-=> Quoting Andy Ball to Pascal Schmidt <=-

 AB> Hello Pascal,
 
 PS> Competition between providers is tough here, you usually get a
 > new phone basically for free when you switch mobile providers.
 > Including a few accessories in the package is also not uncommon
 > - usually you can get a new phone or an older model with some
 > accessories (car kit, for example) for a symbolic price of 1
 > Euro.

 AB> Right, but you're not /forced/ to replace a phone that you're
 AB> perfectly happy with just to move to a new network.  You don't have to
 AB> pay installation charges for a new car kit etc. 

You do if the networks use different protocols, and your old phone
doesn't support the ones the new network uses.

Other than headset connectors, *none* of the connectors for different
brand phones match. Heck, they don't even match across different models
from the same manufacturer sometimes.

and some of the low cost cell vendors (like Virgin) have what seem to
be "custom" models made just for them.

--- FMailX 1.60