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Pastimes : Where the GIT's are going -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (156263)	12/27/2007 4:16:33 PM
From: Ken Adams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 225578

Since I retired, I don't come close to using those 1000 minutes per month. I asked about changing plans and was told I have been grandfathered in on the current plan and they don't even offer it anymore... at any price. Changing to fewer minutes would actually cost more per month. So, now I just use the heck out of the cell service. I get free long distance. With both kids and my brother out of state, I often rack up hour long LD calls and still never get close to 1000 minutes.

To: KLP who wrote (156263)	12/27/2007 4:28:01 PM
From: Alan Smithee	Respond to of 225578

Oh geeze....I hate to ask, but know the GITS will tell me....What's a GSM provider, an unlocked phone, and a SIM card? From Wiki: GSM: Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM Association, estimates that 82% of the global mobile market uses the standard [1]. GSM is used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories.[2][3] Its ubiquity makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are digital call quality, and so is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This has also meant that data communication were built into the system using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Some US carriers are GSM (AT&T, formerly cingular). Not Sprint, which is CDMA. Locked / unlocked phone: A 'SIM Lock' or Network Lock, not to be confused with PIN or PUK code, is a capability built-in to GSM phones by mobile phone manufacturers. Network providers use this capability to restrict the use of these phones to specific countries and network providers. Currently, phones can be locked to accept only SIM cards from one or more of the following: * Countries (the phone will work in one country, but not another) * Network/Service providers (e.g. T-Mobile, Movistar, Vodafone etc) * SIM types (i.e. only specific SIM cards can be used with the phone). Most carriers lock their phones so they work only on that carrier's network. There are ways to "unlock" the phone so it will work on any GMS network. You just need an account with the network in question. Going with an unlocked phone eliminates the requirement you run up against where companies lock you into a two year service commitment if they sell you a discounted phone. SIM Card: A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is part of a removable smart card ICC (Integrated Circuit Card), also known as SIM Cards, for mobile cellular telephony devices such as mobile computers and mobile phones. SIM cards securely store the service-subscriber key (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber. The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device. I store my phone numbers on the SIM card instead of on phone memory. That way, if I pull the card and insert in another phone, I will have all my data and not have to reinput it. By way of example, I have a locked Motorola Razr phone, with AT&T as my provider. The phone is locked to only work with the ATT network. If I unlocked the phone (not sure how to do it but it can be done, it will work on any GSM network of my choosing (but I would need to have an account with that network and a SIM card associated with the network). If I go to Europe, I can open an account and get a SIM card that I can insert in my now-unlocked phone and can use it in Europe. When I get back to town I reinsert my ATT SIM card and the ATT Network recognizes the phone as belonging to its network. Most cell carriers in the US offer phones at a discount, but then they require you to sign a two year contract during which you get penalized if you drop or if you want to upgrade your phone. Rather than get one of these discounted phones, I think it's better to buy an unlocked GSM phone and then just plug in the SIM card into it. Examples of what can be had are on E-bay: cgi.ebay.com cgi.ebay.com cgi.ebay.com So... Enough information for you?