Update on cell phone in Europe (cross-posted)

I'm sure you could cope with going into Woolworth's or Tesco
and buying a mobile phone.
No, I don't think I can. We are with a tour company.

The tour issue is the only substantive reason for your decision.
Nobody travelling independently would have any difficulty buying
a mobile phone within minutes in any town centre in the UK (or
even village centre, in the case of the place I live). There are
phone shops everywhere.

What if something happens before I get to Woolworth's?
How do I contact DH's physicians?

You borrow somebody else's. You're never going to be more than
a few feet away from somebody with a mobile who'd be happy to let
you use it for an emergency.

A tour that imposes so much control you can't slip away for five
minutes to buy something isn't my idea of fun. What are you meant
to do if you find you've forgotten to bring enough socks? When
are you going to stock up on toothpaste and the other stuff they
won't let you take on a plane any more?

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

On 2008-09-18, tim..... wrote:

"SMS" wrote in message
...

Yes, 37.9¢ per minute. But it's $1.29 per minute roaming on Verizon, more
than 3x as much. Calling mobile phones in Europe is always a bit costly
because of the insane way the mobile operators are allowed to bill over
there with "caller pays."

In what way is that "insane"

It differs from what he's used to.

Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
I'm sure you could cope with going into Woolworth's or Tesco
and buying a mobile phone.
No, I don't think I can. We are with a tour company.

The tour issue is the only substantive reason for your decision.
Nobody travelling independently would have any difficulty buying
a mobile phone within minutes in any town centre in the UK (or
even village centre, in the case of the place I live). There are
phone shops everywhere.

What if something happens before I get to Woolworth's?
How do I contact DH's physicians?

You borrow somebody else's. You're never going to be more than
a few feet away from somebody with a mobile who'd be happy to let
you use it for an emergency.

If it is a true emergency, I can see that. I was more concerned that he
had some issues on the plane and I needed to talk to his doctors.

A tour that imposes so much control you can't slip away for five
minutes to buy something isn't my idea of fun. What are you meant
to do if you find you've forgotten to bring enough socks? When
are you going to stock up on toothpaste and the other stuff they
won't let you take on a plane any more?

The tour is not at all restrictive and I am not a forgetful packer. I am
62 years old and I don't do cities really well. I would prefer to not
have to negotiate my way around town for anything other than sightseeing.

YMMV and obviously does.


--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

On Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:04:45 +0000, Larry wrote in post :
:

It can mean that you
might have to wait two or three years to get non-emergency (elective)
surgery. It can also mean that the government decides whether you live
or die.


Precisely, where is this true?

It can be like that in the UK.

--
Tim C.
google.groups killfiled to reduce spam
email address munged.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:24:58 +0200, Martin wrote in post :
:

On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:37:50 +0200, "Tim C." wrote:

On Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:04:45 +0000, Larry wrote in post :
:

It can mean that you
might have to wait two or three years to get non-emergency (elective)
surgery. It can also mean that the government decides whether you live
or die.


Precisely, where is this true?

It can be like that in the UK.

NHS Hospital Trusts make the decisions. The waiting lists are short enough for
people like a near neighbour to travel to UK for an operation rather than have a
long wait in the Netherlands.

Ok, it's better than it used to be. Thank goodness.

--
Tim C.
google.groups killfiled to reduce spam
email address munged.

On 18 Sep 2008 20:37:31 GMT, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:


Where in Europe would this be? There is no country in Europe where you
can walk up to a doctor and be treated for free. I hope the OP reads

Wrong! You can in Belgium. Not every doctor though. There's an
organisation "doctors for the people" who work for free (patients
view) and even make free housecalls.


Bye Maurice
--
Hamradio: ON4BAM / M0CIL / 9H3Z http://www.on4bam.com/
Travelogues and Amateur radio
http://blog.on4bam.com/blog/

Larry wrote:
"Richard B. Gilbert" wrote in news:JPadne0--
:

It can mean that you
might have to wait two or three years to get non-emergency (elective)
surgery. It can also mean that the government decides whether you live
or die.


Precisely, where is this true? I've had first class care every time I
visited them in many countries.

It's not true at all. It's the standard line put forward by the U.S.
health care industry to scare people whenever universal health care is
proposed.

Compare life expectancies of countries with universal care to those
without universal care.

It's true that elective surgeries can take longer if you want the health
care system to pay for them, but in the U.S. the private insurance
companies will make you fight for elective surgeries to be approved, and
you'll likely end up paying for them anyway.

tim..... wrote:
"SMS" wrote in message
...
Dennis Ferguson wrote:

That works, but I don't think it is all that cheap. I believe
GeoSim uses numbers from a Manx or Channel Islands mobile operator,
and that MyGlobalTalk charges 38 cents/minute to forward calls
to those, so the fact that you aren't charged by the mobile
company doesn't help so much. I believe it also costs a $20-something
per year maintenance fee to keep the GeoSIM alive.
Yes, 37.9¢ per minute. But it's $1.29 per minute roaming on Verizon, more
than 3x as much. Calling mobile phones in Europe is always a bit costly
because of the insane way the mobile operators are allowed to bill over
there with "caller pays."

In what way is that "insane"

ISTM that called party pays is the insane way, no other item that you buy
charges this way!

It's insane because it results in much, much higher per-minute prices.

The carriers love it because it hides the true cost of using the mobile
phone when you distribute the costs in this way.

Why should the caller be penalized just because they're calling a mobile
number versus a landline? With the called party pays you can decide
whether or not to answer if you don't want to pay.

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
SMS wrote in
:

Yes, 37.9¢ per minute. But it's $1.29 per minute roaming on Verizon,
more than 3x as much. Calling mobile phones in Europe is always a
bit costly because of the insane way the mobile operators are
allowed to bill over there with "caller pays."
In what way is that "insane"

ISTM that called party pays is the insane way, no other item that you
buy charges this way!
It's insane because it results in much, much higher per-minute prices.

How so? The price is paid by one person instead of being distributed
between two people, but why would this result in a higher total price?

It's not that it has to result in a higher price, it's that in practice
it results in a higher price. You can ask the carriers why they charge
so much more, you'll just have to get them drunk before they admit that
the reason is "because we can get away with it." The average price per
minute in the U.S. is less than half of that in the countries with
caller pays.

Europeans pay more than 2x per minute, but since the cost is widely
distributed the subscriber doesn't notice it. Therefore I'm surprised
that this wasn't adopted in the U.S.! The problem in the U.S. is that
while in most countries you know by the prefix or area code whether or
not you're calling a cell phone, in the U.S. you don't.

Also remember that the only time two people pay in the U.S. is when it's
mobile to mobile on two different carriers. When it's mobile to mobile
on the same carrier there's no extra cost. When it's landline to mobile
only one side pays. When it's off-peak, no one pays. I rarely use up my
measly 300 minutes a month since about 70% of my calls are to people on
the same carrier, or made after 8 p.m. or on weekends.

SMS wrote in news:gYQAk.740$be.100
@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com:

It's not true at all. It's the standard line put forward by the U.S.
health care industry to scare people whenever universal health care is
proposed.



What they need to do is watch Michael Moore's documentary on the
subject.....

The part where he took abandoned 9/11 volunteers to Cuba to try to get
them into Guantanamo Bay's terrorist hospital is precious. The results
when they asked the Cubans for help was a stroke of genius....using
Cuba's need for propaganda fodder to get help for these people. Great
movie to watch.

Why did we abandon the people whos lives we ruined cleaning up the
evidence so noone can find it on 9/11?

================================================== ==============

Why does a 0.6ml plastic syringe of Neulasta cost $3,331.13 - save 13%
($518.17) at discount on drugstore.com:
http://www.drugstore.com/pharmacy/pr...dc=55513019001
&trx=1Z5006

1 Gallon (US) = 3785.411 784 mL (millilitres)
divide that by .6 and you get 6,309 syringes x $3,331.13
and you get $US 21,016,164 per gallon.

Why must cancer patients pay $21,016,164 per gallon to "help prevent",
but not prevent, "infections"?

Name one other liquid, not made by the pharma industry, that's any where
near $21,016,164 per gallon. Why aren't we prosecuting the REAL drug
dealers? Why is Usury and price gouging ok for medical stuff?

http://www.neulasta.com/
Amgen....a perfect place to start the executions.

The most wonderful medical miracles on the planet are useless when only
Rupert Murdock and Billy Gates can afford to use them....and still have
some semblance of life and funds to survive, AFTER the operation.

Shame on us, Corporate America. Shame on us.
They'd better hurry up with the dumbing down. The Sheeple might get fed
up with the medical billionaires and put them in the lawyer line at the
gallows.