Define Cynical Fan Forums

Phone systems are in a big state of flux these days. Among the scenarios:<ul><li>With legislation allowing people to switch carriers more freely without changing numbers, there is a large migration of phones switching from a landline to a cellular system.</li><li>With this migration, people are able to move to other towns and keep old phone numbers, blurring the geographical lines that area codes defined.</li><li>More and more people have become concerned about the unlocking of cellphones so that they can be switched between carriers without even replacing the cellphone.</li><li>A growing number of cellphones are the product of convergence, and now have stuff like cameras and instant messaging features.</li><li>Telephones as a whole are starting to go away as dial-up connections give way to broadband ISP services. By using the connection, people are able to save money on long distance by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) on computers.</li><li>New box units are available via telephone providers that create a standard phone handset interface that plugs into any network, complete with phone number and phone-like services such as Caller ID. With the appropriate service, the phone number can also travel with the phone for a landline-like accessibility with your home number in hotel rooms.</li><li>PDAs with wireless technology can now access free hot spots to access the internet, and VoIP technology has allowed the emergence of Voice over Wireless LAN.</li></ul><br>These events may or not be part of a trend, but I would like to see what all of you think about them anyway.

Lol, I don't have a mobile so it doesn't matter.

Too broke to aford any of the above technonogy.<br><br>The exception is the high-speed internet I have. It rocks!!

I prefer the non portable phones. When I go for a walk, I don't want people bothering me.

Heck, I don't like people calling me when I'm trying to do something period, whether I'm at home or not. However, I find it useful to be able to phone people. Call me a hypocrite.<br><br>High speed internet does r0x0r. I've had it for probably at least three years now, and I'm not sure how I'd get by without it for more than a few weeks. Kind of sad, really.

Any phone works for me.. as long as its cheap and I can use it to call people.<br>

I want a phone, not for calling people but for that ringtone composer.

I really wish they'd legalize crank calls...<br><br>...actually, I see the downside on this... hmm, maybe only during major holidays?

They're illegal?

Yep yep, they sure are!

Tavis -<br><br>I wonder if it might also be important to think about the safety concerns of telephones going mobile. I know of a few recent events, most notably the blackout on the East Coast of the US recently, where mobile service stopped because there was no power to run the towers. It might be desireable for us to at least maintain the old telephone system, or upgrade a redundant network based on the old telephone system, until we know for sure that those sorts of "disasters" are unlikely to happen.<br><br>Or maybe it's too late in the day to think of such things . . .

I thin peopel shouln;t use cell phones while driving. That's a much better safty concern then anythign esle.<br><br>Were the normal phones running during the blackout?

In that situation, the old phone system worked . . . but have you tried to find a payphone in a city recently?<br><br>

<!--QuoteBegin-norsenerd+Jun 23 2004, 11:02 AM--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> (norsenerd @ Jun 23 2004, 11:02 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Were the normal phones running during the blackout? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br> why, do you smell a conspiracy?

There's always one conspiracy or another . . .<br><br>But I have noticed that as the number of mobile phones increases, the number of public pay phones decreases. . . not too surprising. It just means that communications may be dependent on a less regulated system than in the past.