The phone is here! The phone is here!

I love gadgets, so I was happy when my Mobal phone came today (I wrote about the deal here) but I can't try it out because it doesn't work in the US. So I'll look through the book, change the banner, put a few numbers in the phone book, and try out the games. I've looked and looked for negative reviews about the company or the phone but can't find any amid all the positive reviews and user reports.

For forty-nine US bucks I got a new Nokia phone and charger, a cool fitted plastic case filled with cool teal translucent plug adapters (I didn't know those were included but, because it's a UK plug, I wouldn't have been able to easily buy plug adapters here in the US), a SIM card, and free delivery. No activation fee, no per-day fee, no-monthly access fee, no deposit. Before I placed the order the company responded to a couple of my questions via e-mail in a matter of minutes, and included my new UK-based phone number. I ordered it Tuesday afternoon and it was here, all the way across the country, on Friday with their standard free FedEx shipping. Although it has a UK plug because it's a UK company (there's an office in New York), the transformer on the charger cord is for 110 or 220 current so you don't need a voltage converter. For $99 you can get a phone that will work in the US, but you'll have to go to their Web site to get the details on that. I don't need another phone that works here so for once I didn't buy more than I'll use.

According to a gazillion Web sites, Nokia GSM phones are easy to unlock so they'll work with any SIM card instead of with only one carrier's SIM (in this case, the one that Mobal contracts with in the UK). Service providers use software to lock the phones so you have to use their service, a practice (locking) that is illegal in Italy, so if you buy a phone there, you can use any SIM you can find. If I'd known about Mobal before Chloe left, I would have gotten her one, hacked into it to unlock it, and had her get prepaid SIMs in Spain. In Europe, especially, you can buy a SIM along with your cup of coffee and pack of smokes. Or, in my case, can of Diet Coke and a candy bar.

Lots of people think that kids with cell phones are just one more indication that our society is in a hand basket on a slippery slope to hell, but I'm not one of them. Read Ben-in-Japan's blog and you'll see how much they rely on their phones to make basic logistical arrangements. Read between the lines and it appears that many of the things he's done have been possible because he and his friends text messaged each other from distant parts of extremely crowded big cities in time to make crucial arrangements. Of course, his initiative is a big part of it, but I'm convinced, from what I've gleaned only by reading his blog, that one of the reasons he's able to meet up with different people and get so much out of his time there is the expert use of his cell phone.

One thing I've discovered while researching worldwide use of cell phones: if your idea of fun is to spend hours and weeks in the bowels of geeky tech forums, you'll be able to spend the rest of your days happily perusing posts about how to use a callback service to get a Lichtenstein phone number on the GSM phone you bought in America but that came from England so you can make and receive cheap calls from Kuala Lumpur to Kazakhstan. Hours and hours of great good fun.

Comments

[Chloe]

Cell phone?? What??

[Katy]

Oh dear I didn't realize you were such a geek. What to do
What to do