A couple of years ago, my husband convinced me to get a smart phone. Honestly, I never thought that I would use it the way that I do. Camera, gps, metronome, skype, web-surfing... just about everything except actually calling people on the phone.And since then, I have become firmly attached to my portable web.
This is a challenge while travelling abroad: roaming charges would break the bank very quickly, and most phone plans call for a 12-24 mo. minimum commitment in order to get a subsidized phone. UGH.
A quick question: am I the only one to not really understand what it means to have an unlocked phone? I have many uses for the money that it would cost to buy one (think travel, restaurants, museums, books...) .
I honestly believed that I could use my HTC Incredible while abroad. To my great chagrin, I have discovered that most of Verizon's phones are proprietary (eg no SIM card,) and not able to be used outside of the US. Even after the 2 year contract period is over!!
Fortunately, when I left ATT a couple of years ago, I kept my phones -both Sony Ericsson- and a quick phone call to customer service gave me the codes to unblock them. Once here, a quick stop at the grocery store allowed me to buy a sim card and get a phone number that is good for 6 months (renewable), and voila, almost instant communication.
The new problem is that my old phones are not smart phones. But I have found a use for my not very incredible HTC: I have turned it into an expensive wifi camera. (So, I still don't need to buy a tablet!) I have WIFI connection when I'm in the apt. (FWIW).
AND I just found out that the city of Paris maintains over 400 free hotspots, through the provider "Orange."
Here is how to get access in English: http://www.paris.fr/english/english/how-to-access-the-wi-fi-free-of-charge-in-paris/rub_8118_actu_109289_port_19237
And here is more detailed info in French: http://www.paris.fr/wifi
Problem almost solved. The moral of the story - make sure your phone accepts SIM cards before travelling. Enough with this proprietary bs!
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