Connectivity Birthright

How did we survive when all we had was voicemail, answering machine or the fax waiting for you at the office.

the real gripe should be the monthy fees these providers charge.

I am suprised that you have received 4 "good answer" ratings for this rant of yours. I am part of the generation that is "accustomed" to having the new phone technologies available today. So I suppose a lot of your evident frustration could be directed at me. I text, email, and otherwise communicate heavily with my phone quite a bit. Is there a good reason why I shouldn't other than the fact that some guy who calls himself "Yusef1" doesn't like it?

Your are correct in stating that western civilization did not collapse. Is that to say that a complaint is not warranted unless it does? You would do well to realize that this inconvenience was not limited to those who are "chatting with the cute young thang down inreceiving" and that this technology, which is evidently annoying to you, actually promotes the efficiency of companies that contribute to our economy in a positive way. A lot of money was lost due to this communication collapse.

When we are paying for a service, we expect to get it. If you order a cup of coffee at the local shop and you get a half cup of tea, would you not complain? Other worldly issues are not dimished simply because folks are rightly upset with their service provider who failed to provide the service which was promised and paid for.

I hope you consider this as you sit in your wood cabin in Canada and curse the latest American generation for utilizing cell phones and lap tops eh!

which would make you one of the __ generations. I see you driving all over the road with your ear bud screwed into your ear trying to dial because you just don't have the time to pull over or just wait to get to your destination.

Clearly, it is irresponsible for one to jeopordize the lives of others on the road for the sake of sending a text message. We both agree about that. You, however, have misplaced frustration. That has nothing to do with the topic at hand here which is "connectivity birthright" - the notion that we are entitled to the technology.

The fact is, we are most definately entitled to it because we pay for it and therefore expect it. I see people like you everyday from "older" generations who despise the recent advances in technology. This attitude is unreasonable and lends to the idea that we should abstain from using it because some people are using it in a destructive way. That phenomenon is true for all new technologies.

My wife is the type to get mad at drivers who do stupid things. My response to her is to say that there are stupid people everywhere. There always has been and always will be. Getting upset about someone driving like an idiot serves only to add stress to your own life. If they don't text and drive, they will be doing some other irresponsible thing. You have to deal with the fact that it is not the technology it is the person and there is nothing you or anyone can do about it.

don't confuse frustration with observation for it is part of the topic.

I have to agree from a consumer's standpoint. Here's my logic.. some of which you have already made.

1) There are services that even if you don't use, you still pay the fee. Some businesses refer to these as "availability" charges. These same businesses that charge me to have a service available (even if I don't use it) will not prorate this even though it wasn't available.

2) The logic to simply say "it's OK" to lose service without some compensation (eg, prorating a bill) to the consumer is flawed. How long until it isn't OK? How about 2 days? A week? A month? Would you still pay your cell phone bill if it didn't work for a month? Would you pay "availability" charges to an electric company if you were without power for the month?? (As a side note, I had a power company actually RAISE the availability charge during a period with an extended outage to make up for lost revenue in power sales.)

There are comments about what the person was using the service for and frankly, it makes no difference. A consumer is paying for a service that wasn't received. That's my only issue... prorate the bill, and I'd shrug off the whole situation as unfortunate.

Its not a birthright. Its a convenience. Most people that use it don't need it. My frustration? Oh, being run off the road about 4 times by a texting driver, hit by a cell phone using driver, and having a company car damaged by a texting employee. Gee...you would think I have some experience in this new fangled technology. Oh wait, I do! Very little of it is positive....employees texting instead of working has lost more productivity in American business than a days outage and how do you quantify or justify the loss of life and injuries as a result of what can only be considered a convenience.

Get over it, and get over yourself. The cute young thang in receiving will still be there when you go on break.

First of all, the fact that you were run off the road by a texting driver is unfortunate and I regret that this happened to you. Although I feel bad for you, that doesn't get you off the hook for your statement and it doesn't say anything about your "experience in this new fangled technology".

The statements which you put forward as facts are not supported by anything: "Its not a birthright. Its a convenience. Most people that use it don't need it". This statement is absurd. You have no grounds to judge whether or not people need this technology. What you are really saying is you don't need it. That's fine, don't use it then.

You are assuming that American workers are texting instead of working. I will counter that assumption with my own: You do not have the insight to make such a statement.

You state that there has been a significant loss of life associated with this technology, though you have no data to back this up. Can you provide the data to show that traffic accidents have increased since the introduction of this technology? You might be benefitted to learn that studies have shown there is no difference in traffic accidents in states that allow cell phone usage while driving vs. those that don't.

I think you are emotionally involved in the discussion which has resulted in your loss of perspective and objectivity. If you will excuse me now, I have to send a text and cause some traffic accidents.

Settle down, no need to get emotional.

I don't know, maybe it's me, I don't see where there's a direct correlation between Connectivity Birthright, Research in Motion's Black Berry's failed network and Packaging and Labeling. Did Research in Motion screw up the labeling when they packaged their Black Berries? It seems that this should have been posted in Communications & Electronics, that is if, Research in Motion didn't screw up the Packaging and Labeling