good reasons and bad

People ask me why I got a cell phone, if I couldn't live without one, how much better life is now. That's a lot of questions. The answer to three is not at all. The answer to two is long and comprises two stories.

Over the last five years, ever since cell phones become ubiquitous, I absolutely wanted to have one because I like gadgets. What I don't like is spending money on something I don't need. I always wanted to have a Palm Pilot too and never got one because there was never any rational justification. Over the last two years there were a number of situations where I would have used a cell phone but only two where I really regretted not having one.

One was when a friend and I climbed Alpe d'Huez on our bikes and lost track of each other on the way up. It's a delirious climb. Up at the top I spent fifteen minutes looking for my buddy and descended when I couldn't find him. He later told me that he also kept looking for me up at the top, but with more persistence. A cell phone would have saved me an hour at the base of the climb and him an hour riding up and down the top third of the mountain before he finally gave up and descended as well.

The other was when I was going from Switzerland to Italy to meet up with friends. I had the great idea of taking a boat, to get the most of the sun and Lago Maggiore. A few hours before departure I learned that Italian boat mates were apparently on strike and that I would have to find another way across or around the big water. It turned out to be around and involved walking, a train, much waiting, and a bus. I bought a phone card, and the information of my mishap was relayed properly to my friends, but a cell phone sure would have been nice and I wouldn't now have a half-full Swiss phone card lying around collecting dust.

Now that I have a phone, people assume I'm actually going to use it. A friend asked me to call her when I get to London. I don't know if my phone is set up to make and take calls abroad. It says that's an option I can activated, but my provider's web page is completely useless to do that. It refuses steadfastly to associate my mobile number with the rest of my DSL account. Don't even ask about customer assistants at this time.

That brings me to the answer of question one. Devious marketing. Neuf, the company I hand 30 euros every months for TV, internet and telephone, decided they'd like to become a fully integrated quadruple player. They offered me a number just so. I only have to pay for minutes spent talking. And if I don't use it, it's free - which might just happen in England because of Neuf's shitty customer service.