OT Re: Cell phone opinions/options

[Scott Ehrlich]

At some point, all systems will be digital.  AMPS/analog will go away.
 Then it will be CDMA coverage vs GSM coverage.   Plus, AMPS offers no
security - your number can be cloned if someone listening captures the
appropriate info from your phone.   CDMA and GSM have inherit
security.

How often has anyone gone to the middle of nowhere and actually
received a usable analog signal?   It would be interesting to compare
signal capability on an analog system in the middle of nowhere vs a
ham radio signal to the nearest repeater, or even simplex.

Scott, WY1Z


On 11/28/05, Mark J. Dulcey <mark at buttery.org> wrote:
> nmeyers at javalinux.net wrote:
> > On Sun, Nov 27, 2005 at 01:35:36PM -0500, Mike Gorse wrote:
> >> I originally only got this thing for emergencies, and now I'm stuck paying
> >> $47/month for it.  Are there other companies that offer lower prices than
> >> what I'm paying?  Perhaps I should look into some of the prepaid phones?
> >
> > I picked up a bunch of brochures for prepaid plans yesterday, looking for
> > an alternative to that seemingly large monthly bill for phones my wife
> > and I badly underutilize. Most of the choices are quite costly when you
> > work out all the details, although TracFone looked like a decent deal
> > if you buy the right goodies up-front.
> >
> > In general, these services seem to be marketed at those too poor
> > to partake in the credit economy. Like furniture rental stores and
> > check-cashing outlets, they end up charging you dearly for the privilege.
>
> T-Mobile To Go is a pretty good deal if you can live with the coverage
> limitations of the T-Mobile network. You can buy a 1000 minute prepaid
> card for $100, and the minutes last for a year. (The smaller cards
> aren't as good a deal, so go for the $100 card.) Their least expensive
> phones sell for about $50, or you can use your own unlocked GSM phone
> with 1900 MHz coverage if you have one.
>
> The biggest drawback of T-Mobile is that GSM phones have no analog
> capability, so if you're ever in an emergency in the extreme boonies,
> the phone will be useless. You might be able to force the phone to do a
> 911 call through Cingular, if you're in range of a tower with digital
> service (which should be most of theirs by now).
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