Jason Bleazard wrote:
> On Wed, July 5, 2006 3:16 pm, jon@dakota-truck.net said:
>> I was going to suggest getting a tracphone or something like that at
>> Wal-Mart, but then of course you'd have to buy the phone which you don't
>> want to do.
>
> Unless they're cheap. Most of the pre-paid phones I've seen are something
> like $150 to buy the phone, but it's been a while since I looked.
The really crummy ones are usually less than that.
> I'm pretty sure old phones that people have sitting in their drawer can be set
> up on pre-paid accounts, which avoids buying the phone. Seems like they
> should be able to set mine up with a different SIM card pretty easily.
> Unfortunately, "pretty easily" from a technological point of view usually
> doesn't fit with "pretty easily" from a marketing point of view.
Assuming the phone type is the same as the prepaid network, then yes,
it's not a problem to do that. The problem with SIM card based phones
(i.e. all GSM based phones) is that 9 times out of 10 when the phone is
purchased from the cell provider it is "locked" so that the phone will
not accept any other provider's SIM cards. There are unlocking services
and related things floating around on the web, but they are questionable.
Some providers (not sure about all of them) will actually give you the
unlock code if you have a decent reason. Cingular gave me the unlock
code for my phone when I told them I would be traveling to West Africa
where they a.) have no coverage and b.) have no roaming arrangements.
That in theory makes it possible to purchase prepaid SIM cards (which
are incredibly popular in almost all areas except North America).
> Next question... who are the major cell phone carriers in Colorado? I'm
> guessing Verizion, who else?
The big two nationwide are Verizon and Cingular. You should know that
Verizon is CDMA-based (no SIM cards) and Cingular is GSM-based (SIM
cards). CDMA phones will not work on a GSM network and vice versa.
Since you mentioned a SIM card, you should probably call Cingular and
see if they will set you up temporarily with a prepaid account for use
while you are in the states. The only remaining question then will be
whether or not your GSM phone is "locked." There aren't really any good
generic ways to find out other than to insert a SIM card from another
provider and see if it works.
-Bill
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