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Thread ID: 94230	2008-10-20 20:15:00	Cellphone plans and second-hand phones	Billy T (70)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
713467	2008-10-20 20:15:00	Hi Team My son currently uses a Telecom pre-pay that is CDMA only and wants to buy a world-mode model off Trade Me (he's an impoverished student) so that he can roam in Oz. He is not interested in changing to Vodafone so that is not an option. Checking the TM ads, I have noticed that some phones are advertised as having plans that have to be bought out before they can be switched to pre-pay (one is currently quoted as $140 to buy out, at buyer's cost) and it looks to me like you could get caught with an unexpected cost on top of the price paid for a phone if you were not careful. Is the plan actually coded to the Phone's ID, not the phone number, so that if you bought it with the plan intact you wouldn't be able to change the number? Sellers seem to be less than forthcoming on this point, yet surely stolen phones would be useless if the thief or unsuspecting buyer couldn't get a new number without paying out the plan. I would have thought the plan belonged to the original owner and would be billed to their address so if you bought the phone and changed the number/closed the plan they would get the bill. We all use prepay so this is well outside my experience. Cheers Billy 8-{) :confused:	Billy T (70)
713468	2008-10-20 20:32:00	Well yeah, plans are for the person who signed up. But usually if you get a free or cheap phone, its because you have had to sign up for a fixed term contract. If you have bought another phone and had its phone number changed to it, then you still have that contract, but if you stop using that phone company completely then you would be liable for the costs. Regardless they have a cheek asking the buyer of the phone to pay it, so I'd skip those auctions and move on to ones that aren't saying that at all.	pctek (84)
713469	2008-10-20 20:38:00	Roaming with Telecom phones is not as easy as with Vodafone. I know you say Vodafone is not an option but it is so easy. There is no activation before you go and when you get to Oz turn on the phone, it picks up the Vodafone network in Oz and you carry on as if you were in NZ. Telecom do supply free loan phones for roaming and you get to keep your own number. This might be an option if he wants to save money www.telecomroaming.co.nz	Safari (3993)
713470	2008-10-21 06:14:00	Telecom do supply free loan phones for roaming and you get to keep your own number. This might be an option if he wants to save money www.telecomroaming.co.nz I suggested the Telecom loan scheme but he insists that he wants to have his own phone. I'm not sure what the benefit of Vodafone is exactly, I roam in Oz with my Telecom phone and I just get off the plane, turn it on, it picks up the local network and I'm away. It was the same in Delhi, it was just like being here except for the international codes required to call back to NZ in both cases. I have a clamshell Samsung W531 or whatever it is with the sim card in it so perhaps that makes a difference. I think he wants to save money for sure, but in the back of his mind I think he also wants to show off a better phone that his current Nokia 2280 which is hardly state of the art and can't roam in Oz anymore. Anyway, we'll stay away from phones on contracts unless the seller takes care of that at his/her own expense. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
713471	2008-10-21 06:25:00	If your phone has a sim then it is probably not cdma but as your sons one is then he is stuck I think, unless as you say he buys a world mode phone but then if he is that hard up what's wrong with the loan fone idea	gary67 (56)
713472	2008-10-21 07:22:00	If your phone has a sim then it is probably not cdma but as your sons one is then he is stuck I think, unless as you say he buys a world mode phone but then if he is that hard up what's wrong with the loan fone idea Will telecom do a loan phone for someone on prepay?	plod (107)
713473	2008-10-21 08:06:00	Will telecom do a loan phone for someone on prepay? How do I get a loan phone for Roaming? If you're on a Telecom Prepaid account, you will need a current Telecom account number. Credit criteria may apply.	beeswax34 (63)
713474	2008-10-21 08:53:00	If your phone has a sim then it is probably not cdma It is CDMA (and TDMA as well) it is a world-mode roaming phone and the sim is needed for that function. It didn't have the sim when I got it (wife won it as a prize) but Telecom handed them out free to existing W531 users when roaming was established. It can't do TDMA without it. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
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