A new (0 feedback) Canadian seller is offering an 09 card on Ebay US

http://cgi.ebay.com/09-Global-Prepaid-SIM-...1QQcmdZViewItem

$59 + $15 shipping.

Don't you think that is a bit high? I guess if you pay with Paypal, your credit card info is safe.

Stan

CA$59 or US$59?

It says US $.

Does anyone have an further feedback with 09?

The have had huge problems, especially in the US, and their texting is not up and running yet. But hows it working elsewhere? I think their service may have inproved in the last 2 - 3 months

http://cgi.ebay.com/09-Global-Prepaid-SIM-...8QQcmdZViewItem

Seller from CA offering 09 sim on Ebay.

His first auction for one SIM did not sell. He now is offering 2 SIMs and has a bid. FREE shipping this time and 50 Euro credit for $89 US.

He still has 0 feedback and it is my policy NEVER to bid on items from folks with 0 feedback no matter what. I wrote him -- not really expecting an answer.

If we could get some reports on how reliable this SIM is and if SMS is working, I might be interested in one of these. I, too, would be interested in any recent reports of non-American usage.

Stan

Just to mention what I know.

www.voipcheap.com is 6.5 pence per minute to phone a liechtenstein mobile.

It can be a little unreliable, but is improving. They are the cheapest voip company i have seen yet.

09 had a few nasty technical hitches, but are recovering. The US was a disaster for them. They dont have texting available yet but perhaps 2 more months. They use swisscome for their roaming partner, and own their own switching gear, as opposed to the others who apparently dont, thus giving 09 the potential to undercut the rest if things get rough.

Callkey have the market at .. they have an incredibly flexible distribution system. Distributors love them, and they have some interesting voip services too, there are amazing plans in the future with these guys as opposed to united mobile who arent going anywhere and are making a huge push to say goodby to their distributors and go direct, lots of advertising. They have the best reliability at the moment, with good customer services (although when things go wrong for these roaming products ... nobody can usually do anthing)


Has anyone had a bill back from papaya yet ... in the rates it is 14 US cets per minute to call a liecht mob number, a little cheaper then callback world

Would love to know who the service providers are for these two companies , does anyone know?

The tariff is 21c, but I haven't used it yet

CBW and Enlinea appear to use the same callback platform, but sometimes different carriers; maybe MCI is one

First of all, their rates for US are a disaster (just in case of other international SIMs, perhaps except for Hop) :P. I can see no reason for using 09 at Uncle Sam's :whistle:

Here is a disclaimer:
http://www.orate.co.uk/Roaming/09tariff.html
Text messages will cost ?0.49 to send. Receiving text messages will be free of charge. We expect the text messaging function to commence soon after March 2006.

Where is it said explicitly that they use Swisscom's roaming agreements?

My Mexico trip with 09 was pretty good although somewhat unstable. Some of the time it worked great (my positive approach). I keep hearing from Europe that its working fine, especially in the UK and the Netherlands. I will know more about France in a few days.

Thanks for the eBay pointer - I checked it out too. These are the same guys we looked at before http://www.simphonee.com (same logo on the page). These are the guys I got my card from for my Mexico trip. I was very happy with my experience with them. Let me know what they answer - if they respond to your comment... Oh, the same deal that you mentioned is also on their site as well as a few other bundles. Oh - there is call forwarding there too, but I didn't check the rates.

BTW, I heard from someone that CallKey is private-labeling UM or another - does anyone know anything about this? :unsure:

Thats all for now...
Ciao

It doesnt, you have to call customer services. Double check .. the countries talley up.

09 is inflexible with their rates and their system, their US rate is a definate pain, I believe this just to be because of their very small size. It is difficult for them to react, and they have other priorities. It seems the www.oneroam.com have moved away from UM and are now selling 09 aswell.

09 texting available soon after March? I remember it took UM over a year to get the bugs out of their texting system after they got it functioning ... I hope 09 doesnt suffer the same problem. I wonder who they are using to provide their texting service?

BTW - 09 doesnt work in aus or nz yet.

Telestial is selling the Travel sim ... they are aparently very happy with it, it is outselling UM.

I am not sure about Call Key. They are a provider who sells mainly (only) white label. There are quite a few Call key distributors there, all in their own little nich groups, so you dont hear about it ... as they dont always sell through the internet. But they have nothing to do with UM. Is this what you meant

Appologies Andy ... i was calculating just the Liecht mob leg. Done by using liecht incoming and outgoing, adding up the total (0.34) , and dividing by two (0.17) .. then changed from US $ to euros ... so about 0.14
(ooops ... I made a mistake before with the currency)
Thanks for the info on enlinea ... need to dig a little deeper, but I dont think the service providers reveal to whome they sell.

Hello, all,

I said I'd report when I got back from Europe, so here it is, though it's not adding much to the discussion.

In a word, I couldn't get 09 to work at all. It may be that the problem is a conflict between 09 and my phones. The US distributor for 09 says there is a known problem with Nokia phones, and both my phones are Nokias. The one that I was using the 09 card in was unable to call out to anywhere--whether dialling normally or using the 09 menu. Nor could it contact any of the 09 customer services.

When I tried calling TO the 09 phone from my other Nokia (which was using a Bouyguetel prepaid card), the call never went through; it was almost immediately disconnected. Why?

I called 09 customer service from the Bouyguetel phone, and was told I'd get a call back from a tech rep either that night or the next day. It never came.

I guess I'll pursue this now that I'm back in the States, but it's not exactly front-burner material.

Wish I could report cheerier news.

Marc

Thanks for the report. Not very promising, to say the least.

What model Nokia/s do you have? How old are they?

Besides FRANCE, where were you?

Is it POSSIBLE that you needed to add an extra 0 to the number to dial it properly? Did you try dialing from a land line with a calling card such as MCI or ATT? They do work in FRANCE if you have the right access #. At least I can attest to the fact that a few years ago the ATT card worked when we were there. FYI when a handful of supoosedly cheap calling cards WOULD NOT EVEN CONNECT TO +423 663 #s, the ATT card always connected --granted the rates are exhorbitant, but at least the service is reliable. I would EXPECT you would get a connection to 09. You could even try it from the US and see if it RINGS. You DON'T have to answer the phone, you know. Just let it ring once or twice to see if you connect.

The 09 site says something like the SIM will work on MOST phones manufactured in the last 2 years.

Who is the US distributor, Telestial?

For comparison, at least from the US, the UM/Riiing/distributors have almost always answered my emails promptly. The 09 has free inbound in Malta whereas with UM I would pay 19 ecents per minute. That is my main interest IF I were to buy another international card.

Yeh .. it is a shame .... but 09 is a long way from actually being a service. But are improving.

The other problem is that the have huge holes in number take-up by the foreign networks, thus most do not recognise the 09 number, and thus frinds wont be able to call you.

This is infact a general problem with all new roaming companies setting up . The main offender are the smaller discount companies ... it is sometiomes impossible to phone UM with some discount companies (eg telediscount)

telestial do UM ... (for a little longer) and travel sim

Hmm, I experienced the same with my Polish landline operator (400 000 subscribers countrywide) and UM. As calls didn't go through, I complained to the customer care (it was in May 05). They unblocked +423 663 after less than 24 hrs and... in September they raised the rate to Liechtenstein mobile by more that 120% :ranting2:

Wow ... they are on the ball. Hooking up the service after 24 hours is remarkable. But the price hike is somethign inevitable, it seems as well that as soon as a country becomes more popular, and international call routing increases, providers often hike the price. Cypris is the cheapest counry to call to from at the moment. But if companies started going there to set up international callback ... the volume would increase, and rates would go up.

I do not know why this happens, would love to know why.

No, my apologies - I thought you were talking about the Papaya tariff for FL mobile at Enlinea ie 21c US. This is available on two drop-down box selections, so no addition or averaging is necessary. Now I have no idea what you mean.

And why ask info about providers if you will discount the responses?

It seems that your problem was with the connection between your Bouyguetel and 09. Did you try calling your 09 from other lines (local fixed line for example)?

From what I hear Europe is very stable for 09, although its too bad about the Nokia. I would expect that at least the menu dialing would work for you. :sad:

Hi snaimon and DTele1,

Sorry to be slow in responding to your questions. I should have tried a few more things while in France (only, snaimon). I especially should have tried from a landline there. I did try adding a leading zero to numbers, but that made no difference.

Well, I tried some of your suggestions back in the States. It took the 09 card maybe 2-3 minutes to find a roaming carrier, but then settled on T-Mobile (which happens also to be my regular carrier). I tried calling the 09 phone from the other Nokia, and indeed it rang, as it did from an SBC/AT&T landline. So, DTele1, you're right there must have been something odd about my Bouygtel connection. But what?

On the other hand, I was unable to call out from the 09 phone--not to another phone number, not to the 09 credit check number (092), with or without a + sign, with or without a leading zero. The phone would say "Please wait, calling" for about a minute, then give me the message "Use the 09 Services menu to call"--except that's what I was doing to start with, since no call could be placed just from the keypad.

The Nokias in question are a 3650 and a 6230i. I've tried the 09 card in both of them.

By "US distributor" I meant SIMphoneE.com. I didn't realize there was another.

Marc

I thought it was supposed to be a TRAILING 0. May be wrong.

It is a pity these SIMs (not just 09 apparently) seem to be so on-and-off. Makes me hesitant to go with 09, certainly.

Thank you for your report.

Stan

Just to add a positive note (late hours optimism)

Its all about expectations - obvoiusly these services work great in a number of countries and on a list of handsets. Just let us know in advance - otherwise we become hesitant.

I will not give up too fast on a free roaming solution that beats the carriers offering any day. These are all young companies offering the free roaming. I am sure they will improve fast.

Early adopters can make good use of these cards already.

Heavy ha? Im going to sleep :wacko:

Update:

CA seller now has 2 feedbacks from 3 sales. Offering refill cards too. Has lowered the shipping to $10 US. Some improvement and better than nothing.

Now if we could just have some more favorable useage reports.

I have attempted to contact the Ebay purchasers. More later.

Stan

link to seller please

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Can anyone tell me the next 3 digits after the country code on the 09 SIM number range?

If the Ebay picture is correct, they are 380.....

Stan

My 09 is also 380

So is mine.

Marc

Hi,
can anyone tell me the cost of calling service numbers of 09 mobile? (090, 091, 092)
I have not found it on 09.is or orate web site. I asked them in email.. but it seems some trade secret :o)

~ptx

The website is not too informative about many things. but the hotline is very friendly and seems to work very efficient. try calling and ask +354 585 0909

Chris

Hi ~ptx,

According to the 09 users manual on the SimphonE site (the US distributor of 09 cards), the prices for the service numbers are:

090 ? 24/7 customer support (+354 585 0909 from any phone). ?0.39 per minute.
091 ? Automated Top-Up system using PIN codes. Free call.
092 ? Automated credit balance check. Free call in most countries.
039 [sic: I think it should be 093] ? Language selection. ?0.39 per minute.

But I think Chris is right: you'll get the most authoritative word by calling them.

And I'd like to know the results.

Marc

I just got back from Lebanon where I used 09 my entire trip in conjunction with Callbackworld. Except for the last hour at Beirut Airport, the SIM function great the entire time. All of a sudden, at the airport it lost service which was strange since the airport is certainly covered. When I landed back in the UAE, the SIM functioned properly. I don't use it here, however, because Riiing gives me voicemail and I pack a local SIM as well.

Some time ago I wrote to someone on Ebay who had purchased an 09 SIM.

Here is the reply I just received:

Sorry for the extreme lateness of this reply. i rarely do check my messages on ebay. if you are still interested let me answer your question as to the quality of the 09 service. sms seemed to be hit or miss most of the time. I have used the service for about 1 yr only now. the reason i started using 09 was because often i visit my family back in cambodia and 09 claims to have the most worldwide coverage with fairly reasonable rates. both incoming and outgoing work fairly well in cambodia, oddly enough in the United states it was almost impossible to use for outgoing calls but sms seemed to work just fine to my knowledge. i would keep getting error messages everytime i tried to make an outgoing call; it stated something to the effect of that 'the dialed numbers were not allowed' for one reason or another.

one other dissapointment is that the 09 homepage claims that their service works in both korea and japan. they also claim to be the only card that WILL work. to my dismay i found out this month(apr 11-25) that the service works in neither korea OR japan owing to the fact that those particular countries use some form of cdma vs gsm as their mobile infrastructure. this was inconvenient for me as i had to hunt down a phone shop in korea to rent a phone as well as wasted money on that original refill. although there IS a disclaimer on their homepage stating that it might not work in all parts of the countries listed... just some... but let's be honest, if you are traveling to korea or japan you're most likely going to visit the capitals at one point or another, and if it doesn't work in seoul or tokyo it most likely won't work in the rest of the country. my advice to you is if you are contemplating using the service during a trip DON'T purchase the sim! most countries(including cambodia, korea, and japan) have either prepaid SIMs or rental phones. it's much cheaper that way. to put it into perspective in both korea and japan phone rental is only like $3 a day...

==========

Stan

thank you very much for the answers!

I tried to call them before posting my question here, but noone answered the call :( It was a strange feeling...

I was not able to use the SIM in Hungary and in Italy, tried several times, not only from one city.
But it was OK in Austria.

Just to keep the pot bubbling. Encouraged by the success stories some people have reported--and also just because I'm stubborn--I picked up a modest Siemens triband (CF62) to substitute for my Nokias to see if I could get around the curse on Nokias and actually get this 09 SIM to work.

Um. No. Not here in southeastern Michigan, anyway. Same problem as RTuesday began the thread reporting: can call to the phone, but not out from it, not even using the 09 Services menu, not even manually switching the network I was connected to (choices of T-Mobile, Cingular, or AT&T).

I'll be back in France in a few weeks, and I'll see whether once there the Siemens will be able to call out, though the Nokias couldn't.

Marc

Actually I had a fair amount of success using O9 in the UK a couple of weeks ago using enlinea for calling out....o9's charge on enlinea is 10?/minute to call the USA...I use it quite a bit to call 1-800-555-8355 which enables me to get the scores of various games I'm interested in (sorry the BBC doesn't give mlb scores and I'm not too interested in the Premiereship scores)...it worked probably 75% of the time; certainly not something to totally rely on but helpful.

btw enlinea...

I was not able to use 09 with enlinea. I was able to trigger from online, thats's fine. But was not able to make a call initiated from my mobile. It would have been the first try, so maybe I made something wrong, misunderstood something, I don't know.

Would anyone provide some explanatory "enlinea&09mobile for dummies" message for me? :meh:
As it's a bit off-topic, maybe some private message would do (& highly appreciated :) ).

I plan to use my 09mobile SIM in 3-5 European countries in the next few weeks, I hope it will work -- both 09services and enlinea..

cheers
~ptx

In Greece the sim works ok, but I noticed that it does not accept sms :(

Do SMS sending and receiving in 09 work at all at least in one country???

http://www.orate.co.uk/Roaming/09tariff.html

<quote>
Text messages will cost ?0.49 to send. Receiving text messages will be free of charge. We expect the text messaging function to commence soon after March 2006.
</quote>

Is May "soon after March" :P?

I sent a order for a 09 SIM-card on their website about a week ago. And didnt get any confirmation at all. Now their website is not reachable at all. That doesnt sound very promising at all...

Maybe there is anybody here who wants to sell his card ;) ? I need one for my parents for Namibia (or do you any other card that will work in South Africa and Namibia?)

Chris