Cold calls

[tobyaw]

A Birmingham number — 0121 014 2875 — just called me, and told me that they were contacting me because of my recent road accident. This happens far too often, despite my number being on do-not-call lists. And of course I haven’t had a recent accident.

As usual, I told the caller that they should be ashamed of themselves, calling a number that they shouldn’t and telling lies. I told her how upsetting it would be to be called like this if we’d had an accident. And I told her that she should be ashamed to do such a job, and should reevaluate her life.

We got rid of our house phone a while ago, when I worked out that we were making and receiving approximately zero calls on it. Now I’m wondering whether the phone functionality of my mobile is worth the bother; I receive far more junk calls than real calls. Almost all of my real communication is done through FaceTime, Skype, or Slack.

Comments

[clothsprogs]

Not having mobile phones we do everything through the house phone - but there's not a lot to that everything - contacting random companies about issues that come up with products, making hospital appointments (actually there's more of that at the moment) and calls to gossip with my sisters (who don't do email) and friends.

I think the most frequent call we make is to the Chinese to place an order (usually on a Sunday night) for the traditional Return-From-An-Event take away.

Teddy

[clothsprogs]

Tom actually does have a mobile phone but when he turned it on in case Kate and Malcolm tried to contact us about meeting up at the reenactors Market on Saturday we worked out that the last time he'd used it was the previous year when he switched it on at the same event for the same reason.... and as it turned out we ran into them without needing to resort to mobile 'phone messages or figuring out how to read a text anyway.

Teddy

[tobyaw]

Oh yes, I understand the need for food orders. But if we order a delivery, it is usually done online. And — this might be quaint — I rather like the routine of going out to get a carryout in person. (Last night qidane and I went out to get the Chinese, while kateaw sat at home watching TV.)

[clothsprogs]

Our favourite Chinese is sufficiently far away that the food would be stone cold by the time walked back to the house with it. There are closer ones but this is the onbe we like the food from.

Teddy

Teddy

[tobyaw]

I’ll accept that having a car makes collecting hot food decidedly easier.

[clothsprogs]

{GRIN!} We do have a car, but only one driver - Tom - who has usually just got in from a looooong drive back from whatever event we've been to, and has no intention of taking the car out again for at least two days.

Teddy

[dianec42]

But if you get rid of your mobile phone, what will you play games on?!

[tobyaw]

Oh, I don’t suggest ridding myself of my phone; just that the phone bit of the iPhone is increasingly irrelevant.

After all, I need something to run FaceTime, Skype, Slack, and LetterPress on.

(But as part of the wider question of what will I play games on, the answer is clearly my Nintendo Switch.)

[vivdunstan]

We don't use phones much at all. We both have a mobile phone, but at about 17 years old in my case, and not vastly better in Martin's, and mostly switched off, they're there for emergencies more than anything else, eg a car breakdown or similar.

We kept our house phone, and are still with BT at the mo. Telephone Preference Sevice is next to useless in my experience, but we're finding the new BT CallProtect service (free for their customers) superb at blocking stupid calls. It was only introduced recently, and has already made things vastly better for us in just a couple of weeks. I know this doesn't help your problem ...

We usually order food online too, but delivery people sometimes need to call us for directions to our house. And they do that on our home number.

But yes, we are very much a no phone use household ;)

The seldom used "Phone" app

[deadnode]

There are certainly few apps on my iPhone which I use less frequently than the Phone one - particularly now I've found how to silence anonymous and unknown callers ...

I've never liked the idea of going mobile-only, though. Partly because of the ripoff prices for calls to mobiles (though that's finally being phased out now), partly the impression of ephemerality it seems to give, particularly for a business (who'd trust a business which only gave a mobile number?)