Switching Cellphone Companies

[Ikith]

Does helio use sims or CDMA?

[SephYuyX]

Cant use an .mp3 as a ringtone ;-;

Helios? yes you can. Imagine a helio vs verizon as unix vs windows.

I'll also post a site with all kinds of hacks for the ocean that don't void the warranty.

I'm telling you, Helio Ocean is the way to go You'll see :D

I called and asked them a few questions D: they said no dice with the mp3 ringtones. What infos you got?

[Vertabreaker]

Cant use an .mp3 as a ringtone ;-;

Helios? yes you can. Imagine a helio vs verizon as unix vs windows.

I'll also post a site with all kinds of hacks for the ocean that don't void the warranty.

I'm telling you, Helio Ocean is the way to go You'll see :D

I called and asked them a few questions D: they said no dice with the mp3 ringtones. What infos you got?

I gotta get the link from my buddy. Its a website that people upload all kinds of shit to basically "Hack" the phone, but it doesn't void the warranty. My buddy has MP3s as his ringtones...I can guarantee you that.

as far as sim or cdma...it's cdma unfortunatly.

[SephYuyX]

Nifty, find that link if you can please. Ive been looking for a reason to buy a cell phone for awhile, Treo got me pretty close, but this phone/rate seem better, so I may end up going for it.

[Ikith]

Welp I was going to suggest helio to my dad because me n him wanna switch as well but he goes over seas and no sim = no dice!

QQ

[Ohemgee]

Should of bumped my old thread.

But so far I'm ok with Sprint. Still hasn't been a month, and I'm just waiting for the Palm Centro to drop.

[Kiro]

I just canceled my T-Mobile service about a week ago because I got 0 reception bars at my home though they said I'd get the full amount, didn't have to pay though because I'm a sly whining nigra. This Helio thing is kind of tempting.

[SephYuyX]

Welp I was going to suggest helio to my dad because me n him wanna switch as well but he goes over seas and no sim = no dice!

QQ

Whats the deal with SIM? I asked the lady and said the phone could be used anywhere in the world as it uses any tower.

[Kiro]

A SIM card or Subscriber Identity Module is a portable memory chip used in some models of cellular telephones. The SIM card makes it easy to switch to a new phone by simply sliding the SIM out of the old phone and into the new one. The SIM holds personal identity information, cell phone number, phone book, text messages and other data. It can be thought of as a mini hard disk that automatically activates the phone into which it is inserted.

A SIM card can come in very handy. For example, let's say your phone runs out of battery power at a friend's house. Assuming you both have SIM-based phones, you can remove the SIM card from your phone and slide it into your friend's phone to make your call. Your carrier processes the call as if it were made from your phone, so it won't count against your friend's minutes.

If you upgrade your phone there's no hassle involved. The SIM card is all you need. Just slide it into the new phone and you're good to go. You can even keep multiple phones for different purposes. An inexpensive phone in the glove compartment, for example, for emergency use, one phone for work and another for home. Just slide your SIM card into whatever phone you wish to use.

High-end cell phones can be very attractive and somewhat pricey. If you invest in an expensive phone you might want to keep it awhile. Using a SIM card, it is even possible to switch carriers and continue to use the same phone. The new carrier will simply issue you their own SIM card. The phone must be unlocked, however, and operate on the new carrier's frequency or band.

A SIM card provides an even bigger advantage for international travelers -- simply take your phone with you and buy a local SIM card with minutes. For example, a traveler from the U.S. staying in the U.K. can purchase a SIM card across the pond. Now the phone can be used to call throughout England without paying international roaming charges from the carrier back home.

[SephYuyX]

GSM’s real benefit for domestic business use is in its SIM (subscriber identity module) card, the onboard memory device that identifies a user and stores all of his information on the handheld. You can swap GSM SIM cards between handsets when a new one is necessary, which enables you to carry all of your contact and calendar information over to a new handset with no hassle.

CDMA operators answer this flexibility with their own service that stores user data, including phone book and scheduler information, on the operator’s database. This service makes it possible to not only swap over to a new handset with little trouble, but it also gives users the ability to recover contact date even if their phone is lost or stolen. (This isn’t much of possibility with GSM, of course, because if you lose your cell phone, your SIM card is lost, as well.) There are devices on the market you can use to back up you SIM, but these items cost extra and add a secondary step to safeguarding your data.

?

Makes it seem like CDMA data is kept server side and is even easier to switch phones and can ever recover data when your phone is lost.

[Killgannon]

use AT&T, and get the iPhone or the Tilt!, both are awesome little phones and are what im looking at in feb when verizon's contract ends

[Ikith]

A SIM card or Subscriber Identity Module is a portable memory chip used in some models of cellular telephones. The SIM card makes it easy to switch to a new phone by simply sliding the SIM out of the old phone and into the new one. The SIM holds personal identity information, cell phone number, phone book, text messages and other data. It can be thought of as a mini hard disk that automatically activates the phone into which it is inserted.

A SIM card can come in very handy. For example, let's say your phone runs out of battery power at a friend's house. Assuming you both have SIM-based phones, you can remove the SIM card from your phone and slide it into your friend's phone to make your call. Your carrier processes the call as if it were made from your phone, so it won't count against your friend's minutes.

If you upgrade your phone there's no hassle involved. The SIM card is all you need. Just slide it into the new phone and you're good to go. You can even keep multiple phones for different purposes. An inexpensive phone in the glove compartment, for example, for emergency use, one phone for work and another for home. Just slide your SIM card into whatever phone you wish to use.

High-end cell phones can be very attractive and somewhat pricey. If you invest in an expensive phone you might want to keep it awhile. Using a SIM card, it is even possible to switch carriers and continue to use the same phone. The new carrier will simply issue you their own SIM card. The phone must be unlocked, however, and operate on the new carrier's frequency or band.

A SIM card provides an even bigger advantage for international travelers -- simply take your phone with you and buy a local SIM card with minutes. For example, a traveler from the U.S. staying in the U.K. can purchase a SIM card across the pond. Now the phone can be used to call throughout England without paying international roaming charges from the carrier back home.

The reason we want SIM card phones is because the people my dad visits has an extra SIM chip that is no longer in use. With verizon its a hassle because of international roaming fees and so on! If you have a sim phone as it says above just take out the one you have for your service and slip in theirs and no roaming over there. With verizon your locked into their phone and their slow firmware! Don't get me wrong I love verizon!

[Ikith]

GSM’s real benefit for domestic business use is in its SIM (subscriber identity module) card, the onboard memory device that identifies a user and stores all of his information on the handheld. You can swap GSM SIM cards between handsets when a new one is necessary, which enables you to carry all of your contact and calendar information over to a new handset with no hassle.

CDMA operators answer this flexibility with their own service that stores user data, including phone book and scheduler information, on the operator’s database. This service makes it possible to not only swap over to a new handset with little trouble, but it also gives users the ability to recover contact date even if their phone is lost or stolen. (This isn’t much of possibility with GSM, of course, because if you lose your cell phone, your SIM card is lost, as well.) There are devices on the market you can use to back up you SIM, but these items cost extra and add a secondary step to safeguarding your data.

?

Makes it seem like CDMA data is kept server side and is even easier to switch phones and can ever recover data when your phone is lost.

Verizon does NOT backup your contacts and other shit on their server unless you download an application using more memory.

And not only that but when you get a phone the shit you backed up is NOT automatically put back on your phone. You have to download the same app to recover it.

THIS IS IF YOU DON'T USE BITPIM!

[netz]

GSM’s real benefit for domestic business use is in its SIM (subscriber identity module) card, the onboard memory device that identifies a user and stores all of his information on the handheld. You can swap GSM SIM cards between handsets when a new one is necessary, which enables you to carry all of your contact and calendar information over to a new handset with no hassle.

CDMA operators answer this flexibility with their own service that stores user data, including phone book and scheduler information, on the operator’s database. This service makes it possible to not only swap over to a new handset with little trouble, but it also gives users the ability to recover contact date even if their phone is lost or stolen. (This isn’t much of possibility with GSM, of course, because if you lose your cell phone, your SIM card is lost, as well.) There are devices on the market you can use to back up you SIM, but these items cost extra and add a secondary step to safeguarding your data.

?

Makes it seem like CDMA data is kept server side and is even easier to switch phones and can ever recover data when your phone is lost.

It's usually not kept server side. The CDMA specification allows for something like SIM cards, but Verizon and Sprint prefer to just hardcode the subscriber identity into the phone when you purchase it, making it more annoying to swap phones without their assistance. Not that AT&T tries to make it any easier. Most GSM/UMTS phones are locked to a single network provider, but it's usually not too difficult to remove that restriction, allowing you to place any operator's SIM card in the phone and connect to their network.

Chances are you can take a Verizon phone outside the US to a country like Brazil or Japan with heavy CDMA penetration and get service; you'll just pay out the ass to do it. People on AT&T and T-Mobile usually just unlock their phones and buy a prepaid service card when they hit Europe.

[Vertabreaker]

Seph, here's one of the links, I'll post the rest as he forwards them to me.

http://heliocity.net/

My buddy said there's a lot of good apps on here and there's a forum to have any questions answered/have been answered already. He's digging up the link for me about the Mp3 ringtones as well as other good links including the link for the website that offers the ocean for 179$ :D

[Vertabreaker]

Damn Vert, thanks for the info.. I may have to pick that up myself.

I was looking around the site, but I was unable to find any real tech specs though, have you seen it anywhere?

I actually wish they had a cheaper plan though, id probably never use 500 minutes >.>

Here's some of the specs:

Cell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, MP3, Video
Carrier Helio
Cell Network Technology CDMA
Wireless Technology Bluetooth
Synchronization MS Outlook
Supported Memory MicroSD
Megapixels 2 Megapixels
Talk Time 5.1 hrs.
Screen Size 2.4 in.
Supported Media Format MPEG-4, H.264, WMA, AAC, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player
Messaging POP3, IMAP4, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger Service (AIM)
Additional Features Built-in Stereo Speakers, Qwerty Keyboard Layout, E-911 Compliant
Antenna Style Integrated
Colors Black
Digital Camera Yes
Included Accessories Headset
Included Functions digital camera / digital player
Vibrating Alert Yes
Display Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 320 x 240 Pixels
Display Color Support Color
General Product Info Height 4.3 in
Width 2.2 in
Depth 0.9 in
Weight 5.6 oz


**Edit** They have the specs on their site here: http://www.helio.com/page?p=devices_ocean_static&

Just click on the top right tab under the main picture. Says Ocean specs.
I have a page of the full specs in my favorites, just gotta dig it out of like a billion links lol.

Also, they have a pay as you go plan that starts at $40/month, but then you're paying .2 cents for video/pic messaging, internet, etc and txt messages are 10cents a msg. So you could really fuck yourself on that especially since the phone is basically connected to everything all of the time.

The 65$ a month while might be a little high is worth it much more then the pay as you go plan especially if you're like me and txt more then you talk on the phone and use the internet capabilities of the phone(i use my phone for work a lot, ie email). I dont mind spending the extra $$$ and not using my minutes as long as I have unlimited data.

[SephYuyX]

Thanks Vert :Q Any info you have is welcomed.

[Vertabreaker]

Thanks Vert :Q Any info you have is welcomed.

Np. I'm talking with my buddys back and forth trying to get as much as possible. I'm sure most are like me and want to know everything, good and bad, about something like this before you purchase so I'll post whatever I get as soon as I get it.

[Vertabreaker]

Here's the link about getting a discounted helio ocean I was talking about:

http://www.finawireless.com/helio-ocean-promos.php

Promo code if you use visa to buy:

Ocean: VISAOB

Promo code for american express:

http://www.helio.com/page?p=cc_aexp

I have 2 buddys who got theirs through this. No problems at all with super quick shipping.

*EDIT* another good helio forum link with good info/hacks/etc

http://howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=329

[Demosthenes]

I'm looking into this http://www.openmoko.com/