Going Off the Grid
by Sariah S. Wilson
The easiest thing to do today would be to put up a list of Whitney Award winners and call it a day, but then I thought I'd have to go hunting for book covers and stuff (which is work, and ugh) and thought Rob might want to do it since he like started the Whitney Awards and then he might actually post. But if anyone's interested and hasn't seen it, you can read more about the Whitney Awards at Mormon Times. (Woot Stephanie!)
Recently we cancelled our phone. Our phone company provided our (supposedly) high speed internet and landline, long distance, cell phones, etc.
We've had serious issues with our extremely expensive internet service (including one two-week period of time we had no connectivity at all, but our phone company charged us for services anyway). After months and months of phone calls and technician visits, one technician finally revealed that we had a faulty server which was causing us to be unable to stay connected to the internet during times of high activity and made our services extremely slow. The company had no intention of replacing it because it would be too expensive.
My techie husband explored several options and decided on getting us Verizon air cards (we had to get two because we use the internet a lot) and two unlimited Cricket cell phones. The cost is exactly the same as what our phone company charged, but now we have a stable connection that always works.
He happily cancelled all of our services through our phone company (who were shocked, SHOCKED, that we would think for one second that they would ever allow us to have inferior hardware and could not, NOT, believe that we would even imply such a thing).
After this experiment, I think I prefer having access to a landline. I miss it - and the quality on my Cricket phone is not always the best (but is fine considering what we pay).
But there's been a certain degree of serenity that comes from being inaccessible. We've given the new number to the people that must be able to reach us if necessary (schools, doctor's offices, friends and family, etc.) but no one else. I can't tell you how nice it's been to have not had a single telemarketing phone call for the last month.
So when we move to Utah, I'll probably insist on a line in the house.
Does anyone else rely totally on cell phones? Do you prefer it?
And for a bonus question today, can anyone tell me what Utah builder makes this house?
I'm really wanting to see a floor plan for it, but don't know who builds it!
The easiest thing to do today would be to put up a list of Whitney Award winners and call it a day, but then I thought I'd have to go hunting for book covers and stuff (which is work, and ugh) and thought Rob might want to do it since he like started the Whitney Awards and then he might actually post. But if anyone's interested and hasn't seen it, you can read more about the Whitney Awards at Mormon Times. (Woot Stephanie!)
Recently we cancelled our phone. Our phone company provided our (supposedly) high speed internet and landline, long distance, cell phones, etc.
We've had serious issues with our extremely expensive internet service (including one two-week period of time we had no connectivity at all, but our phone company charged us for services anyway). After months and months of phone calls and technician visits, one technician finally revealed that we had a faulty server which was causing us to be unable to stay connected to the internet during times of high activity and made our services extremely slow. The company had no intention of replacing it because it would be too expensive.
My techie husband explored several options and decided on getting us Verizon air cards (we had to get two because we use the internet a lot) and two unlimited Cricket cell phones. The cost is exactly the same as what our phone company charged, but now we have a stable connection that always works.
He happily cancelled all of our services through our phone company (who were shocked, SHOCKED, that we would think for one second that they would ever allow us to have inferior hardware and could not, NOT, believe that we would even imply such a thing).
After this experiment, I think I prefer having access to a landline. I miss it - and the quality on my Cricket phone is not always the best (but is fine considering what we pay).
But there's been a certain degree of serenity that comes from being inaccessible. We've given the new number to the people that must be able to reach us if necessary (schools, doctor's offices, friends and family, etc.) but no one else. I can't tell you how nice it's been to have not had a single telemarketing phone call for the last month.
So when we move to Utah, I'll probably insist on a line in the house.
Does anyone else rely totally on cell phones? Do you prefer it?
And for a bonus question today, can anyone tell me what Utah builder makes this house?
I'm really wanting to see a floor plan for it, but don't know who builds it!
Sariah Wilson — 4/25/2010 06:37:00 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
It kinda looks like an Ivory Home. I hear they're a bit overpriced. Our house is a Liberty home and we've been happy with it. Just a little warning, though. If you're thinking of building in Utah, you can have the exterior of your new home in any color - as long as it's brown. All of the homes they're building in the field behind us are all various shades of brown.
I don't know if it's an Ivory home (I think my brother's building an Ivory home right now), but I'll check and see. Thanks for the tip!
And I'm so sad about the browness. I noticed that when I was there last month for my brother's wedding - my mom lives in Eagle Mountain and every single house in her neighborhood was some variation of brown. I don't get that. What's the thinking there? They all looked ugly.
Right now I have a pretty white house with green shutters. I'm going to be sad if I'm building a house and don't get to pick the colors!
I'm excited to hear about this moving-to-Utah thing.
We live in the "country" and had a $20 surcharge from our landline telephone provider. They claimed this was to help with the expensive cost of keeping up the lines. Though they refused to do maintenance until things are broken.
We cut ties and added a cell phone to our family plan to have as our "home phone" and we love it. The coverage is wonderful and our internet is a wireless connection that does not tie to the phones at all. Plus we save $50 a month!
It is nice that the telemarketers can't call.
We use only cell phones, but i wish we had a landline because I never rememeber to charge my phone, which never goes dead until someone calls. Then it goes from 3 bars to 0. It would be nice to have a phone that people could get a hold of us on that i could actually hear ringing!
Yeah, I'd say Ivory too.
As for phone lines, we've kept our land line, plus we have two cell phones for when we're not home. I have to admit, though, the one I use was furnished by my work.
It's not Ivory. I don't know what it is, but I'd guess it's custom.
My first guess was Ivory, but I agree with Rob that it has a lot of custom elements. You should check out Utah Parade of Homes. They have all the top builders and their homes listed there. You may run into this house on their website.
My friend just emailed me that her 2 year old had taken her phone again and could I call her so she could find it (they are only cell)
So I called and called and called and called and called.
Her husband called back. He had taken both phones by mistake but couldn't call her and tell her.
So he would text me so I could email her so she could email me so I could text him back.
I vote for the landline :)
Post a Comment
<< Home