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Old December 12th, 2008, 11:35 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada,rec.travel.australia+nz
Frank Slootweg
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Posts: 275
Default Report from the US, a nice but somewhat backward country.

[For one member of the audience: That your newsreader doesn't display
invisble smileys, isn't my/our problem.]

Bert Hyman wrote:
In b.home.nl Frank
Slootweg wrote:

So now I'm the proud owner of a beautiful, but totally useless
(outside the US), AT&T GoPhone Nokia 2610 phone [1]. It cost me all of
US$ 19.99 (without tax, mind you (Don't get me started on the
without-tax thingie.)), so I'm not complaining. *And* it includes a
charger which is 110-240VAC (not 240VAC-only), so I can use it
everywhere for all my Nokia phones (albeit with plug-adapters, which
are needed anyway)!


That's an interesting aspect of the way phones are sold here (by
T-Mobile, anyway). You can often walk into a chain discount store (like
Target or WalMart) and buy a phone for $20 which includes a $25 airtime
card.


Yes, that's same in most countries, i.e. also in Europe/Oz (assuming
*you* are talking about the US (my tools are failing on analyzing your
headers, but AFAIK "WalMart" is US-only/mainly)).

"airtime"? *Don't* get me started on that one! Oops, you just did!

That's also a strange and silly concept for 'us' (from Europe/Oz).

*Paying* for the time you *don't* yet/still have a connection?
*Paying* for outgoing *no-connection* calls? *Paying* for *incoming*
calls (while in your 'home' country), possibly from total strangers,
wrong-number, etc.? How silly is *that*?

Luckily you didn't say "X *minutes* of airtime", otherwise I had to
(not) start on *that* one!