Unfortunately I have to agree. Sent a few folks to South Africa a few weeks ago with the Telna SIM and they didn't have much luck, experienced what you described... Telna CS was nice, but was hard to get a hold of to try to work though the issue...

Even though our US carrier is much higher in price, it just works.... Guess ya get what ya pay for... :)

Might keep the SIMs we have, but definitely not going to purchase any more...

I agree that Telna has not been 100% reliable. I hope you report this to the company. I have sometimes reported "funky" behavior (e.g. failure to register, deregistering, etc.) and their response has seemed somewhat disbelieving. Something seems to be happening that does not show up on their diagnostics. I suspect it has to do with the multi-IMSI SIM technology.

Yes. I did report it. Regarding the message I get when I call the number, they said they had some technical issues. As for phone not making calls, they said the phone went out of TMobile's coverage area (yes, son went to the basement while I was on the phone with him, to try to restart the router because of internet/Vonage issues, then the phone cut off), and the phone latched onto AT&T. But because they do not have agreement with AT&T, the phone was not usable.

Bottom line for me - I cannot depend on Telna.

PS: Son (11 yrs old) panicked when phone cut off and there was no way for him to call me back. He checked my desk draw and turned on a couple of phones in there. Used the one that first picked up a network to call me. It happened to have my MTN Nigeria sim card in it. LOL! I almost freaked out when I saw the incoming call. I had no choice but to take the call.

The Telna representative did mention that he is able to see that most of the calls that were giving the funky message came in while the phone was logged onto the AT&T network. And that's why they did not go through.

I planned on using Telna for my incoming calls when we visit Montego Bay, Jamaica for 7 days this weekend. I will dig out my old TruPhone sim and top it up and use it as a backup. Both of them are $0.50/min for incoming calls there. One of them better work. LOL!

I don't think I could blame any cellular carrier for not working in the basement. If it was my T-Mobile SIM, it would not work either.

a good alternative of telna simcards will be piranha mobile Piranha Mobile
i think they actually are the resellers of telna in UK/Europe

i am in Jamaica, and used telna for the first couple of days, but had to switch quickly. I have only taken a 2 min call, but have a $16+ showing in my account. They have charged me for every single call that never came through.

telna even charge for every unanswered call, from the time the callback is anwered.

The only time I ever watched The X-Files on the TV, he was trapped in a steel shipping container buried in the middle of the desert

He picked up his phone and made a call

People told me the programme was a bit off the wall, but that was ridiculous

The ETs floating all over the program didn't pause Andy, but cell service in a bank valult did:)

Yeah but they used Nextel phones. I do remember that scene. It was a metal railroad boxcar buried out in the middle of the desert and the phone worked from inside. Obviously, the series' writers had never lived in the country. I'm in the hills of rural New Hampshire at the moment. No T-Mobile, no ATT, no GSM at all. Verizon is the only carrier with a usable signal and it comes and goes.

P.S. Yesterday I was in downtown Boston and my Telna phone flipped around between working, "No Access to Net", and "Unregistered SIM" at random intervals. Even turning it off and on did not always fix the problem.

Like the recent movie Battleship. Their depiction of space aliens was completely believable. Their depiction of the US Navy was completely beyond belief.

Telna has been doing various minor improvements. Has anyone tried them recently?

Only in the US. I'm about to send my Telna SIM on a Mediterranean cruise with friends. I recently tested both ends of their VoIP service: the inbound SIP address and the WiFi calling.

Stu, in my opinion, Telna's reliability has been questionable lately. There is no way I will depend on it as my primary sim when I travel. Even here in the US, gave it to my son to use. Most of the time he is not reachable. Even when the phone is showing full bars, one still gets a message that it's not reachable about 50% of the time. Had to dish it and give my son a TMobile payg sim.

Interesting who Pirahna seems more reliable than Telna inside the US. I have their SIP Client on my Android phone and it seems reliable. I have a virtual number which can receive SMSes set up as my virtual "mobile number." It simulrings Telna and iPhone. When I am at home, I use my Android as a cordless phone and save the minutes. It works well.

I'm probably going to be in Canada over the weekend. Telna dropped Telus roaming and only roams on Bell, but you can direct dial. I may give it whirl as an experiment. My wife is working in Alberta at least one week a month right now and I'm simply paying the extra $20 a month to ATT for Nation Plus Canada so it will be a pure experiment. My Canadian coverage is better than my US coverage. I roam on Rogers, Telus, and Bell. When coupled with our unlimited international data plans Canada feels like home until I try to buy something in a store and see that 15% HST. Then I feel like I'm in Chicago:)

My sim will not even register at all today. Even though I have turned the phone on/off about 4 times. I certainly do not plan on contacting them.

I'll probably get the Pirahna sim for my next trip, which is not till the end of the year.

Mine just registered immediately and rang my home phone with no problems. I'll get a better idea of how it works abroad when my friends return from their cruise in September.

Have you tried to manually select a network? If not try to select each available network at least 4 times until your phone registers on one. The reason for your phone not registering may be, that Telna like most operators, use roaming steering to force your handset onto that network on which they have the cheapest wholesale costs. In order to prevent your phone registering on another roaming partner's network they may refuse the first three requests for permission sent to their HLR as it is assumed that the first three attempts are part of your handsets automatic network selection process and that your handset will move to another network after three failures to register. However if their preferred roaming partner's network is unavailable at your location, steering may end in up your handset not registering at all.
Usually steering servers are configured to stop refusing permissions after the third denied request, thus you should try it four times manually to circumvent the steering mechanism.

So, signed-up for telna mobile and got the SIM card yesterday (I'm in Vancouver area, Canada) and SIM won't register on any networks. Called-in, they opened a "ticket". 24 hours later - still won't register. Supposed to be supported on Telus and Bell but neither will register using automatic or repeated manual attempts, phone reboots or power-cycles, always "SIM card registration failed" (automatic) or "no access" (manual). Called in again and gave them 24 hours to fix or I apply for a charge-back on my credit-card for the $19 plus shipping charges.

if you don't sort it out give a try to piranha simcard, they have excellent rates for Canada

I moved on from Telna. Just too unreliable for me.

Have you tried a 3G phone?
 

Have you tried a 3G phone?

Yes, 3G is a necessity for Bell and Telus, they only have CDMA and HSPA (and beyond), not 2G GSM.

But doesn't piranha also use telna's infrastructure?

I received my piranha sim last week. So far, so good, here in the US. At least I do not have the "sim registraton failed" issue that I almost always get with Telna.

no, different call routing and even different voip app.!
i'm very very satisfied with piranha simcard, after using several other international simcards all these years.

Follow-up on my issues with Telna Mobile not registering. Turns out it is incompatible with my phone! Tried the SIM in a friends Samsung Galaxy Android phone and it registers fast on Bell. My phone is a Nokia 603 running Symbian Belle FP1. Works with every other SIM I've got, including another roaming SIM (Tru), but will not register with the Telna SIM.

Had a similar issue. Found a Motorola L6, which Telna recommends on their website, but haven't really had an opportunity to try it outside the US. I have occasionally tested SMS with the L6 and have had little success, so I am still skeptical of the service...

So you are saying that the moto L6 does not work int he US? The US version is a quadband phone and should have worked. Now, the non-US version is Triband (900/1800/1900) and should have worked on Tmobile as well, since that's what Telna roams on. My suspicion is that you have another issue not phone related.

I apologize for the confusion. The L6 does work in the US. I (personally) have not seen much success with using SMS with Telna, regadless of handset used with the SIM.

I've had good results with Telna SMS, except between them and C-spire (a regional CDMA carrier in my area). I have not heard from the friend I loaned my Telna SIM & V550 to take on a Mediterranean cruise. Either he never tried it or it didn't work; probably the former. People are so scared of high roaming bills that they will often not turn a phone on, just out of fear of what it might cost. He should be home by now.

My friend got back from his Mediterranean cruise. He never powered up the phone I loaned him. This is two overseas trips my Telna SIM has made without ever attempting to register on a foreign network. :wall: :dunno: Time for me to go back to Europe.

Just signed up for Telna Mobile using the PPGSM referral link.

To be a replacement for an inactive ekit SimpleCalling callback card and possible replacement for a Digicel Bermuda sim card once I spend the balance down on an extended trip in early June.

Pluses for me are:
1. I can put this in one slot of my dual sim Blue Rave Android smartphone and keep my MVNO H20 (AT&T USA reseller) in the other slot. Since Telna has a friendly roaming agreement with T-Mobile USA this will give me both major US GSM networks in one handset.
2. Local US phone number was available in Connecticut! Hard to find an international sim that offers local numbers (the ekit sim I was using had a Long Island, New York number that was not a local call).
3. Postpaid so I don't have to worry about a prepaid balance on an international card disappearing for whatever reason or how to use a balance if the rates become unfavorable where I travel.
4. Telna apparently now has a friendly direct dial roaming agreement with Digicel in the non-US Caribbean and Telus and Bell in Canada (I'll need to keep the Telna sim in the 3G slot of my phone to make calls in Canada though). Rates in these 2 areas are much better than when I looked at this last.
5. No US or Canada connection charge like I was getting with Ekit...but of course I'll get hit with taxes and a federal Universal Service Fund fee since this is postpaid.
6. Might use this for very light data usage to get Gmail on my phone without using a mifi device or a computer with a USB aircard. The H20 AT&T sim card I have is not data enabled (legacy Locus O2 sim card) but the Telna card will be. My phone can also be used as a 3G wifi hotspot, which might come in handy for international travel where no free or low fee wifi is available; although would only use very lightly for email, boarding passes, etc.

Intrigued by Telna's status as an actual cellular phone company with 1900 mhz 2G GSM service in St. Louis, MO according to an FCC filing. Must make it easier to negotiate roaming agreements with other carriers.

Given their tiny customer base as a local wireless carrier and the resulting low volume of airtime they will hardly be able to negotiate favourable roaming rates with other carriers. What actually puts them in a position to offer good rates is that they recently launched an IMSI roaming hub: Telecom North America launches the multi-IMSI roaming hub? | Prepaid MVNO
In simplified terms Telna can now buy airtime through other participating carriers around the world and so benefit from the better wholesale rates those carriers get on other networks.
Do existing Telna SIMs already support mulitple IMSIs? Has anyone looked up which MCC/MNC tuple their SIMs use and if it changes in some countries? Can you perhaps select IMSIs from the SIM toolkit menu?

My telna SIMs have two IMSIs - one from Telna's MO network and the other from TIM IT. While there's no specific pulldown to select IMSIs, they thave the 'Set subscription' menu where you can enter card and carrier specific four digit codes (eg 9999 sets the card back to automatic).

The Telna sim card I ordered arrived in the mail today. Put it in the 3G slot of my dual sim Blu D230 phone and my AT&T/H20 sim card in the GSM only slot.
The Telna card made a successful call off a distant T-Mobile tower, and also received a test Gmail message via an Edge data connection once I set up the APN and temporarily enabled data roaming (will just use data occasionally). More interested in this card for domestic/international voice rather than data usage, but it's nice to have this feature.
There is a USSD command in the Telna menu to get an account balance so I can keep track of how much I spend on calls/data/sms.

Once again I've loaned my TelnaMobile phone to someone who took it to Europe and never even turned it on. :wall:

I recently had my TelnaMobile number changed to an exchange in my local area. At the same time I mentioned the problem I'd been having with the system being unreliable about not connecting to a strong T-Mobile signal. David replied that I did have one of their very early SIMs and that their new SIMs had improved firmware. He sent me a new SIM, which has been perfectly reliable over the last week.

This weekend my Telna SIP connection stopped working. I sent a message to customer service about it and was informed that for security reasons they changed my (and maybe everyone else's) SIP passwords. Who knew? :furious: