Here in the UK, they've been hugely successful. It's estimated that at least half the population have one now - one source cites the figure as being 34 million. FIVE million were sold in the run-up to Christmas alone. Most of those were "pay as you go" phones where you buy vouchers for specific amounts of talk time.

What I was interested in is, what about the rest of the world? Are they as popular anywhere else? What do you think about them? Are they evil because the bible doesn't mention them? Sorry, kidding there. . . 8)

And then there are the personal questions: do you own one? What make/model? How much do you use it, and when? Do you favour ring tones or annoying tunes? And, if the latter, can you please choose your chosen method of excruciating death from the list I'll be posting shortly?

------------------
Luke Ford: "What's it like having a dick in your ass?"

Zoe: "Imagine taking your bottom lip and pulling it over the top of your head. You get used to it but it does hurt."
 

I've had mine (an NEC DBC500, which I know no-one's ever heard of) since December '99, and it rarely gives me any trouble.

The SMS (Small Messaging Service - text messages) is dead handy also. I've a friend that should get an award for writing semi-coherent sentences using as few letters as is possible e.g. "R U GNG 4 BEER?" is one of his favourites.

Mt ringtone is a simple "brrrng-brrrng", and NOT some stupid ditty or classic-rock->MIDI shite (even though I wouldn't mind the Knight Rider theme,just to have it). I chose that one specifically because it's short and there's a decent pause between successive rings.

Americans are so far behind Europe in distributing mobile technology that it's almost beyond belief. When I was over there, it was almost a sign of affluence or dire necessity. Over here, they're being banned from secondary schools such is their all-pervading menace.
At least one half of all Irish now own a mobile phone of some calibre.

Thing about those pre-paid phones (like mine) is that the peak calls cost a fortune. �0.80 for one minute @ peak times, thank you very much!!

And please post the list quickly, Mr Poet, I'd dearly love to stab some people through the eyes with red-hot pokers because of their FUCKING MIND-FREEZINGLY SHITE RING TONES!!!!

What do you mean, just "pick" one? You mean I don't get to actually do someone a mischief? Become a video nasty?
Ahh...>

------------------
Go Mad.
Go Evil.
Just GO.

quote:

---

Americans are so far behind Europe in distributing mobile technology that it's almost beyond belief.

---

I've been looking at getting one, mainly for the voicemail. SMS'd be handy as well. (Gee, I can ICQ myself SMS messages...)

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"Babies are squirmy, ugly, dirty, smelly, and noisy. They'd offend all five of my senses if I had any reason to lick one..."
-- TSN, 2001.01.11 23:27, PhoenixChat
 

quote:

---

DaDeeDaDa, DaDeeDaDa, DaDeeDaDaDaaaah

---

Anyone who has that should be shot on sight. Or hearing, rather.

My first phone was a Nokia 3110, or the 'Phaser' as I called it. It was a good phone, but it never really caught on, especially after the 5110 with the swappable covers appeared. I then got an Ericsson, but I hated it and gave it to my brother. Who then ran up �80 a month phone bills.

Now I have the Nokia 7110, the "Matrix" phone with WAP and the spring-loaded sliding cover (although the phones in "The Matrix" were actually modified 8110s). Excellent battery power. It's another cool phone that hasn't really caught on. I'm such a non-conformist.

I have a simple ascending ringing tone. I also have the ability to use different profiles/settings depending on where I am, so if it's noisy I put on the one that has full vibrating alert and the Imperial March, LOUD.

quote:

---

There seems to be a cellphone in every family... At least one. We have one

---

Which kinda proves Gaseous' point. Here there are in fact 40 million phones (my earlier figures were incorrect) - that's two-thirds of the population. I can think of maybe 2 or 3 people who don't have a phone.

BTW: Gaseous, there is one site that does tunes, www.yourmobile.com - only I think it's only for Nokia phones, sorry.

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Luke Ford: "What's it like having a dick in your ass?"

Zoe: "Imagine taking your bottom lip and pulling it over the top of your head. You get used to it but it does hurt."
 

Over here most families have 3-4 mobiles.

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Re: Russia in WWII

"Hey, we butchered Poles! Thats OK."
- DT.

[This message has been edited by Daryus Aden (edited January 12, 2001).]
 

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"One's ethics are determined by what we do when no one is looking"

All the minutes were used by her talking to her mother. No emergency, and we had no minutes left when the baby came. Damn cell phones.

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I looked at my son, and said, "My god, he's hung like a bear."
"That's the umbillical cord, Mr. Williams."

-Robin Williams, "A Night at the Met" 1986
 

Everybody in my family has one, but aside from my brother (who likes to show his off), we almost never use them.

------------------
"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

------------------
"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

 

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

------------------
Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier ... just as long as I'm the dictator." - George "Dubya" Bush, Dec 18, 2000

 

Here in the United States, there are more active Phone Numbers licensed to cell phones than there are to regular phones. That will tell you how many we have. Also, pretty much all over the US, cell phones are seen as a status symbol.

Personally, I'm apprehensive to get a cell phone. Although I would like one for emergencies(especially for my '78 For Fairmont), I don't think I'd like people to contact me anytime they want.

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"You must give in to tock." - The First One
 

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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier ... just as long as I'm the dictator." - George "Dubya" Bush, Dec 18, 2000

 

-Voice activated dialing.
-Wireless internet.
-Phonebook.
-Stores incoming/outgoing and missed phone numbers.
-Calendar with a planner to schedule dates.
-Calculator.
-World clock, timer, alarm clock.
-Caller ID.
And more.

The battery lasts about 3 days before needing to be recharged. The digital network has coverage over most of the US, including Hawaii and Alaska.

It cost me $200, and I get 750 any-time minutes and long distance for $15 a month since I got it from work.

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Pronouces it "Twenty-O-One"
This post is sponsored in part by the Federation Starship Datalink

[This message has been edited by Hobbes (edited January 12, 2001).]
 

Rotary phone
Betamax
Vinyl

Take from that what you will. (Note: All these things have, of course, since been replaced.)

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20th century, go to sleep.
--
R.E.M.
****
Read chapters one and two of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Show no patience, tolerance, or restraint.

Isn't it a bit worrying that mobiles have number recognition, games, text services, alarm clocks, and half a million other "useful" things, when the normal home versions can just about manage to make phone calls.

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"And Mojo was hurt and I would have kissed his little boo boo but then I realized he was a BAD monkey so I KICKED HIM IN HIS FACE!"
-Bubbles
 

Oh, and about the common household phone: Anyone have a Vista 300? I have one, and it does lots of nifty functions. Huge caller display, shopping center, movie lisings, banking, email, weather, TV news, comedy stuff, and a powerpage thingy that has listings for the entire province.

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Two atoms walk into a bar. One atom says to the other atom:
"I've lost an electron!"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive!"

[This message has been edited by Fabrux (edited January 12, 2001).]
 

Big Phone, Little Dick.

Well, in this case it'd be Littlest phone, little dick.
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"...[They've] been so completely dumbed down by the media, by tabloid scumbags, by the Christian "right", by politicians in general, the school, parents who are dumber than their parents were, who are dumber than their parents were, and all of whom think that they can bring up a child just because they got down in bed and had a little sex...well, frankly, here is an audience that knows more and more about less and less as the years go by...We are talking about a constituency...that knows nothing. This is pandemic; terrifyingly, paralyzingly pandemic. They know absolutely nothing."
- Harlan Ellison, on the Media Consumer of today.

[This message has been edited by Ultra Magnus (edited January 12, 2001).]
 

Vanquish, DB7, or V8?

------------------
Me: "Why don't you live in Hong Kong?"
Rachel Roberts: "Hong Kong? Nah. Oh, but we can live in China! Yeah, China has great Chinese food!"

(discussion with fellow classmate, 9/5/00)

Mustang Class Starship Development Project

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"...[They've] been so completely dumbed down by the media, by tabloid scumbags, by the Christian "right", by politicians in general, the school, parents who are dumber than their parents were, who are dumber than their parents were, and all of whom think that they can bring up a child just because they got down in bed and had a little sex...well, frankly, here is an audience that knows more and more about less and less as the years go by...We are talking about a constituency...that knows nothing. This is pandemic; terrifyingly, paralyzingly pandemic. They know absolutely nothing."
- Harlan Ellison, on the Media Consumer of today.

We use Cantel AT&T "Pay as You Go"....ridiculously expensive rates (75 minutes for 25 dollars), but hey, with our poor credit.....it was surprising we could get a cellular telephone at all.

This phone used to be used for general chatting and/or emergency use, held by whoever was going outside at the time. Then we got the car, so it sorta became our Carphone, running off the cigarette lighter while the battery went neglected. *LOL*

Now we have a cute little 50-watt Power Inverter, which can run the cellular phone and even charge it's battery, anywhere. Not to mention TV's under 10 inches, the old camcorder which doesen't work, my VCR, and my radio. Heh

Power inverters rule. ;-)
 

The one thing I'd change about my phone is that is had no vibra-alert facility. Even though it absolutely EATS battery power.

Vogon: Yeah, there's at least three websites I know off that have different ring tones,
www.dialaring.com ,
www.nokia.com , and there's another one somewhere. Oh yes, the one you gave up above. Nokias only though, thank fuck, some of them really piss the hell out of me.

------------------
Go Mad.
Go Evil.
Just GO.

I got the phone because I was driving the most unreliable car known to man, and it saved my butt MANY times when I could have been stranded somewhere. After I got rid of that car, I kept the phone because I couldn't fathom life without one anymore (especially since I finally gave up my pager!) Anyway... now I look at my phone as a thing of necessity, rather than a thing of luxery. The peace of mind it gives me while driving is the best part... I drive a lot, and I have bad luck. The last accident I was in, I didn't even geto ut of the CAR until I'd made a call on my cell phone. SO anyway.... that's my cell phone story....

And as for how many people have them, in Spokane I'd say about half the population does, but most of my friends don't. Of course, they're all young and poor, but still....

~LOA

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"The purple elephants have conquered my pants! Weasels to the rescue!!!" ~TSN, Oct. 23, 2000
 

That may change, however, when I move. Depending on what the rates are like & the cell nature of State College, I may at some point decide to invest in one. Then I could do away with a hardline completely & maybe go DSL or cable modem.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?

------------------
"Reading snow is like listening to music. To describe what you've read is like explaining music in writing." ---Smilla Jaspersen

------------------
Two atoms walk into a bar. One atom says to the other atom:
"I've lost an electron!"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive!"

 

1.) A voice, either male or female, screaming in absolute horror.

2.) A voice, male, reciting passages from Ulysses.

*when I makes tea I makes tea and when I makes water I makes water*

"Excuse me, I have a call."

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20th century, go to sleep.
--
R.E.M.
****
Read chapters one and two of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Show no patience, tolerance, or restraint.

Then you fail to grasp one of the universal constants of humour. Flat emotionless voices swearing is always funny. Stephen Hawking is a laugh-riot at parties.

There are many more universal constants of humour. For example:
A man wearing pink.
The word "feltching".
Someone who goes to answer the phone when the ringing noise is actually coming from the TV show they are watching.
An old man wearing a skirt.
A heavily accented Indian parent talking to his thickly regionally-accented son. Double if it's a Birmingham accent.
People who say "aboot".
Students who dress themselves completely in leather, have no hair, peircings in every available point on their body; who are vegetarians, pacifists, and help old ladies across the road.
An American accent in an English pub.

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"And Mojo was hurt and I would have kissed his little boo boo but then I realized he was a BAD monkey so I KICKED HIM IN HIS FACE!"
-Bubbles
 

Here, in the Netherlands, about 70% of the entire population has a mobile. 88% of the youth between 12 and 18 has one. It's even so worse(?) that I see 9 years old kids on the streets having a $200 mobile. Percentually, the Dutch are worldwide #1 in having a cellular. All my friends have one, and in my family:

- Dad has a mobile, a Nokia 5110
- I have a mobile
- My younger brother has a Trium Galaxy
- My oldest brother has a Sony
- My other older brother has a Nokia 3210

Only my mum has none so far.

Mobile calling in the Netherlands is relatively cheap, I think. In the peak hours, I pay about $0,40 per minute, and in the evening and night it's $0,10. I'm lucky that I'm with the cheapest provider of the country, the four others are slightly more expensive.

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Signature.

[This message has been edited by Alpha Centauri (edited January 14, 2001).]
 

------------------
Go Mad.
Go Evil.
Just GO.

------------------
Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier ... just as long as I'm the dictator." - George "Dubya" Bush, Dec 18, 2000

 

------------------
Luke Ford: "What's it like having a dick in your ass?"

Zoe: "Imagine taking your bottom lip and pulling it over the top of your head. You get used to it but it does hurt."
 

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Trying to mediate an Omega-Jeff bollock-fest.

Being slowly lowered into

• a vat of boiling [list]
• acid
• pork fat
• melted whole-grain buscuits
• toothpaste
• water