Advice for calling US Mobile Phone?

"Phil Thompson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Sun, 22 May 2005 23:55:50 GMT, Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >You say that prepay telephones arent that common in the US, are they
> >available anywhere at all?
>
> yes they are available but watch out for things like no roaming to
> other networks, no roaming outside the home city or State etc.

Are you saying that a US GSM handset can not "roam" outside
their own state (or even city) ? And why is that called "roaming" ?

Richard [in PE12]

---

› See More: Advice for calling US Mobile Phone?

"Joseph" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 22 May 2005 23:47:26 +0100, "Ivor Jones"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>If you want to go the mobile route, then if she gets a US PAYG phone you
>>can call it using either inclusive minutes on an Orange or O2 mobile via
>>Pre-Dial, or at relatively cheap rates from Sipgate (1.5p/min) or
>>Telestunt/Telediscount etc. from a BT/Telewest line.
>
> Just don't forget that she'll be paying part of the freight as US
> mobile system is charged for both incoming and outgoing calls. There
> is no penalty however for calling a mobile number. The rate to call
> is the same as a fixed line.
>
And there is no mobile-specific number (like 07). They are all geographical
numbers relating to the area the sim originates, indistinguishable from
landlines. The amount US mobile users pay to receive calls is fixed,
regardless of where they originate. It varies between 15 (8p) and 35 (20p)
cents a minute, depending on how much credit you get on your sim card or
when you top-up. Calling UK is around $1.50 a min (82p).

Alec

Jet Morgan wrote:
> "Ivor Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>> Not mad at all. The US school of thought is simple - *you* choose
>> to go mobile, therefore *you* pay for the privilege. Why should a
>> *caller* have to pay extra because *you* want to go out..?
>
> Does that mean that if *I* choose not to have a phone at all, I
> have to pay for a taxi for the caller to come and visit me ? Why
> should a caller pay to travel to my house, just because *I* choose
> not to have a phone ?

That's a poor analogy, they can always write a letter <g>

As I said, US calling plans generally have more inclusive minutes for the
money than we do so using some for incoming calls rarely causes a problem.
My friends in San Francisco pay around $35 for 2000 minutes and never use
them all, even with incoming calls.

Ivor

Thus spaketh Ivor Jones:
> Jet Morgan wrote:
>> "Ivor Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>>> Not mad at all. The US school of thought is simple - *you* choose
>>> to go mobile, therefore *you* pay for the privilege. Why should a
>>> *caller* have to pay extra because *you* want to go out..?
>>
>> Does that mean that if *I* choose not to have a phone at all, I
>> have to pay for a taxi for the caller to come and visit me ? Why
>> should a caller pay to travel to my house, just because *I* choose
>> not to have a phone ?
>
> That's a poor analogy, they can always write a letter <g>
>
> As I said, US calling plans generally have more inclusive minutes for
> the money than we do so using some for incoming calls rarely causes a
> problem. My friends in San Francisco pay around $35 for 2000 minutes
> and never use them all, even with incoming calls.
>
> Ivor

What about people who only have a phone for emergencies and do not want to
have to pay a monthly rental charge?

"jim.gm4dhj" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > GSM coverage has improved a lot but isn't everywhere by a long chalk,
> > so a review of maps is called for. Their are analogue and digital
> > prepay options
>
> See ?....the merrycans are not stupid.........they don't throw out the baby
> with the bathwater.....our analogue TV is next...new technology squandering
> the worlds resources.....
>
Is that why they are fast dumping Analogue AMPs phones on 850MHz
for 850MHz GSM?

Giving them dualband 850 and 1900MHz GSM, and with quad band
GSM phones, world-wide roaming.

I take it Freeview BBC3 and 4, and ITV2 and 3 are a mystery to you?

Steve Terry

{{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:

> Thus spaketh Ivor Jones:
>
>>Jet Morgan wrote:
>>
>>>"Ivor Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Not mad at all. The US school of thought is simple - *you* choose
>>>>to go mobile, therefore *you* pay for the privilege. Why should a
>>>>*caller* have to pay extra because *you* want to go out..?
>>>
>>>Does that mean that if *I* choose not to have a phone at all, I
>>>have to pay for a taxi for the caller to come and visit me ? Why
>>>should a caller pay to travel to my house, just because *I* choose
>>>not to have a phone ?
>>
>>That's a poor analogy, they can always write a letter <g>
>>
>>As I said, US calling plans generally have more inclusive minutes for
>>the money than we do so using some for incoming calls rarely causes a
>>problem. My friends in San Francisco pay around $35 for 2000 minutes
>>and never use them all, even with incoming calls.
>>
>>Ivor
>
>
> What about people who only have a phone for emergencies and do not want to
> have to pay a monthly rental charge?
>
>

If the phone is working, 911 is required to be working, free.

There are groups that collect old phones (partially to keep them out of
the landfills) and give the working ones to women at risk.

http://www.recycleforlondon.com/medi...bile_phone.cfm

and similar in the US.

http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/7269.html

Mark wrote:
> Hi, I live in the UK and my girlfriend is going to america as part of an
> exchange programme for the summer.
>
> Does the cheapest/easiest way for us to keep in contact simply involve
> her buying any old USA pay as you go mobile phone and then me calling
> her via a voice over ip service? Can anyone recommend a decent one with
> not too much lag? Or is there a better method than this, ie: is it
> cheaper to register with one of those calling card companies in the UK
> and call using their number? This'd be great if I could use a UK mobile
> phone to call her and not pay through the roof?
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> Mark.

The way I do this at the moment, is I can call my friend who's on T mobile in the states
out of my inclusive minutes from my o2 contract using telediscount as a dial through
number. He gets minutes deducted from his inclusive minutes bundle for when I call.
However, calling him on his landline results in a totally free call from either end
(unless you run out of inclusive contract minutes) :-) So if your girlfriend can access a
landline then you can call free using inclusive minutes on an O2 contract via telediscount.

If she's looking for a prepay for you to txt on, I managed to pick up a tmobile prepay sim
card when I was over there in a tmobile store. Works fine for txting and for receiving
calls from the UK (although it's right about paying either in money or minutes to receive
calls)

Hope this helps,

Em

--

Emma Hussey-Yeo (mailto: [email protected])

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"...Sometimes the world seems like a big hole.
You spend all your life shouting down it,
and all you hear are the echoes of some idiot,
shouting nonsense down a hole..."
- Adam Duritz (http://adam.countingcrows.com/)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thus spaketh Rick Merrill:
> {{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
>
>> Thus spaketh Ivor Jones:
>>
>>> Jet Morgan wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Ivor Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Not mad at all. The US school of thought is simple - *you* choose
>>>>> to go mobile, therefore *you* pay for the privilege. Why should a
>>>>> *caller* have to pay extra because *you* want to go out..?
>>>>
>>>> Does that mean that if *I* choose not to have a phone at all, I
>>>> have to pay for a taxi for the caller to come and visit me ? Why
>>>> should a caller pay to travel to my house, just because *I* choose
>>>> not to have a phone ?
>>>
>>> That's a poor analogy, they can always write a letter <g>
>>>
>>> As I said, US calling plans generally have more inclusive minutes
>>> for the money than we do so using some for incoming calls rarely
>>> causes a problem. My friends in San Francisco pay around $35 for
>>> 2000 minutes and never use them all, even with incoming calls.
>>>
>>> Ivor
>>
>>
>> What about people who only have a phone for emergencies and do not
>> want to have to pay a monthly rental charge?
>>
>>
>
> If the phone is working, 911 is required to be working, free.
>
> There are groups that collect old phones (partially to keep them out
> of the landfills) and give the working ones to women at risk.
>
> http://www.recycleforlondon.com/medi...bile_phone.cfm
>
> and similar in the US.
>
> http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/7269.html

Yes, but if you have your phone not on a contract, how long will it work for,
and also you would have to ignore all incoming calls so not as to get charged,
as you phone is really only for emergencies, how do you know whether an
incoming call is an emergency or not, and to whether to answer the call and
then end up getting charged for a useless call.

No thank you very much.

"Mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi, I live in the UK and my girlfriend is going to america as part of an
> exchange programme for the summer.
>
> Does the cheapest/easiest way for us to keep in contact simply involve
> her buying any old USA pay as you go mobile phone and then me calling
> her via a voice over ip service? Can anyone recommend a decent one with
> not too much lag? Or is there a better method than this, ie: is it
> cheaper to register with one of those calling card companies in the UK
> and call using their number? This'd be great if I could use a UK mobile
> phone to call her and not pay through the roof?

The cheapest way is for her to call your landline from a landline in the
U.S., using a calling card. Rates to the U.K. are very cheap, around 2 cents
per minute. To call a UK mobile phone is more, around 15-17 cents per
minute. Long calls to a mobile phone in the U.S. are going to cost you a
lot, since incoming calls are not free.

In terms of which prepaid phone to get, it depends on where she is going to
be, how much she is going to talk on it, and at what time. The best choice
is probably Beyond Wireless, which is as low as 10 cents per minute, has
excellent coverage, and will use any old Nokia or Motorola TDMA phone that
was previously used on AT&T Wireless TDMA (they will also sell you a phone).
7-11 convenience stores sell a GSM phone and charge 20 cents per minute, but
GSM coverage in the U.S. isn't so great.

Verizon InPulse is normally not a great plan, since they have a $1 fee for
every day you use your phone. But the per minute cost is only 10¢, and they
offer free night calling, 9:01 pm - 5:59 am, local time (but not free
weekend calling). So this may actually work out for you, given the time
difference. None of the other prepaid service offer free off-peak.

See http://prepaiduswireless.com for comparisons on prepaid wireless.

"{{{{{Welcome}}}}}" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thus spaketh Andy Pandy:
> >> Thankfully we never went down the crazy route of paying for incoming
> >> calls.
> >
> > No? Ever used your phone abroad?
>
> Yes, many many times, but that is roaming, and things are changing in that
> area too.

So presumably you've paid for incoming calls. Are you crazy?

--
Andy

>Are you saying that a US GSM handset can not "roam" outside
>their own state (or even city) ? And why is that called "roaming" ?

If you have a postpaid plan, which is what's considered normal in the
US, GSM handsets roam just fine. I've used mine all over the US as
well in Canada and Argentina. Cingular tells me that if I put the SIM
in my 900/1800 phone it'll work in Europe, but their roaming rates are
so high there's no point. Most prepaid plans are from resellers who
make their own deals with the underlying carriers, and some arrange
for roaming and some don't.

That said, I agree with everyone else who says that if your goal is to
talk with someone who's in Maryland, you should forget about mobile
phones. Find out if the place she's staying has a phone and if so,
just call her on it using one of the cheap UK calling services. If
not, should should get a prepaid US calling card that charges 2
cents/min to call the UK and call you from a pay phone. Google for
"calling cards" and you'll find zillions of them, most that you can
buy over the net and are delivered virtually, just an access phone
number and a PIN.

"John R. Levine" wrote:
>
> If you have a postpaid plan, which is what's considered normal in the
> US, GSM handsets roam just fine. I've used mine all over the US as
> well in Canada and Argentina. Cingular tells me that if I put the SIM
> in my 900/1800 phone it'll work in Europe, but their roaming rates are
> so high there's no point.
>
Last month, my usual UK SP (Orange) suffered a temporary outage, and I
switched to my Cingular/ATT SIM card - it worked just fine. It's useful as
an emergency backup, but as you say, far too expensive.

"John R. Levine" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Most prepaid plans are from resellers who
> make their own deals with the underlying carriers, and some arrange
> for roaming and some don't.

Ironically, Cingular and T-Mobile, who actually own networks, do not allow
roaming on pre-paid. But resellers of GSM prepaid all allow roaming, at high
per minute rates.

GSM is not the best choice for U.S. prepaid. The best choice is TDMA/AMPS,
the second best choice is CDMA/AMPS. This holds true even though you may
need to buy a phone.

See http://prepaiduswireless.com


> That said, I agree with everyone else who says that if your goal is to
> talk with someone who's in Maryland, you should forget about mobile
> phones. Find out if the place she's staying has a phone and if so,
> just call her on it using one of the cheap UK calling services.

If she gets one of the prepaid TDMA plans, such as from Beyond Wireless, he
can send her a free text message indicating the number where she should call
him. There is no minimum, and no activation fee on their plan; she could get
by for the whole summer without actually buying any time. She just needs to
find an old AT&T TDMA phone, but these are a dime a dozen now, on
craigslist.org.

"Joseph" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Mon, 23 May 2005 22:39:40 +0100, "{{{{{Welcome}}}}}"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Yes, but if you have your phone not on a contract, how long will it work
>>for,
>>and also you would have to ignore all incoming calls so not as to get
>>charged,
>>as you phone is really only for emergencies, how do you know whether an
>>incoming call is an emergency or not, and to whether to answer the call
>>and
>>then end up getting charged for a useless call.
>
> People in Europe are going to argue with people in North America til
> the cows come home, but the fact remains that the North Americans are
> *not* going to switch to a caller pays mobile system. That's it.
> Get used to it. It's been tried and it failed in North America. If
> you want to argue that caller pays is the greatest fine. Just don't
> expect us here in North America to agree with you. Arguments are
> really a *WASTE OF TIME!*

Hey, I've been arguing *in favour* of the US system..! I'd like to see it
at least available as an alternative.

Ivor

"Joseph" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 23 May 2005 18:54:18 +0100, "Jet Morgan"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Are you saying that a US GSM handset can not "roam" outside
>>their own state (or even city) ? And why is that called "roaming" ?
>
> Of course they can. It's generally called roaming when you're using
> another network to complete your calls. These days many plans include
> roaming on other networks so that's not even an issue.

Ah, there is the difference he might not have understood. Here in the UK
the main network operators do not allow roaming on one another's systems.

Ivor