My first ever eBay transaction has been completed. I am now the proud owner of a clean, unlocked, AT&T Tilt. I was able to test the Bluetooth and wireless without a SIM. I loaded some music and podcasts on a microSD card (8Gb) and used it as my daily MP3 player. I was able to link it to my Redfly and also the Redfly Mobile Viewer, a PC app to display the phone interface (at up to 1024x768) on the PC monitor. The battery charges OK and seems to hold a charge reasonably well, although a new (extended) battery might be in its future.
As promised in the last installment, I looked in to getting a SIM from one of the brace of companies that provides them for overseas visitors. If I was visiting they would be a way to go, but as I live here and might want to use the phone occasionally for an extended period, over what they allow, I decided a domestic pay-as-you-go was the answer.
The only real, nationwide, choice was between T-Mobile and AT&T. Now, I could be wrong, but T-Mobile don’t seem to offer a data option with their prepaid phones. They do have a 50Mb/200 texts package for $10/month, but none of their prepaid phones is capable of using it. And their website would not sell it with just a SIM-only or a prepaid phone.
Here is what I got from AT&T. A refurbished Nokia 2610 “GoPhone” and a prepaid minutes card. Should have been $30, but they managed to charge me $40. Gouging me by 33% on day one. Wow, must be the start of a beautiful relationship!
Take out the SIM and now I know my Tilt works as a phone too. After looking deeper, I made another decision; if my employer wants me to stay in touch here in the US, they will have to pay for it. I decided not to convert the phone minutes to a data plan, and I turned off the phone portion of my Tilt. The minutes will “remain” for 90 days, the data would only have been active for 30. I can live with time expiring while I’m visiting the UK, but as I have another plan in the US, I’m not going to duplicate it. Unless someone else pays.
I’ve also started setting up my UK mobile connection. T-Mobile (UK) will mail you up to four pay-as-you-go SIMs, as do the other UK phone companies, but only to UK addresses. I’m having four of them mailed to my brother who will then mail them on to me. When I receive them I’m hoping that I can add prepaid talk and data online. then when I arrive in the UK, the SIM will update with the information, and I’m all setup!
One app that I will be installing is WMWiFiRouter ($30, 21-day trial, Windows Mobile devices only). This will turn my phone in to a mobile hotspot. Works as well in the US as elsewhere.
Next? Waiting for those SIMs to arrive.
Be the first to rate this post
- Currently 0/5 Stars.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5