Comment by pasbesoin | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pasbesoin | Hacker News Reader

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From some years ago, in pre-smart phone days, stories from Europe would be somewhat transfixing.

'When I became unhappy with my current provider / traveled to another country / didn't want a monthly plan and fixed fee, I simply bought a different SIM and popped it in.'

You mean, you changed your cell service by changing the 'memory card'? You didn't have to pay $40/month (or equivalent) for 90 minutes of phone calls? You're not locked into a 2 year contract? You don't get caught and screwed over with roaming fees (remember those)? (Different SIM card for the different country.) THEY DON'T $0.10, $0.20, WHATEVER PER TEXT MESSAGE?

I'm probably forgetting many of the other "astonishing" differences.

All you needed to do was have an "average" U.S. person talk for 2 minutes with an "average" European about cell phone use, and the American was ready for a change.

P.S. I realize this is sarcastic, but I suppose this change will end up getting someone charged with a felony for "hacking", at the DOJ's or other law enforcement organization's convenience.

Why some years ago? That's what we do even today. I don't think our iPhones are locked, Androids definitely aren't (Greece).

I've been cut off in my hermit cave.

Also, alternatives have been starting to catch on, here. Such as pre-paid plans that offer significant discounts. Also FaceTime, Skype, and whatever else (although these eat into often stingy data quotas).

Many in the U.S. still have little or no clue. But I don't think it's quite as bad as before; also, someone "technically" "gaming" the system isn't as astonishing as it used to be.

Or so it seems, from my cave. Mostly, I'm just more familiar with reactions back at that time.

You can buy unlocked iPhones at apple stores in Canada. I get unlimited minutes and text with chatr. That comes with free long distance, call display, voicemail etc. everything except picture messaging or data.

Chatr doesn't sell microsims. So at the mall, there is a kiosk that will legally cut the chatr sim for $10. Chatr encourages this.

This plan works even if I travel to another city, as long as its a major center.

No contract. They're actually illegal in Quebec. Instead, companies offer the same agreements to consumers, and conscmersd just have to pay back part of the phone price if they leave early.

If you have a discounted agreement that doesnt include a subsidy, you can leave anytime you want.

FYI Chatr is a Rogers subsidiary. They created it specifically to compete[1] with the other cheap services like Wind and Mobilicity. This is why your iPhone works, because it's on the same Rogers network.

[1] Some argue that the only reason they created Chatr was to drive the smaller guys out of the market.

Yeah, I expect that's why they did it. Or at least to keep people in the Rogers ecosystem.

A lot of the smaller guys didn't work in my area, or on my iPhone.

I just wanted to highlight that a big company encourages you to unlock your phone and deface their sim cards. Chatr reps directed me to the sim cutter.

It's funny how different the implementations are, I could never understand on my trips to Canada how a mobile phone could have an area code.

Now, we have our own peccadilloes in the UK. "Free-phone" numbers are expensive from a mobile. Special cheap 'local rate' phone numbers for businesses cost a fortune.

But yeah, that seemed just nuts.

Random Story:

Back in the days (I think somewhere in the 90s) GSM service in Germany was still relatively expensive, I remember my cousin brought back a SIM-Card from Finland and used it for over a year back home. Even including roaming prices it was still cheaper.

Austrian mobile contracts are still cheaper in Germany than German ones. But the Austrian market is special case.

Wait, that's seriously true? All of it?

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