So let me get the facts straight and somehow impersonal:

- company (from US) charges customer (from CZ/EU) $35 for shipping a SIM card (probably a small envelope)
- company states that the SIM "will arrive within 4-7 business days"
- company delivers the SIM after more than two months because it costs them $67 to ship
- due to some altercations between customer and company within those two months company decides to reimburse the customer the money for service, deny him any service but will not reinburse the money for shipping

Now here is my take:

- first of all $67 or even $35 is absolutely ridiculous, especially if we're talking cheap SIM cards. The idea here is to SAVE money. It costs $1.18 to ship such envelope to CZ and probably less if you do it in bulk (maybe $1 more if you get enthusiastic with the printed material included) !!! There isn't any advantage in using a more expensive shipping method especially if we're talking about delivery times of over two months! As for safety it is standard nowadays to send mostly everything like SIM cards, credit cards, credit card
statements via normal uninsured snail mail. And SIM cards are particularly cheap as physical objects and very easy to protect if you want to bother with that (don't send the PIN/PUK with the card, don't send activated cards already, etc); but in the end they're prepaid so even without any precaution there isn't much to lose
- company wrongfully charged the customer the money for shipping. Now if there's an agreement and everybody is happy all right, but if the company says "we charge you 35$ to deliver in 7 days" and they deliver in 2 months for whatever reason they should refund the money, it's as simple as that. Any court would agree to that but of course enforcing this would cost much more than letting it go
- you can refuse to do business with a customer that's crossing lines but you can't charge him for services you did not provide. If he's doing anything illegal call the cops, you don't get to write him a fine just because you have his credit card number
- there is a lesson to be learned from here: when a company doesn't deliver let's say in two weeks what they said they'll deliver in one just go to your credit card company and dispute the charge. If you wait too much you can only complain on various forums (and yes, that might help other people to make decisions).

just wondering if anyone is using Global Roaming, particularly after the Celtrek fiasco... have they settled in to be a credible provider?

I am unable to register on AT&T's networks once again with my GR SIM, this time since September.

Yep, works fine here! :) In my part of the US they roam on T-Mobile... Really does not matter to me as I don't use it much at home...

I use previously celtrek with the israeli number and now Globalroaming with the belgian number.
Its the most reliable provider i found epsecially with voice quality and prices.
incoming calls at 0.10 usd in Europe and most calls in Eu at 0.24usdare very cheap.

the only negative point is their online management card and calls history billings, i think

I dug out my Global roaming sim and it registered here in the US without any problems. I used it quite a bit when I traveled in June. No problems at all.

I agree with christophe, there is no online account managemant. You have to actually contact their customer service to check your history, charges, etc. The only thing available to do online is topup. However, their website looks so incomplete after login in that I do not think even topping up will work.

support inform me this day that online management will be available soonly. I also attach an us number to the belgian, works well..but you always have to ask support to have histoy of calls and then check if asvertised prices are the same that billed

It seems that they have a limited list USA numbers. They will link them on a case by case of account. I think that my once a year trips will not give me enough volume to get a number. We will see.

I'm an old customer (one of the first of Celtrek) so i was qualified for the us DID number

We just relaunched our website with full online management, live call records, OTA top ups and we also added conference call feature.

The One SIM for Global Roaming

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi, good to hear that. Do the old passwords work?

But: now the tariffs seem to be much higher than before for many countries. And there is no complete rate list to download anymore which is not very helpful for business use.

EDIT: I found the rate sheet for download now - but the rates there do not correspond with the ones on the tariff calculator... Which ones are correct now?

Chris

My old UserName/Pasword works.

My Celtrek sim is no longer registering on any US networks. Anyone else?

Also, one day last week my credit just disappeared to zero. They did fix the issue after I contacted them and the phone started working.

Mine registers fine here in the USA. It also worked great all around the French Polynesia islands(Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, Raiatea) last week.

Happy Holidays to all members of PrepaidGSM

We finally were able to negotiate better shipping prices. We have lowered our shipping rates by 50% in continental US.
Also to celebrate the holidays we offer 20% on any order. New orders or refill of airtime for existing customers.

Use coupon code: 20OFF on checkout at Home - Global Roaming - The One SIM For Global Roaming
Promotion to last 7 days until January 5th 2010.

Global Roaming wishes everyone a happy new year for 2010.

Thanks.

Are you getting charged $3 a month for the US DID. There seems to be $3 disappearing from my account and that is all I can think of as to why. They should have told me there was a charge when they set it up. I liked it when they did not charge extra for a US DID.

We start 2010 with an exclusive offer on Nexus One.
Nexus One is Google's new phone, only available on limited markets.
Global Roaming makes the Nexus One SIM free, unlocked available worldwide for $589.
We throw in a free SIM with $10 credit of airtime.
Nexus One - Global Roaming - The One SIM For Global Roaming

Thanks for looking.

Yes. I have noticed my balance go down by about that the last 2 months, without using it at all, till it hit negative the last deduction. I agree, they should have mentioned that they have started charging $3 for the DID. No need to hold on to the DID anyway. I will cancel it and just add it when I am about to travel, if needed.

Do Global Roaming Smart Sims also have DID capability?

Yes, any Global Roaming/Celtrek sim can get a USA DID for $3 a month. It may be hard to add since they have a limited number of USA DID's. They look at usage and how long you have been with them.

I ordered the Nexus One today :D Can't wait till it gets here!

Ok, I don't want to sound impatient... I know it's only been 2 days... but I have not heard back from Celtrek even though I asked them via e-mail to verify my order. Twice $650 (I ordered two Nexus One + sim) is a lot of money and I am anxious to hear from them. They ARE reliable, are they not? Before I ordered, I did read this whole thread and front page of this site... :confused:

My apologies for the tripple post... I can't edit the previous one. I just spoke to them (chat) and shipping is confirmed for early next week :beer: :thumbup:

Does the celtrek sim work with unlocked/jailbroken iPhones such as the 3GS? I don't need the data capability, just the regular voice and text sms funcitons to work. Thanks! :)

Looks like Celtrek is not working. My USA number is not working and the website login does not work. I wonder what is the problem.


Website login note:
"Celtrek.com - Service Temporarily Unavailable
Something unexpected has happened. Our support team has been notified. Please try again shortly, or call customer service."

Mine is connected to a network just fine and has been all day. I have the Global Roaming SmartSim (same thing, isn't it?). I do not have a US DID on that SIM though.

My second try at posting here .....

I have $400+ credit on my Celtrek SIM and the entire thing has been down for several days. ZERO response from Global Roaming AND I even tried e-mailing the CEO!

What's strange is that my MAXroam SIM has been fine, not a moment's interruption in service. I thought they were partners?

I can afford to lose the $$$ on my Celtrek SIM but I'm disgusted with the lack of response by this company. It's not the first time, either.

Mine can connect to any career in my area in the USA. It is connecting to T-Mobile, Unicel(Verizon) and AT&T. But you can not call it use the US number or the Belgium number. With also the note from the website I would say they are down.

Fuming
 

I would love to know how you got your Celtrek SIM to do anything. I am beyond frustrated!! If I didn't have my Maxroam SIM I would be screwed. Celtrek is FUBAR on my end and the lack of response from the "support" team makes it even worse. :chair:

Again, I can afford to lose the $$$, but it's the principle of the matter. I'm ready to go fully legal on these guys but I bet I'd have to get in a long line, based on the research I did today.

Wow! That's a lot of money to load onto a prepaid sim. Especially the way a lot of them have proved to be unreliable. You said you can afford to lose it anyway. That's the bottom line...only load the sim card with the money you do not mind losing.

I do not have my sim with me, however, when I call the number it just gives a busy tone. And the website is down of course. They are having some issues. Hopefully they can get it resolved.

How can the "bottom line" be that I'm at fault for loading money onto my SIM? What the &"*£?

I load a lot of money onto my SIMs because I do a lot of work in remote, third-world areas with not much access to a computer. If that makes me culpable for getting screwed by Celtrek and Global Roaming, then I may as well forget about ever being accessible to my family and colleagues while I am doing dangerous work in farflung areas. "Sorry, I can't load money onto a roaming SIM because if I lose it then I'm at fault." :eek: Really?

Luckily I am working in New York this week and had my Maxroam with me. I gave Celtrek many chances to give me a response -- ANY response -- to my queries. Not so much as a form email was received. Are you kidding me??

I had to laugh when I checked the "knowledge base" on their site and it was empty. Says it all about the people running Global Roaming, I think.

I apologize if it sounded that way. I am in no way blaming you at all. It's just that I have been burnt by a few of them, that I now load it up when I am about to use it.

Hopefully, it's just a temporary glitch and they resolve it soon.

QUOTE=Moshe;30970]How can the "bottom line" be that I'm at fault for loading money onto my SIM?[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Bossman, I appreciate it. Sorry if I seemed to get irate with you -- it's not you, it's Global Roaming/Celtrek.

Even worse? I got the CEO's personal email address via a friend on Facebook. My friend tells me that the CEO is posting about going to the Super Bowl on Sunday. I wonder whose money paid for those tickets, and why he hasn't responded to any of my emails??

It just stinks. I expect more from my people.

The Owner made a ton of money when they did the stock IPO. He sold a lot of his stock before it tanked. That is what is paying for his Super Bowl tickets.

After there fall last year when they had to restart it reassured me to not keep a lot of money in my account. I want to add a second world chip to my lineup, But I have not found one I like. I may do Maxroam, But with then using the same source for service Cubic Telecom is holding me back.

I tolerate there down time because I only go out of the USA once or twice a year and lone the phone to my aunt and friend another two times. Lucky for me the service has been up for those four times a year.

I hope that they have not tanked again like last year.

frenchfry, thanks for the insight. This whole operation sounds shadier and shadier the more I learn. I wonder if "cizake" will show his face here to explain why his service is down with no notification to customers, no response to support queries, and no sign of life whatsoever for DAYS on end. Probably doesn't have the guts.

I think that the owner thought his company was going to be big. So his selling of of his stock may not be considered a scam.

I do hope they make it. They have the best rates to the USA of all of the world chips.

MaxRoam and Cubic Telecom are one of the same which tells me that this is a Celtrek issue. Not like last year when both Celtrek and Maxroam went down.

frenchfry, that's what I don't get -- Maxroam has been good as gold, no downtime. If Maxroam runs on Celtrek's network ... doesn't make sense to me.

Still waiting for "cizake" to show his face here and explain why he's ignoring his customers who have had no service for days on end.

It is the other way around.

Cubic Telecom and Max Roam are the main company and one of the same.

Celtrek/Global Roaming is a Cubic Telecom partner using there setup.

frenchfry, I'm confused ... according to a Global Roaming press release I found from a cursory Google search, "Cubic Telecom's renowned MAXroam service uses GRDB's CelTrek technology allowing roaming in over 170 countries at up to 90% cost savings."

Yet Maxroam works perfectly and CelTrek is totally hosed, FUBAR, kaput. Hence my puzzlement. Just glad I had my Maxroam with me!!

Everyone on this forum has been bitten by a failure, or two, or three of a roaming SIM. We have all learned the hard way to keep our balances low. We are not blaming you, but even companies that seem well capitalized (e.g. United Mobile) have failed.