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Replying To:
It's all becoming a matter of privacy ... (none / 0) (#1)
by RocDoc on Mon Aug 16, 2004 at 08:13:22 AM PDT

Ed, so many of your latest missives appear, to me, to really target personal security and privacy or loss thereof. In reading your latest on SMS messaging, I began to realize that I may have some possible insights to share -- things that I've discovered work for me. Follow along; it really is on topic as I do eventually comment on the SMS spam.

I've chosen to take a proactive approach to my personal security and privacy. The first step was to completely remove myself from the public telephone land-line system. I now use only a cell phone for voice telecommunications and a microwave broadband Internet connection for my digital telecommunication needs. The cost of trading land-line for wireless is within pennies of each other. I no longer have to put up with annoying solicitation calls on the voice system and I now run at 3-11Mbps instead of 35-48Kbps on digital (yes, that's right - up to 11Mbps, 7x faster than T1).

I also chose to sign up and use a pager service with voicemail as my contact (public) phone number, and use my cell phone number as my "backline" (private) number. All callers to my contact phone number are greeted with a pleasant auto-attendant and asked to leave a voice mail. The service then pages me so that I know I have voicemail to review. I call and check my messages and then return calls to my clients, customers, and friends.

I activate the call-id block on my cell phone so that I do not identify my cell phone number to those whom I call, and I use the cell phone's call-id to make a determination if I'll accept an incoming call on my "backline".

I choose not to use SMS services for the following reason: If it must be in writing, email is a better text messaging system, and if it's a small message, it's faster and more efficient to leave a voicemail. Therefore, no SMS spam worries! -= QED=-

The upshot to this proactive approach is:
    1. I no longer have to put up with unwanted (and annoying) telephone solicitations (I was getting between 12 - 30 a day on the land line system)
    2. I am able to respond to a customer or client's call immediately if I choose, regardless of my location (something I could not do with the land-line based system).
    3. I now have full control from whom I choose to accept messages, and have made it more difficult of solicitors to use their automated tools to bother me with unwanted and annoying ploys.
    4. The cost of the system is no more expensive than what I was paying before, and I have more flexibility, more control, faster Internet access, and less hassles!
    5. I can no longer be tracked by my cell phone if I leave it off, as cell phones are active response systems, always in contact with the closest tower, while the pager system I`ve chosen is a passive response system, only receiving the numeric message that is broadcast from all towers accessed by my provider.

Cost breakdown for my usage (your mileage may vary):
Before
    + Land-line local service monthly charge: $30
    + Land-line long distance monthly usage: $50
    + Dial-up Internet access monthly charge: $25
    =Total monthly fees: $105

After
    + Wireless national service (800 min. prime, unlimited night/weekend, long distance included) monthly charge: $50
    + Wireless national numeric paging service with voice mail and auto-attendant monthly charge: $10
    (these prices include cell phone & pager hardware)
    + Microwave Broadband Internet access monthly charge: $55
    = Total monthly fees: $115

I'm sure there will be many who disagree with me. Fine, we all have an opinion. As I stated up front -- This works for me!



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