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Number of Cellphones Now Equal To Half the Human Species
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Nov 29, 2007 05:43 PM
from the now-if-we-could-only-get-them-implanted dept.
from the now-if-we-could-only-get-them-implanted dept.
netbuzz writes "A major milestone was reached today, according to communications industry analysts: there are now some 3.3 billion mobile phone accounts worldwide. Of course, it doesn't really mean half the world's population has a cell phone, since users in 59 countries average more than one per person. '"The mobile industry has constantly outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts for subscriber growth," Mark Newman, head of research at Informa said in a statement. "For children growing up today the issue is not whether they will get a mobile phone, it's a question of when," Newman said. In recent years the industry has seen surging growth in outskirts of China and India, helped by constantly falling phone and call prices, with cellphone vendors already eyeing inroads into Africa's countryside to keep up the growth.'"
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I have two (Score:3, Funny)
So there's only 0.5 cell phones? (Score:3, Insightful)
Or...did they mean half the human population?
Re:So there's only 0.5 cell phones? (Score:5, Funny)
See, this is why silly, pointless nitpicking isn't a sound strategy.
Parent
Anyway (Score:2, Interesting)
This is NOT about health problems (tumors, camncer, etc) which, even if there are some theories, there is NOTHING definitively proved. The prolem is more of a technical nature. The number of frequencies, interferences, garbage signals, etc is nowdays alarming.
And there are also theories that say that this chaos is contributing to the global warming
Next goal... (Score:5, Funny)
OCPC? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think this is what you meant by it, but cell phones are being used to jumpstart communications infrastructure in the third world. It's much cheaper to go wireless from the start than to build a grid. I would expect the ratio to jump tremendously in the coming decade. The greater part of Africa will probably be built upon a wireless paradigm in telephony.
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I, for one (Score:5, Funny)
I've hate telephones ever since I was in the Navy (Score:2, Insightful)
phones are useful, and I still use them, but I kind of cringe when I see
people driving and talking, or jaywalking and talking. And whenever I
happen to overhear a snippet of conversation is usually something like,
"Oh I'm on xyz street, where are you?"
I still need my quiet time, my time when I'm left alone, to think or chill.
Oh, and I'm not writing poetry with these line breaks. I spent many years
pounding on manual typewriters, and yea
Re: (Score:2)
I fail to see how it is different from driving a stick-shift with a friend in the car.
I agree completely (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
and in other news... (Score:3, Funny)
Better than landline infrastructure (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a reason this growth has happened and will continue.
Developing countries are going straight to cell networks rather than bothering with landlines. The infrastructure is far cheaper (no last-mile problem) andthe technology is more convenient for users. That's a win-win if ever there was one.
As still-mostly-undeveloped areas in Africa, Asia, and South America continue making progress, so will this industry. Time to go buy some stock.
And for those Luddites proudly proclaiming their cellphone-free status: Your position is nonsense. The cell phone is cheaper than your landline (if you get the right plan). And it comes with the ability to carry it, if you like. Here's a hint: you don't have to carry it all the time, and you don't have to have the phone or the ringer on if you don't want to. I think you all are just being willfully obtuse because you don't like the kind of people you associate with cellphones.
I haven't had a landline in nine years, since I got rid of dialup. I just can't see the point.
911 the only reason for land lines (Score:5, Informative)
If you have ever had an emergency, run for the nearest land line (or program the local police department's emergency number into your cell phone).
Just the other day at work, one of my co-workers collapsed on the floor and started convulsing (as we found out later from diabetic shock). Everyone in the immediate vicinity dialed 911 on their cell phones and got put in a queue (this is california and I think all 911's go to the state patrol first). I hung up the cell and picked up the nearest land line and dialed 911 and got a local 911 operator right away and she called for an ambulance which came about 5 minutes later. Next time, I'm going to reach for the land-line first...
Parent
Re:911 the only reason for land lines (Score:5, Informative)
If you've got to dial 911, use the closest fucking phone you can find (and do *not* leave the victim unless it's absolutely necessary).
It's also an egregious abuse of the system for everyone in the room to dial 911 simultaneously. Think about the implications you might be causing...
I can't find a shred of evidence anywhere stating that the 911 system today will intentionally route calls differently based upon if they were placed via a landline or a mobile phone. Given that there may be more than one PSAP [wikipedia.org] within an exchange, it's certainly possible that two nearby phones will get routed differently. However, it's both stupid and dangerous to suggest that based upon your one anecdotal experience, that there's a special low-priority 911 call center reserved for mobile phone users.
Thanks to E-911, you should hypothetically be routed to the call center nearest to the tower you're calling from. If the operator's got E-911 Phase II implemented, they'll even know your exact location. I've seen it in operation, and it's an absolutely fantastic system that has the very obvious potential to save many lives.
Given the spotty reliability of mobile phones in some buildings and rural areas, I'd agree that a landline is superior to a mobile phone if you have the two choices laid out directly in front of you. However, there's definitely no mobile-phone-punishment-queue at the 911 office.
(Another relevant tip that probably saved the life of a close friend: If you're traveling into the backcountry, make sure your party is carrying at least two phones. You get redundancy in case something happens to the guy carrying the phone, and the CDMA and GSM networks in the US often don't overlap in rural areas. Verizon/Sprint are CDMA, whilst AT&T, T-Mobile, and most of the rest are on GSM. You never know where you're going to get a signal, and carrying both types of phone will greatly increase your chances of finding one. This is also assuming you're not traveling alone, which is just plain reckless)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Are you saying that the 911 provider for the cell service is likely to put you in a queue, or that the mass number of cell phones caused a queue? If you mean it caused it, then at least one person who called got through.
There are some cases where a land line is not readily accessible. I have called 911 on a cell several times and have never been queued. One time was to report a hit + run. I was on the line reporting
Re:Better than landline infrastructure (Score:4, Insightful)
A. We can't afford another bill, no matter how "cheap" other people claim it to be.
or
B. We're sick to death of overhearing half of loud inconsiderate conversations on the bus, waiting for the bus, on the streat, in line at the store, etc. and can't fathom being that willfully obtuse to our fellow man.
I'd carry a celphone distruptor before I'd cary a celphone. No plans to hassle with, no monthly bills. Just the occasional battery and the certain knowledge of a little peace and quiet (or at least some reflected frustration) when some asshat starts bellowing NO NO YOU'RE BREAKING UP I CAN'T HEAR YOU AUGH in the middle of rush hour.
Parent
Re:Better than landline infrastructure (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, if I need to call 9-11 for an emergency I'm pretty much fucked. And I can see the benefits of Cell phone (and normal phone) use. I can trust that, with all the cell phones around in the world, I'll be able to find someone within 50 feet of me that has one I can use should the emergency need ever arise. So far, that assumption has proven to be quite true.
If it turns out not to be one day... well, th
Re: (Score:2)
Telcos suck as bad as the mobile companies! (Score:4, Interesting)
And the telcos constantly outperformed even the most dismal forecasts for subscriber growth by charging people for long distance service automatically because they didn't add a block onto their account (a $7 fee), they force them to have a telephone in order to get DSL, and they charge astronomical flat rates instead of going back to rate plans which are more reasonable for the amount of usage people require out of their landlines.
When my parents switched from having long distance on their landline (they have to get DSL as there's no cable where they just built) to use only their mobile phones I knew that time was up for the telcos.
More than one per person? (Score:2)
I love my phone to death and wouldn't dream of living without one, so I'm not the usual rabid anti-cellphone nutcase. But multiples??
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Some people have a personal cell phone and one for work that is owned by the company. Also cell phones have kind of replaced radios at many jobs (my office has 3 or 4 cellphones for people who go out and about).
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently, many teenagers here have two phones, one from each major network, because it's the most cost-effective way of supporting their hundreds-per-day text habit..
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Gentlemen, our end is nigh! (Score:5, Funny)
Number of cellphones : half the number of humans
Number of women : half the number of humans
Let's see, men can hardly give them pleasure for more than 10 minutes, and we hardly can be arsed to listen to them unless an instance of giving them barely 10 minutes of pleasure hasn't occurred yet. Cellphones can vibrate on demand for hours on end, and women enjoy talking to them for hours too!
Let's face it, we are obsoleted by our technology, and now that there is one cell phone available for every single woman, they no more have a reason to let us live! It's only a matter of time before their collective intelligence realises this and decides to do away with us and for good! We are doomed!! Our only hope of survival is to kill them one by one before they kill us all! WHY ARE YOU STILL SITTING ON YOUR DAMN CHAIR, GET UP AND GO KILL YOUR GIRLFRIEND BEFORE SHE KILLS YOU!!!
Oh, well, that's for the ones among us who have one, of course.. meh.
Fonejacker (Score:2)
The upcoming robot wars. (Score:3, Funny)
The future of computing (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I prefer to carry around a much more powerful bowling-ball sized computer atop my neck.
Re: (Score:2)
The reason that the PC did so well is widely accepted to be the platform's open nature, thanks to Compaq and the other IBM-PC clones. The hardware, operating system, and software were all, to the greatest reasonable extent, interoperable and interchangeable; this resulted in a thriving marketplace of ideas that drove the whole platform forward.
We haven't seen this in the cell phone world yet, especially in the US, because of the closed nature of the system. Up to the present, network carriers, cell phone
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Who uses more than one Cellphone? (Score:2)
As a person who's intentionally tried to avoid the devices (and thus owns none), I genuinely don't know why a person would ever need MORE than one. My choice not to own one is mostly due to stubborn anachronism, and I can see the usefulness of having one. But the article said that in some countries people on the average own more than one... why?
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milestone? (Score:3, Insightful)
well (Score:2, Funny)
Half (Score:3, Informative)
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I have one....I just don't give the number out.
Cuts down on the incomming calls....
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Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
Meat is murder!
(Seriously, I'm a vegetarian for health reasons, but now we're going to get modded as offtopic.)
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Re:Never had one, probably never will. (Score:5, Interesting)
My own anecdotal story was that I came in late to the cell phone game, and I originally cited similar reasons to your own. As someone who used to have to carry a pager for work, I used to call cell phones the new 'digital leash' and swore I had no use for them. And, perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, I don't really need one, seeing as how I was able to function without one for so many years. But now that I have one, I find it damn convenient.
Although I do know too many people who feel obligated to answer their phone every time it rings. The 'trick' for me is that I control the tool, rather than the other way around. Turn the ringer off, and set it for wiggle mode on specific numbers who don't abuse the privilege of being able to contact you directly.
Certainly a cell phone is a tool that's not for everyone, but I find both the ability to communicate with who I want when I want, and easy access to information (operator, I need an exit) are new abilities that have increased the quality of my life. Even simple pleasures, like being able to call the pizza place while on the way home from work. The more pedantic will claim that I could have merely called before I left work, and they're certainly correct. But, for me, the ability to be more spontaneous is entirely the point.
Parent
Re:Never had one, probably never will. (Score:4, Insightful)
I have a cell phone. It cost me $8.95. My minutes cost me $90 per year. Only my dad and my wife know the number, and both know I don't like being called. It doesn't mean I'm better (or worse) than anyone else, it just means I don't like being permanently connected a large number of distant (read: not my wife or dad) acquaintances and have no need to chat with anyone constantly.
Other people feel differently, and are perfectly happy to pay $50 a month in pursuit of their goal. My wife, for instance.
Parent
Re:Never had one, probably never will. (Score:4, Insightful)
Every thread will spin uncontrollably into previously unimaginable levels of stupidity.
Parent
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Here! (Score:3, Insightful)
Present and accounted for!
Land line. My cold, dead hands.
I don't wear a dog collar. I get great reception. Costs less. And my brain is not fuzzed out with the mind-control radiation.
Oh, they laugh. They all laugh! (Well, they don't do it to my face, cuz they know that a guy who speaks with my brand of conviction will only make them read a bunch of boring technical notes to prove his position while they only have colorful pamph