I just received this sim card too. In the test I did here from the US, I was charged $0.23 for answering the callback. So, I think the same happened to you, so $0.10 + $0.24.

I will test this when I travel in 3 weeks and report back.

US DID numbers should have been available since yesterday May 20. Is it correct? What numbers are available? One can choose from web interface?
What are the prices for DID and additional charge to receive calls on DID?
Are the extra web functions mentioned below been implemented?

It may be a while before they are fully functional. I received this from Aaron a couple of days ago whe I asked the same questions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,

Yes- for right now the website is only capable of taking airtime recharges. Our R&D department is working to have the website become fully functional for additional numbers & call history but this may take some time.

To request call history you can email support@celtrek.com at any time.

So has everyone else gotten their new Celtrek/GR replacement SIMs? cuz I haven't, though it was promised to be a month ago...

You may want to try to contact Chris or so to let them know. I have the sim card, but nothing else is doable besides make and receive calls via the Belgium number. You can't do anything online (besides login) period.

[QUOTE=cizake;26859@bones_boy replied to your DM.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for fixing things ... as noted in a separate post.

Global Roaming My experience-yours?
 

I got to Paris on the 9th of June Global Roaming would not register with any of the networks so I had to use my ATT card to call my contact for pickup at the airport. Later in the day the sim seemed to be active for a while and then shut off again. I had nothing for the next 2 days and then I was OK again, but when I tried to use it it would not call back or send SMS. Finally on the 13th it seemed to be fully functional (I could send a SMS) by then of course I was ready to go home again.

This is very spotty- I miss United-Mobile :(

I am in Nigeria at the moment. I have a local sim and I also plan on using up my maxroam credit, and then use globalroaming sim. So far, for all my calls to the US, maxroam has worked well. Almost done with the credit and I will use globalroaming if it works ofcourse. I will report back when I use it, since I will be here for another week. I exchanged my UM+ sim for easyroam, so I will use that for outgoing calls to the US after globalroaming and maxroam.

I really do not see all these global sim companies surviving, so using up my credit to close to nothing. Just trying to minimize my loss...sorry.

Just to add that I am using Celtrek now. It registered on at least one network. Callback worked well and quality of calls back o the US was quite good. Just as it is with maxroam. For both of them, the call history is NOT online. So, no way to tell how much you are being charged besides approximating it based balance check.

Just to follow my experience with global roaming, my daughter also has a card and she called yesterday from Russia with absolutely great call quality.- must be me :-)

Just received my Global Roaming SIM (I'm in the US). Why is it prohibited from registering on either of AT&T's networks? I can register on only T-Mobile.

That is probably who they have roaming agreement with. When I used it in Nigeria last week, it would only register on 1 of the 5 networks there. It did work ok however.

The coverage list at http://www.globalroaming.mobi/pdf/Gl...20partners.pdf shows 310-410 (AT&T, formerly Cingular) as valid.

Also, is there a reason for charging by the minute for incoming calls even in Zone 1?

I think that price is based on the fact that they offer a free DID. However, I do not that they offer any kind of DID (free or rental) at the moment. So, that makes them less desirable compared to the other sims out there. For example, why would I use celtrek (or even maxroam) for incoming calls in the EU when travelsim, and similar sims, offer free incoming calls in most of those countries.

These calls to a Travelsim etc. calls are NOT free. In fact, calling an Estonia cell number from the U.S. is very expensive. Calling Isle of Mann numbers are cheaper - but of course = not free. Many users fail to take into accoiunt the charge that shows up on their phone back home that called the "free" incoming. To compare pricing, you need to add the cost incurred on both ends.
Outgoing calls are cheaper, it appears, than incoming in some cases.

...s

Very True. The calls are not free. The caller pays a premium for calling a mobile. However, in my comparison, my travelSim(Isle of man #) can be forwarded to or reached for around $0.20. The Base belgium number that both maxroam and celtrek use can be reached about $0.20 (higher in most cases). And we then add the cost to receive a call $ 0.20 or more in most countries. It's obvious that it will cost me at least double to use the Belgium based sim vs Isle of man one.

And my analogy above is probably the reason why Adam917 is asking why they are charging for incoming calls in these zones where other sims do not, and the caller still has to pay the premium to reach the number anyway.

Bingo. I certainly was thinking of what you just said when writing the original question, but forgot to mention it. I wonder when we'll start seeing global SIMs with numbers that aren't such a premium for callers to call. Of course IoM is better than Estonia but that's usually still not good enough for most Americans for instance (& I bet plenty of other people), that either want to dial a US number or the American end-user who would like to just forward all their calls to the global SIM & not incur extra charges from those incoming calls when travelling.

The capability should already exist to give the user a number from the country they would like to be reached at (in my case, I'd prefer any US number, I'm sure most Europeans would prefer a land-line number from their own country). From what I understand, getting SMS to work like this is more difficult, as the SIM can have only a very limited amount of numbers assigned to it, hence the former Celtrek SIMs having a separate voice number & SMS number.

Get my drift?

FREE incoming is certainly the reason that brought so many players out of business.
I do not see any rationality in FREE.
Funny how some expect us 'alternative operators' to offer FREE service while main carriers are stealing our $$ for last decade over excessive 'roaming' charges between same operator. For example Tmobile Germany/Tmobile USA/Tmobile UK. They do their own clearing. 100% profit on a 3Euro/min call.
I understand customer wants more but seriously you all have a job and certainly do not work for free. A free SIM + free shipping + free incoming + toll free number is what everybody wants but this won't happen. And if some fools wants to to try it, they will join the deadpool of companies that have tried.
My 2cts.
Sorry to jump in like this but sometimes obvious things must be said.

Best to all

Whoa whoa whoa there. I certainly don't mean free everything, but wouldn't it simply be logical to give free incoming at least in popular countries to turn customers away from reverting to buying a local SIM in each country they go? Would you rather have some business than none at all? I personally would be willing to pay a premium for outgoing if I knew my incoming will be covered. Heck, I would be willing to pay a separate perhaps annual fee to ensure it, that way you would be guaranteed a certain amount for each user and the user still gets what they want.

I take this POV for both calls and SMS (which from my understanding usually costs more to send in Europe vs the US, but in the US we pay for incoming SMS which in my eyes is very unfair, as spamming can end up costing users a lot of money). I wonder how the new roaming regulations in the EU will negatively affect both operators and customers.

You are confusing premium termination and regular EU mobile termination.
Base belgium is no premium number. If you call from EU you will be charged like a 'normal' EU mobile termination. There is no 'premium' to it. 1 min to a Base belgium number is exactly the same cost then 1min to a Vodafone UK or O2 ireland or SFR France.
Most people in EU have plans with Min within Europe. All calls to a Base Belgium number are included in those minutes but not calls to a Lichtenstein or Estonian premium number.
It makes a huge difference.
In Europe calling a Base number is covered by new EU regulation.
Which is not the case for non European premium numbers.
Those premium numbers offer revenue sharing on their termination. EU 'legit' mobile carriers DON'T.
Base does not share any revenue on its termination. ZERO.
Concept of FREE is a concept. Subscriber always pay somehow.

I would be happy to pay cca. 10 erurocents/min for incoming even within the EU if I would get a local (in my case Hungarian) DID number or the possibility to use a SIP URI to reach my phone. That is approximately the cost I am having now when forwarding calls to my "free incoming" +44 numbered card using VoIP.

I don't think this can account for why it still costs the GR user anything on their end to receive a call when in Belgium when connected to the BASE network (this SIM does have a BASE number, right?). I understand the difference in termination rates per country means different costs for callers who want to reach various numbers, but what about receiving incoming calls? In other words, there can be negatives for both the GR user & callers who reach GR users (the main purpose of any travel SIM is to stay in touch when abroad, right?) in that people calling a GR user pay a lot extra to call a Belgian mobile number unless they are in Belgium of course & on top of that, the GR user is paying to also receive this same call. I would think this would make perfect sense if the GR user could get a local DID number assigned to the SIM so they can forward calls from their home number to the GR SIM & then it would all make sense as the GR user's contacts don't need to do anything different to reach the traveller & the traveller pays for the convenience of still being able to be reached as if s/he were still home.

Did what I say make sense this time?

FYI there is no charge to receive calls in Belgium and no callback while roaming in Belgium.
We are working on a deal with KPN to get access to good termination pricing in order to offer DID forwarding.
It's not done yet. It may take some time.

Has the lack of AT&T registration been solved yet on the company side? I still can't register on any of their networks (2G or 3G). I actually have to manually choose T-Mobile or it won't even lock on to that.

My Celtrek sim card is registered on AT&T right now, so it looks like that has been taken care of.

Well I wonder what could be wrong with my SIM. Both AT&T networks (2G & 3G) still show up as Forbidden in the network list and I can register to any of them.

Mine shows 2 AT&T networks as forbidden, but it does register on one of them (appears to be a 2G network) and works fine, just did a test call. It tries to register on the one with the "H" (for HSPA) but never does. T-Mobile works fine. In Houston (USA) at the moment.

Unfortunately, I forgot to specify where this is happening: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If someone can edit my post to put it in, that would be nice. I'm surprised this forum has such a small edit window. Another forum I go to has one of 2 weeks.

so are people happily using Celtrek again? is it mostly back in biz?

Global Roaming = Global Warning
 

I purchased their "service" on 2 May, looking forward to get their SIM "within 4-7 business days." My credit card was charged immediately, but it took several increasingly angry e-mails (service or money back) before they finally delivered on 10 July (50 business days). Official reason for the delay: the shipping cost is higher than expected ($67 instead of $35).
So, I have a SIM card from them now - with a minor flaw: the $45 airtime that I paid for was no part of the delivery! The balance is $0.00. Of course, I claimed the airtime, but what they offer instead is "a $45 check to close your account"!:eek:
Now, are they a real provider? Or a bunch of jokers? Con artists?

@Benx aka [name removed].
Our TOS are clear, we do not reimburse shipping fees. Yes, we did lose >$30 on shipping fees. Our loss.
Yes we will refund your order in full although you did receive the SIM [excluding shipping fees].
It is our right to refuse serving any customer insulting our employees via emails.
If you want to keep this argument in public forum so be it.
Regards,
Florian Seroussi

@Florian: Any ideas when the CDR will work? Some collegues already tried out our 2 cards and they were very content with it. But without itemized billing we can not use it for business use. The accountants will kill us if we just write "50$ = phone bill"...

Chris

Benx and Florian:

I have said it before, customer service is what really separates all the various SIM sellers. Some, like Ekit, are available 24/7 and stand by their product. Ekit has been very good to me in solving problems, even though the problems seem to have been with my own phone.

As for cutting off and canceling service because of some "insulting" e-mails, that's Florian's decision. And while I have not seen the e-mails, having a customer wait over 50 business days to receive a SIM, (due to your failure to properly calculate shipping), says a lot about your company. And naturally his credit card was charged when the SIM was ordered.

Who wants to deal with a SIM company that doesn't deliver on their product, and then sticks the client because he sends some angry follow up e-mails when the SIM doesn't show up. For me, I would never give Florian or Celltrek any business. For Benx, maybe your credit card company can help.

1st and most important you can get your CDRs anytime by just sending an email to support AT celtrek.
We are finalizing our APIs, they are technically ready we are in testing phase.

You are right and we invest a lot in customer service. It might not be enough but we are a low cost provider. We cannot have more people picking up the phone without an impact on our prices.
As for shipping fees - yes there is a problem on some destination. We rely on 3rd parties to guarantee their prices and guess what? they don't.
Bottom line and for whatever reason you cannot/should not call people names. That's a basic rule in our society.
We work hard, very hard to provide our services. We operate under the same company since 2006. Never operated from overseas and we report to FCC.
So far in 4 years we can count on one hand unhappy customers with over >130.000 SIM delivered.
We will continue our best to provide excellent customer service.

Thanks for reading.

Cizake:

I know how hard customer service can be. I owned a company that had to handle customer service calls too. I told my staff that they did not have to take any foul language.

But that said, you acknowledged that the extra shipping charge was caused by your vendor. Maybe for a company that has shipped 130,000 SIM's you would have been better off shipping the SIM right away, even if you had to pay an extra $30, then gotten the money back from your vendor. $30 can buy an awful lot of good will. And we would not be having this conversation.

oh, very well! I'll try that. Thanks :-)

Chris

Celtrek has documented a list on their website that lists their roaming partners in 213 countries and 494 network operators. Rather impressive. I can vouch for Qatar and Libya - callbacks weren't consistent in Libya but they worked from time to time.

http://www.globalroaming.mobi/pdf/Gl...20partners.pdf

Is anyone who was a previous customer of Celtrek really happy with how they've handled this transition? 2+ months later, they finally ship me a new SIM and took $20 out of my account... I find that unreasonable...

Global Roaming = Global Warning II
 

To Cizake:
I am glad you publicly repeated your money back promise, made originally on 10 July 2009, because of your failure to provide the claimed service. As of today, 18 July 2009, the money still has not reached its rightful owner.
My e-mails that you find so offending also included several promises and sharing my experience was only one of them.
I was a bit amused about your mentioning your right to refuse service. Let's be frank: You never did. On the contrary, it was me, wasn't it, who offered you two or three times to cancel my order and return my money if you can't deliver.

To everybody else:
I apologize to people on this forum for conducting this sort of conversation here because normally such things should be sorted out with the claims department. On the other hand, this is authentic real-life experience that has its value for purchase decisions.
I will be away from this forum until the end of August for holiday travel (using a global SIM from somebody else), so I will not be able to respond to Cizake's input even if he decides to publish my name, address or credit card number. But I will come back after that and hopefully report that all's well that ends well.