturer demands you waive your right to sue if a substandard product is deliberately implanted in your heart?
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