I bought a new mobile phone today. Its a Samsung E330 which is a very nice lightweight silver flip-phone with a built-in camera, WAP, and Java games. The main reason why I bought it is because the ringtones sound louder and clearer than my old phone.

I'm still keeping my old phone so that I can take it to most places and not having to worry about my new one getting stolen. I will use my new Samsung phone for special occasions and home use.

Does anyone else have mobile phones/cellphones and do they use them for anything other than calling?

I don't even have one (I know, that sounds crazy). Why would I need one, I don't have any friends I need to talk to or SMS.

I have one, but I don't use it much. My parents got it for me because they rarely know where I am. I hate talking on the phone unless I am alone in my room, and it's a frend, so I mostly just send SMS messages from it.

I had a mobile 'phone for about  nine  months, but I think I only ever received two or three calls in all that time, so it wasn't worth going on with.

Stella

I have one, but I use it for the radio and emergencies. So I checked other. Right now it can't make calls, but I don't care.

I have a nice one, but it's on 3G services, which has an awful lame spending deal which doesn't work for me.

I don't want to go on 3 either. They are 3G based and very limited for content, just like AOL before that was integrated into the internet.

I have one just for emergencies. I take it along when going on long drives, and when driving in the winter. Once in the winter, when driving with five children in the van I hit sheer ice, and slid into the opposite ditch in an isolated area (fortunately, the footboard kept us upright on the deep snow). We sat there for three hours before a tow truck happened by (there were cars in ditches all over the place, several people got killed that night).

After that, driving in slick conditions has always scared me to death. That's why my husband finally gave me a cell phone three years ago for Christmas. But everybody who goes on long drives uses it.

We  have only the emergency plan (which is the cheapest one), because I wouldn't use it other than for emergencies anyway. It is never turned on, because I would hate it if people would actually call me while driving or being somewhere. Nobody even knows the number.

I have a mobile sitting at home with dead batteries and probably lost the number from not turning it on in months.
I checked other because i do have a phone but don't use it.

Cell Phones have really opened up my life and the lives of my son and his father.  One of my worst fears was driving somewhere and getting lost or confused and turned around, not to mention my car breaking down.  I don't fear these things anymore because I know I can always call for help.  I seem to be better at going places that I normally wouldn't go, now.  

As for my son, he uses his phone to call family, mostly.  When he is having a particularly hard day at work, he knows he can call me anytime and talk to me about it which seems to help us cope.  When he is overloaded calling to talk even for a few minutes, has helped him make it through the day, many times as it has for me, too.

Having a cell phone has helped my sons father the most.  He used to not pick up the phone at home for fear it would be someone selling something or wanting a donation.  He has a very hard time talking with these folks and has been manipulated into buying things he didn't really want because he finds difficulty in saying no to pushy people.  There were times when family didn't hear from him for weeks.  Now, with his own cell phone, he calls everyone regularly and has no worries that a stranger is calling him on his cell phone.  He also calls me when life's stresses become too overwhelming for him.  He knows he can call anytime.  Cell phones have improved our lives alot.

I hate making calls, although I got better at it. Being able to text someone to see if they are out or may want to meet up is so much easier and doesn't require instant response  8)

Actually, that is something I forgot to mention (probably the phone took this fear away, so I don't think much about it any more). I get lost very, very easily. When I am lost I get upset and confused and often don't know what to do. So, I will call either whoever I was going to visit, or my husband. Most of the time I just need them to calm me down so I can think again, to figure out what to do. It's worst when it is dark, as I am afraid of the dark. Plus, you can't see very far in the dark, and things just seem to be closing in around me.

Mind you, after finding out about AS, I realized that I am not just crazy, and that I can overcome this problem (to a degree). Now, when I know I am going somewhere unfamiliar, I make my own directions. The problem in many cases of getting lost was, following somebody else's directions. And they seem to just imply things, or assume too much (omitting details that to them are obvious). Or they would say: Go North (or whatever direction), instead of left or right. But if you have a poor sense of direction and don't know where north is, you've got a problem.

So, now the night before going anywhere I get out my maps, and I map the best route and write it down in large letters (so I can read it without reading glasses) and in great detail. That works when there are no detours. I still get lost and might need to call if anything is different (and detours are different and often very confusing). But often I just stop somewhere safe and get out my trusty maps, find where I am and where I need to go to find my way again.

But I don't do city driving, I am hopeless in big cities. I am talking here about country driving (like the six-hour-trip to Ottawa to see our oldest daughter and her family), or any of the other places our kids are. If I'd try to drive into Toronto, no phone would help, I'd end up in tears anyway. So, I just go to the subway station on the outskirts and take public transportation to wherever I am going.

This may be off-topic but have you thought about getting GPS Uschi?

No, not really, I know those are quite expensive. I haven't really looked into how those work, maybe I should and decide if I want one. Thanks for the suggestion.

If you do decide to, PM me as my partner works with that kind of stuff, has tested a fair few of them (he does not drive but also gets lost easily) and knows which ones are decent and which ones don't work properly.