I’ve carried a so-called “smart phone” for about 15 years, beginning with a Blackberry in the 1990s to my current Droid.
But Verizon’s increasingly-expensive and restrictive services bring thoughts of the good old days when one used a phone for one, simple purpose: making and receiving phone calls.
Smart phones are clunky, difficult to use as a phone, and increasingly complex. All I — or most of us — probably need is a simple phone with actual buttons for the number keypad. Something that flips open and lets you talk with the person on the other end.
I can live without email on my phone and I don’t need to surf the web in restaurants or meetings and I sure as hell don’t need to be trying to negotiate the menus of such an instrument while driving.
So I’m looking at an inexpensive TracFone with pay-as-you go service.
Verizon, care you hear now?
You can’t?
Serves you right.
I’m headed in the same direction as soon as my contract expires. After 20+ years, goodbye Verizon. If you haven’t heard me yet, you never will.
I have no particular axe to grind with Verizon. My first cell phone was Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) and was fix-mounted to the vehicle. Cell phones have evolved far past their level of usefulness. I seldom have any need to text but hate trying to text something from a number pad. A cell phone is not supposed to be a stand-alone computer with applications for everything from making a phone call to solving astrophysics equations. I am a firm believer in what is called POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) an instrument with a wire to the phone line. Chances are when there is an emergency (9/11 was a perfect example) the cellular circuits were the first to go. In a storm, chances are when your electric is gone, you still have a phone line.
Verizon keeps calling me to inform me that I eligible for new telephones. I DON’T WANT a new telephone with applications I will never use. I just want to make phone calls.