I'm surprised you didn't go for one of the vistream-based brands with a German number. Even with a few cents incoming rate, that's probably still cheaper for you and German callers than calling or forwarding to a UK/IoM number.

I'm also thinking that the published tariffs on there may be still from the previous Callkey-based SIM, unless it is a coincidence that they have the same 154 customer service number.

The Bluefire thing was the first which I came to know through an offer on board GULF AIR. In the first instance I did not really believe that something like that really works. I'm paying around 2,500 € each year on incoming roaming calls only. Thus this bluefire thing seemed like 'heavon on earth'.:p
Are there similar providers with german numbers? If so please let me know more details.
For my customers from Spain, Portugal, Italy and France it does not matter if they call a UK number or a german. Costs are identical. Although a german number would provide more 'identity' with my german company of course. ;)

Yes, there are:



* Anny Way Call
* Avantaje
* Brandmobile
* Che Mobil
* Igge & Co.
* Net Cologne
* Phone Home Mobile

* PTT Mobile
* Solomo
* SUN SIM
* Telesim
* Tourist Mobile
* United Mobile
* vistream


Check their website and compare the rates - they are slightly different.

Chris

I don't understand this whole thread, Blufirewirless is a regular reseller of IOm sims, there is no big deal, their website is still not updated to reflect their current sim offerings. so please stop bragging how goot their service is and how cheap it is....................

Alright - could be it's regular reselling of whatsoever SIM's. For me as a regular "user" and not an expert in how many providers of hundreds of nets worldwide the focus is: price, value, performance.
If I start testing this kind of technology with Bluefire or any other - doesn't matter. Important is to gain the experience and maybe find ways to either save money or make life easier. Sharing this information is the point.
I am travelling around 40% of the year in the Middle East. Shall I hold a local SIM in UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia?
Unless you can confirm and guarantee which provider is the best for that region let us just try and exchange information. I think this is the real purpose of this thread.
If you don't understand this whole thread - why bother? We do.:)

Murch is as it seems a first time user of any of these roaming free card. Reading his info he spents lots of money on incoming calls and any sim offering free incoming in many countries will seem like a gift to first time users.
Sure when you spent more time to see who is offering what Bluefire might just be on of the many but you need to start somewhere and that's what he did.

There are plenty of providers of SIMs intended for cheap global roaming, and already plenty of discussion already on here about them.

Of course you are interested in finding ways to save money in the places you travel to, and will want to ask for advice about that, but there is no need to suggest that other people don't understand the real purpose of this thread, which until now was about a hitherto unknown brand, and what could be found out about it.

Like several of the resellers of some IoM SIMs, it doesn't seem to have updated all of its webpages at the same time, and it is common on others to find new remarks about replacement SIM cards, but the instructions tariffs and FAQs seem to be describing the old one. Clues to the old one will be 154 for Customer Services, 102... for call forwarding, 103 to cancel it, and 187 for balance query.

It may be that their newer SIMs will also have 154 for CS, but despite that the Cloud9 network will probably have +4479245 or ~6 numbers in the Isle of Man itself, I think that these SIMs will have the Wire9 prefix +4478722, which adds to the suggestion that their Network Guide on the website is not new. Well, of course you should get newer instructions when the product arrives.

While old information is still there though, I would be slightly hesitant to make a lot of assumptions about the new one, including tariffs. Wire9 claim to have more roaming agreements than the brands resident on Manx Telecom, and it will be interesting to find out more about that, but I'll be quite surprised if you have free incoming calls in India for example.

They've published it, but as far as I'm aware their roaming has never worked. I wasn't able to get it to even register on any network in UK/IE/FR/ES or US, even after a roaming update.

And then the service within the IOM (which had terrible voice quality), stopped working. (it may have restarted since, I haven't been there for a while).

I'd be very wary of any service based on cloud9/wire9.

The Cloud9 sim card might have a bit of value to a collector (quite rare) but it doesn't have any other use.

At least the bookkeeping seems to work efficiently. The payment has just appeared on my credit card. I hope the card will arrive by DHL in the next days. Concerning the roaming facilities: in January I will be in Kuwait, UAE and India. By January 25 I should be able to summarize a bit the first tests.;)

It was not my intention to offend anybody. It just did not seem a constructive comment so I explained my personal idea. If I should have misunderstood the character and purpose of this forum I deeply apologise. :(