Debate about cell phones in hospitals.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Our local phone company came in one day and RIPPED out both of our PAY PHONES
without telling anyone about it b/c they didn't have enough charges on it ...

... walked up to the Ranger Station to use the pay phone and were surprised to find them gone.
... to the local marina. THEIR phone was also gone.
... got in the truck and drove for hours looking for a payphone.

Sadly, Pay Phones are a dying breed - soon to be come extinct.

Many years ago, Pay Phones were a source of considerable profit to the major
telephone companies - the ONLY folks who were allowed to "own" a pay phone
and connect it to the national phone network. No competition and no competing technologies.
Life was good - Pay Phones on every corner of most intersections - 5 or 10 cents a call.

Enter "deregulation" - the change that was going to revolutionize communications ...
It did ...
* 1-800 numbers became affordable and everyone got one.
* "Calling Cards" ate into the cash that used to pile up in Pay Phone hoppers.
* Any Tom, Dick, or Harriett could buy a Pay Phone - and Ma Bell HAD to let
. . the owner connect it to the network and "make some money".

Net results >>>
* NObody found many coins in their Pay Phones any more
* The Baby Bells spent tons of money servicing Pay Phones and providing network services
. . to all the "private pay phone owners" that were now getting a piece of the revenue pie.
* Vandalism of the remote phones increased - what little money fell into the hopper
. . was stolen, and the damage cost more than 3 years "revenue" to repair.
* Rates went up; phones became Really Scarce; the "dial tone" cost you an initial
. . 50 cents ... more due if you "connected"; NO "free" 1-800 calls - everybody "pays"!

And THAT resulted in ...
* The Bells and the Privates started pulling out phones left & right
* "Operator Service" has deteriorated - you can wait for 5-10 minutes to "talk" to a human!
** More & more CELL PHONES to kill what little business remains for the Old Antique Pay Phone!

Progress ...

[Logan]

I think of hospital phones as I do pay phones and hotel phones. EXPENSIVE!!!
Can't even remember the last time I used a pay phone.

Ever pay for a bill at a hotel, after making a long distance call? This is money maker for the hotel. Good for them! I'm sure that the hospitals and pay phone companies have the same attitude. In my business, I have made a lot of hotel loans. And for a long time, there was a specific line item for income from the phones in the rooms, and it was pretty significant. I see it less frequently, now, and I'm sure it is because more and more people use their cell phones, which offer free long distance, rather than the alternative of making those long distance calls from the hotel phone.

Even now, at our home, we choose to use our cell phone for calling family, rather than our home phone. Although we have the capability to make long distance calls from our home phone, we don't. My daughter and I have unlimited calling from our cell phones to anywhere in the US. Why would we not use them? And if we, or any member of our family, were in the hospital, we would be so grateful to be able to do that. Good manners are a given, and some folks just don't have good manners, especially in regards to the use of their cell phones. Shame on them.

I'm thinking, at this point, that life must be pretty darned good for a thread on this particular topic to get so much attention! Maybe, if we have so much time, we need to go love on our pets or pay attention to our family!! LOL!!

[Cataholic]

Maybe, if we have so much time, we need to go love on our pets or pay attention to our family!! LOL!!

Uh, hello? Two hands! One for the cell phone, one to pet the feline.

[joycenalex]

Uh, hello? Two hands! One for the cell phone, one to pet the feline.

or one hand to hold the leash, second hand to pick up the dropping( yes that hand is recycled bad covered ), ear 'bug' to talk to my 73 yr old mom as we 'walk the dog, together'. she hasn't been able to walk with me and the dogs for years

[lizbud]

I'm thinking, at this point, that life must be pretty darned good for a thread on this particular topic to get so much attention! Maybe, if we have so much time, we need to go love on our pets or pay attention to our family!! LOL!!

Logan, if you didn't work outside the house & threaded beads all day,
you would need a distraction like this too.

[sparks19]

Logan, if you didn't work outside the house & threaded beads all day,
you would need a distraction like this too.

I actually do work outside the house thank you very much

I don't run a bead shop out of my home. Beading is just a hobby. But there is an ACTUAL store

And hubby had hockey last night so it gets lonely at home all alone