Cell Phones

[Mark Schecter]

John Formsma wrote:
> I recently canceled my home line and have begun to use the cell phone
> exclusively. For the last 1.5 years, I've had my cell phone number on my
> invoices as the only contact number. This way, people can contact me
> directly and not have to leave a message at home. I carry the cell with me,
> though.

and Joseph Garrett wrote:
> John,
> That's all well and good...unless you live/work in an area that is what 
> I call "Cell/Hell". A lot of my clients live in the Pucker Brush. Of 
> course, you can have the Voice Mail thingee, but you first have to be in 
> an area that has a Signal, so that you can call them back! I will go 
> several days where I'm in areas that my cell has no signal! Soooo....I 
> have to wait until I'm home to call back. (My cell phone gets no signal 
> at home, either!) For all of you Big City types, I guess a Cell is the 
> way to go, however.

I've split the difference. I keep my land line because I've had the same 
number for 27 years, but I auto-forward all incoming calls to my cell 
phone. If I don't answer the cell for whatever reason (busy, range, 
etc.) the call goes to voice mail. I don't have a physical answering 
machine at all, and for (I think) $2/month, I can access voice mail from 
any land line anywhere.

Outgoing long-distance calls I make from the cell for no charge except 
usage of prepaid minutes, and no charge for anything at all after 7pm. 
By keeping the same land line, I can change cell phone numbers with very 
little impact, except to people who recognize my calls by my caller ID.

In the future, I might take my land line number and transfer it to my 
cell, if they'll let me do that with a business line, but so far haven't 
pressed it because I have my broadband internet through that land line 
number, and frankly I don't feel like working through the inevitable 
reconfiguration hassles of moving the internet to the non-business line.

-Mark Schecter