World phones

You're correct. What rolls over this January will expire next January. The
best way to take advantage of all your rollover minutes is to spread your
phone usage over 12 months. Without rollover, you have to plan your usage
over 1 month. I like Cingular's rollover minutes or Sprint's auto adjust
feature because I think they are more fair to the user.


"Jerome Zelinske" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Doesn't your amount of rollover minutes available change every month,
> sometimes up and sometimes down, because they only last 12 months?
> Therefore a change to a smaller plan might start out with a lot of
> rollover minutes, but they would decrease by about one twelfth every
> month?

---

› See More: World phones

Do you mean this internet option?

MEdia Net - 500 KB/month $4.99

Or something else? This one apparently doesn't cost minutes. Just
charges by the amount of data received. Presumably it doesn't use the
"Edge" network or whatever Cingular's fast network is called?

Wiggling

Wireless Internet is $3.99 per month. That uses your minutes.
This does not use EDGE but CSD -- really slow at 9600k
This is the only option if you want to use your minutes for Internet.

Other internet packages don't use minutes but service is much faster.


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Do you mean this internet option?
>
> MEdia Net - 500 KB/month $4.99
>
> Or something else? This one apparently doesn't cost minutes. Just
> charges by the amount of data received. Presumably it doesn't use the
> "Edge" network or whatever Cingular's fast network is called?
>
> Wiggling
>

Jerome Zelinske wrote:
> Doesn't your amount of rollover minutes available change every
> month, sometimes up and sometimes down, because they only last 12
> months? Therefore a change to a smaller plan might start out with a lot
> of rollover minutes, but they would decrease by about one twelfth every
> month?

Yes, that's correct. Rollover minutes from January expire in the next
January, February in February, and so on. Rollover minutes work in a
first-in-first-out basis.

TH

> The arithmetic that leads me to verizon goes as follows:
>
> Verizon: $60, 2 lines America's Choice, unlimited N&W, 500 mins. I also
> get a tiny 6% discount with my company.
>
> Plus the ability to use the phone as a modem for my laptop using voice
> minutes (I'm assuming this will continue to work).
>
> Disadvantages: crappy phones (no decent bluetooth) . Need a separate
> phone for international travel or a dual GSM/CDMA phone.
>
> Cingular: $60, 2 lines, 5000 N&W, 450 mins. I get an essentially
> irrelevant 5% of the first line ($40).
>
> Plus rollover, and a better collection of phones. If I buy an unlocked
> GSM phone then no need for a separate international travel phone.
>
> Disadvantages: no net access. Slightly more expensive for a plan that
> offers less. Worse coverage in Chicago.
>
> Which would you choose?
>
> Wiggling

If there's possibility that I could bank my rollover minutes, Cingular
would definitely be the best option. Cingular must suck in your part of
Chicago, I had Verizon Wireless there and could hardly keep a call past
5 minutes.

TH

Verizon's service in Chicago is actually very good. However, I'm now
toying with the idea of Cingular. Looking at the phone collection, I'm
intrigued by the Nokia 6230 which appears to do all I want it do with
the exception of having GSM 900 (triband not quad band).

Is GSM 900 critical in Europe/Asia? Do I really need a quad band phone
like the Motorola V551 or the RAZR? Which phone would you recommend for
occasional world roaming, bluetooth, a camera, Edge is not really a
requirement but would be nice. Thanks for any help.

Wiggling

[email protected] wrote:
> Verizon's service in Chicago is actually very good. However, I'm now
> toying with the idea of Cingular. Looking at the phone collection, I'm
> intrigued by the Nokia 6230 which appears to do all I want it do with
> the exception of having GSM 900 (triband not quad band).
>
> Is GSM 900 critical in Europe/Asia? Do I really need a quad band phone
> like the Motorola V551 or the RAZR? Which phone would you recommend for
> occasional world roaming, bluetooth, a camera, Edge is not really a
> requirement but would be nice. Thanks for any help.
>
> Wiggling

If it's only the occasional trip, either 900 or 1800 should suffice.
Not as good as both, but much better than neither.

TH

Two phones can be a hassle, but you can mnimize the hassle somewhat by
buying two phones that are based on the same basic model lines. That way
you can share chargers, data cables, software, etc.

For international usage, check out the Riing prepaid roaming sim for
Western Europe. Free incoming calls in many countries. US$0.35 a minute
outbound to the US and most of Western Europe.


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I had planned to use a prepaid SIM which is why I wanted an unlocked
> phone rather than a Verizon proprietary one.
>
> Still not a 100% decided on this solution. Life would be easier if
> Verizon actually had a decent phone collection.
>
> Wiggling
>

Do you know of any good prepaid SIM's for Canada? Thanks.

Wiggling

Joseph wrote:
> On 11 Apr 2005 00:22:12 -0700, "[email protected]"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>Do you know of any good prepaid SIM's for Canada? Thanks.
>
>
> Both Rogers and Fido have prepaid. Cost of the initial card is $25
> plus whatever amount of refill voucher to use.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>

I'm not sure what SIMs/rates are still available, but Fido is now a
brand of Rogers. All GSM service in Canada will come from Rogers
(unless there is a SMALL GSM carrier in a certain area).

TH

>>Joseph wrote:
>>
>>>On 11 Apr 2005 00:22:12 -0700, "[email protected]"
>>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Do you know of any good prepaid SIM's for Canada? Thanks.
>>>
>>>Both Rogers and Fido have prepaid. Cost of the initial card is $25
>>>plus whatever amount of refill voucher to use.
>>>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>>
>>I'm not sure what SIMs/rates are still available, but Fido is now a
>>brand of Rogers. All GSM service in Canada will come from Rogers
>>(unless there is a SMALL GSM carrier in a certain area).
>
> Fido's parent is now Rogers. There are two separate services still.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Okay...I wasn't fully sure how it was being handled. I have heard that
Rogers wants to keep "Rogers" as the premium brand and "Fido" as the
economical brand. It'll be a couple of months before I can return again
to Canada.

TH

Joseph wrote:
> On 11 Apr 2005 00:22:12 -0700, "[email protected]"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>Do you know of any good prepaid SIM's for Canada? Thanks.
>
>
> Both Rogers and Fido have prepaid. Cost of the initial card is $25
> plus whatever amount of refill voucher to use.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>

You _may_ get it cheaper on eBay...