Living in the 20th Century
A few days ago, C-Lo called me to ask me to make a recording for Ted’s birthday, which she then ran on the radio. Cool idea, right? Lots of his friends and coworkers wishing him a happy day on the air. 🙂 That C-Lo, she’s full of good ideas.
Anyway, when she called, she thanked me for answering the phone. I thought that was an odd thing to say, but I just said, “You’re welcome”…she must have heard the confusion in my voice, because she explained that when she doesn’t recognize the caller ID, she often figures it’s a sales call, and won’t answer. Crickets. This is when I had to explain that we don’t HAVE caller ID. Which is when I then explained that the phone in our bedroom/office is an actual landline, connected to the wall, probably circa 1988 or so. We like to have a phone that still works when the power is out, in case we need to call 911 or something, and besides, it still works, so why mess with a good thing? Here’s our phone. I THINK it’s the one Ted bought for himself when he first moved to San Francisco, which, like I said, I think was in 1988. (Phone pictures are gone. Sorry.)
I then went on to tell her that our OTHER phone, the downstairs one, is indeed cordless, but still, no Caller ID, pretty darned old. We bought it when we started living in two story places, and needed an upstairs phone and a downstairs phone, which would have been 1996. Again, it still works perfectly well, so we see no reason to replace it.
The downside is that neither of these phones come with an answering machine, and we haven’t been able to find an answering machine that we like at the stores. We had a digital one for awhile, which looks exactly like all of the ones that they currently carry at the stores, that garbled peoples’ messages so badly that you often couldn’t figure out more than 40% of the message. You were pretty much lucky if you could figure out WHO was calling, so you could call them back and ask what it was they wanted. My brother and sister-in-law were here last fall, and they heard this horrid machine, and decided to help us out, and to bring us firmly into the 21st century. So they bought us THIS lovely phone duo. (sorry, pic gone)
Two phones, one phone jack…an answering machine included…caller ID. This puppy has it all. Unfortunately, the one time I used it, the sound wasn’t as good as our old fashioned phones (I was calling Alaska however, and sometimes we get a bad connection, so I wasn’t sure if the phone was the problem, or the connection). That wasn’t the real problem, though. The real problem is that since we have wireless internet connections in my house, every time we use the phone, we get bumped off of the internet. I work from home, and I can’t be bumped off of the internet every time some stupid salesperson calls, whether I answer the phone or not. Heck, I can’t even be bumped off of the internet every time my friends and family call, since that’s how I connect to the network at work, and that would be nice, huh? We can’t return the phone to try one with a different bandwidth or whatever, because we opened it, and the store is fussy like that. (store has since gone out of business. HA! Take that, circuit city!)
So here we are, with a fancy phone duo in the closet, not being used, and two OLD phones, still functioning pretty darned well, and no answering machine. No messages when I come home, which is kind of a mixed blessing. Our one concession to modernity would be our cell phones, which is where we tell folks to call us if they can’t reach us at home.
See? We’re not HOPELESSLY lost in the 20th century. I mean, hey, we have a wireless connection on the computers and all, and that’s groovy, isn’t it?
17 Comments
Michelle
I don’t have caller I.D. either though my inlaws have made me want to get it.
It’s never good news when they call.
Autumn's Mom
We only have caller ID because we were tricked into getting this all in one package through our phone service that included DSL. I do have to say that I love the caller ID. I don’t like talking to strangers.
Gina
We have caller id because it was included in our package as well. I have some sort of pathological need for an answering machine, so we’ve never been without one.
And man, that top phone is OLD! 😉
Py Korry
Yeah, that first phone is old, and if you look closely,it has our phone number…in Philadelphia! By the way, we left Philly in 1996.
LynnDenise
You are lucky that your phones have lasted as long as they have. We’ve had, probably, 3 or 4 different cordless phones in the past 13 years. Also, Donald explained to me that the cordless phone needs to be a different frequency than the wireless internet or, as you’ve experienced, you get bumped off the internet whenever the phone rings. The solution is to get a cordless phone that is 5.8 gigahertz or more, since, apparently, the wireless internet runs at 2.4 gigahertz.
Ginger
I enjoy very much having caller id as we get so many sales calls. And if the power goes out, none of our landlines work.
Starshine
You’re a blogger, J! That’s SOOOOOOOO new milennium!
Cherry
We got Caller ID because of the in-laws (technically future in-laws), but it has come in quite handy for the sales/politician/fund raising calls too!
Chrissy
Very cool! BTW, I know this is TOTALLY off topic, but I LOVE those blue place mats you have on your table! They’re beeeeeeeautiful! 😉
Lalunas
DO NOT get rid of your old phones. When our same model you have in your kitchen did not work very well, I went out and bought a new model phone, that lasted 6 months and it broke. We are on New phone #4. They last around 6 months or less and then quit suddenly. I have bought warrantees on each one, cause if I didn’t I would be up the creek. According to the sale people at the store, the manufactors are making CRAP and selling them for some major bucks. It is so sad. Up stairs I have a AT&T phone from the early 80’s and there is nothing wrong with it.
Maya's Granny
I have caller ID in my package, and I have to say that I resisted it and now I love it. The same with the answering machine — resisted it, now would hate to live without it.
Beenzzz
We still don’t have caller ID on our phones (blushing). We do on our cell phones. I think its a feature we definitely need to have. Is that your pink razor? Cool. 🙂
samibear
For the last 4 years since our move to Tennessee, we’ve only used cells no land line. I have most of the numbers who call me often programed in. I rarely answer a number I don’t recognize. I figure they can leave a message if it is important. The good thing about this is I get no telemarketers, politicians or salesman.
hellomelissa
because we have a home business, i have been hooked by caller id for almost 10 yrs.
love it.
ally bean
We just got caller id a few months ago. I like it. I am able to take calls in a more prepared way. When I see who it is, if I have nothing to say to them right now I don’t pick up. And if I do have something to say (i.e. the info they need from me) and/or the time to talk, I pick up.
ML
Old stuff is better quality all around. I hang on to my old, but good stuff as long as I can!
V-Grrrl
In Belgium, not only do homes not have answering machines but most businesses don’t have them either. Call waiting and caller ID are unheard of. Literally. No one knows what that is.
Your arrangement makes perfect sense to me, and back in the U.S., I always had a regular phone on hand to plug in in case I needed it.