Maybe this provider could work for you - http://dynasky.com/ (I just
discoverd them and think they are great for many reasons).
Good luck!
Heidi
Mark Crispin wrote:
> On Fri, 12 Nov 2004, Marek Tomczyk wrote:
>> I like the offer of AT&T Wireless very much as it provides a long
>> validity of one year for balances starting at $100.
> That's news to me. I used to have AT&T Wireless Free2Go on my Alaska
> phone (now Dobson Cellular One). The expiration period was 45 days,
> although it would rollover if you recharge in time.
> AT&T Wireless was recently bought by Cingular, so this may have
> changed. In any case, Free2Go uses TDMA digital, which is on its way
> towards extinction. Most TDMA phones are also SOC locked, so you
> can't use them with another carrier.
> I suggest that you consider either a prepay GSM SIM card for your
> home country phone (assuming you have an unlocked tri-band or
> quad-band phone), or one of the CDMA prepaid services.
> Under CDMA prepay, Verizon's is on their network, the phones are
> unlocked, and can be used with monthly service. Virgin has ultra
> cheap prepay using Sprint's network (which almost certainly means
> that the phones are locked but there are ways of getting Sprint
> unlock codes).
> Another advantage of Verizon is that, overall, it probably has the
> best coverage in the continental US (48 states), especially if you
> pick a phone with analog capability. If you go to Alaska, you'll
> need a TDMA/analog phone, although GSM has finally appeared in
> Alaska. There is very little CDMA in Alaska.
>> So the idea is to use a calling card service for this matter. The
>> AT&T documents say that prepaid calling card service is not
>> possible with Free2Go. Besides this AT&T says in its terms that
>> certain numbers can be blocked if "abuse" to the network happens.
> Don't worry about it; your plan is fine.
> When you call one of the cheap international calling card companies,
> the cellular company still gets to charge you for the airtime, so
> they are happy.
> What they are concerned about are calls to numbers with delayed
> surcharges and fraud issues. Calls to the premium 900 area code, and
> to the local 976 premium exchange, are almost always blocked to cell
> phones.
> Most cell phones have international calls blocked unless you ask
> customer service to unblock it. Most people consider that to be a
> good thing, and also do that on their wired phones (although the
> default for wired phones is to allow international calls unless the
> customer asks for it to be disabled).
> However, "international calls" really means "calls outside of country
> code 1"; that is, the 011 North American international dialing prefix
> is disabled. That doesn't always help.
> Remember that country code 1 is quite a few countries. You get a
> message "urgent, please call me at (555) 555-5555" which looks like
> an ordinary US or Canada number, but is really an expensive
> pornography service in the Caribbean that charges $10/minute. The
> customer complains about the bill and refuses to pay. Usually, the
> phone company refunds the charge and takes the loss itself, but it
> then blocks future calls to that number.
> From the prepaid cell phone company's point of view, they are
> probably happy if you use a calling card for international calls,
> because then the problem (of how much to charge you for the
> international call) is some other company's problem. The cell phone
> company just charges you for the airtime, which they know how to do
> quite well.
> -- Mark --
> http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
> Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
> Si vis pacem, para bellum.
hbr (hbrenke@hotmail.com)