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US/Canadian gsm users? |
decoy7
Joined: Feb 06, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: NW London
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Question for any US or Canadian users especially in the New York/Toronto areas:
do they have prepaid simcards available there, if so how much? ...these are simcards sold on their own which have a phone number and you just put them in your phone and buy calling credit...no monthly bills.
can you send sms text messages to users abroad?
every now and then i travel abroad and i like to keep my roaming options open. |
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jamojdm
Joined: Jan 13, 2002
Posts: 290
From: Manchester - UK
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Yes do you have pay as you go in the US?
I remember talking to someone i know who lived in america and he said you have contracts where you will get 1000mins a month for $50 and the minutes are for outgoing and incomming calls!!! Do you really have to pay to recieve a call?? I can understand paying for recieveing calls when roaming in another country but when in your own country it seems stupid.
Please could someone clarify this for me
Jamo |
decoy7
Joined: Feb 06, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: NW London
PM |
i'm talking about a deal where you pay roughly $20 for a sim card that has a phone number and you buy top up cards to add credit to your account but your not contracted to pay monthy or for 12 months minimum
1. what network offers it
2. how much for the sim card
3. calls cost and any minimum charges incurred etc.
no timewasters or tyre kickers please. |
jamojdm
Joined: Jan 13, 2002
Posts: 290
From: Manchester - UK
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I know what your talking about, I was just extending your question, I was saying i have never heard of pay as u go sim cards in the states, and believe me i've looked!!
Jamo |
gomichaelkgo
Joined: Nov 30, 2001
Posts: 183
From: Portland OR, USA
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From www.voicestream.com, a US 1900 GSM carrier (owned by T-mobile). The rates don't look cheap, do they? Generally, prepaid phone plans are used by those with bad credit in the US, as the rates are so steep.
EasyspeakTM Prepaid Service by VoiceStream
No Monthly Service Fee; No Activation Fee; No Contract; No Credit Check
Easyspeak Prepaid cards are available at any VoiceStream store and many authorized retailers. To keep your phone active just purchase a card and get the following rates:
Refill
Card Minutes Expiry
$10 25 Minutes 15 days
$25 100 Minutes 30 days
$50 250 Minutes 60 days
$100 500 Minutes 60 days
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Harleydog
Joined: Nov 06, 2001
Posts: 417
PM |
Paying for incoming calls is a US GSM and every other carrier phenomenon. I bet VS would increase their customer base 100 fold if like in europe you did not have to pay for incoming calls.
It is ridiculous, but this standard has been set by the other carriers, where you pay for air time |
mercedes4ever
Joined: Dec 11, 2001
Posts: 37
PM, WWW
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I have prepaid VoiceStream service. In the past, I could not send any SMSs to phones outside the US. A couple of months ago, I sent a message to a friend in Bahrain and he received it, but when he replied, I did not get it. Now however, I am able to send and received messages. I also tried to phone in UK and it works. However, I sent to Denmark but they didn't receive it. But they're gradually improving since their take-over by Deutch Telecom.
Yes, you get charged for both outgoing and incoming calls. I buy a $25 refill that lasts for a month and it give me $37. Rates are $0.30 for local outgoing calls and $0.99 for long distance. Incoming calls are charged at $0.30 when you are in your local area, no matter where the call is originating from. SMSs are free to receive and $0.10 per outgoing message. There is no status report service.
You get caller ID, call waiting, and voice mail. However, you are restricted from changing call forwarding settings, so you're stuck with voice mail if call waiting is off and someone calls or when no reply or unreachable (phone off or no service).
I don't use the phone much for calling, so it's an affordable solution. It is great for messaging, which is what I use it for most of the time. |
dondori
Joined: Feb 12, 2002
Posts: 199
From: Toronto & Middle East
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Hi everyone,
i am posting from toronto, i hope this info is any of help to any of you.
Our prepaid system on GSM in toronto is different from what any of u expect.
Basically, you cannot get prepaid on GSM yet, however, they are still working on it and will be available soon,
I speak from experience, i work at a mobile communication store in toronto for "Rogers AT&T Wireless.". what we have as prepaid now are regular TDMA cell phones, not GSM, however, we do have GSM phones on regular monthly plans.
I hope this has clarified your requests.
regards, to u all. |
T.L.
Joined: Feb 22, 2002
Posts: 34
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Hey All,
This is a great site I visit it everytime I get the chance, never really posted anything until now. I live in Toronto and own a T68, Esato is one of the only sites I refer to for information about my phone cuz not much ppl here have the slightest idea about this phone.
Wanted to clearify the situation for Decoy7 and the above post. In Canada, or more specifically in Toronto if you want to go pay as you go GSM there is basically only one choice Fido. Rogers AT&T has only started to get into the GSM system whereas Fido has been GSM as long as they have been around. Basically all you have to do with Fido is buy there sim card for $25 Canadian and fill it up with air time vouchers that come in $10, $25 and $50 amounts. No commitment cuz no contract necessary. Just wanted to add a note: Rogers AT&T has traditionally stuck to the TDMA system cuz all their other competitors work on a TDMA system as well. Having been with every major privider (as well as minor) I pretty much have a pretty clear idea of exactly what the market is like. Hope it helps you out Decoy7, if not feel free to post again.
P.S. The Ironic thing is that even though I told you to go with Fido I am myself on AT&T's GSM system....only reason why I still stuck to it is to save my existing telephone number and oh yeah I managed to get WAP working on the Rogers AT&T system with my T68. |
T.L.
Joined: Feb 22, 2002
Posts: 34
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Forgot to add if you need information about voucher amounts and validity periods visit www.fido.ca and all the information is there but it works alot like the previous posts with the dollar amount and expiration dates. |
krusel
Joined: Jan 22, 2002
Posts: 60
From: Germany - USA
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harleydog
maybe i can tell you something wierd too,
when i got to the states i thought they joking with me when somebody told me you get charged for incoming calls (how unlogical) but i would like to see the faces of you guys when i tell you that it is in germany totally normal that you per per minute for internet. not like here that you have a monthly rate + local call charge. no in germany you pay per minute for internet use, at some providers or rate planes comes also a monthly fee and the call fee.
did i mention that local calls are also charged by per 4 minutes or so.
so calculate this togheter for a poor guy with a 56k modem surfing every day for 2 hours esato...smile
unfortunetly is germany far behind with the cable modem stuff. which doesnt make sence. we have dsl and good developed mobil phone technologie (further developed than states) but with the cable modem ? and why ?
because in major part of the DEUTSCHE TELEKOM
which still have a monopol...this bastards
so harley dog i can fully understand what you said....why change it as long customers doesnt have a choice..smile |
Harleydog
Joined: Nov 06, 2001
Posts: 417
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Krus you hit the nail on the head; its all about supply and demand. Companies charge what customers will pay for. SInce you were never paying for incoming calls, if they tried to do that now, you would switch to a competitor.
Alternatively, since you did not have internet access before and its an add-on option, they can get away with charging a per minute fee |
laffen
Joined: Aug 07, 2001
Posts: > 500
From: Oslo, Norway
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I think most European countries have been clever and set aside certain number series for mobile phones. This way you know that the number you call is to a mobile phone and that the call is more expensive. In the US they are mixing mobile and fixed line numbers, so it's no way to know that you are calling a cellular phone.
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decoy7
Joined: Feb 06, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: NW London
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jamojdm: sorry, misread your post, didn't realise you were adding to the question, thought you were answering.
thanks to all who've responded.
i basically wanted the info to broaden my options next time i'm travelling.
one of my observations about mobile networks in the past few years has been that here in the UK it's relatively simple, or simpler to set up a mobile phone network with a sure fire audience being that the UK has a large number of people in a small space...one2one for example started off with their network in london only and then spread out to cover the rest oft he UK.
in North America i can't even guess the kind of area size they'd have to cover to get a similiar customer base.
this may add to the reason mobile companies charge for incoming calls in addition to the fact that fixed line phones have always had different call charge structures from Europe. |
krusel
Joined: Jan 22, 2002
Posts: 60
From: Germany - USA
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laffen
i dont know how it is in norway but in germany you can even tell which provider or network you dial in because of the (kind of) area code in front ...
for example dial 0171....... would be mobil phone from telekom
dial 0172...... would be D2vodafone
dial 0179....... would be Eplus and so on....
gives you the opportunity to see are you staying within your own network or are there roaming charges and so on....
harleydog
i know when i go back to germany im digging out somebody to provide me with cable for internet....i got this lesson from living in the states |
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Posted: 2002-02-21 22:08
