[pct-l] Foreign Hiker - 2 questions and SPOT Connect

[Eric Martinot]

Sprint is about to merge with Softbank of Japan, not ATT.  My ATT prepaid Go Phone (GSM) still works fine in the US on the ATT GSM network. And it works with overseas SIMs on other overseas GSM networks I've tried, but only once it was unlocked (not easy).  

The main question for overseas hikers, which is still unanswered, is the opposite, however: can an overseas GSM phone work with a prepaid ATT Go Phone SIM in the US?  (The ATT prepaid SIM is different from an ATT contract-based SIM.)  It's not a question of CDMA vs. GSM, but rather how the prepaid plan works, if the prepaid ATT SIMs are only meant to be used in ATT phones (I suspect).  


On Sep 9, 2013, at 2:57 AM, lilacs007 at yahoo.com wrote:

I didn't address the major point in this post :)

Which is that At &T merged with Sprint and no longer runs on GSM but on CDMA.
People in the US had to trade in their phones for CDMA ones and now are on Sprint/AT &T.

Any GSM phone will work on a GSM network, but NOT any CDMA phone will work on a CDMA network.

So those people could take their GSM at &T phone to any other gsm provider and the phone would work fine.

That's how companies in the USA were able to offer 2 year contracts and charge nothing for actual phones but upcharge on costs of service.

If you have an at &t phone and need to use it in the USA you would have to find another carrier or buy a new phone... It won't work here anymore due to the merger.


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile