Cell Phones for Soldiers packet with Amazon.com shipment? - Blu-ray Forum

Mr. Hanky · 06-13-2008, 05:17 PM

Anybody get one of these plastic envelopes with their recent Amazon shipment? They ask for you to recycle your old cell and send it in the prepaid mailer.

While it sounds like a good gesture...I thought to myself, how would they make it work on the other end? A cell needs a service plan to function, needs the little smartcard inside it to have an identity, and there has to be functioning towers that host that service, right? What about supported bandwidth compatibilities and domestic vs. foreign telecommunications protocols? So how is that supposed to work on some military base located "in-country"? If it is an older cellphone model, how are they supposed to guess which service can still support that phone?

Is this "Cell Phones for Soldiers" thing legit?

DetroitSportsFan · 06-13-2008, 06:22 PM

It's the government - they have plenty of geeks to make those old cell phones work like new again.

rebfandan · 06-13-2008, 06:48 PM

Amazon's been including those for quite a while now. Here's a better idea: How about better medical and psychological care for our veterans?

Mr. Hanky · 06-13-2008, 07:42 PM

I don't think that is really within the scope of what Amazon can orchestrate (=let's not get all political with my topic, please).

I'm not trying to say it isn't a worthwhile thing [cellphones] to do for the soldiers. I was just curious if someone had the low down of how to make such a program work. Seems like there are some logistics that would make it way more complex than simply donating hardware.

zak88lx · 06-13-2008, 07:48 PM

They also send the cell phones for US soldiers packages to Canadians.
I was going to send a couple of phones but I would have to pay the postage if I sent them from Canada.

Amazon.ca should start a program for the Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Zak

Seablazer · 06-14-2008, 03:58 AM

The cell phones do not go to soldiers..

This programs has been around for about 6 years now, and works by collecting phones, then selling those used phones to a phone recycling firm. The money is then used to purchase bulk rate phone cards for the soldiers.

My senior year in college, we did a similar collection... Think we got about 700 which translated to something like 20,000 minutes in phone card talk time. Believe we figured it out that each phone bought about 30 minutes of talk time.

06-13-2008, 05:17 PM	#1
Mr. Hanky Active Member Member since:Sep 2007	Cell Phones for Soldiers packet with Amazon.com shipment? Anybody get one of these plastic envelopes with their recent Amazon shipment? They ask for you to recycle your old cell and send it in the prepaid mailer. While it sounds like a good gesture...I thought to myself, how would they make it work on the other end? A cell needs a service plan to function, needs the little smartcard inside it to have an identity, and there has to be functioning towers that host that service, right? What about supported bandwidth compatibilities and domestic vs. foreign telecommunications protocols? So how is that supposed to work on some military base located "in-country"? If it is an older cellphone model, how are they supposed to guess which service can still support that phone? Is this "Cell Phones for Soldiers" thing legit? Last edited by Mr. Hanky; 06-13-2008 at 05:19 PM.

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06-13-2008, 06:22 PM	#2
DetroitSportsFan Hot Deals Moderator Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Michigan 4K collection:439 Blu-ray collection:2226 Trading Score:93	It's the government - they have plenty of geeks to make those old cell phones work like new again.

06-13-2008, 06:48 PM	#3
rebfandan Senior Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Memphis, TN Blu-ray collection:135	Amazon's been including those for quite a while now. Here's a better idea: How about better medical and psychological care for our veterans?

06-13-2008, 07:42 PM	#4
Mr. Hanky Active Member Member since:Sep 2007	I don't think that is really within the scope of what Amazon can orchestrate (=let's not get all political with my topic, please). I'm not trying to say it isn't a worthwhile thing [cellphones] to do for the soldiers. I was just curious if someone had the low down of how to make such a program work. Seems like there are some logistics that would make it way more complex than simply donating hardware.

06-13-2008, 07:48 PM	#5
zak88lx Active Member Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Calgary, AB 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:768 Blu-ray reviews:2	They also send the cell phones for US soldiers packages to Canadians. I was going to send a couple of phones but I would have to pay the postage if I sent them from Canada. Amazon.ca should start a program for the Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Zak

06-14-2008, 03:58 AM	#6
Seablazer Active Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Long Island, NY Blu-ray collection:117	The cell phones do not go to soldiers.. This programs has been around for about 6 years now, and works by collecting phones, then selling those used phones to a phone recycling firm. The money is then used to purchase bulk rate phone cards for the soldiers. My senior year in college, we did a similar collection... Think we got about 700 which translated to something like 20,000 minutes in phone card talk time. Believe we figured it out that each phone bought about 30 minutes of talk time.

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