The company obviously has some problems, but while that may eventually turn out to be the case, in the absence of actual facts so far there is more than one possible explanation. And one of the SIM cards still works for incoming calls, so has obviously not been cut off by Mobilkom.

UK Sim - No Service
 

Rejected by all operators
Website - My Account, Shop, etc give 404 error (doesn't exist)
+44 Customer Service Number no longer exists
+423 Customer Service number gives message that questions only by email and to keep My Account info up-to-date so they can send a new sim card.
(this being impossible as my account page doesn't exist. :confused:

Very upsetting as I have about 40 Euro on the account and a Silver number. Such a number costs £250 with TravelSim. :chair:

My company started negotiations with to become their main distributor in South Africa about a year ago. Due to their poor communication I terminated the discussions. :rolleyes:

The question for me is.. who offer the best data roaming price now. But that's for a different thread. :???:

In my opinion, UM is gone
 

After thinking positiv about a comeback of UM after the outage of both platforms, I think UM is gone. I will tell you all, why this is my "new" opinion:

Since my balance on two UM Simcards has been quite high I tried to get in touch with them eiter on their service line and their local business number. No luck at all - so I decided to try something completely different: calling mobilkom Liechtenstein. I had not thought about getting any informations but listen to this:

Looking at the Mobilkom Liechtenstein website, you will find a Link called MVNO (FL1 - Wir verbinden Welten. | MVNO Partnerschaften) including a phone number. Calling the number, a lady immediately answered the phone with "Mobilkom Liechtenstein". I told her that we have several cards of UM for touroperators visiting Switzerland (the Hotels I am working for) and that we got some calls from them that the SIM-card are not working at the moment.

She told me, that YES, United Mobile is having problems and tried several times to hide them by pushing back complaints to Mobilkom Liechtenstein. She also said, that she doesn't know the acutal service status of United Mobile's SIM serivce since they doesn't track the UM service nor does she have one of those Simcards. The Mobilkom Liechtenstein part of the service (the whole platform) is up and running proper.

Upon that she also stated, that the +423 service of UM (she didn't mention the +44 SIM with any word) will not come back by UM. This has been the point for me, asking what "by UM" means. She told me, that Mobilkom Liechtenstein is in Negotiation with another operator to pick up their service as a MVNO, but it will take some time to set up everything propper. The timeframe she mentioned were definately "about one to two months" from now.

:eek:What made me curios was the fact, that she immediately advised me of "another very reliable" roaming sim service with a +44 prefix. I must admit, I am not shure if she said SIM4travel or travelsim. (no matter which one she mentioned, both did offer a replacement SIM in very short time and personally I think, they did know what will happen)

Lets see, after this phonecall I am pretty shure that another +423 SIM service will come up very soon! But also, for me it is pretty clear, that all our balance of UM is gone for now. :nono:

BK

Here's the problem with +423....for several years they were fine. Check with the various ld carriers of the world to see the termination fees for calls to +423...in the USA I don't know of any (outside some of the internet providers which charge less than 75¢/minute to make a call to them....nobody would call you. That was the reason UM began its +44 service.

I tend, however at this point, to agree. UM+ is deader than dead and will not arise again.

Too bad.

I do have a VoIP service that terminates reliably to +423-6 numbers at 19¢ US. It can be set up for callback and US DID forwarding as well. Of course it is only useful if UM is working... but feel free to message me if you want to use it.

I want to find out what shipping is and not send a letter or phone them if I can help it, does anyone know an email address for customer service at SIM4travel?

Logging into "My Account" on the UM website is working again. Seems like there's some reanimation attempt. My UM+ SIMs still won't register.

Saw my billing details. +423 phone number
 

I, also was able to log in and see my billing activity. But only the first page.
I also received an email responding to my query of 'What's happening?'

Interesting. My account shows all 9 trial calls to the +423 in the last two weeks.

I've just made 2 calls to it, from JustVoip unanswered and from O2 answered, and will update this later ...... on the account within half an hour

I also just logged in to my UM account. On my account nothing has changed, the full balance is still shown on each of the SIM-Cards.

Overlooking the numbers it is very interresting to see, that both UM +423 numbers still show a green tick and status "active" while the UM+ (+44) is grayed out and doesn't show a any status.

Lets see what will happen...

Are you saying you were able to call in?

This makes it look like there is some life in the system? I suppose a warning to everyone sending in their UM SIM's to easyroam for a 'free' replacement SIM.

I've just logged in into my account. Both my SIMs have the status Active now. +44 doesn't log in to any network. +423 is outside the phone and I don't have time to check it.

@ przemolog

Thanks for your update. In my account, still only the +423 SIM cards show the status "active" which is no wonder since Mobilkom Liechtenstein already told me yesterday that their platform is up and running. You CAN receive calls on that SIM but can't make calls, send SMS or use Data from that number range. As Mobilkom said yesterday this is depending on a company that is in between them and UM, she mentioned a company name like Synphony (don't know if this is the correct spelling) in Germany. I guess they handle all the customer data and call backs from their servers.

Will travel to Spain from Friday onwards and I think it is better NOT to rely on the UM services?!

BK

Both my +423 and +44 are showing as "Active" when I logged on this morning.

UM expiration rules still in effect?
 

I'm coming up on the 9mo expiration period of my UM account. I'll be very unhappy if I can't even make a "test call" to keep the account going because UM doesn't work... Indeed the whole reason I haven't used UM in the past 9mos isn't for lack of want... but that UM simply didn't work... grrr...

That 9 month-validity-policy has never been enforced so far and further deactivations were done manually at United Mobile, which is currently impossible due to the lack of staff. And if UM ever return, they'll be happy for every remaining customer.

I just ordered Sim4Travel for US delivery, and the shipping charge was £6.95. I elected the card with £15 credit for £10, so total charge was £16.95.

Offer is here:
SIM4travel - Global roaming SIM cards - the international mobile SIM card

Kupe

"My Account" web page at United Mobile is indeed up and running. Accurate balance and number is listed as active (+44). Recharge link works, but not new SIM purchase. So who knows? Seems odd that this nearly full access would be added if they didn't anticipate a chance of returning to service at some point.

In the meantime, other providers have started circling the wounded UM waters and have sweetened the "send us your UM SIM and we'll send you a free SIM" offer. A g-news search shows OneSIMcard (based in Boston USA) is offering a free SIM with $10 USD credit, looks like free shipping as well (perhaps to USA only?). Some of their rates look competitive with UM. (In the 1 for 1 trade, search also shows German provider Sunsim to offer UM'ers a 15 Euro card for 14.95 Euro.)

With all due respect to our forum mate EasyRoam-, the OneSIMcard offer seems to answer "Yes" to the question "Can you really expect us to also give you free call credit as well" (posed in the "Free sim card offer for united mobile customers" thread.). All "free offers" are essentially marketing costs, some decide it's worthwhile and others do not.

Both my +423 and +44 cards are now showing 0.00 and status is now unknown. They were showing correct balances and active status as of a couple of days ago.

No functionality is possible. The cards are probably dead for good now!

Same here.

RIP United Mobkile

Even to me it appears so. :confused:

Well, the phone still rings, in fact has never been unavailable, and the last call just appeared on the record, so it isn't dead yet

Very true andy. come to think of it, incoming on the outrageously expensive +423 number is the only thing still working. It may as well be dead and buried!

Ugggh- mine seemed like it was hanging in there. It still showed my full balance on Friday night. But today it's showing zero for both +423 and +44.

LOL! I even printed a copy of the page when it still showed my full balance.

Guess I can send that to UM and get my money, right? ;)

Kupe

It must be true and over if Wikipedia says it is.
 

United Mobile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United Mobile ceased trading on 17th April 2009 and their assets have been frozen awaiting liquidation.

In regard to calls to +423 mobiles, I would like to mention that 3 German Callthrough services (associated with betamax) that allowed calls to +42366, stopped allowing this destination the last month. They do no longer offer calls to UM +4236.

That isn't necessarily conclusive

Not all Finarea or Betamax brands have offered this destination, and while some may have removed it from their list, others can still reach the numbers today.

What I have written implies that the route they used was no longer viable (this does not have to do with um but with mobilkom probably). These brands have been offering the destination for more than a year whithout stop

Wiki can be updated by anyone though right? I too believe UM may be gone, but I certainly will not believe what is posted on wiki 100%. Unless may be the information is usually verified before the update is allowed.

Or at least there will be a footnote citation at the bottom. But no source I can find.

Sadly, it's probably true, but strange that still nothing official.

Kupe

Who on earth should make an "official" statement for a dead company? The liquidator, problably.

We have seen more than sufficient and clear indications of a bankruptcy in recent weeks, it has been a typical bankruptcy pattern.

Telekom.at is responsible for the operation of the +423 cards, not UM, so their half-dead status only indicates that Telekom.at is not dead. It is upt to them what to do with the SIMs.

This horse is dead, so get off!

And then he said................... UM account access update
 

Financial press and telecom industry media would normally pick up on this sort of thing quite quickly...and Google shortly thereafter. So the silence is strange.


Yikes! That's it- no more crabby pills for anyone in this forum! All sims are cancelled until morale improves! ;)

Kupe

I have realized that cheap callthroughs (below 10p/min) in the UK do no longer offer calls to +4236 mobiles.....

Even when they did have calls for 10p, they weren't reliable.

Several providers told me there is a large gap in price between the cheapest and next cheapest wholesale carriers, but also a large difference in quality. This was true 4 years ago, and still seemed to be the case more recently if trying via a 10p (from landlines) 0871 number. But with time most providers either shifted to tariffs in the range 15 to 30p, or stopped providing the destination if their particular method wouldn't cover rates that high.

I don't think any of that implies clues to what is happening at the other end now.

The strange thing is that recently uk callthroughs (associated with betamax/finarea) advertised rates to +423 mobiles at 5p/min. I tried them and none connected. In fact the automated voice said that the destination was not reachable (or something similar).
I wonder why they advertise these rates then...

Hello. Right now my account shows: my +44 and +423 status: Active and correct balance. So, maybe they're not dead. Let us see.

Now that is interesting! My balances yesterday were all zero, but my +44 is now correct again.

Perhaps "I'm not dead yet?" ;)

Kupe

Well, it's already something positive. Also I see the balance and the status of the sim "Active" :)

Hello! Not very nice development. I had (now cancelled) autorecharge on my +44 and +423 UM numbers: i just received n. 6 10 euro each not requested recharge through Paypal!
I immediately requested refund to UM customer service email. If nothing happens, i think this will be a matter for swiss police :-((