Telstra Towers

I was hot enough under the collar before about over use of mobile phones and use in inappropriate places but now to hear that Telstra can just march into one's property and install a mobile phone tower if they want without your permission is just grotesque!
Sure there has to be some sort of leverage that allows for sensible expansion of our communications network but to allow a company carte blanche to choose whatever site they want is dreadful, particularly in residential areas.
There are so many issues here, firstly safety. It is all very well for some middle management lackey from Telstra to appear on television saying that there is no clear evidence that mobile phones and mobile phone towers are dangerous, when in fact the greater amount of evidence that is building up world wide suggests that mobile phones and their towers etc DO contribute to various health issues. These towers could well be dangerous and isn't better to err on the side of safety and anyway even if they are not so dangerous, who in the right mind would want one on their doorstep?
Then of cause there is the issue of how these things look. These towers are ugly and contribute nothing to a residential landscape. Why should anyone have to put up with these ugly edifices on their property?
Then of course what happens when Telstra is totally privatised? Imagine how it will act then?

No this authority must be revoked or altered to allow for sensible use of such powers and certainly exclude residential areas.

Governments need to clamp down on mobile phone drivers

I really don't won't to sound like a "grumpy old man" as suggested by some-one recently BUT as I was sitting outside my favourite coffee shop the other day, a car screeched around the corner and proceeded down the street a little way, all the while driving very erratically then swung unexpectedly into a U turn and came back zig zagging all over the road. I thought to myself that that person shouldn't have a licence, let alone be allowed on the road when as they drew near all was explained. The driver was talking on a mobile phone and driving with one hand!
Truly these people are an absolute menace and need to be taken off the road. Our road toll is horrendous enough as it is without having these maniacs driving around!

Talking on phone whilst driving

Well they are at it again....Drivers talking on the phone whilst driving. I haven't entered anything over the past few days as I don't want to sound like I am on a mission against mobile phones but after nearly being killed (yet again) and witnessing several idiots I think it is time to vent my spleen on this issue once more.Last night crossing on a pedestrian crossing (I was halfway across the crossing) a driver came along speeding down a hill all the while chatting on the phone, obviously didn't see the pedestrian crossing or me and sailed blithely through narrowly missing me. There is no way a driver under normal circumstances would have missed seeing me, in fact the car behind him looked shocked at what had almost happened. The simple fact is that talking on a phone whilst driving is seriously dangerous and distracting. There needs to be some way of punishing the people who insist on doing this rather than just a simple fine. I think that we are already way too over loaded in legislation but on this issue I believe that removal of a drivers license for a minimum of 6 months once caught (regardless of 1st offence etc) would be a good deterrent. This is just too serious an issue to allow go unattended for much longer. Another incident I witnessed last week was a driver zapping along talking on the phone when suddenly without any type of warning "chucked a U turn" , all the while talking on the phone, didn't check to see if there was anyone coming, luckily there wasn't, but the driver then screeched off in the new direction still talking on the phone. Is that good driving?The road toll here in Australia is bad enough as it is without allowing this lunatics to continue to litter our roads and potentially cause untold grief and damage.

SMS - can cause problems

I have also discovered that texting is not without it's problems too. Several times lately, I have sent SMS messages and have not received a reply. So naturally one then spends the money on a phone call only to be told (sometimes a day later) that the SMS has never arrived. One SMS arrived a day and a half later. So much for instant messaging!

Mobile phones - a help or a hindrance?

I am really not a luddite, I just think that I am over the mobile phone craze. Admittedly I was amongst the first to go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on a mobile phone when they came out and yes I was amongst the first to pay ludicrous amounts on the phone bill but I just had to have one.
Now? I think not. I am not exactly ready to give my phone up entirely but I am reviewing it's use and question it's over use in society.
Having survived too many examples of excessive phone use I think that I have had enough! To name a few: several close encounters with death thanks to people driving and talking/sms-ing whilst driving, countless bus/train trips with people talking at the top of their voices about the most mandane and boring details of their lives on their phones, nearly being knocked off the pavement by people texting whilst they are walking, not looking where they are going and worst of all the person who insists on taking that call at their table in a restaurant/cafe then dominates the entire restaurant with their conversation
Do we really need to be constantly available. Who amongst us is SO important that we MUST make or take that call particularly those people who drive and talk/text? Surely no conversation is that important that it is worth risking your life or the life of some-one else?
I have yet to hear a phone conversation ( no - I am NOT eaves dropping, you can't with most mobile phone users, they all scream down the phone, in fact many of them don't even NEED a phone, they can be heard for miles around!) that is worth the price of the call let alone been so vital that the person couldn't wait until they left the bus/train or had time to pull the car over to the side of the road?
Mobile phones can be great tools in many instances such as assisting in business, keeping families in touch, for emergencies etc but I believe that we have fallen victim to clever marketing by telecommunication companies that want to grow their mobile phone business. Learn to let the phone go through to messagebank, or even better learn to turn the phone off, it won't kill you, in fact it may even save your life!