Aren't you Americans fed up of being ripped off by your mobile phone companies?
- My first trip to the U.S. and within a few days I realised your getting a really crap deal on your phones
In the U.K. we operate on the sim card GSM which means getting a phone unlocked to take another companys sims is legal and a piece of cake.
Say I chose as a pay as you go customer to have 4 sims from 4 different providers I could, pay 10 pounds to top it up get some free minutes and free txts, no connection or activation charges and certianly no charges to reciece calls or txts.
Say I have a contract phone but want to carry a spare sim with for from another provider due to signal or coverage issues I can do that
In Germany it's actually illegal for the companies to lock phones!
But go to the states and you have to pay to recieve, pay a connection/activation charge, the phones can mostly only be used on that carrier and..well what gives..why do you tolerate such a protecionism market? I'm puzzled02-26-09 02:41 PMLike 0 - That's it I'm movin to the uk. Goodby verizon hello vodaphone. Oops oh wait nvr mind.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com02-26-09 03:35 PMLike 0 - just so you know... we have GSM here too... you say it like we dont have, or know what GSM is. if you have an unlocked phone, you can put in another sim. its almsot the same thing as in the UK. also, if you want to carry a spare SIM with you in the UK, you still have to pay for that too... you pay for service and the SIM... you pay for the service to go to the sim not to the phone really...02-26-09 03:41 PMLike 0
- The local providers where I am staying in south dakota for 3 months are alltel and verizon. I emailed both and both replied (1) we don't do sims sir and (2) your gsm will not work on our cdma networks..go figure
Of course I know you have sims in other parts of the states
Actually edition we do not pay, we get the operators sims for free and no connection charge. All we do is get the free sim, put 10 pounds on and wait to be activated(no charge) within about 2-3 hours and off you go, we have no daily charge, no charge for people to call us
although spotty youths posing as customer assistants in the mobile shop knowing nothing about thier product seems to be universal02-26-09 03:56 PMLike 0 - I think other things in life probably balance this out - fuel perhaps? We do live in rip off Britain after all! I'm travelling to the US on Wednesday and can't wait! I know the exchange rate isn't brilliant but I bet most things will work out cheaper in the end.
I do agree about the phone charge thing BTW, but we probably have a more expensive cost of living IMO.02-26-09 03:57 PMLike 0 - okay so you only pay when you use it? we have the same thing... its called "pay as you go" or "pre paid"...
you have alltel and verizon in your area and thats it? they are the same company now for 1... and 2... no att or tmobile? that sucks... they both have sims...
on att in south dakota they have some coverage... AT&T Coverage Viewer
and for tmobile... T-Mobile Coverage so they both do serve there... so heres what i suggest so you can feel at home...
sign up for tmobile... get a quad band phone. get it unlocked, or buy a phone online. then, get a prepaid att SIM as a back up to carry in your pocket. so then, you have the coverage of tmobile... and the emergency coverage of att in your pocket if you need it...
how does that work?02-26-09 04:07 PMLike 0 - Laura
I thought that too, I've never known such a restrictive mobile market with charges thrown in all over the place
as for the cost of living if you haven't been before, as I hadn't be ready for a suprise. Fuel yes is around $1.90 a gallon here but around $7.50 a gallonin the U.K. but on everything else they are about 25% more costly I have to say I was shocked
On the phone laura wherever you are going to check to see reception, cost's and extra cost's
Have a good holiday though. As a consumer it's a very exspensive country, as a tourist..it's a great place to visit02-26-09 04:11 PMLike 0 - I've been a number of times, we've always thought food in the supermarket was a little more expensive but generally we spend less. I think it's the fuel that really makes a difference, that reduces the cost of our holiday dramatically.
Thanks for the advice re coverage maps. We're going to Florida, I guess as I'm on T-Mobile UK I'll end up on T-Mobile there too. Will check tho, thanks!02-26-09 04:14 PMLike 0 -
- Edition thanks for the links
The Tmobile shows the area as A roaming area so roaming cost's being what they are are not practicable
As for the coverage for at&t they say the can't find my address I'm staying at from the zip then show a block where the address is, I click it..they say an error has occured...several times..helpfull
But Thanks anywayLast edited by just txt and calls mam; 02-26-09 at 04:31 PM.
02-26-09 04:21 PMLike 0 -
- Edition thanks for the links
The Tmobile shows the area as A roaming area so roaming cot's being what they are are not practicable
As for the coverage for at&t they say the can't find my address I'm staying at from the zip then show a block where the address is, I click it..they say an error has occured...several times..helpfull
But Thanks anyway
but thats weird it wont find your zip code on the att website... maybe there really isnt service in your area and they just dont want to tell you... hmm, oh well, sorry.02-26-09 04:23 PMLike 0 - 02-26-09 04:25 PMLike 0
- I'm hoping it's fun enough to distract from the pain! Plenty of water stations and my parents are coming too so should have a good time. I'm just looking forward to running through Cinderella's Castle02-26-09 04:27 PMLike 0
- im actually going to be at disney on tuesday.
the castle is huge. you cant go through the whole thing, but it is alot bigger than it looks on tv!
running through it will be pretty cool, expecially if its your first time.
try to stay a day and make some time for the rides!02-26-09 04:30 PMLike 0 -
-
- Take pics BEFORE U start the run then! Come on U got me intrigued as to what a Nottingham Minnie Mouse looks like LOL!03-01-09 01:19 PMLike 0
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Aren't you Americans fed up of being ripped off by your mobile phone companies?
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