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Question for people who use cell-phone text messaging ...
Do cell phones save your old text messages so that you can retrieve and read them even if you don't have reception? Or do you need to be able to connect to your service provider to read a saved message? Actually, come to think of it, a voice message might work better in this instance, so are voice messages -- after you've retrieved and listened to them, of course -- saved locally or on some kind of server somewhere?
(It's for something I'm writing, of course. I don't have a cell and don't know enough about how they work!)
ETA: Question answered, thank you!
(It's for something I'm writing, of course. I don't have a cell and don't know enough about how they work!)
ETA: Question answered, thank you!
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Voice mail depends on the phone - some phones save it on the phone (my Japanese cell did, at least; I'm not sure about US phones...); others save it on a server, so that you need a connection to call your voicemail box.
(Cell phones make life more convenient, but are so inconvenient for writers - I keep realizing this watching Buffy; there's multiple episodes with problems that would be easily solved with easy lines of communication...)
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(Cell phones make life more convenient, but are so inconvenient for writers - I keep realizing this watching Buffy; there's multiple episodes with problems that would be easily solved with easy lines of communication...)
LOL, I know. It's been really interesting to see cell phones get integrated into so many shows over the last few years, from SPN to NCIS! And it's something I have to constantly keep in mind when I'm writing, especially since I grew up without cell phones and still don't have one myself, so I have to remind myself that most of the rest of the world does ...
In a way, though, it's a "six of one, half a dozen of the other" situation for a writer. On the one hand, there are a ton of old standby plots that no longer work in their classic form without taking cells into account. On the other hand, it means that we have to think more carefully about those old plots and write them in new, fresh ways -- and cell phones open up whole new avenues for complicating the plot in fresh and interesting ways, as well!
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And yes, cells do make for new plots and new ways to construct action! ...when you're kidnapping/injuring/stranding a char, you always gotta figure out how to take care of the cell-phone! :P
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Yeah, much the same situation as with the gates, radios and subcutaneous transmitters on SGA, where half of the plots seem to involve making them fail to work for some reason. *g* (Star Trek had a similar issue with transporters ... how many planets had mysterious radiation that interfered with their beaming technology and communicators, anyway? Hee!)
But going back to using the technology to create new plot possibilities, you can always have the cell phones still work while a convenient blizzard/hurricane/monsoon prevents the search & rescue teams from getting there, so you can do the whole "angsting over the radio" thing ... *g*
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Anyway, thank you; from a plot standpoint, this is pretty much what I was hoping for, since it means I don't have to rewrite that scene. *g*
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Unless it's a phone like the iPhone, with visual voicemail. Best invention ever. It downloads the voicemail to the phone, you can choose which voicemail to listen to, rewind, fast forward, etc. serious love going on with that visual voicemail.
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All these answers are making me kinda want to write something in which cell phones play a major role in the plot (as opposed to a brief, minor scene, as is the case here *g*).
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