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Disposable Cell Phones Arrive
headGasket writes "After the disposable cameras, here comes the disposable cell phones. Ideal for trash talk. Seriously, there is a $5 incentive to not dispose of it in the trash and bring it back for a rebate on the next one." These seem like a nice alternative to being locked into a lengthy contract, or for people who only need a cell phone for a short period of time.
I would imagine with disposable-grade aerial setups you would get weak reception? If I have to jump into an 80's time warp to get equal reception i'm out :)
Finally, a cell phone that works with my tin-foil hat!
FP?
It would make parking a lot easier if I could just drive my car into a dumpster.
And how about clothes that last for 1 day so we can keep up with the latest trends.
Or pets that die after a week, for when you want some love around Christmas but don't want an 8-20 year commitment.
get that global communications network up & running, these things would be great.
:)
Going on holiday to BumFuckEgypt? No worries, buy a phone there. What, didn't use all your credit? Sweet, bring it on home and finish it there.
Ooooh, this will be great for Shane Warne, he can SMS chicks without getting found out now
This is great for tourists. The USA use 1900MHz for their GSM networks, so the dualband (900MHz and 1800MHz) GSM phones which are common in Europe are of no use to tourists. A disposable cell phone looks like a good way to stay in touch with home and fellow travellers.
These seem like a nice alternative to being locked into a lengthy contract, or for people who only need a cell phone for a short period of time.
I'd say it sounds quite wasteful, even if the phone is recyclable.. (how many will recycle it?)
There are alternatives to lengthy contracts, such as prepaid accounts.
And there are alternatives for people who need a phone for a short period: Renting.
I'll just chalk this all down as another symptom that some people can't get the idea that waste is BAD.
This is how to make money today: 1. Think of current newish technology that is expensive but cool. 2. Figure that in 5 years it'll be cheap. 3. Take out patents on the *disposable* use of said tech. 4. Wait 5 years for someone elso to make it cheap. 5. Profit 6. Have fun This is probably a reasonably viable business plan - my tongue is only partly in my cheek...
(b) Donna Moss. She's ditzy. I love ditzy women.
I could see the 911 button being a nightmare for the 911 call center; it's centered right between the "send" and the "end" button.
...or does that phone look a shitload better designed than most of the current overgadgety, tacky, moronic-buttoned phones that saturate the market? I swear there's a special kind of drug you must need to be on to design current phones.
(barring the T610, which is simple and gorgeous for it)
Does anyone else find this crass? It looks like the trend towards low-cost, disposable, devices for mass consumption is not going to let up anytime soon. What ever happened to the care for quality, workmanship, and longevity in products? I guess it's as they say, "they don't make 'em like they used to."
I don't really see the point of having a huge button for dialing 911.. it's really not that hard to dial, is it?
The website doesn't say, but I'd also be interested to know if dialing 911 is still allowed after your minutes have expired.
Remember that Hop-On has been caught in the past passing of repackaged Nokia phones as their "disposable" solutions.
I believe it when I see it at my local 7-11.....
Please send all UCE to scally@devolution.com so I can f
I guess you will never be able to buy such an telephone in Europe. We hear all the time about criminals with dozens of cellphones, so that the police never can intercept their criminal talks.
are you serious?
Now, I thought that the reason Pay Phones in the US can no longer receive incoming calls is because drug dealers were using them to do business.
Wouldn't this just do the same? I can see this as a boon for an illicit dealer.
I wonder how long it will be before one is obliged to produce ID in order to buy one of these things. Many law enforcement agencies object to cell phones that are not tied to an identifiable individual because it makes it much harder to get an order for tapping the phone.
If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
The disposable phone seems expensive (per minute) and mostly useless. The only real application I see is when you go somewhere for a short period of time and need a phone for a few weeks.
I wonder what the quality control will be like on a product that's designed to be thrown away. There's been several studies detailing local microwave heating in the brain (though no-one's sure if this is a serious thing, I sort of side with the cautious on this one. What if ? ...)
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
Disposable Cell Phones have been on slashdot many times before, and isn't Hop-On the same company cited for repackaging $200 Nokia's and calling them "Hop-On" phones 18 months ago? I still haven't seen Hop-On phones in retail stores years after they were first announced, and I have a feeling I won't see them for many more years. Might as well start advertising disposable computers too, since I'm sure we'll see those in the next 10 years... probably before the disposable cellphone.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
i bought a Tracfone from Walmart i like it because i can buy a card form walmart and go online enter a few numbers and add time to it, or buy time online...
= NO
http://www.tracfone.com/home_page.jsp?b=n&flash
Now, I can make all my phone sex calls without worrying about my parents seeing the paper trail. w00t!!!
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
They're also the same guys who did
Free DSL not too long ago.
Pretty cool, that internet bubble was.
It's the conservatism that makes one ugly no matter how good you look on the outside.
I have worked and lived in several countries in Eueope, and everywhere, recycling and safe storage of old batteries was top issue. Batteries are VERY toxic.
And now, an idea to just throw away your mobile phone? Don't these people think about the environment? Yeah, I know, there's a 5$ incentive to return them, but you know as I know, that the average northamerican user of such device will think of the return as a nuisance and will gladly renounce to the 5$ and toss the phone. Even if only 10% does this, you still end up with huge quantities of toxic materials in the environment.
I'd like to kick the ass of the guy who launched this product.
Sigged!
Making the entire phone disposable seems to me to be rather wasteful and, well, environmentally-unfriendly. The requirement which this phone purports to address seems to me to be already catered-for by the "pay as you go" model.
Here (Ireland), for example, you can get a decent phone (with no account) for about 100 euro, and then buy call-cards for 10, 20, 50 euro etc. worth of credit. These have a PIN which you use to top-up your account. As an alternative to the "pay monthly" type of account with invoices, it works very well; they're used particularly by teenagers etc. There's no account, nor are one's personal details given to the phone operators.
I couldn't find the price of one of these anywhere on the website. Does anyone know how much they'll cost (including the $5 "deposit" (rebate) for something that is supposed to be disposable--a $5 bill certainly isn't disposable for most of us!)?
Why not just use prepaid SIM cards? That's what we have here in Finland. You get a prepaid SIM card and presto, you get to talk or receive calls. Once the allocated talktime has been exceeded, you just buy a code and "recharge" the prepaid SIM card. Or just buy a new prepaid SIM. SIM cards are small and made of non-toxic material. A much better idea for the environment, and I'd say it's much nicer, as you have YOUR choice of mobile phone.
Sigged!
I wonder how many non-intentional (I'd use the word accidental, but it seems inappropriate) 911 calls are going to be made with that design. It's like those stupid computer cases with the reset button sticking out from the front which you keep bumping against accidentally.
If you'd consider a phone that's less than $10 as "disposable" than it already exists. It's the Nokia 5160 or 5165. Quick search of ended items on ebay turns up hundreds of Nokia 5160/5165 phones that have sold in the past 2 weeks, most for less than $10, some as low as $1.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
High end mobile phones are status symbols- maybe this phone should be called the "loser phone" with a big red "L" printed on the back for others to see. The perfect phone for those with no money and no credit. And as usual, the poorest will pay the highest prices, prepaid minutes are always a rip-off, plus no free nights or weekends...
You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
$30 disposable phones will be coming sooner or later.
Hop-on hope to be the name we remember. But they
will never be able to beat the giants of the
industry. Much of the GSM market in Europe is
already driven by anonymous prepaid cards so this
is hardly a killing point. Throwing out plastic
is no killer either, we do this all the time with
drinks bottles. Poisonous battery waste? Well,
"disposable" cameras seem to be manageable. So,
the only real problem is to build this gadget for
$30, which means a market of such scale that no
newcomer can create it. You can already buy a
new GSM in Europe for around $60, so within two
years at most, a $30 phone will be reality.
The red herring here is "disposable". No need
for this. Make the phones dirt cheap, just
software wrapped around a battery, use
anonymous pre-paid accounts, sell the
traffic at a premium, and when the phones break,
recycle them.
This will be a massive seller in developing
countries (e.g. most of Africa) where repairing
an electronic device is impossible anyhow.
Seriously, we've had starter marriages and prostitution for a while.
A boon for organised crime. Now every terrorist can be absolutely sure they cannot be traced.
Powered by onion juice.
...on Slashdot
:)
It's actually kinda amusing reading the comments from that last article about disposable cellphones. Many people though it'd never happen, and now, here it is
Well this is a nice alternative to having to take my mobile with my when travelling. Just walk into an airport, send a text messages to people who need to know and just walk around. If it gets stolen, no big deal.
Of course you would have t owrite down all your numbers in an addressbook but is that such a big deal?
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
On my last trip over (March '03), I was suprised that the concept of a rechargable SIM had not caught on in the US. I tried hard to find them in both Seattle and San Francisco but could not..
With the current political climate and the perception that such a phone would only be used by terrorists and drug dealers, I find it hard to belive it would catch on or would be allowed to work.
It's only possible because you get charged for incoming calls - a thing that happens only in the USA. All around the rest of the world, if someone had a phone like that she would never dump it, because it could be served as another phone number (another identity!)
And.. it's hard to believe they'll continue to live. It all looks like a fraud to me. Their site design looks quick-n-dirty, kinda like the site of Earth Station 5.
Slashdot community, please notice: I am looking for a girlfriend.
Nave H. Weiss
In Michigan, we've got a 10 cent deposit on all beverage containers. The stores have Tomra can acceptors that read and squash the cans and print out a receipt that's good at the checkout.
People que up with a bag of empty beer cans to get their deposit back. With practice, you can get the machine to accept 6 cans a minute.
like seriously, how good would one of these be for hacking from a laptop outside? hard to trace it back. i can just imagine the ads "Disposable cell phone when combined with Intel's Centrino wireless technology..."
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This seems to me to be no more than an incredibly stupid and environmentally wasteful way of achieving what is already done in the rest of the world with 'rechargable' pa-as-you-go phones. ie. low-end phones with SIMs carring calling credit that can be topped-up by buying phone cards in grocery stores etc. The only thing you pollute the environment with here is the piece of paper with the top up code.
http://www.hop-on.com/technology.html
"Hop-on has secured multiple disposable-cell-phone patents from the STX patent collection. These patents have an effective filing date back to December 1995, which we believe predates all other patents directed to disposable cell phone technology. These patents include very broad claims directed to a method of operating a disposable cell phone with pre-programmed minutes.The patents further strengthen our competitive advantage, barring entry into the market by other companies."
I just hope they haven't actually patented the very concept of a disposable cell phone. The part about "very broad claims" disturbs me.
---------
There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
Homer: What's the number to 911?
According to this article, they were supposted to hit the shelves in nov, 2001.
I can think of a lot of roadside emergency kits that would add this immediately. Renting a cell with your car when traveling would probably also really take off. I hate the idea that there is so much waste. On the other hand if there were no fees until activation - gauranteed. I think there would be real uses for an emergency phone. But whats to stop this company selling a bunch of phones and then quietly folding. Could bring a new meaning to the term Folding Cell Phone. ls
They're disposable. You pick up a new one every day and the cops have to keep tracking new numbers. The more dealers that do this, the more work the cops have to do and the more work the cops have to do means less likelyhood of criminals being caught.
This has been in the news before - and it turned out to be fake. The "disposable" phone innards were a (at the time epxensive) Nokia. Nowhere was their breakthrough 'paper cellphone tech' to be found. When confronted with this they guys mumbled 'early prototype'.
s html and http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2002/03/29/BU13539.DTL&type=te ch
There was also supposed to be hop-on.com.au at the time - a free ISP in Australia. Didn't materialize either, but had the exact same artwork - eh?
See also http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20020329/110230.
I just wonder - how can this item reappear on Slash? I'm sure it has been covered before...
At least with cameras there is an incentive to bring them back -- you need to get your pictures developed! Sure, there's that $5. I doubt that's enough for most people.
Even if they did, how many people are going to get one in the first place? You can pickup old mobile phones now for next to nothing.
I'm in the UK tho, it might be difference over in the US. Anyone over there considering getting one? For what reason?
All we know about human behaviour, and I mean the non-rational part of us, the part which has sentiments and some morality and/or some sense of ownership or territorial defence, well this part is the one that makes us cling to everything we own, makes us attached to that old pair of shoes, makes us feel affection for that old beige box on the desktop.
That's why we'll see more customization kits, swappable cases and GUI skins for portable phones, and disposable phones will probably fail.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
The concept of the disposable phone is hardly novel. With all the free/cheap-with-service phones that can only used with this service or that service, that's pretty much what we have already.
i've seen this story in the media over a year ago; why is it coming on slashdot now...
Clearly, if you use a phone often or for a long period of time, it's cheaper to go out and buy a real phone than to continue buying replacement disposable ones. The main market, therefore, seems to be travelers etc. who will only be in an area for a short while. I'm sorry, but why can't such people just buy another simcard for their existing phone? (As opposed to this crappy disposable one, which apparently can't even send text messages. What the heck is the point of a phone that can't send text messages?) Simcards cost about $6 in most countries, much cheaper than one of these things, and you get the benefit of still being able to use your own phone.
To all that say "Use it until it expires, then keep it for 911" or "Get one just to kick around in an emergency kit" are forgetting about BATTERY LIFE.
Does anyone really think you can recharge these things? Or that they have awesome shelf life? There's probably enough juice to get you through the minutes about twice (for safety) then you have to bring it in to replace the battery pack anyway.
Just a thought.
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
It sounds like the only thing disposable is the company.
According to stockpatrol, the former CEO was arrested for defrauding investors.
Their 2002 Audited Financials, shows over 98 MILLION shares and lifetime sales of just $4,283 (at an expense of $29,576). The company has moved from online gambling (1998-2000), to DSL provider (2000), to wireless phones(2001-). The audit claims: "[...] the Company has sustained operating losses and expects such losses to continue to the forseeable future. The Company has not generated any significant revenues or product sales [...]". It also mentions that the company currently has two lawsuits against it for unpaid fees.
That wouldn't be so great, if you think a little bit longer about it. It won't be a problem to abuse the anonymity of these phones
Actually, I really can see a use for these - When i go out into town, i dont want my new nokia stolen, so i take an old housebrick-sized phone. It gives me a point of contact, with very little risk - who would want to steal it? I was actually stopped (at knife point) and mugged a few months ago - he took a 20pound note, but not my phone, (or even my student card or driving licence. It's well worth asking to keep it - worthless to the theif + would cost a lot to replace) as for dialing emergency sevices, all nokias seem to have a facility to dial 999 (i live in the UK) at least once a week without you knowing. I often wonder how much nokia costs those services - even with the keys locked, it will still dial out if it's in your pocket.
Just sell temporary SIM cards at 7-11 and let people figure out how to get a used cell phone for $20 bucks. That's how we do it in Taiwan. Locking into contracts for two years is for weenies. Who cares about changing your phone number every two months!
I guess these phones are a good idea "for people who only need a cell phone for a short period of time". If I dispose of them and return the phone, can I get the $5?
Of course with my luck, I'll go to Hell for it and then .. "Hi! Yeah, I'm in Hell.." for eternity. Nooooo!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
North American cell phone customers were happily surprised this morning when Merison Vireless released a cell phone so shoddy and crappy that most would be happy to dispose of it.
"I've been waiting for the shittiest cell phone I could," remarked Janice McFarley of Prescott Hills "the phone Merison sold me wasn't that great, but I was planning to keep the unit even though I could no longer afford the service. With this phone, well, it simply has no value! I'd throw it away without a second thought!".
The new "KrapPhone", with a limited feature set and shoddy quality, is perfect for service providers that are looking to milk customers that have very little money. Robert Slaton of Merison Vireless explained to us that they could make a tidy profit on welfare mothers and the homeless.
"We find that welfare mothers would like a cell phone, but they can't afford the $30 monthly fees. With this totally crappy phone, we can sell them service, make a tidy profit, and the destitute will be able to remain only 3 or 4 payments behind on their rent. Once they default on our charges, they can simply throw away the phone under the guise of it's crappiness.
It's not like the thing even does something you can't get now. Europe (and I hope the US) sell prepay and full featured phones starting from 50 euros - not just some crappy box that doesn't even have a display. So what is the point of this? I seriously doubt that this device is that much cheaper, and considerably more restricted in features and lifetime.
The $5 deposit is just a sop.
It's not like phones are the best devices from an environmental point of view (think of all the needlessly different battery and adaptor types), but at least they're not meant to be tossed away after so many minutes. In fact, most shops often have trade-in schemes for old models and pass them on to charities for refurbishment for third world countries. So some good comes from them.
This is rubbish. I mean literally.
Having just read their 'Sales and Distribution' section, I immediately got shivers up my spine. The type you get when you hear a knock at the front door and the salesperson starts talking about a 'dynamic company' with 'opportunities for hard working people'... The return of the trapezoid business model?
Great I hope the smart states slap a hefty sales tax on these things to cover the cost of disposal say 100 dollars per unit, doesn't seem so cheap now huh? After all the company positively encourages the user to dispose these things.
No mention of the initial up front costs of the unit.
The call rate will certainly be higher to cover costs and make a profit, they do intend to make a profit right? Or are they hoping to pump the share price and make money by selling blocks of shares?
No sms text, means this tech is already dead in Europe and the rest of the world.
Anonymous mobile phone purchase is illegal in some countries, ever try buying a legal phone in France without ID?
Just who is the target customer? Business travellers? Poor students?
What's the point of a mobile if you can't be sure that the other party will still have the same phone number after a week? Who would you rather do business with e.g. on ebay?
I just wanna see a radio MODEM hack for these things.
There's a company in Nebraska that makes custom vending machines. One of the advantages of the disposable-phone approach is that you wouldn't necessarily have to negotiate contracts with a peppy salesperson. Just swipe your card, choose your model, and you're on your way. Are the phone sales jobs good for the economy? My inclination is to put those people to work designing a better vending experience.
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
A low-tech alternative to throw-away phones is to simply buy a pre-paid SIM card from a local operator early in your trip, and to use that to make local calls & stay in touch with the family.
I was in India last week and the network coverage of all major operators was excellent in towns and around urban/touristic areas. The SIM card only cost me Rs.300/- ($6) and included 30 minutes of talk time to Indian phone numbers, and allowed my friends and relatives to call that number. And you don't pay huge roaming fees for receiving calls.
Reading through the pages, it sounded more like a scam / rip off. It was proposed as being 'free' so long as you spent $150 on long distance. Like magazines that take a price hike to give you 'free' gifts.
I thought that logo looked similar. There was a company called Hop-On in Australia a few years ago that supposedly was going to offer free internet access (offset by advertising). The company disappeared before it started connecting users, AFAIK. The website (www.hopon.com.au) is dead but the internet archive has a copy. That's obviously the same logo.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
... hotel phone, airport phone, trainstation phone, coin phone, or even phone shope allowing conenction all over th worled ? You might not be able to phone from grand-canyon but for a few use in a decenny it is probably cheaper.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
The point is that they are not supposed to get tossed in the trash, but calling them "disposable" suggests that they will be.
Why not call them "returnable cell phones" or "temporary cell phones"?
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
yes triangulation is a great method for locating a given number, but the problem with this is which number do you triangulate to?
One wonders, if Echelon worked as advertised, would the hi-jackers of the planes on September 11, 2001 have been as succesful?
Is very common, works fine over there and has pretty colours. But the keys are too fiddly. And the early ones had some problems I think. And their version of Q-Bert sucks. When will the One True Phone arrive?
Any sound you want, as long as it is very very quiet...
Its so thin and disposable it doesn't even have a third dimension!
I see glass (white/green/brown), paper (always full to overflowing, damn junkmailers) and clothes - where are the ones for aluminium cans?
could happen.
it'll be a "tough slog" to quote sum/many of the felonious georgewellian fuddite corepirate nazi ?pr? ?firm? hypenosys scriptdead execrable puppets.
they dumbed up that won to replace the 'misleading facts' tome they tried out on US.
the daze of the greed/fear/ego based felonious payper liesense ?pr? ?firm? hypenosys stock markup fraud execrable, is WANing into coolapps/the abyss, at the (increasing) speed of right.
talk about pressure? those fauxking foulcurrs on wall street of deceit/capitollist hill, are having a whoreabull time attempting to hide the news (buy use of phonIE scriptdead ?pr? ?firm? hypenosys) of their felonious payper liesense billyonerrors' latest softwar gangster hostage taking attempts, &/or the adolescent dictator megalomania of the georgewellian fuddites/walking dead perpetraitors of the greed/fear/ego based life0cide against humankind.
there's a real risk of overheating (peacing off) the main processor. you don't want that?
for each of the creators' innocents harmed, there is a badtoll that must/will be repaid by you/US, as the aforementioned walking dead will not be available to make reparations, when the big flash occurs.
the lights are coming up now. consultations are in order. you know where to look/who to trust? see you there? tell 'em robbIE?
It's already an annoying problem for the emegency services that phones dial 911 or 999 accidentally and they have to figure out whether its a real emergency and the person is unable to speak or whether the phone is unlocked in someones pocket.
Now there's just a single freaking button to press ? - That may be a problem.
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
GAH! There's no such word! The word is "regardless", not "irregardless"!
l ess
I'm not even a native English speaker,
Welcome to English. We've been using this word since the 1920's and will continue to do so.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=irregard
I have trouble remembering all my acquintances' telephone numbers as it is. No need for them to change numbers every day or anything, without my PDA I won't remember more than a handful of numbers.
Sigs for Nerds. Sigs that Matter.
i will be a good for people who dont want to be tracked very easily such as drug dealers or people who holding someone up for ransom. or if nothing else i bet one of those cell phones would do wonders as a wedge to balance out my kitchen table.
It constanty surprises me how many people are stuck with this "contract" idea.
It's a north american concept.
In europe, most cellphones are pay as you go. Not the limited, low service, expensive pay as you go service like in the US, but universal, GSM, GRPS, voicemail, data, etc. You want a phone? pick one. You want a phone number? Pick your store, go buy a 25e card + number. No fuss, no contract no signatures, no time wasted. Pop it in your phone, you are done. Need more time? Go anywhere and get a recharge card.
Going to France? Buddy has an extra card? (not uncommon for people to have two or three). Pop it in your phone.
Phone got stomped on? Need to make a call? Borrow someone's phone, pop in your card in stead of theirs, it's your phone.
The whole "contract" idea is just an unnecessary beurocratic waste.
What about nokia cellphones?
don't you have to dispose them when they burn a hole in your pants?
Time is the only precious thing I've got left; Don't waste it
excellent move, in such times. now terrorists won't even worry about giving their name to get a cellphone. they can buy one, call whoever they want to call, then throw the evidence away.
this makes me think that when there's the chance to make some profit no fear-of-terrorist can stop it. it's interesting to see that this "culture of fear" only arises when profit is under threat, and is forgotten when no money can be harmed.
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
instead of bums collecting cans off the side of the road, theyll be collecting cell phones. hey we might be able to see some well to do bums here soon.
Trust me, putting the 911 button like that IS a pain for 911 operators. I am one. If people would THINK before dialing 911, we wouldn't be so busy answering stupid calls. Over 40% of the calls we take are cell calls, and I'd guess that 75% of those are wasted calls. We at the 911 call center know when there is a wreck. All the phone lines start lighting up. I've even had a 911 call reporting a wreck 20 minutes after the fact. I asked the caller, isn't the police there? She said yes, but I didn't know if you knew about it. HELLO.......McFly......I'm the one who TELLS the fire/police where to go. 911 is a victim of it's own success. For 20 years, we've told people call 911 call 911. Heck, they call 911 like it was 411 now.
or for people who only need a cell phone for a short period of time.
/. story.
Latin American drug cartels have been doing this for some time with real cell phones. Why? Because by routinely disposing of cell phones means that you are always a few steps ahead of the government (and if you have a billion dollar warchest, why not?). In fact, they represent a large bulk of the cell numbers being used.
Since it's being done, I don't see why they can't at least make the phone more disposable.
Oh... and this is related to an older
What is music when you despise all sound?
Nothing is disposable
While I agree there is some merit to the privacy arguments, as someone who treated victims of the WTC attacks, I think a little viligance is a good thing..
You _know_ the phones must record numbers. Why else would they want you to return them?
Excuse me. I think I just heard a black helicopter land in the back yard.
I see no photographs of a real product on that site, not even a prototype. I kind of doubt that they "have arrived". Looks like vaporware to me.
Maybe before you declare this "the arrival" you should take a look at the 2002 financials. This is all total BS. Let's look at some key facts:
1993 -- New Discoveries Publishing Corp is incorporated in Nevada
1998 -- They acquire the rights to a Bahama's based online gaming software (read: online casino)
1999 -- They acquire the licensing rights to actually distribute the software. The lack of regulatory approval forces them to cease operations.
2000 -- Hey, let's get into the DSL provider market. Also, let's change our name to Hop-On Technologies.
2001 -- OK, that didn't work, let's get into the wireless business. Oh wait, we're $12.5M in debt. The last sentence pretty much says it all: "There is no assurance that profitble operations, if ever achieved, could be sustained on a continuing basis."
More good news:
April 2003 -- Qualcomm terminates the license for breach of contract
Also, they're being sued for $40,300 by some Australian company, and $244,890 by Arrow Electronics.
Oh, almost forgot. On April 21st, 2003, the president and CEO resigned. Whoops.
With $130,065 in cash, as of Dec 31st, 2002, these guys are definitely going to lead us into the disposable company revolution. See you in bankruptcy court!
Nov 9th, 2003: Gaywads at Slashdot, desperate for a story, cover this without having bothered to check to see if there's any validity to it. Whoops.
I thought my Motorola C332 was disposable! I have to call up T-Mobile almost weekly for a replacement, but still I'm too cheap to buy something better.
Error 666 - SCO source has been found in your Linux kernel. Please remove it.
Formerly kdsolutions
Ofcourse if you have a SIMLOCKed joke..
Software should be free as in speech, but if we also get some free beer, all the better.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
Whenever I hear a new phone ring and its got that bad sample sound of some music I always wonder why they didn't use that ability to sample actual analog bells? Phones, door bells, buzzers, and so on. It'd be better than a phone version of some gay Justin Timberlake song.
Disclaimer: I have a 3-4 year old star tac that just makes a "normal" electronic racket when it rings, so maybe the new ones do have real bell sounds available.
Time delay is becoming common distinction in the interface for buttons performing radical functions. To turn off the device hold the Off button down for a second or two (like in some monitors), to activate the alarm in an elevator hold the Alarm button down for 20 seconds, and so on.
Besides, involving more than one button in the call sequence prevents accidental calls. This is why we in Norway don't have an emergency number 111, only 110, 112 and 113.
Having said that, yes it's still a very bad idea to dedicate a separate button to an emergency number, unless it is to be dialed frequently by the user which is not the case with general population. Let me recall... I'm 29 now, and I've dialed an emergency number twice in my life. Once I called police when I was a kid; it was unnecessary as I was not in any danger, just confused by a gang of older angry kids banging on our door. Later my mother just talked to them and the issue resolved peacefully. The other call was to the ambulance; I should probably have waited a bit before placing it. When the ambulance arrived twenty minutes later, the man who hit his head falling down the stairs and lost consciousness, have already decided and walked away on his own (both times it was in Russia).
17779 eligible voters in a district, 17779 'vote' as one. This is Russia.
"The Hop-on cell phone brings cellular phone technology to virtually everyone, regardless of age, income or credit status."
well, the main thing there is the "income/credit status". its plain.
while in other countries you can go into a store and get a cellphone to use with cash, or prepaid sim's, i wasnt able to do that here in the u.s.
i was ready to pay cash, and even had a sizeable amount in my bank a/c. i even had a credit card which i primarily got to get the fone. but no. they would make a call from the shops to the telecoms, who would run a credit check, and then say "sorry".
at&t wanted me to pay $800 for a crappy nokia. i mean`, the fuckin fone itself would only be worth $10 (maybe even less as they offer it free to anyone who has a good credit , and for some reason, wants that model).
i cant believe that something like a cellphone, which i consider a basic necessity by now, is treated as though its like im trying to buy a fuckin house.
as for the fones we want to choose, where are the fuckin nokia/ericsson/siemens stores out here? i didnt find any. everything offered is by the telecoms. ppl flip out over here over fones which are just lame compared to the other places.
so, i dont think this is a bad thing - this disposable fone. only cos they have a stupid system in place here for something considered basic for any person anywhere else. the whole countrys' running on credit. messy.
*beep* <- 911 was just pressed
Operator: "911 emergency, how can I assist you?"
Caller: "*muffle* *muffle* mmmph *muffle*"
Operator: "Sir...er..or madam, are you in trouble? Where can we locate you?"
Caller: "*shuffle* *muffle* mmm *smack* *shuffle* *beep* *muffle* *beep*"
Operator: "Hello?"
Caller: "*beep beep beep beep beep beep...*"
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
More toxic waste for our rapidly spreading landfills.
Just what we've all been crying out for.
I for one welcome our new purveyors of low quality shite overlords.
siggy played guitar
Might as well start advertising disposable computers too,
Hewlett Packard has been making those for decades.
HP home computers... the only PC lower in quality than a gateway.
Seriously, these are already giving the FBI all kinds of problems. Big Brother never could keep up with technology.
please spend some time reading about plastic before you respond to this post:
Plastic
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/plastic.htm
It's that time of the year again--time for Slashdot to be taken in by the Hop-On "disposable cell phone" scam!
You'd think that after, what, five or six times now, the editors would've figured it out by now, wouldn't you? Or am I being excessively optimistic?
So whatever happened to the phone-card phone discussed here?
Go ahead, try to buy one! You can't. Offer them some investment money... they'll take it!
... and costing WAY more than $30 for the parts.
_ room_floor_2/
Did nobody notice that all images of the "phone" are virtual mockups?
How many promos/how much hype for this have I seen in the past three years?
Hmm, BusinessWeek mag was persuadade that they were available back in 1999 and claimed to have tested one.
It was later shown (by opening the case) that Hop-On's "disposable phones" were really Nokia phones with their own plastic casing put around them.
There were some delays admitted-to long after the 1999 "demo", in June 2002
There was a bit of a problem with a Universal Studios tie-in back in 2001:
"In November 2001, Hop-On announced that it would partner with Universal Studios Home Video to give away a limited number of the disposable phone to purchasers of the "Jurassic Park III" DVD/ home video. The "winners" would get a free Hop-On phone if their copy of the video contained a special coupon. The promotion was cancelled when Hop-On failed to deliver the phones... Universal has advised Stock Patrol that it is sending all of those winners - about 1000 in all - $30 checks (the supposed cost of a Hop-On phone) and a free DVD. "
See also http://www.wirelessreview.com/ar/wireless_cutting
and oh, oopsie!!!!
Disposable Cell Phone Company Hop-On Wireless CEO Indicted For Fraud (April 18, 2003 -- for ANOTHER venture of his, not Hop On, but it looks like a familiar tale)
Last year we had the story of how it looked like disposable cell phone company Hop-On Wireless was a scam. Since then, I've seen the company highly touted in many news stories, talking about how it was this great invention... but which no one seemed to be selling. Now, the CEO of Hop-On has been arrested for fraud, relating to work he did on an earlier company - but which brings up many parallels to Hop-On. The earlier company was an online gambling site, which he raised a lot of money for. However, they did so by showing software that was really someone else's software "cosmetically altered" to look like their own. Hop-On's "disposable phones" were really Nokia phones with their own plastic casing put around them.
From the hop-on website:
Q. When will I be able to buy the Hop-on phone?
A. The release date of our Hop-on phone is contingent on a variety of factors. We are doing everything we can to get our phones into the hands of all those who want and need them as soon as possible. If you like, you can e-mail us your contact information, and we'll let you know as soon as our phone is available in your area.
$40 dollars is alot for a throw-away phone that only allows you to talk for one hour.
WIth rental cell phones already providing absolutely untraceable service for obscene callers, this new and useful technology should and without a doubt will open up a new world of possibilities to them.
Whee!
To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
"Yeah. It smells, too..."
Yes, and then what happens when the old phones die? They end up as toxic waste in a third world country. That reallys gives me a warm feeling inside -- to know that nothing is "disposable." At least here we have some disposal regulations!
Not if they can make money by deliberate waste, anyway; that's obviously a much more important contribution to the American Way.
Are these things for sale anywhere? The manufacturer's web site didn't have any prices, so I froogled for a vendor. I didn't find any live links to people selling them. However, I did find an article that suspects that Hop On Phones is marketing a non-existant product. They also give the disposable cell phone market a poor prognosis.
I can't decide if this post is interesting, funny, insightful, or flamebait.
"Patented Technology
;-P
Hop-on has secured multiple disposable-cell-phone patents from the STX patent collection. These patents have an effective filing date back to December 1995, which we believe predates all other patents directed to disposable cell phone technology. These patents include very broad claims directed to a method of operating a disposable cell phone with pre-programmed minutes. The patents further strengthen our competitive advantage, barring entry into the market by other companies."
Just what we need, another monopoly
So these people have been around since at least the beginning of 2003? And /. has only just reported on them?
I suppose this is the inverse of one of those "repeat story!" posts--a story that's been covered on Slashdot at least twice already and nobody remembers. There's this 1999 story on the patent being issued, and then this one from 2002 about reviewers discovering sample Hop-On disposable phones actually had the guts of a more expensive Nokia model in them because they hadn't actually tooled up their assembly lines yet.
So yes, they have been around a while...and yes, Slashdot's covered it.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I couldn't find any price points listed on that website...it'd be nice to know just how much one would be paying for the convenience of no contract.
(I'm a bit doubtful about the usefulness of that 911 button. It looks like it would be easy for it to get pressed by accident. If I were the cellphone designers, I'd make it have to be held down for a couple of seconds, at least.)
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Now on one hand, I've been nothing but happy with Sprint PCS for years and years. The bills are fairly high, but I really like the service. On the other hand, I was looking for a cell phone, any kind of phone, for a friend. What my friend wanted was a phone with no monthly payment. On investigation, it turns out that none of the carriers offer any such thing. They ALL have a recurring monthly fee, even the ones where you supposedly "just pay in advance for airtime."
I would go a step further, and ask for a totally anonymous cell phone. They don't need billing information if I pay cash up front for my usage, right? But none of the carriers get that far, because they don't even get to "no monthly fee, no longterm (or even short term) agreements."
I thought that Cricket was like that. I mean the sell them at gas stations, I just figured we'd gotten to the point where the cell phone was such a commodity that I could get what I describe. A monthly fee, whether you use the phone or not, is unacceptable.
There was one company, I think it was Alltel, who got all the way through the pitch, and answered all the questions about "you just pay for calls ahead of time, and use what you've paid for"... And it wasn't until the contract came out that I saw the truth -- you pay $25.00 a month, plus whatever airtime you pay for. Well, fu-huck that,
it's not what my friend was looking for at all.
The experience of shopping for a phone for my friend, and even having some of the dealers lie to us, just assures that I'll stay with SprintPCS.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
The contract and the monthly payment is the problem.
All the phone sales are geared to an "almost free" phone with the service becoming the actual product. I think the "almost free" phone might actually be a better strategy than the "free" phone, but let's not get into that.
The problem is, you cannot simply buy a phone (even at top dollar retail price, let's say), and then get prepaid service, and have that be the end of it. You have to sign a contract with ALL of the providers and they ALL have a monthly fee (at least $25!) on top of your prepaid airtime.
The "disposable" aspect of the hop-on isn't really the surprising part. What surprises me is the anonymous, pre-paid, no-monthly fee claims.
I'd like to get that deal, and I'd be happy to buy a regular Nokia or whatever.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
They don't even talk much about selling phones any more. They now sell "jeweled headsets" for other cell phones.
Stock price (HPON.PK): $0.10, down from an all time high of around $0.95.
In Wisconsin we don't have a mandatory deposit per bottle/can, but everyone still recycles. It's really simple. All of the inconvenient things like taking leaking bags full of smelly cans to the dirty "can bank" are taken away by the government. Every home has a city owned "recycle bin" that is either a small garbage can, or in some cases, a regular garbage can that's a different color. They usually instruct you to put all of your recycleables in there such as paper/cardboard, glass, certain plastics, and aluminum. You put it out with your regular garbage and they take it away. It's so simple and effective that I don't know anyone that doesn't recycle here.
We have recycle bins in public, on school campuses, everywhere. It is not unusual to see a garbage can and a recycling-specific garbage can next to each other.
Now I've also lived in Michigan where they charge and extra 10 cents per can/bottle! Now only is that extremely annoying when you're paying for it, but you have to lug all your *uncrushed* cans to the the store in leaky bags, and watch them feed EACH can into the huge machine, one-by-one, to get your money back. And they only will accept approved brands. So you take all your cans there, then they give you back the ones that they won't accept. And you know what you do with those? Throw them in the trash! What a bass ackwards system that is.
How the hell will we get out of the matrix now?!
Mmmmm... SIM cards taste like chicken.
When your main webpage consists of, on the left, a gif of your product that looks like someone drew in photoshop, and on the right a list of press releases, and on the top your sticker symbol, I have to wonder if you really have a product to sell. Or if you are just running a pump and dump.
The CSI clip is kind of funny too... it's a bad sign when you are so desperate for publicity that you see your product being used to commit a crime in a TV show as good publicity.
I have blog like everyone else
n/t
Oh yeah, I don't advocate it at all. Just that the great-grandparent mentioned it as an "effective" device for tracking. Didn't seem to be that effective is all I'm saying.
In the UK, we've practically already got that. If your mobile phone is more than 6-9 months old, you'll get scoffed at for "having a brick" by all the 9-year-old kids who have newer and trendier phones than you.
In an attempt to convince people to switch to a new tariff, you see up to 50 (~$80) rebate being offered for your old handset when you upgrade.
My phone is 3 years old now, but there's nothing wrong with it, but in today's mobile phone world, that's ancient!
perl -e 'print "Just another Perl newbie\n";'
Talk your about your dirty work and get rid of the traceable element. Sounds like we just made crime easier.
Later,
Phil
Perhaps these nice people would be interested in getting added to the email lists of (for instance) that poor man in Nigeria. Or maybe they need more Viagra or a Larger Male Personal Copulatory Device.
The 911 dispatch absolutely hates it when people have preprogrammed 911 buttons on cell phones, as the picture shows for this one. They get way too many accidental calls, and are required to try and folow up on any call made, thus wasting a significant amount of time.
I'm sure I remember Trinity dropping her phone in the trash after arranging an "exit".
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
Ive been wating for a phone like this forever.
I dont want a phone that takes pictures manages my phone book, maintains a calander, plays games, plays music, has fancy ring tones and costs $150.00 (or more). I want a phone that makes calls and rings when it gets calls - thats it.
I started with nothing and I still have most of it.
That thing is fucking ugly.. I would never use a square purple phone.. next stupid idea..
Arrrrrgghhhhhh..... My eyes! That chick has a bigger dick than I do!!
wasn't there a war in africa over an essentail part required to build a mobile phone??
A blog I run for the wealth
I've been losing cell phones for years!
Xix.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
More like great for terrorists. Lets see.... I just need two of these phones. One wired up to a bomb. Then with the other, I can call the other phone to trigger the bomb to go off. All while remaining anonymous. Yes, I have a sick mind. But, you have to think like a terrorist if you want to prevents such a scenario from happening.
Life is not for the lazy.
Gee...
"Hop-on has secured multiple disposable-cell-phone patents from the STX patent collection. These patents have an effective filing date back to December 1995, which we believe predates all other patents directed to disposable cell phone technology. These patents include very broad claims directed to a method of operating a disposable cell phone with pre-programmed minutes.The patents further strengthen our competitive advantage, barring entry into the market by other companies." From: http://www.hop-on.com/technology.html
Everyone's favorite use of a patent!
- AMW
What I found interesting is how many slashdot readers commented on how great affordable disposable phones are -- but no one has said what they cost.
Vaporware? Well, that would explain why no one know how much they cost. Lol. Heck, if each one comes with a headset how disposable can they be? Cell phone headsets aren't cheap.
This is interesting because there was alot of hoopla about people wanting tempory phones to use durning DefCon 11, the international attendee's got cell phone bill sticker shock when they returned to their respective countries (mostly Canadain that I know of). Now you can be anonymous, and still not miss a great PoolCon party!
Compare to TracFones, which have been out for a long time now. You can buy them pretty much anywhere, and they have a certain amount of prepaid call time alotted to them before they are deactivated. "Disposable Cell Phones Arrive" would be more accurately stated as "New Disposable Cell Phones Arrive."
This is not part of my post. It's my signature. I bet you're disappointed.
Now all I need is a cardboard box in a Tokyo subway station and some VR goggles and I'll be set.
Heisenberg might have been here.
Oh, no you don't. Not so fast, pal. I wan't may FLYING car first. When I was kid they said we'd all be driving flying cars by now.
If they can make a throw-away telephones, they can make flying cars.
Really?
Now that's evil.
Slashdot community, please notice: I am looking for a girlfriend.
Nave H. Weiss
Interesting post about the history of this company and its CEO. When I looked at the site the first thing that came to my mind was that it was deceptive. "Recyclable" it claims in big letters - well of course it is, just like every other cell phone, telephone, radio, and automobile is mostly recyclable in theory. The problem is that it won't be. The recycling logo (the chasing arrows printed on the back) is being misused. It is not legal to use it for a mixed product such as this and it is also illegal for them to claim recyclability for a product that, although technically able to be recycled, is unlikely to be.
Here is a small excerpt from the Federal regulations regarding inapropriate claims of recylability (19 CFR 260 for those who want to read the whole thing):
Example 2: A trash bag is labeled ??recyclable??
without qualification. Because trash
bags will ordinarily not be separated out
from other trash at the landfill or incinerator
for recycling, they are highly unlikely
to be used again for any purpose. Even if the
bag is technically capable of being recycled,
the claim is deceptive
There are also regulations in 29 CFR 260 prohibiting the claim of recyclability if there are non-minor unrecyclable components of the product, which this phone has. This means that even if this phone is brought back for the $5 rebate it STILL won't be recycled and therefore CANNOT be marketed as such.
The millions of cell phones that are simply thrown into the trash today are becoming a big environmental concern. This produxt will only make that worse, and the company planning to make them is clearly just trying to spin away that problem. If they were serious about the environmental impact of the phone they would have a real turn-in and reconditioning program rather than deceptive claims of recyclability.