Monorail! Monorail!
That's what some Dawson residents will be demanding next but the issue of the day is cell phones.
I was 25 km out of town at 6:30 yesterday when I found out that the information session for the public about said cell service was taking place at 7pm in town. I drove perhaps slightly faster than I should have but we made it just in time.
YTG and Lattitude Wireless set up this information session last night because Dawson has been their coldest reception in the Yukon so far. The tower was supposed to be up and we were supposed to have service by now but there are so many of us that are up in arms about it that the town has not yet granted them the lease for the tower. The room was definately split, it seemed, three ways. Those who want cell phones (only one woman spoke up about it though), those of us who don't want cell phones, and those who want "the best bang for the buck" (I'm not sure of the man's name who said that).
Proponents for the service argue that it would be good for business and tourism, but the arguement against that is that the service will be so limited (due to our hilly terrain? and our tin roofs?). There is one very good arguement for cell service and that is that apparently it will improve our emergency services in that they will be able to do things like take pics of the patients and send them ahead, as well as cardiac info, etc. This is a good arguement, but even some of those on the ambulance team don't see it as being a huge benefit. One lady argued that they are within 5 minutes of the nursing station anywhere that the service would work anyway.
Then there are the miners. They want the service, and with good reason. They are often in the middle of nowhere up the klondike valley but....with the one tower we are getting the Klondike Valley won't get service. And honestly, with less than 2000 residents, are they going to be able to generate enough revenue to build more? YTG is subsidizing this one for the emergency services.
Then there's the rest of us. If you'd been listening to CBC north on the radio this morning you would have heard both Scott and myself saying that we don't want it! We moved here because Dawson is one of the last places left without cell phones and the like. We have boardwalks and unpaved streets. We're a National Historical Site for goodness sake! We are not the only ones who feel that way. There were a few, much better spoken, people there last night who agreed with us (they should have been interviewed for the radio): We just don't want them.
We live in a wonderful community with the key word being community. Cell phones contribute to an individualized society. We don't want that. Where are we gonna go? Old Crow is on the list for Cell Service! I don't understand: why can't they leave just us few northern communities who don't want it (I'm making an assumption about Old Crow). People who desperately want cell phones have an infinite amount of choice as to places to live. What about those of us that don't want it?
Please comment with your opinion. Would the world be a better place without cell phones? Should we have to have them? Are the proponents right? That if we don't want them then we just shouldn't buy them? That implies that it won't affect us but when the car accidents increase and our kids stop talking to each other because they can talk to other people on their cell phones; when we are in a restaurant or a meeting somewhere and the stupid sound of someones phone being turned on to take pictures or just ringing is driving us nuts, that surely affects us. Some of you may recall that I worked at a call centre for AT&T wireless taking technical support calls. I know the hassles that come with those things. And in case nobody in town noticed- there's a free phone behind the school! Who needs cell phones at $35-$200 a month? Not to forget the roaming charges. They didn't touch on that at all. Funny.
JUST SAY NO TO CELL PHONES!!!
I was 25 km out of town at 6:30 yesterday when I found out that the information session for the public about said cell service was taking place at 7pm in town. I drove perhaps slightly faster than I should have but we made it just in time.
YTG and Lattitude Wireless set up this information session last night because Dawson has been their coldest reception in the Yukon so far. The tower was supposed to be up and we were supposed to have service by now but there are so many of us that are up in arms about it that the town has not yet granted them the lease for the tower. The room was definately split, it seemed, three ways. Those who want cell phones (only one woman spoke up about it though), those of us who don't want cell phones, and those who want "the best bang for the buck" (I'm not sure of the man's name who said that).
Proponents for the service argue that it would be good for business and tourism, but the arguement against that is that the service will be so limited (due to our hilly terrain? and our tin roofs?). There is one very good arguement for cell service and that is that apparently it will improve our emergency services in that they will be able to do things like take pics of the patients and send them ahead, as well as cardiac info, etc. This is a good arguement, but even some of those on the ambulance team don't see it as being a huge benefit. One lady argued that they are within 5 minutes of the nursing station anywhere that the service would work anyway.
Then there are the miners. They want the service, and with good reason. They are often in the middle of nowhere up the klondike valley but....with the one tower we are getting the Klondike Valley won't get service. And honestly, with less than 2000 residents, are they going to be able to generate enough revenue to build more? YTG is subsidizing this one for the emergency services.
Then there's the rest of us. If you'd been listening to CBC north on the radio this morning you would have heard both Scott and myself saying that we don't want it! We moved here because Dawson is one of the last places left without cell phones and the like. We have boardwalks and unpaved streets. We're a National Historical Site for goodness sake! We are not the only ones who feel that way. There were a few, much better spoken, people there last night who agreed with us (they should have been interviewed for the radio): We just don't want them.
We live in a wonderful community with the key word being community. Cell phones contribute to an individualized society. We don't want that. Where are we gonna go? Old Crow is on the list for Cell Service! I don't understand: why can't they leave just us few northern communities who don't want it (I'm making an assumption about Old Crow). People who desperately want cell phones have an infinite amount of choice as to places to live. What about those of us that don't want it?
Please comment with your opinion. Would the world be a better place without cell phones? Should we have to have them? Are the proponents right? That if we don't want them then we just shouldn't buy them? That implies that it won't affect us but when the car accidents increase and our kids stop talking to each other because they can talk to other people on their cell phones; when we are in a restaurant or a meeting somewhere and the stupid sound of someones phone being turned on to take pictures or just ringing is driving us nuts, that surely affects us. Some of you may recall that I worked at a call centre for AT&T wireless taking technical support calls. I know the hassles that come with those things. And in case nobody in town noticed- there's a free phone behind the school! Who needs cell phones at $35-$200 a month? Not to forget the roaming charges. They didn't touch on that at all. Funny.
JUST SAY NO TO CELL PHONES!!!
posted by Scott at 10:45 AM
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