I think I've got mine set to prefer Verizon but if it can't get a tower it should roam. Their current plans are essentially no roaming that I've noticed.

What is the construction of Grand Central Station? Was the downstairs below grade?

The 1 year expiration on the cards I was looking at were all for the high value cards...~$100 or more. The less expensive cards had 90 day expirations. I cannot exactly remember what the cost for the one year expiration card was for the Trac phone but it definately was not available on the cheaper cards.

Yes, it's below grade. Just like the subways in Wahington DC and Toronto where the cell phones work fine.

www.grandcentralterminal.com

How do you know it wasn't intentionally disabled? Especially after the London bombings. See anyone else on a cell phone?

We have that problem with some phones, but I will explain shortly. I have a magazine (around here somewhere) from the US explaining how to unlock some of your phones. When (if) I find it I will post up some details.


Yes we get some phones subsidized, but they mostly fall into 2 catagories. We have pre-paid or plan purchases. Most pre-paid are locked to a network they can be unlocked for a fee (detirmined by the phone company) so they are basically throw away. If you purchase a mobile on a plan, the phone is usually unlocked, but you sign up for a 2 year contract. If you want out of the contract you pay exit fees.
There are 3 major GSM phone carriers here, and most of the others smaller companies use these 3 networks. There is limited roaming between these 3.(basically dont bother)
So you can buy 3 pre-paid cards and use them in an emergency. The longest lasting pre-paid lasts for 12 months and you loose what credit you havent used, then you have to recharge it.
I actually buy my phones outright and dont sign up for a contract. That gives my the flexability to swap companies when they give me the @$%$s
Also if you add up the costs it can be quite scarry to sign up for 2 years so money wise I'm not far behind. Tried contracts, not for me and pre-paid is too expensive for what I use.
We also have CDMA but there is only 1 CDMA network and the others resell it.
We basically have little coverage out side of the metropolitan areas and some locals have had to get a phone with satelite backup, so they have either GSM or CDMA when they are in range but swap to satelite outside of that area.

If you want an unlocked phone, you could try is contact the importers of the phones direct and see what they can do, or order a phone out of Hong Kong from ebay (after checking the seller)
The other thing you could try is getting software to reprogram your phone and unlock it.
I read some where about someone who travelled from the US to europe somewhere and walked in and had his phone reprogramed and unlocked to use their local system. For a fee.

Possibly there were repeaters like the shortwave bands or like the police radios?

A recent example why it is good to have a mobile phone around, from the UK . Although it would be better to avoid this situation.

Sorryy I cant find this magazine. I have probably thrown it out.
It cant remember which magazine it was in. It could have been a T3 or one of the other communication/phone/gadget based magazines.
You might be ale to get info from one of their web sites.

Actually there's a better (cheaper) way to pay...

Go to the trac phone web site, www.tracfone.com & look up Autopay Options. After purchasing air time, you can keep your account active for $7.99 a month. If you use the phone only for emergencies, this is the way to go.

Forget the 90 day thing!

Hope this Helps

I have my wife's old cell phone, it's a Motorola V120T. We don't have a service plan for it any longer but when I charged up the battery and turned it on it seems to be working. Can I use this as a Tracfone? How would I get minutes for it? I don't want to start a service contract for it but would not mind keeping it in the car for emergencies.