The horse stepped on my wife’s cell phone-- Motorola Razr using Cingular in the USA. Can I just buy a new phone (instrument) from Moto and move the SIM card from her old phone? Web site refers to “unlocked” versus “unactivated” phones, but definitions are lacking.
What other information will I need?
Thats what I did, I upgraded to a RAZR and put the sim card out of my v551 in it and that was that. Only problem was that all my saved numbers and ring tones were still in the phone. I just used the Motorola Phone tools to sync the old phone first, then updated the new one. This isn’t an option for you since the old one is broken.
I hope you’ve informed the horse that the cost of this new phone is coming out of his pocket.
Not cool to step on someone else’s phone, Horse. Not cool at all.
Yes, provided the phone is either locked to Cingular or unlocked. You will lose any purchased ringtones, games, etc., though.
“Unlocked” refers to which carrier the phone can be used with. Phones purchased from a carrier are locked to only work on their network, which means, for example, you can’t take a phone you bought from Cingular and use it on T-Mobile right away. The phone will have to be unlocked first, which can be done by calling the provider and asking for the unlock code or obtaining the unlock code yourself, usually by paying someone for unlocking services.
Thanks, all. And yeah, it was an expensive enough horse show already.
I’ve had a few words with the horse, but he’s taking the ‘dust beneath my feet’ attitude. So I reminded him that the next time the vet visits, I’ll have the choice between oral and injectible medications…
Too bad. Here in Colombia we have a mandatory insurance to cover loss of our phones. You should get an insurance coverage for your phone.
Get un unlocked GSM phone or else one tied to Cingular.
If you get a used one off eBay, for example, just make sure it will at least do 1900 band for most US use.
If you travel overseas, good time to get an unlocked quad band phone.
An unlocked phone can be used for the next GSM provider you choose…occ nice if you really like the phone.
If you get a replacement from Cingular make sure they don’t restart your contract date unless you don’t care.
Introduce the concept of carne equina to the horse, although if it’s anything like past horses I’ve owned, breaking a cell phone is a trivial expense against the total cost of ownership.
Not to hijack, but here in the US the idea of “mandatory” insurance for a personal possession would annoy a lot of people…
It is available though. I have read that it’s a bad deal for most phones. Some insurances have a $50 deductible for which they provide a phone that costs them less than that. I do insure the expensive cell phones for our loser-prone kids and you are right that it’s a good idea for those.
The “activation” btw, refers to tying the user to the carrier service. For SIM-based phones, this is activation is tied to the IMSI identifier on the SIM card and not the IMEI identifier embedded in the phone, so your activation is already done if the SIM is not busted. In theory, I think, if you buy a GSM phone that has been reported stolen, the IMEI identifier will be reported as stolen…I am not any kind of expert, however. Just a cheap guy inclined to buy used phones.
(For CDMA phones, the activation is usually tied to the ESN/MEID identifier of the phone–embedded in the physical phone.)
I appreciate all the help. My wife just ordered an ‘unlocked’ phone from Motorola. She remains ‘self insured’. I work for a charity, and she’s the one with the real job, so it’s her choice. Otherwise, we couldn’t afford horses (or cell phones either!).
My father’s family are all napoletani, so I did mention to Horse the concept of la vera pizza with carne equina. I think he snickered but tried to disguise it as a whicker. He knows it’s an idle threat, especially since at that ill fated (for the phone anyway) show he earned three Reserve Championship garlands, one Grand Championship, and enough ‘show points’ to add the symbol for “Legion of Supreme Honor” to his registration. Snotty purebred-- he even knows that my threats to geld him are hollow.
We’ll see how the phone swap actually works out.
Why the heck was she wearing a cell phone at a horse show, anyway?
It was probably that distraction that made him get Reserve rather than Grand Champion in those classes. He ought to stomp on her toes, too, besides the cell phone!
In classes where I’m officiating, I’ve had exhibitors pull out a cell phone and answer it, while the class was in session! Sometimes even pull into center ring and ask us to declare a time out for the whole class, so they can talk on their phone. My response: “Take the rail, or take the gate – NOW”. And they had the gall to complain to the Steward afterwards. I just can’t understand people who think their phone calls are so important that everyone else must defer to them.
[hijack mode- off] Not a hijack! Just an answer! [hijack mode- off]
We haven’t shown in ‘main ring’ for several years now, but I can’t say I’m surprised at the selfishness of those prima donnas. In the dressage arena on the other hand, an exhibitor with a ringing cell phone will be swiftly excused (read: eliminated) by the judge. (Saw it happen, just once, and I was in full agreement. Maybe you should judge dressage?) Even spectators are ruled by an iron Germanic fist. Should a spectator’s cell phone have the timerity to ring, the best the poor fool can hope for is a short circuit that incinerates him into a pile of ashes. I once had this happen to me-- ringing, not the wished-for incineration. It rang *once * for pity’s sake, before I shut it up. But I got a distinctly unfriendly reception even around the barns that lasted for days.
Another time I had a sneezing fit (clearly less controllable than a cell phone with an ON/OFF switch!), one of those five-sneezes-in-a-row things. When I looked up it was into a host of razor-bearing eyeballs that were slicing my sorry ass into tiny cubes. I almost crawled under the turf.
There must be a happier medium somewhere between main ring and dressage. Sigh.
Regarding the current incident though, Wife was not in the arena. Wife won’t carry her phone anywhere *near * the arena. (Wife is, as you may surmise, typically smarter than I am.) Wife and Horse were in the grooming stall, braiding mane for the next test. Phone was in a carry-all bag (Wife uses the Southern description “…in a Publix sack…”) placed carelessly on the floor. (Wife is not *always * smarter than I am!)
Ha!
Besides being VASTLY under-qualified, I’d probably fall asleep. I only find dressage interesting when I have a friend showing.