What I find amazing in this thread is that no one has pointed out that in most of the world this is normal. You can buy a cheapo phone on any street corner – often when you buy a used phone it already has a SIM card. Or you just buy another SIM card for your existing phone.
Within a five minute walk of where I live in Phnom Penh there are literally at least 20 places I can buy new and used phones, and every little shop that sells beer as well as the Western Style minimarts sell phone cards. Because of the low average wages for people here, it’s common to buy $1 or $2 dollar top up cards. When I first moved here I remember seeing 50 cent cards. There are more than 10 carriers in town – perhaps even 15-20, and yes we have 3G and 4G networks. Cheap pay as you go phones are part of the fabric of life in much of the world.
Last time I was in the States – 6 years ago – I remember feeling how un-free the phone system was there. It wasn’t that hard to get a cheap phone – usually I’d go to a Walmart to buy a cheapo GSM phone for the SIM, throw away the phone and put the SIM in my quad-band phone from home I bought in Hong Kong. And you can buy time from Seven-Elevens. But it’s not the same, ubiquitous freedom you have in many countries in Africa or SE Asia. Even in Singapore you can get a SIM at the airport – though you have to show your passport.
