chad jackson wrote:
> Last time i was in tokyo i got a Tu-Ka phone from a sunkus convenience
> store for Y3000 and a prepaid card for Y2000, or it might have been the
> other way around......
> it was excellent for what i needed......
>
> After you use the prepaid credit, you can still get incoming calls for 3
> months, or buy another card to make more calls.....
For comparison...
Here in the US, new pre-paid phones appear to cost upwards of $100,
including some initial calling credit and service period. Pre-pay
cards combine calling credit and a period of service. If you don't buy
and activate a new card before your current service runs out, you not
only lose the ability to make and receive calls, but you lose all the
credit you had. If you do buy it before your current service runs out,
the new card's service period doesn't add to the end of your current
service - it runs concurrently! You can't win.
However, in the UK, where pre-paid phone service originally worked in
a similar way, consumer reaction was so unfavourable that the service
providers have now settled on an even more generous arrangement than
you describe - you only lose service and credit if you don't make *or
receive* a call for 6 months. So effectively the service lasts until
you throw the phone away, whether you add calling credit or not.
> i think it was the pretty service like someone else mentioned....
>
> buying phones at convenience stores is just too cool!
You can do that in the UK too.
In the US you can't even buy the *cards* in convenience stores. In
fact Cingular (my service provider and network operator) can't even
keep their own stores stocked. And as far as I can tell, they won't
let me top up my pre-paid account with a credit card. No wonder so
many Americans resort to pagers and calling cards.
Sorry, rant over.
--
I do not speak for Roundpoint; any opinions I express are my own.
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Tue Mar 6 11:04:15 2001