My Phone(s)
Deep Thoughts
I grew up in the time of Ma Bell, party lines, long distance charges, operators, switchboards, crackling connections. etc! Once, Ma Bell symbolized the American Way; if Ma Bell wanted to raise rates, she did. If Ma Bell wanted to take away your rented phone (and they were all rented), she did. In truth, in the 1950s, Ma Bell could do pretty much whatever she wanted. There were no alternatives. None. Then the 1980s “Breakup” happened and Ma Bell became a series of Baby Bells and…well, here we are in a cellular world with no providers like those days of yesteryear. The EIGHT Baby Bells have morphed and re-morphed into only three: AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen. From one to eight to three. But no more party lines, no switchboards (with people), and few operators. And now everyone has a phone, a cell phone.
We, however, still have a “land line.” We don’t have copper wire like they did in Ma Bell’s day but rather glass or fiber cable that is somehow converted to a copper line after entering the house. I’m not sure why I ordered the service when we moved in. Well, actually I do. I have a fax machine which I now have used three times in the last two years.
You’re thinking I should dump my land line. I’ve thought of that, but the last time I tried to quit a Verizon sub-service, the person in India I was talking with increased my rates. I called India back, “Delete something and raise my rates,” I asked. “Yes,” they answered. I added the service again and my rate went back down.
If you need to send me a fax, please call me and I will switch the cable over to the fax machine and be poised to receive!!! But don’t wait too long to send your fax, the SPAM people are also poised to call and I’ll need to switch the cable back to the phone. I can’t leave the copper line snaking across hallways and bedrooms between the phone terminal and the fax machine. Smile.
Other than faxing, we do not use this land line. We don’t answer it…it’s always SPAM, some faceless bot or voice out there trying to sell me something that no one on the planet needs. But the thrice daily ringing comforts me and reminds me I’m a piece of a bigger society.