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Disposable Cell Phones Arrive

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the junking-one's-conversations dept.

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.

5 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Great for tourists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Great for tourists by Durrik · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Its vapourware and IMO it will never be anything but. If you look at some of the financial articles on Hop-on they come to the conclusion that Hop-on is just a way to get money from investors. They haven't produced anything and probably never will.

      They're president (Peter Michaels) had to step down because he was arrested by the SEC I believe. I don't remember exactly what happened but he was arrested because of some of the scams he was pulling.

      They work with cellphone chip set manufacturers and then screw them just before going to production and canceling the project. They had a phone get through FCC for CDMA, and they dropped it, even though the software was done for the phone and it passed the compiance testing. This was over a year ago, and they haven't produced anything but press releases. Though no-one seems to be biting they're stock since it has been ~0.10 for a year unlike SCO.

      And the slashdot story doesn't point to anywhere at all, but to the hop-on website as if it was new. Its been on slashdot so often it isn't funny anymore.

      --
      Software Engineer & Writer of Military Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog: petermwright.com Twitter: WrightPeterM
  2. Is it legit? by Akai · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
  3. Re:Pay phones by muffen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I can see this as a boon for an illicit dealer.

    There was the same fear here in europe when the prepaid mobile phonecards came into use. As it turns out, they are able to track people even if they use prepaid mobile phones.
    Therefore, I don't think it'll be that bad.

    Actually, I think these things may give people a false sence of security, and it may well turn out to work against the criminals, not for them.

  4. It IS a pain! by p51d007 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.