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A TV is something which is nice to have, but not essential. A phone is needed for calls, which are essential. Try fixing a billing problem or banking problem wi

• thinkingemote 6y ago
  When I was a lad our phone initially was a pay phone. I think the landlord was able to set the rate. It was free to receive calls. My grandparents had a phone which only allowed incoming calls (which my older cousins did a type of phone phreaking on to call out, or at least pretended to!)
• Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  If you just need to make simple phone calls, there are very inexpensive feature phones you can buy outright. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a trivial purchase—far too much of the country (never mind the world) lives in poverty—but it's not something anyone in the US would pay in installments.
• srtjstjsj 6y ago
  "Phones" are also dirt cheap. High-end mobile camera-computers are expensive. The government can give phones away if they want to (and they do), no need to ban other arrangements.
  • ClumsyPilot 6y ago
    "no need to ban other arrangements." No cost benefit analysis neede? By this logic we would still have endentured servitude and child labour, after all they are just "other arrangements"
• ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  A smartphone is essential for life today, claiming otherwise means you live in fantasyland. A smartphone is required for thousands of essential services, up to the point where EU citizens need one to claim their right to reside in UK after brexit. I needed it to open a bank account. During covid you have to leave details in every restaraunt using a smartphone for contact tracing.