Die, Movistar, Die!

I thought the most prominent feature
of the phone was the red inner case,
but most photos do not even show it,
and this one makes it look orange.

The kids got me a cell phone to use since there is no land line in the condo where I am staying. It's a little candy-bar sized thing with a built in camera. The camera is virtually useless because, 1) since it's a $2 phone, there is no download cable, and 2) sending photos via email over the cell network is prohibitively expensive.

    Yesterday some girl was complaining about the phone company (Movistar) sending out text message advertisements. The phone company normally charges you for each text messages sent or received, but in this case they only charge you if you actually open it and read it. The girl agrees that the messages are easily identified and so the charge is easily avoided. So what't the problem? "It's annoying" is her final word on the subject. Well, okay, fine.

    This morning around 6AM my phone tries to vibrate off the bedside table, but then it stops. Wrong number? Pick it up and push a button and what's this? Some kind of text message?

Recarga HOV $40 y
tenes $120 para
hablar A CUALQUIER
COMPANIA+FIJOS DE
TODO EL PAIS!

which means nothing to me with my three word Spanish vocabulary. Google translates it to:

Recharge HOV $ 40 and
got $ 120 for
speak ANY
COMPANY + FIXED
WHOLE COUNTRY!

which means that I just got woken up by an advertisement that I paid for. Die, Movistar, Die!