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Hop-On Hops Back On the PR Bandwagon

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the attn.-terrorist-drug-dealing-child-pornographers dept.

I thought CNN's gushing forth of breathless admiration in today's piece: 'Disposable cell phones on the way' sounded familiar. Yep, it's Hop-On, the same company Slashdotters took to task last March ('Disposable' Cell Phone Actually Repackaged Nokia) after reading the San Francisco Chronicle's expose ("Sample 'new' cell phone really just modified Nokia [8260]"). Maybe this time the technology is for real. Or maybe I'm just too skeptical for my own good. Caveat lector.

3 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"Scratch cards"? by stevel · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've seen regular phone cards like this - there is a "scratch off" coating over a code number on the card. You buy the card and then scratch off the coating - like a lottery ticket. My guess is that you call some central toll-free number to enter the code and authorize additional minutes.

  2. Cell phones overseas by junimota · · Score: 4, Informative

    Coming back from an extended trip of Europe and Asia, I was appalled at how far behind our cell phone technology is. GSM seems to be the best solution. You can walk into little cell phone stalls on the side of the street in many countries, get a chip and a card with minutes - for as little as 10 dollars and viola, in a matter of minutes you know have a phone number in that respective country. Refills for minutes are from anywhere from 5 to 50 dollars. Your phone number is yours, doesn't change every time you refill your minutes. And my cell phone worked in every country I was in. I had to buy a phone for there - the GSM phone I had here runs at 1800, not 1900 as it seems to be all over the planet. Any time I happen to go back to Turkey, Greece, or even Singapore, I have my own number. All I have to do is change out the chip, and buy minutes if needed. Now, why can't we have that here in the States?

  3. Re:What an appauling, irresponsible waste by SETY · · Score: 3, Informative
    From the article you quote:
    Most of the world's declared supply of tantalum is mined as tantalite ore, and comes from Australia. There are also significant reserves in Brazil, Canada and Nigeria. But unofficially, 80 per cent of the world's tantalum reserves are believed to be in Africa, and 80 per cent of those in Congo.

    AUSTRALIA is a nice western nation.
    Stop trolling. If it's not a troll, go take an economics class. Mod this drivel down.