Comments on: The USA Series: Signing up for a mobile contract in the States

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:49:13 +0000

Actually, you can get your N95 unlocked if it isn’t already and just go to T-Mobile or ATT and you won’t be locked into a two year agreement and you can just swap sim cards as you come and go. Also, I find that customer service and pricing are a lot better at T-Mobile than ATT. To give you an example, I am an ATT employee and would get an employee discount but I’m STILL with T-Mobile.

By: Qyon

Qyon — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:58:04 +0000

Regarding BoostMobile or MetroPCS, those are not marketed to the “high end cell phone user” like yourself. Based on your circumstances, as soon as you said “BoostMobile” I knew it you weren’t going to get what you were looking for. If you goto any mall, you’ll encounter the same scenario (I don’t know about the rudeness in service though).

Why not try going with AT&T/Cingular Wireless? They are GSM and carry a variety of phones. They also have pay as you go phones too. If anything, you’ll get a SIM card from them and you can use it in any “aftermarket phone,” like an N95.

I live in San Francisco, and in my experiences, you will have to goto a “highly Asian” (not European Asian but Chinese Asian) area to find a store that sells unlocked aftermarket phones (Nokia E and N Series, for example). These stores usually provide unlocking services as well. You can also try the electronics seciton of craigslist.org to locate GSM phones and unlocking services (got my Nokia N93 off of craigslist).

Here are some stores you may want to consider visiting in SF:

Citicomm Wireless Inc
821 Folsom Street Suite 102
415-861-6888

Freecomm
1812 Irving St/19th Avenue
415-665-9888

In terms of contracts, AT&T or TMobile would probably be your best bet since you could take your unlocked phone there and get decent plan with add-ons for international calling. You will probably have to get a contract which unfortunatley can last up to 2 years.

These are the hoops one must go thru for the high end mobile user!

Good luck. Excellent blog by the way. Looking forward to more stories regarding your adventures here in the US.

Cheers!!!

By: cj

cj — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:40:33 +0000

Wow, we experienced the EXACT same thing, even in the same order! From Boostmobile to a contract.. Only difference is that I tried my luck in NYC and that it was almost 2 years ago. Oh and I’m from Germany. Nowadays I also have got to travel back and forth to the US Westcoast for the next couple of years. My girlfriend works for Verizon in Cali and I can not believe some of the things she told me. I thought Vodafone Europe was bad, but at Verizon they are truly taking it to another level. I understand your point of view when you say you are not bashing the US, instead you are expressing your dislike of how the US mobile market works. We as Europeans have got it good and we can not expect it from US that mobile customers are treated well.
Unlocked phones, freedom to choose any operator you like isn’t possible in the land of the free. After having tried several American handsets I’m glad that I have got a N95 with a great and easy to use s60 operating system. Windows Mobile is alright over there in the US but a lot of companies lock the OS of their phones down. And if you buy a Blackberry you can not assume that you can install java apps on there just cause RIM says it’s possible. The network carrier might only allow a few certain handpicked java apps you have to download and pay OTA from their mobile website. There is a lot US carriers could do for their customers. They didn’t understand yet that it will pay off if you give customers a little more freedom, because if the price and the usability is adequate people will use it and run up their bill nevertheless.
Since I don’t have to make and accept calls 24/7 while being in the US, I simply just use truphone whenever I’m in the range of a wireless network. That helped me cut down the costs a lot. In your case you might want to have a look at http://gt-phone.com/
That might solve the US contract problem.
My gf said Americans think it’s normal that cellphones can only be used with the network it was sold with, simply because they don’t know about all the freedom Europeans have. I really wish more Americans would know about that and would demand a change. That’s wishful thinking of course, that will never happen, unfortunately.

cj’s last blog post..Free text messaging from your cell to US-numbers and intl. Mobiles

By: rad

rad — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:40:22 +0000

Hm. Condescending, arrogant, and acted like they don’t really need your business. Yeah, that’s Verizon.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:48:36 +0000

Don’t worry about the flaming. I agree with you and I AM an american. The mobile phone industry over here sucks, the cars suck. I will be the first to admit, we do a lot of things very well here but we don’t do;
Cars
TV’s or VCR’s

I long for the day when I can finally get a “3G” icon on my N95 or N80 or N70

By: Krystal

Krystal — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:19:20 +0000

Jonathan,

Jumper = sweater

By: olly

olly — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:21:51 +0000

And we wonder why the terrorists hate us.

Still, I’m rather surprised to see that out of Verizon’s sales reps. As a company (i.e. business practices, locking down handsets, screwing customers with fees) they suck — but I’ve always thought from a Customer Service standpoint they did a fairly good job (they, along with T-Mo USA, win awards for CS every year).

But yes, in fact, the American mobile market sucks, sucks, sucks, and sucks some more. They only thing we’ve managed to not mangle are data fees (I love it when you Brits say ‘Tariffs’, so much nicer to say than fees!).

I’m really curious to see what the rest of your experience has been — and willing to make a few predictions!

T-Mobile: Polite but clueless rep, and surprisingly so given the connecting between DT and T-Mo USA.

AT&T: Fairly informative, but treats you as if you were a moron, and not someone who actually knows something about mobile phones.

Sprint: Impossible to get a contract since you aren’t an American, some backasswards corporate policy somewhere will limit you.

olly’s last blog post..Yes, The Death Penalty IS Immoral

By: jonathan

jonathan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:19:56 +0000

so you going to tell us what a “jumper” is to you. I thought it was a stock broker who jumps out the window when market crashes.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:34:07 +0000

I had similar, though not so bad, experience when I first moved over here. Never tried Sprint, though.

In fact, after a false start with Cellular South or something, I went to t-Mobile, then later AT&T. No way am I going to lock myself into CDMA hell!!!! I don’t care HOW reliable the service is, or HOW fast the data is … I want the freedom of an ulnocked GSM phone

By the way – in my experience, Americans have no idea what a jumper is

By: Dhruv

Dhruv — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:24:31 +0000

I must say that sux. I feel sorry for the American consumers. Im really looking forward to read about your “future experiences”

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:01:11 +0000

Wow, what an absolutely arse experience. You were telling them "I want to be a customer, I have money" and they look at you like you're a freak. No wonder foreigners go prepaid in the Land Of The Free--or almost anywhere else for that matter. @mark most shops don't carry those phones, though I know Nokia is starting to roll Nseries devices out in some L.A. stores. PhoneBoy's last blog post..Getting Closer To IPv6?

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:53:58 +0000

WOW!!…no wonder you haven’t responded my calls these last couple of days Ewan and there’s me thinking it was down to something I said
Guys in our L.A. office can’t even buy a SYMBIAN OS NOKIA anywhere…so they say!

Mark