I have a general dislike of using the phone. I rarely make any calls - most of them are to my wife. I have a mobile, landline at home and a fixed line on my office desk.

My mobile phone bill is almost non-existent. I've thought about ditching it altogether, but there are times when it's useful for making/changing last-minute plans. However, I would one day like to do away with a gadget that I don't really need.

My handset of choice is an iPhone 3G that I bought off a colleague who was upgrading. I really only bought it because I was carrying around a mobile and iPod, and wanted to combine the two (I also had a bit of spare cash). I hacked (jailbroke/unlocked) the handset so I could use it on the carrier of my choice, Virgin Mobile, and I don't have any kind of data plan or contract - if I want to go online I use wi-fi or my computer. In honesty, it's wasted on me.

I received an e-bill earlier today.

The balance of 1.03 will be taken by Direct Debit on or immediately after 21/02/2011.

This is for the last three months, and is not even unusually low. I think the lowest has been 55p, for a month in which I made not a single call.

This time I made two calls and sent eight texts. I sometimes find it funny when people spend their days glued to their phones, texting away as if their lives depended on it, as I've never been one for that.

I'm not holding this up as a virtue; it's just the way I am. Half the time the phone stays in my bag and I don't see voicemail messages or texts until a few days after they're sent. My wife - infinitely more sociable than I - despairs.