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If they can remotely tell you how much time you've used, and know
when to disable the phone for outgoing calls, there's no reason
that they couldn't also remotely disable the phone entirely.
Electronically remove the serial number from the database, maybe?
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| �If they can remotely tell you how much time you've used, and know
�when to disable the phone for outgoing calls, there's no reason
�that they couldn't also remotely disable the phone entirely.
I bielieve the prepaid cards are "charged" with the airtime locally,
i.e. you can check the remaining credit without being connected. Of
course they can remotely disable the card at any time they wish - the
question is, if and when.
Actually, I found fairly comprehensive information on Omitel's (the
other Italian network) Web pages (www.omnitel.it/libero2.htm).
For the benefit of others, this is how it works (at least for Omnitel):
- you buy a prepaid card, which costs Lit. 100,000. It includes 50,000
worth of air time, the other 50,000 is the one-time activation fee.
You get a phone number with the card.
- the card is valid for 6 months from the date of activation or last
recharge operation, plus an additional month for incoming calls.
- to recharge the card, you buy a (non-smart) card with an individual
PIN on it. You call a given number, punch in the PIN, and eventually
the card in your phone gets recharged over the air. The cards are
available in Lit. 50,000 and 100,000 denominations. The recharge costs
10,000, so the actual credit is 40,000 or 90,000 respectively.
This effectively amounts to a (minimum) basic monthly charge of Lit.
1667 (roughly one US dollar) with a minimum turnover of Lit. 40,000
over any 6 month period (or 50,000 for the first 6 months). Not too
bad.
Omnitel charges Lit. 195/minute off-peak (~ 12.5 cents) with these
cards. Peak is ten times that though...
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| I found comprehensive information about Mobicarte, the prepaid service on
France Telecom Mobiles "itineris" GSM service at the website
http://mobicarte.itineris.tm.fr/
(France Telecom Mobiles site is http://www.itineris.tm.fr/)
Basically, you buy a card for 270FF ($47) at any GSM shop; the card includes
the first 144FF ($25) of usage -- 30 minutes at $0.28 per 20 seconds. Unused
credit expires two months after the _first_ usage. You buy recharges in
GSM shops or in tobacco shops, 144FF at a time.
To activate the card, you dial 222(SND), and you are greeted with a
recording telling you the date of expiration of your current usage
and an announcement of your incoming telephone number.
You may only call _or_be_called_from_ within metropolitain France, and
you may not call special services.
Incoming calls are, as usual, charged to the caller. Your incoming
number remains valid for two months after the first usage. For two
months after your service expires, your incoming number remains in
reserve, but after that, the next time you recharge your card, you
will be assigned a new incoming number. (Note: I'm not 100% sure
that you can recharge a fully expired card, but that seemed to be what
customer service told me. Of course, a different customer service
agent might have a different answer.)
/john
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| I had some discussion on Compuserve about the Italian prepaid cards
(Telecom Italia also sells one).
Basically, it's not a very good deal; the Italian providers are less
strict than e.g. the German ones in giving 'normal' cards to
foreigners. They accept credit cards for payments, and don't require
you to have a bank account there, nor a residence permit. The only snag
is you need to give them a 'codice fiscale' (a tax ID) which a
non-resident foreigner probably won't have...
In fact, Omnitel has a contract type with _no_ monthly basic fee. It
still costs Lit. 10,000/month in taxes to the Italian state (that's why
you need the tax code). In my experience, you can make one up (haven't
tried in connection with GSM providers though) - the state is happy to
collect the money even with an invalid ID.
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