Do i or dont i ?

[Sir Roofy]

Hi guys
can you give me a valid reason why i should have a mobile
there expensive the plans are way over the top and who
wants to call any way
when ask if i have one and say no
i get this strange look from young people wanting to know
why how do you not have one how do you get emails and data
then i completey stump the kid and say what the hell is data on the phone

can you enlighten me

[TPC]

I think you should get one, otherwise how can the government track your every move.

[LaughingBeagles]

Mate, my bro in law still does not have one either. That said, having a mobile is a great life line if ever you need haul yourself out of the poop on the roadside. With smart phone technology, they are certainly more than just a phone nowadays too - hard to imagine that the sum of all knowledge is accessible through such a small thing! I guess it really depends on where you're at. If life is good without one, then don't bother. I have one and it's is glued to my hip - I like to be accessible to my staff 24/7 so it's a thing I do. Was great recently when on a cruise I was out of range of four days. Bliss for awhile.

[mudski]

You can buy a phone outright, one thats not locked to a carrier like Telstra etc etc and buy a pre paid sim. If you don't use it much, we have a $5 sim from Amaysim for our daughter, half the time they just send us an email saying, you have even use a 1/4 or your usage, we will just ad it onto the next bill. Lol. They're too lazy to send us a bill.

[mudski]

Was great recently when on a cruise I was out of range of four days. Bliss for awhile.

How many times did you look at your phone in those four days just quieting wishing for atleast one service bar to pop up?

[lucus30]

You can have one of my old phones if you want

[Winnie]

If life is good without one, then don't bother.

Yeah I agree, if you've never had one before Roofy and don't want one... why are you thinking about it?

[Cuppa]

Mate I felt the same as you for a long time, & was familiar with those strange looks from young people. We now only have a mobiles & no landline. Wife’s phone was around $100 new off ebay & has been totally reliable for over a year now - she needs it for work. Mine cost a bit more, bought it from Telstra (has a blue tick signifying better rural reception, & can also plug in an external antenna - worth having when travelling) & has also been good. Monthly costs are: for wifes phone - $44.90 per month for unlimited calls, texts etc (but overseas calls are expensive) this is on the Optus network through Amaysim. It’s a prepaid service, so no being locked into a contract. It’s worked well. Mine is on the Telstra network, also pre-paid, using an Aldi sim card. This works very well for me as I’m not a big phone user. I pay $30 for phone credit which will remain useable for up to 12 months (most others you pay $x which you lose if you don’t use it within a month!) You can also get $15 credit which also lasts for up to a year. The $30 lasts me around two months+. Forf phoning overseas - amazingly it costs less on Aldi to phone the UK (10c per minute) than it does to call any phone in Australia (12c per minute) & works just the same as calling on a landline.

Over time I have come to find the smartphone quite useful. I don’t tend to use it for online stuff (data), apart from the odd occasion I’ve found myself ‘geographically challenged’, when google maps has been very helpful. However little things like a calculator & camera & torch functions have been useful, mainly because they are always available in my pocket. Taking a photo & going into town to a supplier & showing them the pic , saying “I want something to fix this” has been very helpful. Certainly this can be achieved in other ways, but the convenience factor is high.

For a while I did have an ancient non-smart phone & hated using texts, it was so clumsy & difficult having to press a each key varying multiple times for each letter. Composing a brief text could take me 20 minutes! Totally different with a smartphone with a touchscreen as you have a full ‘keyboard’ - so very easy. I now use texts far more - this also helps to keep costs down as each text costs me 12c & is often sufficient.

I’m sure you will get a lot more info from younger ‘mobile generation’ folk, but I came at it from being informed by the grey nomad mob who needed to stay in touch whilst travelling & on a pension.

Hope this helps.


EDIT. I lied - Wife’s phone cost $199 a Huawei Ascend

[jay see]

As mudski said. There's a lot of cheap options. They do come in handy
I brought a Motorola that runs the latest android operating system for under $250 matched with is http://www.vaya.net.au/index.cfm?opt...bile&4Gsimonly I'm on the V18 as is my wife and son. We brought my mum a similar phone for mothers day this year. She doesn't have data on here plan and she's happy just to use it as a phone. She's 73.

I get that same look and a pause when I say "No I don't have Facebook"

[Bob]

Roofy old mate you dont need a Mobile Phone with Internet access as it is not your scene.
Being a Senior you can get a Phone Plan only for about $16 per month for when people need to contact you

I have had Mobile Phones dating back to when they were the size of a small briefcase (Last Century LOL)
They were a great tool for my business but they have become anti social and are as addictive as any Drug
I have seen half a dozen guys sitting in a Pub having a Beer but all continually checking their phones with very little conversation amongst themselves.

Now that I am retired I now have a plan without Internet access and is used for Phone calls only.