Cell Phone Blues

[TommyK]

Would love to get rid of the land line, but cell phone reception in my home is spotty at best. Even with 'better quality' phones my kids uses. My wife and I have TracFones. $7.00/ month.. beat that. The land line costs us about $70.00/ month, just for the privilege of having a phone on the wall. Phone minutes are on top of that.

 

Anyways. If we could get better reception in our home we'd dump the land line and get better cell phones.

 

Question. I remember back in the olden days of cell phones, you know, the Motorola 'brick', there were "T" shaped antennas which users affixed to their car windows,usually the back. There was another 'receiver' antenna affixed to the inside, directly opposite the outside antenna, with no hole in the glass. As I understand it, this affair was totally passive, i.e. no battery power was used. These antennas were supposed to improve reception inside the car.

 

Is there an equivalent antenna for home use? I have line of sight to the nearest cell tower, but it is several miles away. I figure if I could put in this type of antenna, I might get good enough reception to clear up some wall space.

 

We have cable Internet and RF Television reception.

 

Any Ideas?

[ShredAstaire]

I like having a landline...its so cheap now anyway!

[NeoConMan]

I hate cell phones.

 

Can't believe an industry can get so big and still not provide dependable service.

 

But... my landline isn't much better - and I'm on a new line in my area.

They aren't putting any money in the infrastructure, so good luck in the future.

 

If it weren't for my alarm system, I would have canned my home service years ago.

[Kimbabig]

I hate cell phones.

 

Can't believe an industry can get so big and still not provide dependable service.

 

But... my landline isn't much better - and I'm on a new line in my area.

They aren't putting any money in the infrastructure, so good luck in the future.

 

If it weren't for my alarm system, I would have canned my home service years ago.

I don't even own a cell phone.

[tazzboy]

I have land line alarm system and tracfone cellphone as well.

[Jantha]

Do a (insert your favorite engine) search on "Cell Phone Extender".

 

They work quite well. I've used one before in the mountains here in Colorado. Without the extender there was no coverage.. with the extender, I got 3 bars.

 

... and by the way, I hate cell phones too. However, my job pretty much requires me to have it (even if I go to the mountains for a weekend).

[Silenced Fred]

I hate cell phones.

 

Can't believe an industry can get so big and still not provide dependable service.

 

But... my landline isn't much better - and I'm on a new line in my area.

They aren't putting any money in the infrastructure, so good luck in the future.

 

If it weren't for my alarm system, I would have canned my home service years ago.

 

+1 nobody in my house even ever uses the home phone. It's just there.

 

Cell phone service is good where I'm at, never dropped a phone call

[Artie Owl]

While some people may not like cell phones, they have aided dramatically in the development of many third world nations because a cell tower negates having to have large lan line infrastructure.

 

Anyway I digress, here's an example of what they're talking about TommyK, I'll link to it to make amends for my Wally World comments earlier today

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/dads/9823/

 

ThinkGeek is good as long as you don't have to ship to Canada like me.

 

Here's another link from Cnet

http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phone-and-smart/wi-ex-zboost-xy500/4505-6448_7-32128564.html

 

Take your pick of those. Typically if you're around a lot of wireless interference or lots of trees or concrete buildings it can interfere with even the best in mobile radios to-date.

[milod]

I guess I figure at some point we'll have what we do for voice communication integrated a bit better than right now.

 

Things are changing rapidly, but a "game changer" can always happen either with technology or with people's inclinations.

 

For example, I asked the U.S. Senator who headed the early 90s telecommunications bill what he'd do over again. He said nobody had any idea the Internet would explode as it did.

 

So okay, we've got smart phones, but they're darned little and I've gotta put on my glasses to read the things. Then we've got high-speed Internet that lets us communicate far better - but only on a machine too big for our pockets or for one-handing.

 

My guess is an interface upgrade. Glasses with a HUD for instance? Fine, but what about a keyboard or - do we return pretty much to voice and a smaller machine such as our glasses? I dunno. How do we control that smaller machine?

 

Have we gotten so into "texting" that still is much less efficient a communications form than voice that we don't want to talk to each other for another couple of decades? I dunno. I hope not, but then... can we mumble under our breaths while a HUD set of "smart glasses" converts spoken words into text? I dunno.

 

At work I use the landline. Haven't touched the "home phone" in years. Literally.

m

[Mr. Natural]

It's two thousand and freakin' ten! You Luddites need to embrace the future. Even an old-timer like myself has gone all-cellular.

[WahKeen]

Cheap land lines? We stopped paying $80 a month for telemarketers to call anytime they wanted to. Seriously, 90% of the calls on that line were from those........ No way Jose!!!

[Jantha]

It's two thousand and freakin' ten! You Luddites need to embrace the future. Even an old-timer like myself has gone all-cellular.

 

You're right. I should be more fair. It's really ALL phones that I hate. Talking on phones grinds my azz.

[WahKeen]

You're right. I should be more fair. It's really ALL phones that I hate. Talking on phones grinds my azz.

 

Are you sure it's a phone you're using?

[Mr. Natural]

You're right. I should be more fair. It's really ALL phones that I hate. Talking on phones grinds my azz.

 

Ha! I USED to be that way before I got married. My wife straightened my a$$ out. By the time I got divorced 23 years later, I had come to recognize the phone as a "necessary evil". Plus, I like having the cell handy in case either of my kids, who both live hundreds of miles away and who I don't see as much as I'd like, want to get in touch with the old man.

[Artie Owl]

Sadly, we're the next barrier, not the technology we create but how we're suited to employ it. I think the fancy pants people call it the Biological Barrier.

[retrosurfer1959]

I put a small microcell device from AT&T in my house now the cell phone is better than the wired phone ever was with no extra charges and long distance included I would never go back to a landline unless the location was so bad for reception or Internet that it just would not work.

[NeoConMan]

Tell me more...

AT&T?

 

What's your source for internet?

[ShredAstaire]

Cheap land lines? We stopped paying $80 a month for telemarketers to call anytime they wanted to. Seriously, 90% of the calls on that line were from those........ No way Jose!!!

 

You forgot to put yourself on the DO NOT CALL registry. As soon as we did that, those calls stopped. I mean stopped. And why on earth are you paying $80/month for a landline? Where the heck do you live?!

[TommyK]

It's two thousand and freakin' ten! You Luddites need to embrace the future. Even an old-timer like myself has gone all-cellular.

 

I'm not opposed to technology, but it ain't the be-all and end-all. I don't need my phone to take pictures, play music, keep my calendar, start my car, do my taxes, change the oil in my car, or massage my gluteus maximus. I need it to make and receive phone calls. But, I demand that a phone work in my abode. Something the infrastructure hasn't solved yet.

 

For me keeping a land line is quite expensive. Local access, long distance access, line maintenance fees, taxes, things that allege to be taxes which aren't taxes cost me $70.00 BEFORE I pick up the phone once to make a call.

[TommyK]

Cheap land lines? We stopped paying $80 a month for telemarketers to call anytime they wanted to. Seriously, 90% of the calls on that line were from those........ No way Jose!!!

 

Death, Taxes and Telemarketers. 90% of my cell phone incoming calls are telemarketers or some form or advertisement. I'll see your and raise you two:

[ShredAstaire]

National DO NOT CALL Registry - look it up!

[Artie Owl]

Tommyk, I work for a Canadian Cell phone provider, but if you have any questions about general cell phone services let me know.

 

The only general advice I can give you is that if you want to replace your lan line, you can typically add a feature to your cell package that allows for unlimited incoming minutes. It's usually between 10-20$ and doesn't deduct from any of your package deal's included minutes. This is really popular for people who want to have peace of mind through a cell phone.

 

Also now you can typically "port" your home phone number onto your existing cell phone line. It would replace your cell number though so decide carefully which number you'd rather keep (home or cell) and go from there.

[TommyK]

You forgot to put yourself on the DO NOT CALL registry. As soon as we did that, those calls stopped. I mean stopped. And why on earth are you paying $80/month for a landline? Where the heck do you live?!

 

About a half mile from reasonably consistent cell coverage. "Can you hear me now?" "No."

[TommyK]

Tommyk, I work for a Canadian Cell phone provider, but if you have any questions about general cell phone services let me know.

 

The only general advice I can give you is that if you want to replace your lan line, you can typically add a feature to your cell package that allows for unlimited incoming minutes. It's usually between 10-20$ and doesn't deduct from any of your package deal's included minutes. This is really popular for people who want to have peace of mind through a cell phone.

 

Also now you can typically "port" your home phone number onto your existing cell phone line. It would replace your cell number though so decide carefully which number you'd rather keep (home or cell) and go from there.

 

 

Just as soon as I can figure out a way to get 3 or more bars in my basement.

[ShredAstaire]

About a half mile from reasonably consistent cell coverage. "Can you hear me now?" "No."

 

D'oh! I spend about $20/month on my landline (IP based) and i get 500 minutes of free long distance in North America....i use about 10 of those minutes each month...if i am really chatting it up!! :)

 

Guess you gotta move to Canada to get a good deal on home phone service eh! :)

 

Seriously though...that sucks TommyK!