Cordless Phones

I was never annoyed with cordless telephones as I was with being on the calling end of answering machines. I'm not sure I even paid much attention to them. Yet I'm not really sure what prompted me to buy one. 

I do recall not thinking much of the first cordless phones I saw. It must have been those old, metal, telescoping antennas they started out with. I remember watching Jerry Seinfeld on TV. Every time he'd make a phone call he'd grab the phone and extend the antenna. That shouldn't be any big deal but it seemed like more "hassle" than necessary for me.

I don't know why it took me so long to go cordless. The hassles of being stuck to a six foot cord were obvious, or maybe not so obvious when it's just the way you spoke on the phone back in the day. 

I used to have some lengthy phone conversations with a gal that wrote regular letters to the editor of the Times- Standard. Kind of a religious right- winger, but she wrote a letter once I thought was pretty good so looked her up in the phone book and called her. Had about four or five pleasant conversations with her over time, but one went a bit over the top.

I don't recall what we were talking about but the discussion stretched to four hours. Seriously. I was pacing back and forth within the length of a maybe six foot phone cord. Luckily it was just long enough for me to make it into the bathroom while still talking. Whew! What a pain, although if the conversation wasn't enjoyable I suppose it wouldn't have lasted so long.

That was a burnout, but I'm not sure I appreciated just how much until after I'd bought our first cordless phone. When I bought it or what prompted me to, I'm not sure. Overall, I'm not sure we had much complaint with our old style phones we'd bought from Ma Bell after its breakup. I still have those phones out in the garage. Maybe I finally decided to just try cordless?

I went down to Staples and bought a Sony cordless. Larger than most phones nowadays but I kinda liked that- fit in the hand better. It didn't have the telescoping metal antenna, either. Just a rubber(?) covered one about 3" long. I fell in love with that thing right away. I could walk into the living room and sit on the couch to talk if I wanted to. I'd never realized how bad I had it before.

But that phone didn't last long. I'm not sure it was a year before it started acting up and would disconnect in the middle of the conversation. Didn't realize it at first. I thought the other person was disconnected or hung up on me. It didn't take long to figure out the problem was on my end. I felt like I was abandoning an old friend when I decided to buy a new phone.

Back to Staples I went. I can't remember what brand I bought that time. It might have been V-Tech. Smaller than the Sony, it took a little getting used to, but pretty soon I was fairly happy with it and it lasted for years. Then we started getting a low battery warning. 

The wife was going to Target, anyway, so I asked her to look for new batteries. I don't recall whether she couldn't find the batteries, or just decided to buy a new phone instead. Sometimes the batteries cost as much as a new phone. She ended up coming home with a new phone. That's the one we have today.

A V- Tech not all that different than the last one. I don't recall whether the other one had speed dialing. This one does. A couple or three years ago I decided to set up speed dialing so I wouldn't have to go find phone numbers for the handful of calls I made. Had to look in the manual to figure it out.

About the only downside to the speed dial list is I can't figure out how to bring the list up. I guess I'll need to look in the manual to refresh my memory. Don't know that I need to as about the only number I call- and that's rarely- is a customer. Now I've got her number memorized, anyway. Oh, that and Angelo's Pizza for our fairly regular Two on Tuesdays order.

I love our cordless phone and would have a hell of a time living without it. I have thought of it, though, as that phone costs us about $10.00 a month with AT&T. It's about the only thing left to get rid of to shave my AT&T bill at this point. I could use my cell phone instead. After all, it's cordless by its very nature, but I don't want to give up my phone number. 

I've had our home phone number for at least thirty years. It's like part of me. I suppose there might be some way to transfer that phone number to a cell phone, but that wouldn't be the same. For now, I'm keeping my phone number and my cordless phone.