On Wed, July 5, 2006 11:28 pm, Bill Pitz said:
>
> 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.
I did some reading last night and ran across the same thing. From what I saw
of unlocking, it appears to involve opening the phone and re-flashing the
firmware. Sounds like a good way to brick the phone to me.
> Some providers (not sure about all of them) will actually give you the
> unlock code if you have a decent reason.
I'm guessing Primus won't be very helpful. They have extensive roaming
agreements in the US. They're the ones who collect the $1.00 per minute of
roaming charges, even after they pay the US networks that's gotta translate to
extra profit for them. The odds are quite small that they'll be very
interested in helping me figure out how to avoid paying them money.
> 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.
A-ha! That's very good to know, thanks. I also remembered T-Mobile, I'll
have to see what they use. It's been too long since I lived in the states,
none of those companies even existed in 1997 (at least not in Utah). I had
assumed it was like up here, where all of the major cell companies offer every
kind of network service.
> 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.
Yep, our current Ericsson T610s are GSM phones. I Googled Norah's old Nokia
6185, and it turns out it's a CDMA phone. It's just been sitting idle on a
shelf for the past two years, for no reason other than I keep forgetting to
give it away. I'm thinking I'll charge it up and bring it along. Between the
two of them, I should be able to figure something out. I think once we get
there I'll look up the stores for the various cell companies (or one store
that deals with everyone) and take the phones in to see if they can figure
something out. I'd rather use my regular phone since it's smaller and the
extra phone also means an extra charger, but it's not a huge deal.
It would be nice to have a local number for stuff like calling Jim and
gloating about what he's missing out on, er, I mean keeping him updated, or
talking to my parents when they get in to the area, or calling the forest
service for fire updates, or I'm sure dozens of other things I haven't even
thought of yet. Anyone who wanted to reach us for whatever reason would have
to call back to Ontario Canada even though we might be only half a mile away,
which seems silly to me. But, if I can't figure out a solution for less than
$30-40 total, I'll just pay the roaming. No sense in spending lots of money
to save a little money.
Makes me wonder when the phone system is going to get with the times and come
up with a floating nationwide area code where the long distance is figured on
where your cell phone actually is at the moment, rather than where you bought
it.
-- Jason Bleazard http://drazaelb.blogspot.com Burlington, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black. . .------------------------------------------------------------------. | Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! | | Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net | `------------------------------------------------------------------'
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