[lizardlady]

For years my friends laughed at me because I had a "dumb" phone. It was a basic flip phone that made and received phone calls - period. A few weeks ago I started getting really crappy reception and dropping calls.

Went to the Verizon store (Verizon is the only carrier with towers in my area) yesterday. Turns out the cell companies are upgrading their towers. As of December 31 of this year phones without a SIM card will no longer work. My poor old dumb phone was about a zillion years old and did not have a SIM card. That's why I was having trouble. Was just going to get a basic flip phone again until I compared prices. A smart phone was only a little more money than the flip phone and comes with all the bells and whistles. I are now the owner of a smart phone. Good thing this is going to be a long weekend so I can start learning how to use it. At least I have some experience with smartphones, since I use an I phone for work.

Then I asked them about the USB modem I have for my desktop. My laptop refuses to recognize the modem when it's inserted in the port. Salesguy suggested I just get a WiFi router that will work with both. Well, I did have to pick up an adapter for the desktop to receive the WiFi signal, but I also now have WiFi.

Lizardlady finally moved into the 21st Century!

Congratulations, LizardLady!! How does it feel? I still have a dumb phone (a flip). I will someday graduate like you!

[amicus_curiae]

Lordy.

Because I’ve enjoyed a long history with Apple, I bought an iPhone 6s Plus. It’s ancient now, of course, and I only use a handful of apps (and using it as a phone, of course).

As much as kids are said to be overusing cell phones, I find my fellow elderly friends are glued to their phones but I’m not. Still, my phone is payment-free now and Apple will be rolling out NEW iPhones on the 14th (I think?) and if they have larger screens I’ll buy one.

I guess that I’m in the 21st Century, too!

[eskielover]

Yea!!!!.

I actually got a smart phone about 4 years ago. First one I lost somewhere on my farm & never did find it. Have had this one for 1 1/2 years now. I was the only one without a smart phone & all my friends were totally non-techy. Me, the computer engineer had the dumb phone so I bought the least expensive smart phone I could get. It was a good thing I did because my computer died & my phone is now my computer, my phone, & my camera....good deal for the price.

Only time it hasn't been enough was when I needed a word processor to communicate with me lawyer 2100 miles away. Interesting because before I got my repaired computer up & running for the word processor I had to sign documents I received in email on my phone. I actually found a phone app be Adobe that lets you fill in PDF files & actually sign them with your finger. Awesome find.

Smart phones are powerful tools....they are just pathetic for word processing.....but I do almost everything I did on my computer on my smart android phone. I have an SD card for the photos so they don't take up my phone memory. Not sure uf newer smart phones are SD card compatible.

I use my wifi at home but usually use the 4G everywhere else.

Yep I had to learn some techy stuff quickly because I had no idea how to access my gmail account off my computer so I had to transfer documents off computer & onto my ohone to email them using the USB cables. Took me a few hours to figure it out & work through the details but it was successful. Guess the old computer engineer in me hadn't been lost completely even though techology has changed so much.

I feel lost without my smart phone now as it is my connection to everything outside my home.

[Nammu]

Congratulations Liz! :dancingchili:

[ShadowGX]

I remember convincing my mom to get a smart phone, it actually wasn't too hard to teach her how to use it because she wasn't too tech "dumb" by that point. My dad just recently got one himself after not even having a basic one... That's been... interesting. It has taken him a while, but he's getting it, and has actually enjoyed being able to browse the internet from his comfy chair instead of needing to get on the computer.

[lizardlady]

Thanks everyone.

Knitchick, I'm enjoying the new phone. You might check with your carrier about whether your phone will still work after the first of the year. I don't know if the upgraded towers is something local or national.

Am not sure how much I will use the phone instead of a computer. I are an old fart with poor vision. Using the screening a lot bothers them. On the other hand I like being able to check the news when I want.

amicus_curiae, I agree that we old farts can be just as tied to our phones as kids. I have a friend who spends unhealthy amounts of time on her phone. I'm spending more time with the phone than usual right now, but suspect it is because it's a new toy. I expect that within a few days that will fade. I spend so much time on the phone and computer at work that I like to unplug when I get home.

edited to add...

I forgot to mention... My old phone had some pictures I really wanted to save. Some were of my yellow lab I had to put down. I'd tried and tried to load them on my computer or burn a CD at a store, but none of the machines recognized the phone. The tech at the store was able to save them to the new phone!!!! : It was funny. When the tech was scrolling through the pictures to make sure they were all there he was telling me what he saw... "cats.... cats.... cats... dog....cats... IS THAT A DONKEY!?!?!" Yeppers, the neighbor's donkey had a foal years ago. It was the cutest little thing I had to take some pictures.

[MickeyCheeky]

I'm glad you're enjoying your new phone

Originally Posted by lizardlady

For years my friends laughed at me because I had a "dumb" phone. It was a basic flip phone that made and received phone calls - period. A few weeks ago I started getting really crappy reception and dropping calls.

Went to the Verizon store (Verizon is the only carrier with towers in my area) yesterday. Turns out the cell companies are upgrading their towers. As of December 31 of this year phones without a SIM card will no longer work. My poor old dumb phone was about a zillion years old and did not have a SIM card. That's why I was having trouble. Was just going to get a basic flip phone again until I compared prices. A smart phone was only a little more money than the flip phone and comes with all the bells and whistles. I are now the owner of a smart phone. Good thing this is going to be a long weekend so I can start learning how to use it. At least I have some experience with smartphones, since I use an I phone for work.

Then I asked them about the USB modem I have for my desktop. My laptop refuses to recognize the modem when it's inserted in the port. Salesguy suggested I just get a WiFi router that will work with both. Well, I did have to pick up an adapter for the desktop to receive the WiFi signal, but I also now have WiFi.

Lizardlady finally moved into the 21st Century!

that's very cool.

my phone is still a basic one that can make calls.

and probably always will be- that's all I need it for (and even then I don't use it)

[Taylor27]

Glad you are enjoying your new phone

Originally Posted by lizardlady

Thanks everyone.

Knitchick, I'm enjoying the new phone. You might check with your carrier about whether your phone will still work after the first of the year. I don't know if the upgraded towers is something local or national.

Am not sure how much I will use the phone instead of a computer. I are an old fart with poor vision. Using the screening a lot bothers them. On the other hand I like being able to check the news when I want.

amicus_curiae, I agree that we old farts can be just as tied to our phones as kids. I have a friend who spends unhealthy amounts of time on her phone. I'm spending more time with the phone than usual right now, but suspect it is because it's a new toy. I expect that within a few days that will fade. I spend so much time on the phone and computer at work that I like to unplug when I get home.

edited to add...

I forgot to mention... My old phone had some pictures I really wanted to save. Some were of my yellow lab I had to put down. I'd tried and tried to load them on my computer or burn a CD at a store, but none of the machines recognized the phone. The tech at the store was able to save them to the new phone!!!! : It was funny. When the tech was scrolling through the pictures to make sure they were all there he was telling me what he saw... "cats.... cats.... cats... dog....cats... IS THAT A DONKEY!?!?!" Yeppers, the neighbor's donkey had a foal years ago. It was the cutest little thing I had to take some pictures.

Thanks for this, I'll have to check.
Your edited addition made me crack up! "cat, cat, cat, dog, DONKEY??" etc, LOL!!!! He sounds funny

[splitimage]

Congratulations Lizardlady, on your new phone.

I was the last of my friends to get a cell phone - just didn't see the need. Finally broke down in I think 2007 or 08 when I was job hunting and needed to reach and be reachable by recruiters when I was out. I got the most basic dumb phone available, and had it for years.

But once I switched to a smart phone, I got hooked. Now I'm addicted to checking my e-mail throughout the day, and I do like being able to take pictures whenever I feel like it. But I still don't use my phone to the extent my friends do - for example I don't play games on it, and I try to avoid texting, although it has its place.

Now the only reason I have a landline, is because I need it for the intercom in my building to work.

splitimage

Congratulations! Your post made me happy.

[lizardlady]

Splitimage, my first cell was back in the day when they were the size of a brick. My mom got it for me. She worried about me driving in the boonies by myself late at night.That was w-a-y back when you paid by the minute. I only used it for emergencies.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

Splitimage, my first cell was back in the day when they were the size of a brick. My mom got it for me. She worried about me driving in the boonies by myself late at night.That was w-a-y back when you paid by the minute. I only used it for emergencies.

I had one of those too. I lived an hour away from work & would come home at all hours of the night given deadlines that required long hours. It was all
Calif. freeway but a lot of nothing & call boxes every half mile. It was only used for emergencies too.

[healingme4me]

^^^I had the brick sized one with that little pull out antennae! *blush* it came as some package deal for something when I was coming out of college. I remember the corded car phones back then too. My friend's parents had one.
My literal coming of age 18 to now is pretty much the timeline of tech events in the sense of seeing things evolve including going from Intranet to Internet.

Congrats on the new phone! I think google docs can run on the smart phone. Or copy and paste from notes. I, personally, cannot live without a phone that uses a stylus pen, I probably could but it cramps fingers. I'm actually using this ballpoint pen that I got at a training event. It has a rubber tip that is convenient.

:dancingchill:

[-jimi-]

You have to be smart to use a dumb phone. When I got my smart phone I was familiar with it in a day or so. I remember the struggle to understand my "user friendly" dumb phone. Now I got another dumb phone as a safety phone for when I'm out in the woods (because the much longer battery time compared to my smart phone), and it is less user friendly than my old dumb phone. I can't get my head around how it works. If I press the right thing it is mere coincidence...

[*Laurie*]

Good for you, liz! That's a big step. Although to be honest, I miss the flip phones. The first cell phone I owned was a flip phone. It made sense to me. My phone now completely confuses me. Basically, I just use it for car-getting stuck issues when that happens.

Anyway, enjoy your new phone!

[SeekerOfLife]

I have a smart phone and wish I had never gotten one. If you look into it Google invades peoples privacy and sells our personal information. An iphone would probably be better, but they are not in my budget and probably do some invasive stuff just like Google. I'm not very tech savvy, so I may not express this very well. I keep reading info online about hackers, privacy violations, government listening in, etc. Laugh if you want. I like my privacy. So, Lizardlady, it sounds like flip phones will soon not be used anymore, if I understood your post? My current job requires me to have a smart phone, but I would very much like to go back to a flip phone.