Just last week, I broke the sim card in my phone. Suddenly, I was left without phone access. I was due an upgrade on my contract, so I ordered it online and waited for the delivery. To cut a long story short, it never came, and eight days later, I still didn’t have a phone. In the meantime, I had to make do with different ways of getting in touch with people. With no landline phone in the house, I resorted to a few other means of communication.
https://pixabay.com/en/social-media-blocks-blogger-488886/
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Social Media
A great way to stay in contact with no phone access is to go straight to social media. Most people at least have a Facebook account these days, and the integrated messenger is a great way to talk. It’s not as good as having a phone to hand, but it will at least let people know that you’re safe. You can actually call via Facebook anyway, including video calling features. As long as you’ve got internet access, this is a great solution.
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=70683&picture=mundo-email
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Email
Not everyone uses social media, especially in the case of the elderly. However, anyone who has a computer surely has access to email, right? You can at least send an email to those people who will be affected by your loss of phone access and inform them about it. It’s not the best way to have a back-and-forth conversation, but at least you can put people in the picture.
https://pixabay.com/en/skype-woman-computer-laptop-home-835470/
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Internet Calling
As long as you’ve got a good internet connection, there are all sorts of services to help you make calls over the internet. Most of them are free but require someone else to have access to that internet calling software as well. I really needed to call UK landline numbers, so I searched for the cheapest Skype credits for reload. It didn’t cost much and using the Skype app on my broken phone allowed me to still make calls to whomever I desired.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/laptop-computer-on-a-wooden-desk-6355/
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Free Text Services
Do a quick search online and you’ll come across free services that allow you to send text messages to people. Now, I’m going to be honest here: I don’t know how good they are. I’m not quite sure how they can allow this service to be free, so reliability is certainly a question to ponder. Still, if you’re in an emergency and you really need to text someone, it might be a good idea to try and use one of these services. Just read the small print first.
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Going To See People!
Losing phone access is sometimes a great reason to go and see people. If you can’t get in touch, what better way to let them know you’re OK than to go and visit them? Get in the car and go and pay a visit. They’ll be glad you made the effort to stop by, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.
Isn’t technology amazing? Even when we don’t have phone access, there are so many ways to keep in touch.
