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[Jack Spitznagel]

Scott Miller wrote:
> Everyone over there seemed horrified by the idea that buying a phone
> in the US typically involves signing a 2-year service contract.  And I
> think they're right.
This has its upsides and downsides of course.
-The US providers lock you into a 2 year contract, but they will "give"
you a moderately well featured phone for "free". If you want a high
price, premium feature phone, you pay a "discounted" price. They know
that your fees will cover their wholesale cost of the phone.

-US SIM cards are taped in under the ID and warranty stickers, and the
phones have provider specific applications burned into memory. US phones
are somewhat harder to steal and make "disappear" because system
activation is done based on linking the phone ESN to the users phone
number.

    In the US, you need to reprogram a "valid" ESN to avoid "permanent
    deactivation" of a stolen phone (yah... I know that this is done...
    as is stealing of ESN's, but that kind of stuff has to be handled by
    a phreaker).

Elsewhere, you can just buy a SIM from another provider and off you go.
My son who is studying in Australia discovered that the hard way with a
feature rich pay-as-you-go phone he took down with him. After his got
pinched (during a laboratory session!), his Aussie friends (and a local
Telstra agent) told him to get a dirt cheap phone and forgo the nice
features (music players, radios, GPS, etc). Nice phones get stolen out
of backpacks at the local Uni with amazing speed. The black market for
phones is apparently pretty busy.