| Russell 2005-05-19, 11:52 am |
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"Steven M. Scharf" <scharf.steven@linkearth.net> wrote in message
news:qf6ge.487$OU1.91@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Steven M. Scharf wrote:
>
>
> I'll answer my own question. The answer is that you can sign up for Beyond
> Wireless, no matter where you live, using one of their area codes. However
> you will be roaming for every call, at 4x the cost, so it will be about 57
> cents per minute on the cheapest card. I think that they are using some
> other TDMA network other than AT&T, hence the roaming when you are on
> AT&T.
>
Not true. I've signed up for their service (which they don't offer in my
area code) and I don't roam as long as I'm on the AT&T network. They use
the AT&T network - now Cingular blue. I've had them for some time using 4
phones - I've no connection with them otherwise.
> You get 35 minutes when you sign up (no credit card needed). So you
> actually can have an emergency phone for about 18 months, at no cost, as
> long as you make one call every 60 days (2 months/4 minutes * 35 minutes).
> It's great for an emergency phone, but for an occasional use phone,
> CallPlus is a better deal.
>
Not true about CallPlus being a better deal.
> Beware that activating your own phone with Beyond Wireless isn't easy. You
> call and call, just to get through, then they put you on hold, and you get
> disconnected a few times. But I did activate, with a 352 area code, with
> no problem.
>
I've never had a problem calling them to activate - I can only speak of my
experience.
> Beyond Wireless will only activate Nokia TDMA phones. I asked about a
> Motorola phone, and they didn't want to do it.
>
> CallPlus will cost you $3.33/month minimum.
BW - same network; pennies a month in cost!
>
> What amazes me is just how good the Cingular/AT&T TDMA network still is.
> While GSM in the SF Bay Area has a lot of dead spots (including in urban
> parts of Silicon Valley), I have experienced no such TDMA problems. There
> are lots of TDMA phones available, probably most people have some laying
> around, or know someone who changed to GSM (like my mother, who now has
> terrible coverage on her GSM phone in Georgia!).
>
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