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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.

2 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. We've already got these by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Granted, they're not usually so inexpensive, but they're called TracPhones (or TracFones, however you misspell it). In fact, I bought a friend one a few months back for $40 on clearance. (Not like he ever seems to have the money to recharge it with minutes, so it didn't seem to do much good, but oh well.)

    What remains to be seen is whether these disposaphones' minutes have to be recharged each month like the TracFone's (unless you buy a $100 "all year account" card) or whether they stay on for longer. I'm betting they'll be good for 6 months after purchase, the way the cheapy long distance phone cards are.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  2. It is real, see FCC approval by John_McKee · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here is the page on the FCC website on the approval of the device.

    https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/oet/ forms/reports/Search_Form.hts?fetchfrom=0&form=Gen eric_Search&mode=edit&show_records=50&grantee_code =QHO&product_code=HPN1600

    The relevent PhoneScoop page is here: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?id=179

    Photos, a users guide, and other information is avalible.