Hi Jodi - If you don't mind a shared answer to all h-t'er's... I'd like to recommend Vodafone highly. I use Vodafone's prepay "Ready-To-Go" service (currently called "Vodafone Advantage"), which is the kind of service I wish were available here. The only difficulty is... what will you use for a phone? Since with Unicel I've been using an unlocked phone all along, including my Treo... over there has been no issue with functionality, just switch chips. I can't tell you if your iPhone will work in Ireland with a "foreign" Vodafone (non-AT&T) SIM/GSM chip... my guess is not. It would be nice, but that has been my biggest reason for staying off that otherwise attractive platform. Vodafone is offering a good selection of phones to their prepay customers for a one-shot cost. The featured Samsung S5230 with a 3.2mpixel still camera, video recording, 3" touchscreen and Web browser will feel like a miniature version of your iPhone (for €100 no-contract, unlocked) If sheer phone sensitivity and usability in rural terrain is more important, I recommend the Sony-Ericsson S510 (for €140, unlocked) with the same feature set - 3.2mpixel camera, video recording at 30fps, Web browser, no touchscreen but add also a photo light, that it in the Cybershot camera family with a good lens, will take external microSD cards up to 16GB (despite what it says on sheet about 8GB) and has excellent backup and support software from Sony. Either phone - when registered - will put a lot of euros credit on your prepay account... so you get much of the purchase cost back immediately. Incredible deal, either way. Once you plop down your starter €20 or so for a Voda prepay SIM card you are assigned a number with an 87 prefix (or 453-87 if dialed from the U.S.). What comes with that is nothing short of amazing. Activate your on-line account via "myvoda" and give yourself a password for entry into the system. You are assigned a free email account at the same time, with the suffix @vodafone.ie - always accessible through your "myvoda" account as long as you "Top Up" once every six months (either from Ireland at any AIB ATM, outlet/corner grocer, or by credit card over the Internet). The telephone number comes with free voice mail and... (today they say the offer expires on 31 October) a special offer for either 300 free text messages (to any network) per month for life, or free Voda- to-Voda calling/texting. I chose the free text to anywhere... here's why. From here in the U.S. I can text directly to any Irish mobile phone. I just open up the texting window in "myvoda" (a bit like a Twitter window), tap out my text, and send my message. My recipient has two options for reply (despite the fact that I'm here in the U.S. at the moment). He/she can text me back... a very typical response from anyone under 40 in Ireland (in which case it will show up on my texting "IN" box on my computer... and on any phone here in the U.S. that I have set up with the chip... no charge) OR they may call my Irish number, in which case they will hear my voicemail, and likely leave a message. Next time I go to "myvoda" on my computer, I will see an alert that I have a voicemail. I go to that section of my dashboard, open up my voicemail, click on the .wav file, and listen to my voicemail. I reply via text again, or call/email Ireland if suggested. The services which come with a Vodafone telephone number are nothing short of phenomenal. The minutes via a pre-pay are immediately available, you can track them, customer service is very good, and Vodafone has a unique "I.O.U." service where if, during a call, you go over your pre-paid limit... they will "advance" you up to €2 in credit to complete your call and call Vodafone to arrange a Top Up. The credit, of course, is deducted from your post-payment next balance. All follow-up, account balance, Top Up, email, text and voicemail functions are accessible, activated and updateable from your home computer or laptop. For wireless access while traveling in Ireland I tend to use McDonald's (get a directory on line) and after making a purchase, ask the manager if the Eircom cards are still available. Most still have them behind the counter... each are good for a half hour. McDonald's have an excellent cafe Americano (made a cup at a time, not like here). Another option I use, with an increasingly extended network - I don't know where you're most frequently been in Ireland - but it's handy in Cork and Dublin, is to start an online account with Bitbuzz (buying by the minutes rather than the day). However if you go through their Internet town-by-town directory you'll probably find (as I did) that cafe proprietors will hand out a free 20-minute or half-hour Flexipass to customers in their zone. For further information about Vocafone pre-pay plans (no contract necessary) see - http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/prepay/index.jsp If you know someone with an unlocked phone they'll part with, the simple "buy a SIM plan" is here - http://www.vodafone.ie/df/simonly/? ts=1255561331956 (the bottom-most plan is usually for new customers, but you may also qualify for "switch" credits with your existing gophone number.) But my guess is that you'd like the other services which come with the prepay plans above such as Irish email and texting. [Addendum: I forgot to mention the "Passport Option" which I recently used when I was in Edinburgh to present a paper. This is a free option for the no contract, prepay customers - just choose it, from "myvoda." It is Vodafone's version of International Roaming. How does it work? All calls made anywhere in the UK, to UK or Ireland, are the same as if made in Ireland... exactly the same price per minute, no connection fee. When in every other one of 35 countries - including Iceland, (every EU country except Bosnia- Herzogovenia, Slavakia and Hungary), Japan, Turkey, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand and Australia - all calls out are exactly the same cost per minute as if made in Ireland on your chosen plan... except add a €.79 one-time connection fee per call. Received calls... to you in those countries, and from any of the 35 Vodafone countries plus Ireland... costs exactly €.79 total... no cost per minute to you, no matter how long the call.] Michael Cerulli Billingsley Straight Arrow Recordings Location Recording - CD Mastering - Sound Solutions/FX The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301 802-254-3975 Irish Spiritual Heritage Association/Working Pilgrimages 440 Canal St., Brattleboro, Vermont and The Old Mill, Bruree, Co. Limerick (0)87-762-2387 ----------- On 14 October 09, at 2:33 AM, Jodi Schneider wrote: > Michael, > > Thanks for the info you shared about AT&T! Do you recommend Vodafone? > > I just moved to Ireland (am on the airport bus now). > > For the past 15 months I'be been using a go phone, with a wifi- > only iPhone for data. > > I'm debating phone options here-- and if there's anyhing more > complicated than phone shopping it must be crosscultural phone > shopping! > > Any advice or pointers about cells in Ireland? > > Thanks in any case! > -Jodi > http://jodischneider.com > > > On 2009 DFómh 13, at 21:00, michaelbix <michaelbix at straight- > arrow.cc> wrote: > >> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the >> member's area. >> ** If you did, we all thank you. >> >> >> I think I'll weigh in here, having just attempted to make the >> switch to AT&T, given the Unicel (Vermont) is going off-line in >> December. >> >> The sales pitch at the store was definitely misleading (the rep >> was trying to push me to a more-minutes plan based upon usage >> patterns he could "see on his screen" - but Unicel told me later >> the next day that AT&T doesn't have access to their customer >> records, and that he was fakin' it). >> >> I decided to shop/sign-up via the Internet. On line was a bit >> slower but the slow "reveal" that there was (first) a required >> monthly data plan paired with my chosen high-end phone, and >> (second) a connection fee to port-over my old number - were left >> to the very, very last minute/last pages. And a crucial piece of >> information for you world travelers, the key attraction with any >> "international" phone is portability from one GSM-based plan to >> another. Pull the SIM/GSM chip, put in another... and change >> carriers. I like Sony-Ericsson phones (I prefer them for their >> signal pickup in remote Vermont valleys). But only after a day >> of analysing fine print did I finally see in the "returns" policy >> that, ouch, this phone and all other sold by AT&T are "locked" to >> them... meaning, on their network only. >> >> I had begun to set up the arrangement but had not yet digitally >> "signed" the agreement (a separate "click to agree" email) when I >> discovered this "locked" phone issue. So I called the sales team >> back to arrange a different plan, where I could use my existing >> feature-primitive "unlocked" phone instead. >> >> They couldn't accommodate. Sorry. The phone had been shipped. >> The plan had been initiated and the phone activated from the time >> my order was taken down by the sales team. And, somehow >> (according to them), although my activated "new number" on AT&T is >> the same as my in-use "old number" on Unicel, the phone-plan >> charge clock is already running. Two plans on one number? Didn't >> make sense. (A different, U.S.-based AT&T rep has since told me >> the India-based supervisor was talking through his hat.) Who do >> ya trust? >> >> And the initial sales rep had definitely instructed me to be >> certain to acknowledge and agree to the plan (by live-link check- >> off) in that return email - otherwise the phone would not be >> shipped. Simplexity (AT&T's fulfillment company) had screwed >> up... apparently this is standard, however. Several supervisors >> and two days later I finally got the locked high-end phone and the >> plan cancelled (neither of which I had given final approval for) >> but the charges stayed on their books. I'd have to return the >> phone to their warehouse for inspection. >> >> It has since arrived here and has now been returned with their >> RMA, and they have acknowledged receipt at their warehouse (as >> agreed). So many calls had to be made, to get to this point. >> >> Do I get my refund? No. >> >> I've (yesterday) received an email saying their accounting >> department will review "my account" (I have none... I've agreed to >> nothing, ordered nothing) to see if I qualify for a refund, which >> will be "processed" sometime within up to seven business days in >> the future. Who knows when I will actually see the money (for >> this high-end Cybershot phone) back inside my bank account. Gees. >> >> After all this I will still go AT&T eventually - signing up >> through my friendly Radio Shack store rather than the sharks at >> the AT&T front end. I'll go for the bottom-bottom plan and the >> "free" phone... then switch that chip over into my unlocked phone >> (whichever one I get on the open market... whenever I choose to >> upgrade). Meanwhile, for my other data needs, I'm getting an >> iPod Touch. >> >> I've had a many-year Vodafone plan in Europe... my calls in >> Ireland/UK for instance cost me about the equivalent of $.37 per >> minute, whereas using AT&T's no-roaming "international minutes" >> would, I believe, cost $1.39 each. No way. I'll pull my AT&T >> chip when I step off the plane, and slide in my Vodafone chip >> instead. >> >> Was this "switch to AT&T" complicated? Way too much. Losing more >> than a full working day on the phone and in emails and shipping, >> so I can come back to zero with AT&T was very disappointing. >> It's been said here before, and I thought I was doing it too... >> but pay close attention, and then... pay closer attention. >> >> Now. Time to start again. >> >> Best >> Michael Cerulli Billingsley >> Straight Arrow Recordings >> Location Recording - CD Mastering - Audio Solutions/Sound Effects >> 802-254-3975 ~~ The Cotton Mill, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301 >> >> >> On 7 October 09, at 2:11 PM, Stefan Gonick wrote: >> >>> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the >>> member's area. >>> ** If you did, we all thank you. >>> >>> >>> Hey Everyone, >>> >>> I'm considering switching to AT&T Wireless specifically to get >>> the iPhone. >>> However, I've heard some disturbing things about their service. >>> In particular, >>> I have a friend who says that she can have her voicemails delayed >>> significantly >>> (hours or even a day). That would be unacceptable to me if it's a >>> regular >>> occurrence. >>> >>> What has your experience been with AT&T Wireless service in general >>> and the voicemail situation in particular? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Stefan >>> >>> ===================================================== >>> Database WebWorks: Dynamic web sites through database integration >>> http://www.DatabaseWebWorks.com >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net >>> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net >>> >>> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech >>> Discussion list. >>> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members >>> page on the Hidden Tech Web site. >>> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net >> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net >> >> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech >> Discussion list. >> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members >> page on the Hidden Tech Web site. >> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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