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I had AT&T Wireless back in the Cingular days, and I didn't even have coverage at my house. I've never been anywhere I didn't have coverage on Verizon. I'm glad to hear that AT&T has improved, but I still don't trust it. I suspect that it's a wireless protocol difference. CDMA has more tolerance for low-signal calling, which has got to be an advantage in an area like this where there are a lot of hills to cause shadows in the signal.

And let me tell you, I've had my issues with AT&T customer service. It took almost two weeks to get things straightened out when I switched the land line at my mother's house into my name. And they managed to knock the service out completely for two days in the midst of it all.

I got Verizon when my nephew gave me a phone on his family plan. No more than I use it it's pretty hard to beat for about $15 a month ($9.95 plus all the fees they don't talk about). Incoming calls are free as well as calls to other Verizon customers. My outgoing usage to others is usually less than ten minutes per month. I forward my land line to the cell when I'm out and about and it's nice to have it in case of an emergency.

I rarely text although I found it handy recently when I took a friend for outpatient surgery and could easily update a whole list of his friends and relatives quickly from the waiting room.

Fairly often I use several minutes from a friend who moved to Hilo a couple of years ago but they are hands-free so there is no radiation danger there.

Funny thing about his migration to Verizon. Just before he left Knoxville he was getting harassing calls from an ex so he forwarded his phone to a weather recording making it useful only for outgoing calls.

He forgot all about this when he moved and, for the first week or so after his arrival in paradise, he was living on a shoestring calling the folks back home to supply him with small loans in the form of deposits to his hometown bank account so he could use his debit card at the local McDonalds.

Before his vehicle arrived he got around by hitching and one day the phone apparently slipped out of his pocket because he couldn't find it an hour or so after he got out of the car. He went to a public phone and tried to ring his cell only to get a weather report for Knoxville, Tennessee.

He called me collect and gave me his tale of woe. He then went to the local office of US Cellular and discovered that he could get a replacement phone for about $200 or an early termination to his contract for about $175. He chose to terminate and got a new Verizon contract for $29 with a free phone and, of course, the ability to call me any time for free.

BTW, if you ever need a phone number for a form and you don't want to give out your own, try (808) 967-7947. It's a phone booth somewhere between Hilo and Volcano, HI.

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What kind of customer service is lacking from everyone's cellphone provider? I know I will kick myself later for saying this, but I have never really had to deal with any cellphone provider's customer service except when signing up.

I am a fan of AT&T. I had their cellphone service for about 15 years. I have had their long distance service for 25-30 years. I only recently changed my cellphone service, a year ago, because I needed better coverage. My coverage needs may be different, I do travel quite a bit to small towns. In the past year, Verizon has had much better coverage, for me, locally and in the small towns than AT&T/Cingular/AT&T/Suncom (they keep getting bought).

Of the 7 people in our household, we have 4 cell phones. We used to also have 2 landlines but finally cut them loose. I highly recommend it! Cut the cord.

Let's look at monthly usage:
Phone #1 143 minutes (fluctuates between 150 and 250 per month)
Phone #2 594 minutes (usually closer to 700 per month)
Phone #3 365 minutes (usually closer to 500 per month)
Phone #4 968 minutes (average is 1300 per month)
On average our family exceeds 2500 minutes per month.

Text messages:
Phone #1 97 messages 2kb data
Phone #2 652 messages 8583kb data
Phone #3 453 messages 39kb data
Phone #4 757 messages 13684kb data

This was a slow month for calls, text and data for our family. We will add a 5th cell phone in May.

Doug McCaughan
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Technically I have a land line since I have DSL for internet but I don't have a LL phone to connect to it so my cell phone is my only phone.

I'm still under 100 minutes (~30 min./month actually) and 10-20 texts/month.

I went for several years with no phone while I was under the thumb of the IRS. If it weren't for the handy clock my cell phone would probably be off most of the time.

The phone is a convenient device when I need to call someone but it can seem a bit like an electronic leash when someone wants to call me ;~) Voicemail is a beautiful thing!

I definitely like the lobbing-back-and-forth nature of e-mail/blog/boards/text and I like the body language & facial expressions that are part-and-parcel to meatspace conversations.

Telephone conversations mostly seem thin to me so mine tend to be short.

Last night at the brewpub, I was walking down the hall from the bathroom. Two women were headed toward me, one on a cell phone with another ringing in her pocket.

"Hear my other phone? If they think I'm going to answer, they're crazy."

I tried to get out of the way. But it was like she was staring right through me as she talked away. Nearly ran me down.

That was walking. I shudder to think what she's like when she's driving.
~m.

I have an iPhone (and before that I had a Blackberry). If you consider the amount of time I spend on my iPhone talking, working on my calendar, taking notes from a conversation, checking, reading, and writing email (and reading Knoxviews on its Safari web browser) I spend well over 1,000 minutes a week on my iPhone outside of "Call time."

According to the iPhone statistics, I've spent 8 days and 17 hours of "Call Time" since the iPhone was available for purchase, which I bought on Day 2. It's amazing and fascinating to consider how far the technology has come so quickly. It keeps me connected, which is critical for my business, and makes me more efficient.

(I promise I don't work for Apple...)

After getting the poll started I realized there should have been a category for cellphone usage with earbud/headphone/handsfree/texting (bluetooth?) for those high minute users who don't actually have the "radioactive" cellphone next to their heads.

No, landline doesn't mitigate the number of mintues the cellphone is next to your head, unless you're using earbud/headphone/handsfree/texting (bluetooth?). Don't actually know if bluetooth is any "safer" than the actual cellphone.

I get about 80% of biz calls on my cell, and my wife uses hers at home for long distance calling relate to her business, so we're on a share plan with over 2000 minutes. I use handsfree as much as possible to avoid cooking the brainpan too much... just medium rare.

I do like being able to keep on top of my emails and respond to customers quickly, though. I think I use my phone more for that than talking, it seems.

With respect to etiquette, I try to minimize all use outside of work and the house. I think it's awful to be on the phone when in a checkout line, in a restaurant, or other public spaces with people I don't know. My favorite saying is when my wife's or friends' phone rings at inconvenient time? "That's why God invented voice mail."

And here's hoping we pass the no-driving-and-texting law soon.

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Fighting for Reform and Representation, Fourth District
Steve Drevik, Commission Seat 4-B
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I have a big number, but it's my only phone. No land line. At least I don't walk around with a bluetooth earpiece permanently implanted in my ear. You don't want to know how many text msgs I send.

I have NEVER been in the life saving or baby delivering business. No ONE will die if they can't talk to me. The most ridiculious comment I EVER heard in the Middlebrook Kroger.... (screaming on cell phone) "Mamma....did you want Spam LITE or just regular Spam.

Happiness is wanting what you have! Peaceful silence.