OT Re: Cell phone opinions/options

[ward at pong.be (Ward Vandewege)]

On Sun, Nov 27, 2005 at 12:53:34PM -0500, Rich Braun wrote:
> Footnote:  just because GSM stands for "global" system for mobility doesn't
> mean your American (or Thai or Latin-American) GSM phone can be used anywhere
> other than the country where you bought it.  Assume that you will need a
> different phone every time you cross a border; even if you're willing to pay
> $2/min for roaming, your phone may not get a signal anyway.

Ah, but avoiding the $2/min roaming charges when abroad is just a matter of:

a) unlocking the phone (or buying a phone _without_ a plan, which means it
won't be locked into a specific provider)
b) getting a local (prepaid) SIM card

Unlocking is (for Nokia phones) usually just a matter of typing a sequence of
numbers into the handset.

If you do get the phone through a provider, that provider might be willing to
unlock the phone for you (after a while). T-Mobile, for instance, has a
policy where they will unlock the phone once you are 6 (?) months into your
plan.  It's just a matter of calling them.

But it's more fun to do it yourself ;) Just google for your phone model +
unlock...

Local prepaid SIM cards are usually quite easy to find. They will save you a
lot of money if you get incoming calls from the US, for instance. Of course,
your number will be different while you're abroad.

Ward.

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