Monday, October 10, 2011

Phone Rant

So this is just a short version of the rant.


I may chose to expand it later. But for now, I'll make it a mini-soap box...

But...what happened to the phone?

Somehow my cell phone last night wigged out and two years later it was time to get a new cell phone, new contract, yada, yada, yada.

But...I walk into the cell phone store and every phone was a smart phone. Dumb phones didn't exist anymore.

In all my research of what I wanted, every option was a bad option.

I knew I needed at a minimum a phone with text messaging because no one talks on the phone any more, and I could forgo other "phone perks" if the price was right, but short of a pre-paid phone, my options were limited to start picking and choosing features...at least when it came to minimizing what has now become standard "bells & whistles."

I know, I know, I sound like an old man. But when did a phone need to also play music, double as a level and flashlight, and come with built in maps and games?

Then there's all the add ons...everything from "starting the night for free nights and weekends earlier" or "road side assistance" with your phone -- really...road side assistance?

Not to mention, the checkout process includes questions like "would you like to pay $1.99 a month to receive a paper bill?"

What happened to the phone? We can hardly call this thing a phone.

3 comments:

Loren Eaton said...

My wife is sticking with her ancient cell phone because the new ones are so incompentently "smart." Seems she's not the only one with that problem.

Divers and Sundry said...

This struck a chord with me, as we've just gone through it. When we went to Verizon they had to hunt through a cabinet for the dumb phones they had, and the cheapest one was something like $90. We went online & got the one that was free with the contract. If I don't adjust to the wonky keyboard soon, I'll be switching back to my old one.

Andrew K. said...

Haha. I'm the only one of my friends who DOESN'T have a blackberry or smart phone. Other than occasional perks I don't quite get the hubbub of a phone over-saturated with features.