I have a friend who on many occasions has said that you don't know what is
in anyone's pocket. Many people may be on fixed incomes, but may receive
help from family members and may be eligible for free and low cost services.
All I know is what I can and can't afford, and thinking about what others do
doesn't help me one bit, and only leads to frustration.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Chaltain" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; "Sieghard Weitzel" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 3:50 AM
Subject: Re: the cost of staying connected
My own opinion is that this is all highly subjective. I'm not saying
there aren't irresponsible people out there, but I know what I can and
cannot afford, and I know what's important to me, but I wouldn't presume
I could speak for anyone else.
On 25/05/17 03:41, Sieghard Weitzel wrote:
I totally agree that many want the latest and upgrading every year or
every two years is somewhat expensive. Some may argue that they have this
great plan from their provider which lets them upgrade every year, but of
course if you really look at it you will find out that no provider does
this out of the goodness of their hearts and in the end you pay through
the nose for such a privilege. Then there are those who have multiple
smartphones like an Android and an iPhone in order to "stay current with
technology" or to "have the best of both worlds". Also some have multiple
iDevices and to me that is also a waste of money. At one point I decided
to keep my old 5S around and use it at home on WiFi but I quickly realized
that I rarely did and always used my new 6S Plus anyways and while I can
see how the large screen of an iPad is attractive for sighted people, it
doesn't do much for me. I have read messages on here from people who have
a very limited income yet they have an iPhone and an iPad, an Apple TV and
multiple music and TV streaming services and I sort of wonder if they
don't realize that all of this adds up to be a pretty significant cost, at
the same time some of the same people complain about some of the expensive
apps like KNFB Reader or about paying $5 a month for having a Jaws SMA
(it's $120 every two years so it does work out to be just $5 a month which
is half of what most of us pay for Apple Music or Spotify).
I think Deidre does have a point, but unless you are mostly at home where
a landline does the trick and maybe a pay as you go flipphone is enough
for the odd time you go somewhere, I think the additional cost for a
smartphone plan is justifiable considering what a smartphone offers (GPS,
OCR anywhere you go, accessible texting etc.). For anybody who is working
or running a business it is more or less essential nowadays, I need access
to my email, often apps are easier to use than websites when it comes to
making a quick online banking transaction, posting something on Facebook,
tracking a package or even maintaining your profiles for Google My
Business and so on. At times I can actually be away from my business to do
something personal or recreational simply because I am still connected and
able to do something if I have to. In a way it's not so different for a
sighted person with cars. How many couples have a car each, it costs a lot
to buy the thing in the first place and thousands and thousands each year
for insurance, gas, parking and repairs/maintenance. Especially if you
live in the city you could probably get by using public transportation and
take a cab or an Uber when you have to, most of us who don't have sighted
partners who drive do it all the time. But being able to jump into a car
any time you want for a quick trip somewhere is just so convenient. I live
in a rather small town of about 6,000 people, our one local cab company
doesn't even use a meter, they charge $8 for a trip in town no matter if
it's half a mile from the grocery store back to my house or 2 miles from
one side of town to the other. If you do a return trip inside I think an
hour or hour and a half then it's $11 for both. My wife is sighted but has
epilepsy so can't drive either and we spend maybe $1,000 a year on cab
rides for times when the weather is bad, we have more than we can or want
to carry etc. If we owned a car I'd spend that alone on insurance let
alone buying gas, new tires or dividing the initial purchase price by the
lifespan of the vehicle.
Interestingly enough people often buy used cars, sometimes cheap old
beaters but few of us buy a used iPhone that is 2 years old even though in
many cases it would do the trick as well and it would save you a fair bit
since it is much cheaper to buy and you could get any post-paid or
pre-paid plan you want since no carrier can ask you to sign up for a
2-year contract on some expensive plan.
Regards,
Sieghard
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Kelly Pierce
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 8:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: the cost of staying connected
My observation is that people upgrade too early. If folks kept their
iPhone for four years instead of two, the annual cost of an iPhone would
be substantially reduced. I did this when I bought my iPhone 5 in 2012
and then upgraded to an iPhone 7 in 2016, selling my iPhone 5 on
Craigslist for $120. Further, when I first started out, I did not use the
phone much and had a prepaid service for $16 a month where I had 100
minutes, 100 texts and 500 MB of data a month. Now I use my phone a lot
more and pay $31 including taxes for 2 GB of data with unlimited talk and
texts. This level of service should be plenty for virtually all blind
users who can jump on WIFI every so often for app updates and downloads
along with downloading podcasts and audio books.
For most people, paying more for cell phone service is unnecessary.
Kelly
On 5/24/17, MamaPeach <[email protected]> wrote:
That is what I did, I gave up my iPhone, and am now using a simple
flip phone that does have speech and it only costs me $25 every 30
days through Walmart's Total Wireless unlimited talk and text plan. We
cut cable and now
only use NetFlix and Hulu for watching TV shows and movies. We pay
$64.99 for our internet each month, which allows me to do what I want
and I do have
an iPod that allows me to connect to our wifi to do anything else I
want to
do using that device.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Turner
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 3:18 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: the cost of staying connected
You cannot listen to your books outside with the computer unless you
got some kind of wireless speaker system.
But, you could do everything but the phone calls and internet stuff on
an iPod Touch.
If you have wifi at home anyway, then no extra monthly fee.
Ditch the iPhone and get a simple, inexpensive phone for times when
you are
away from home.
Or, keep the iPhone and decide all that convenience is worth the money.
Just my two cents worth.
Richard
On May 24, 2017, at 8:50 AM, deidre muccio <[email protected]> wrote:
In the last day, I have had cause to think of the cost of staying
connected via an i phone.
First off we all pay a monthly service charge perhaps starting
around $50. Put another $7 or more on for insurance if you buy it.
Then there is the cost of the phone which can be dirt cheap if it is
your first phone provided by a carrier you have been with for a long
time. Once that phone needs replacing however, let's say, 2 years and
a few months, you are in for purchasing a new phone or a used one, or
might pay a $200 deductible on one that your insurance coverage will
replace due to hardware damage.
Add
this all up, and it's thousands of dollars over a mere 2 year period.
I have to ask what the true value is in all this?
On the practical, not philosophical front, I am paying for the
convenience and portability of a phone that I can make calls on and
text with, and I can do all the information sharing and web
searching, social networking, watch movies, listen to podcasts, read
books, etc all on the run or away from home. Other than phone service
and texting, all of this I can do on my desktop computer for the
price of my internet service.
What would I be missing if I gave this all up? Yesterday, I
seriously thought of buying a monthly phone service for $25 and
giving the rest up. Has anyone tried doing that lately? I'd like to
hear about it!
Are
you planning more hikes or tandem bike rides?
How I love my phone! I love lying in bed or cleaning house and
moving my phone from room to room while I listen to a podcast, a
replay of a news show, or a book. Again, I could do all this on a
desktop computer provided the volume on my speakers reached the far
rooms. I doubt I'd miss not getting calls or texts while away from
home unless I was traveling out of State. Admittedly, the cheapest
cell phone service I was able to purchase was $39 per month so the
additional cost to text and have a phone with voice over menus is
definitely superior to that.
I wonder if I've already nearly fully answered my question cause
I'm sitting here smiling broadly as I write this. Still, I conclude
that I'm crazy for putting out the money to entertain myself around
the clock, not unlike an avid TV watcher, when I could be out
gardening or I could spend more time at the gym, or finishing a novel
and/or the few short stories in the works! I could even get some kind
of volunteer job. I will say that when I do work for pay, my work
being as a masseuse, I do not use my phone at all.
One good thing, I guess, is that if I go silent, friends might
inquire as to whether or not I am still alive, so for safety's sake,
I guess that detail gets racked up in the plus column.
I did not write or dictate this using my phone. I am typing away
on a full keyboard, which is far more comfortable and affords much
more time for thinking. If I could word process using a full keyboard
or a dictation program that would allow you to dictate unlimited
text, I'd trash the desktop pronto. Oh, no no no, having a iphone on
the blink for the past day was bad enough, we'll always need back up,
now won't we?
Deidre
Deidre
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