Text 8226, 77 rader
Skriven 2010-06-06 15:42:24 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 8168 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Cellphone woes
======================
Dale Shipp wrote to Robert Bashe on Saturday June 05 2010 at 23:35:

DS>> My cell phone will not do any of that -- but then it is never turned
DS>> on except in rare occasions and only costs me about $95 per year.

RB>> That much? I have several cellphones - don't use them except rarely,
RB>> as the connections are _much_ more expensive than fixed-line ones -
RB>> and have never paid more than EUR 50 for one.

I think that quote was lifted from another context.

DS> I am not talking about the price of the physical phone.  That cost at
DS> most $20, or it might have been free -- don't remember.

I wasn't either, Dale. Somehow the price of the phone got mixed up with the
cost of the service here. I was assuming you meant the cost of service, and if
you did, $95 a year is a fair piece of change (assuming you don't do much
mobile phoning).

RB>> Then I use a prepaid SIM card, which costs (using a discounter) EUR 5
RB>> here and carries EUR 5 of phoning balance, so the card is essentially
RB>> free. The card can be used for one year without adding money, and
RB>> even then I can add only EUR 5 to get another full year of service.

RB>> Your $95 yearly thus seems very expensive to me.

DS> Obviously a different system, if we are talking about the same
DS> expenses. I wish that I could buy a 30 minute card good for a year --
DS> but that is not offered.

Actually, the (prepaid) card I refer to - it's a Pluskomm (Blue.de) card -
gives you around 55 minutes of free time (EUR 5 balance at EUR 0.09 a minute)
for EUR 5 (the price of the card). And the balance is good for a year. Add EUR
5 at the end of the year and you can use it for another year.

The unfortunate part is that in many countries, the balance must be used up
(validity period) in quite a short time (a few months or even as little as 30
days) or be forfeited. France is very bad in this respect, and the States may
not be much different. In Germany, quite a number of providers were sued
several years ago for keeping the unused balance, and as a result many now have
_no_ validity period at all (the card is valid indefinitely, as long as it has
a balance), or if there is an expiration date, the balance is refunded to you
on request.

Apparently Germany is quite consumer-friendly in this respect. That isn't the
case everywhere.

DS> All cell phone calls in the US are charged by the minute to each cell
DS> phone.

That was my understanding too. Here in Europe, only the caller is billed
_unless_ the call goes outside the country. Then the caller is billed for the
call to the border, and the receiver for the rest of the stretch (at "roaming"
charges).

DS>> I don't believe in cell phones that do all that stuff.

RB>> The cellphones don't do it, the infrastructure does...

DS> I still don't know how you do that payment.

No problem. Whatever you charge is billed to the phone and is either deducted
from the prepaid balance or from the cellphone account that you pay monthly.

DS> I have seen phones that do lots of stuff -- surf the web, take
DS> pictures, download files, etc. I have no use for such things.  All I
DS> will ever want to do is an occasional voice call. How does one pay a
DS> parking meter with that?

Just send an SMS with a specific text (Car license number, for example) to a
specific number (the parking server), at least that's my understanding. Maybe
Ward can clarify further.

Cheers, Bob

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