Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
But, even with that you can't buy a GSM at Walmart and THEN choose your carrier... the phones are usually locked to a carrier.
BOb
AM I  ??? |
Its funny you say that.
In most of the world you can get unlocked basic cell phones for $30 to $40 Dollars.
For example the Nokia 1100 is a very basic but usable cellpone. It sells worldwide, but I've seen it for sale in India, unlocked and brand new for Rs 1500 which s about $35.
And there are a dozen phones like that. If you want colour screens, camera,Mp3 Player, etc you can get a brand new phone for about $80-100.
And the Providers have to be competitive there, with the cost of switching to another carrier is pretty low, basic the cost of buying a new Sim, usually $10 and that includes some credit as well.
The $400 phones are there as well, but they are bough by people who want the added features or want the cachet of a high end phone.
In the UK while network locked phones are the norm, there is a wide variety of phones available for prepaid phones. In fact on most carrirs you can if you choose get any of the phones they carry on prepaid, though you won't get a subsidiary on it.
O2 who sells the iPhone here has just made it available on Pay as you go, so you can get one legally, without having to hack it. And I understand they've offered to unlock it for those who want to.
So its more of a hybrid system here, with about 60% of people on contract while 40% use a prepaid sim. And the prepaid users are not the lowest spenders either, so there is much wider variety of services available.
This is important as users are very mobile, as now even Prepaid users can transfer their phone numbers, removing that major barrier to entry.