And.. A text can get through when a voice call can not, the host (Telephone serivce provider) will store and forward when the person's cell is next in range.
They do the same for voice... It's called voice mail...
I hate texting, my wife does it all the time. She sends me texts, which of course cost a quarter..
When someone gets into texting and they start texting me I start sending them HUGE texts with lots of questions.
I do it on the computer via my IM client(ichat) and send it to them. I found out recently that my texts come over in multiple texts because they are so long. People don't text me anymore they don't like the huge responses...LOL
I have Vonage forward my office voice mail as a text message. I find them to be very close to 100% accurate - more accurate in their voice-to-text conversion that I am listening to many spoken messages.
Text messaging has its place as a piece of technology - how you use it is up to the individual. I am a little surprised at some of the heavy-handed poo-pooing I've seeing here. (Although I was not happy passing a woman who was texting at 70 MPH while talking to her passenger!
Dave
Life doesn't come with a safety fence around it... enjoy it anyway.
I find texting to be quite impersonal; however, it is cheaper in the long run. I have a plan with 700 minutes of talk time for three people in a month which we don't use. We have unlimited texting and don't have to use our minutes.
This was the cheapest way for us to go with a teenager using it.
Thanks everyone for the responses "and in summation", I guess texting has it's place in todays busy world. Whether it because you need it (hard of hearing for example) or because you want it (so you don't get caught in class) or whether it just makes life simpler for you (to keep conversations short), texting is another option that we have these days to keep in touch with friends and relatives.
Texting just makes this big old world a little smaller I suppose!
"There's no such thing as too much tow vehicle!"
Wes, Linda, & kids
Retired firefighter (30 years fighting the dragon!) Our Website
cybervanner wrote: I think texting is a good etiquette thing. There are times when answering a phone call and engaging in a conversation would be rude and obnoxious, like in the aforementioned church, but there's also movie theaters. There is also the times when you are engaged in an in-person conversation, and your phone goes off. It's easy to text "I'm busy, call call later" or something like that. Texting is one-way, and doesn't require immediate attention, unlike a phone call, which must be answered instantly, and the person on the other end tended to. There's also no worry that you will get caught in a never-ending phone call when you don't have time to talk!
For those of us like myself who have issues with verbal communication, texting is great. I own a Blackberry and use it constantly for communication much more than making phone calls.
Nope. Texting in church is still very very rude, disrespectful and irreverent. I just turn my phone OFF, or on vibrate, when I am in church. It's got a little button on that does that. I can live without a phone for an hour or two.
Also If I'm engaged in a conversation when my phone goes off. I can just squeeze the side of it, and it stops. I can call them back later. Not going to stop, and type something.
BTW. I don't answere texts anyway.
Quote: I haven't seen it mentioned, but am I the only one who benefits from texting because of bad hearing? It's very frustrating for me to talk on a phone, when I have to ask people to "slow down" or "speak more clearly". They usually do for a few seconds and then go right back to what's normal for them.
YES! Even with someone like me that has extremely good hearing, cell phones have annoyingly bad fidelity. The audio is choppy and drops syllables, and percussive sounds like "b" "D" "t" just all sound the same. This, I think is the reason why cell phones are so dangerous to use while driving...they require a significant amount of brain power to interpret what the far end is actually saying.
Quote: Nope. Texting in church is still very very rude, disrespectful and irreverent. I just turn my phone OFF, or on vibrate, when I am in church. It's got a little button on that does that. I can live without a phone for an hour or two.
Yes, it is disrespectful to text in church, but you did not read the entire note I placed... The idea is that when someone invaribly attempts to call while in church, in class, or when engaging in a one-on-one conversation, instead of stopping to talk on the phone, one can just text back to the caller, "I will talk to you later, I'm busy"
I am not speaking of engaging in a text conversation with someone while in church, but just sending them a SINGLE message back indicating your status that you cannot talk at the moment! This, I think satisfies the need of the person calling that needs immediate contact (If they didn't need me immeditely, why are that phoning!?!?) and also does not rudely break off the interaction with the party in person
Quote: I haven't seen it mentioned, but am I the only one who benefits from texting because of bad hearing? It's very frustrating for me to talk on a phone, when I have to ask people to "slow down" or "speak more clearly". They usually do for a few seconds and then go right back to what's normal for them.
YES! Even with someone like me that has extremely good hearing, cell phones have annoyingly bad fidelity. The audio is choppy and drops syllables, and percussive sounds like "b" "D" "t" just all sound the same. This, I think is the reason why cell phones are so dangerous to use while driving...they require a significant amount of brain power to interpret what the far end is actually saying.
Quote: Nope. Texting in church is still very very rude, disrespectful and irreverent. I just turn my phone OFF, or on vibrate, when I am in church. It's got a little button on that does that. I can live without a phone for an hour or two.
Yes, it is disrespectful to text in church, but you did not read the entire note I placed... The idea is that when someone invaribly attempts to call while in church, in class, or when engaging in a one-on-one conversation, instead of stopping to talk on the phone, one can just text back to the caller, "I will talk to you later, I'm busy"
I am not speaking of engaging in a text conversation with someone while in church, but just sending them a SINGLE message back indicating your status that you cannot talk at the moment! This, I think satisfies the need of the person calling that needs immediate contact (If they didn't need me immeditely, why are that phoning!?!?) and also does not rudely break off the interaction with the party in person
Nope in church. just turn it off. They will leave a message. It is rude to even have it on in church. If they later ask why. Tell them. I was in worship service. Don't call during that time. My friends and family know not to call during church times. there is no excuse for a phone to rig, chime or beep during church service.
The only beep that should ever be heard during church service, Is the quiet beep calling the firemen to a fire. That is a REAL need.
JMOP.
Our Pastor preferres all phones be turned off. I do too.
I text with my son (24) because that's what he prefers. When I asked him why, he said it puts him in control of the situation. He can decide if he wants to respond and when. Yes you can do that with voice mail but he can make the decision right then, not after calling voicemail.
I also discovered that we can have a text exchange even if his mother (we're divorced) is right there with him. She just assumes it's one of his friends and doesn't give him grief about me. Unless she's looking over his shoulder, we can have a 'private' conversation.
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