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Life without a cell phone

blog.nbrogi.com

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Re: Life without a cell phone

#21

Post by XorNot »

5555624 wrote: post #17
nbrogi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's just my personal experience. Being a web developer, I used to get a lot of calls from clients, so much that it got to be hard to work for me.

That's the problem -- you use it for work. Get a phone and only give the number to close friends, if that. For clients, you coud use a Google Voice number which is not forwarded directly and just sends you e-mail alerts.

This is the correct answer. You're running a business - enforce business hours on your business contact number.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#22

Post by nbrogi »

runjake wrote: post #12

Family and close friends get my cell number. Everyone else gets my Google Voice number. If I don't want to be bothered by unimportant calls, I launch the Google Voice app and enable do not disturb. If I permanently want certain numbers, or unknown numbers to go straight to voicemail permanently, I set it up. I don't hear a ring. I get a push notification if they leave a voicemail. If Google Voice isn't your cup of te…

OMG! I remember looking into Google Voice and it was so awesome, but at the time it wasn't available in Italy.

Is it available everywhere now?

Re: Life without a cell phone

#23

Post by nbrogi »

5555624 wrote: post #17
nbrogi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's just my personal experience. Being a web developer, I used to get a lot of calls from clients, so much that it got to be hard to work for me.

That's the problem -- you use it for work. Get a phone and only give the number to close friends, if that. For clients, you coud use a Google Voice number which is not forwarded directly and just sends you e-mail alerts.

Does it work in Europe/Italy?

I remember looking into that and I'd have killed to get it, but it was only available in the U.S...

Re: Life without a cell phone

#24

Post by brador »

nbrogi wrote: post #7
hnriot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, the whole post is pointless and borderline luddite. I don't get calls every ten minutes, and don't play Ruzzle at dinner. Getting rid of his cell phone sounds like a substitute for not having any common sense or self control.

Yeah, that's just my personal experience. Being a web developer, I used to get a lot of calls from clients, so much that it got to be hard to work for me.

When an emergency does happen you're gonna wish you had one. Car accident, wife going into labor, you'll need it.

Other option is to keep two phones, one personal, one private.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#25

Post by nbrogi »

Jare wrote: post #20
nbrogi wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried :-) But then people started saying that I was either not reachable or I ignored them. I didn't get rid of my cell phone on purpose, just used the fact that it broke to not get another one, and it just works great for me.

I'm surprised people (especially clients) react better to you not having a cell phone at all than to you not always answering. I always make sure to disable the auto-away setting in all chat/IM programs so it always shows me as online, and then I explain to everyone that since the program is not smart enough to know for sure that I am available, I prefer to avoid the confusion. With phones I follow a similar philosop…

I think that for them the situation improved.

If they called me to see if I knew their password and I didn't help them they'd feel stuck, now they just go in their inbox, find it themselves, and go on with their lives without emailing me, which ultimately doesn't piss them off.

Before, I just couldn't handle the amount of calls and sometimes I just wouldn't even call back if I thought it wasn't important, then people would have to call me back to finally try to solve their problem. Now, I always reply to my email, so in this case, too it's better for them.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#26

Post by Amadou »

nbrogi wrote: post #22
runjake wrote: post #12

Family and close friends get my cell number. Everyone else gets my Google Voice number. If I don't want to be bothered by unimportant calls, I launch the Google Voice app and enable do not disturb. If I permanently want certain numbers, or unknown numbers to go straight to voicemail permanently, I set it up. I don't hear a ring. I get a push notification if they leave a voicemail. If Google Voice isn't your cup of te…

OMG! I remember looking into Google Voice and it was so awesome, but at the time it wasn't available in Italy. Is it available everywhere now?

If it is not, I am sure there is a paid VOIP provider that has call screening like gvoice and will forward to your phone as needed. Try searching for "voip call screening" I just did and got a bunch of hits.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#28

Post by nbrogi »

Amadou wrote: post #26
nbrogi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OMG! I remember looking into Google Voice and it was so awesome, but at the time it wasn't available in Italy. Is it available everywhere now?

If it is not, I am sure there is a paid VOIP provider that has call screening like gvoice and will forward to your phone as needed. Try searching for "voip call screening" I just did and got a bunch of hits.

Yep, actually at the beginning I thought I'd do that. They call it "virtual office" here, there are reps pretending to be your secretary, who pick up and then send you an email with the transcript.

Then, email worked so surprisingly well that I just dropped the idea.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#30

Post by avenger123 »

nbrogi wrote: post #13
bkurtz13 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could try whitelisting only numbers that are in your contact list.

Yep tried that, too :-) I've long had this prob. with getting interrupted by calls. Again, people would get mad that I ignored them, or that I wasn't available. Somehow, since you don't have a cell phone they don't get offended or complain (I'm talking about clients in particular).

"Again, people would get mad that I ignored them, or that I wasn't available."

I find this interesting.. I don't have an expectation that someone is always going to answer their phone... that's what voicemail is for. I also don't give the expectation that I will answer my phone on every ring the first time.

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