Chatr doesn't sell microsims. So at the mall, there is a kiosk that will legally cut the chatr sim for $10. Chatr encourages this.
This plan works even if I travel to another city, as long as its a major center.
No contract. They're actually illegal in Quebec. Instead, companies offer the same agreements to consumers, and conscmersd just have to pay back part of the phone price if they leave early.
If you have a discounted agreement that doesnt include a subsidy, you can leave anytime you want.
[1] Some argue that the only reason they created Chatr was to drive the smaller guys out of the market.
A lot of the smaller guys didn't work in my area, or on my iPhone.
I just wanted to highlight that a big company encourages you to unlock your phone and deface their sim cards. Chatr reps directed me to the sim cutter.
Now, we have our own peccadilloes in the UK. "Free-phone" numbers are expensive from a mobile. Special cheap 'local rate' phone numbers for businesses cost a fortune.
But yeah, that seemed just nuts.
Also, alternatives have been starting to catch on, here. Such as pre-paid plans that offer significant discounts. Also FaceTime, Skype, and whatever else (although these eat into often stingy data quotas).
Many in the U.S. still have little or no clue. But I don't think it's quite as bad as before; also, someone "technically" "gaming" the system isn't as astonishing as it used to be.
Or so it seems, from my cave. Mostly, I'm just more familiar with reactions back at that time.