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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that not everybody has

28 replies

E320 · 21/11/2012 15:36

a mobile telephone and that because I am changing locations, and therefore also mobile providers, it is reasonable to expect people to ring me at my home number (landline) and either speak to me in person or leave a message?
Surely nothing is that important or urgent that a couple of hours' delay is going to make a huge difference (in the context of new freelance contract/job opportunity)???

OP posts:
FeuDeRussie · 21/11/2012 15:45

YANBU :)

lljkk · 21/11/2012 15:46

YABU, I think virtually everyone does now have a mobile. Having no mobile is now as weird as saying you had no phone at all.

FeuDeRussie · 21/11/2012 15:47

But are you thinking in terms of friends/family being able to contact you, or potential employers?

lljkk · 21/11/2012 15:48

ps: not saying that I agree that everyone SHOULD have a mobile or indeed a landline, just that I accept that the expectation now is that everyone has a mobile. And that if you choose not to have a mobile, you have to accept that you are putting yourself in a kind of fringe category.

wonderingsoul · 21/11/2012 15:48

yanbu BUT why do you need to change mobile providers just because your moving.. unless you mean out of country?

FeuDeRussie · 21/11/2012 15:50

I did once nearly miss a freelance job due to not being able to receive emails on my phone when abroad (had no signal). But most things can wait a few hours, you're right. And it's nice not to be constantly reachable occasionally...

Justforlaughs · 21/11/2012 15:52

I got my first mobile phone recently under protest and wish I hadn't bothered. What is the fascination with having to get in touch immediately? If I wasn't at home then ring back, now I feel like I'm on call all the time. Drives me nuts (had to get it because of daughters health issues). I don't understand why you need to change your phone provider and as far as I know, even if you did they normally let you keep your number but apart from that YANBU

FlaminNoraImPregnantPanda · 21/11/2012 15:55

I don't have a mobile, never had one and neither does my husband. YANBU

LRDtheFeministDragon · 21/11/2012 15:58

YANBU - not having one permanently when your work wants you to have one would be perverse, but not having one occasionally is unavoidable - they get lost, broken, stolen, and some places just don't have signal. If you're contactable on a landline it's odd anyone is bothered.

kim147 · 21/11/2012 15:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

trixie123 · 21/11/2012 16:00

its up to you but be prepared for it to cause difficulties as people will assume now that you have one. We don't have a landline anymore (apart from from broadband - we don't plug a handset in) and no-one except our parents finds this odd at all. I moved around quite a bit for a few years and people got used to using my mobile number.

ClippedPhoenix · 21/11/2012 16:01

Well I remember a friend not too long ago getting a mobile and saying "What's the point as no one calls me on it"

I said "Friend, it may help if you turn it on" Grin

tooshorttonotice · 21/11/2012 16:08

not having a mobile is a bit like not having an en-suite. You can't get the teenagers out of the bathroom and you can't get them off the phone (unless they're in the bathroom - anything else would be dangerous)

CharlieCoCo · 21/11/2012 16:26

Im the opposite, i have a mobile but not a landline and you get some sites where there is a star next to landline number meaning you have to fill it out.

wonderingsoul · 21/11/2012 16:28

kim- does he live in the states.

when i lived over there for abit i was gobsmacked that they charge YOU for reading a text and answering a call!!
flubbergasted i tell you!

GalaxyDefender · 21/11/2012 16:50

I had a whinge about this earlier - was filling in a job application and the "mobile number" box was starred as being necessary. I don't have a mobile phone! Ended up putting DP's number on instead as I didn't know what else to do Hmm

Not everyone has to be glued to their mobile all the time. I'm getting one for Christmas, but tbh I only want it in case I'm out and some sort of emergency pops up.
I should also mention that not everyone wants a smartphone, or a touchscreen. Trying to find a non-touchscreen phone that wasn't intended for elderly people was hideous Angry

CaptainDennyisDead · 21/11/2012 17:06

My mum was another who never turned it on, unless she wanted to make a call which never actually happened.

ClippedPhoenix · 21/11/2012 17:12

I'm with you on the non-touch phones, they drive me mad grrrrrr

ClippedPhoenix · 21/11/2012 17:19

I meant that touch phones drive me mad. So do touch fax machines, so do touch pads. I want "buttons"

Original poster
E320 · 21/11/2012 17:20

I have had a mobile phone since 1996, but very rarely use it. I live abroad and have been working in yet another country for the past 18 months, so to cut costs (because mobile calls are VERY expensive) I cancelled my contract and went PAYG in the country where I work. As mobile reception at my house is dreadful, I would not want to rely on just a mobile, apart from not wanting family and friends to have high costs when they ring me.
It is just this changeover time.
Yes, this would be about a new job, but honestly I do not see why the person asking has such an issue with me not having a mobile number. I know a lot of people who do not have mobile telephones, they are not essential - useful, yes at times, but not essential.
On the other hand my toyboy does not have a landline. As he is away such a lot I can understand this. I do not think it is weird not having one or the other.

OP posts:
babybythesea · 21/11/2012 17:22

I have a mobile but reluctantly.
I got it once dd started at nursery. If she was at nursery, I was at work and the work wasn't desk based so I needed a way for them to be able to contact me if necessary.
So far (2 years later) it hasn't been necessary (not so much touching wood as hugging a tree right now!).
I have found I use it from time to time for other things but not that much.
I don't usually give the number out on forms etc. I have no idea how to check the voicemail so never bother even if someone leaves me a message.

What I hate beyond belief is the way people get them out and check them every three seconds, even in the middle of a conversation with me. Frankly if I'm boring you that much that you need to see if something more interesting has come up in the last 10 seconds, tell me. I'm quite happy to do something more interesting than sit with someone who finds a phone more engaging than me... and breathe....

kenanddreary · 21/11/2012 17:23

YANBU - I was at my happiest this year when I spent some time in the wilds of Scotland and couldn't get a signal. It was bliss - no technology at all for weeks Grin

RooneyMara · 21/11/2012 17:25

I don't feel entirely comfortable with mobile phones, but I have got one as sometimes I find text messaging less scary than actual conversations.

Also it's useful if you're out and need to call someone urgently.

But yanbu, it seems taken for granted that everyone lives around their mobile and if I'm out, I generally prefer to concentrate on whatever I'm out doing than have to answer calls that could have waited.

kenanddreary · 21/11/2012 17:25

I agree Baby - it's extremely rude. As far as I am concerned - someone continuously checking their phone, replying to texts or facebooking whilst I am with them is equal to them interrupting me to speak to someone who is actually physically standing there. I hate it.

RooneyMara · 21/11/2012 17:26

Btw I rarely, rarely get any calls on it...and if I do they are for some bloke called Joseph who used to have the same number.