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-   -   Piranha Mobile Sim Card (https://prepaid.mondo3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7278)

DRNewcomb 06-12-2012 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSIM (Post 41443)
to reiterate your fist post "Has anyone noticed"

"It has an expiration of 420 DAYS!"

you do not mentioned the fact that if the card is used once within this time the 420 day cycle starts again and therefore your post could easily be misinterpreted as expiry after 420 days, regardless of use.

Seemed perfectly clear to me. The "..420 DAYS!" thing seems like a "Wow!" to me. The rest of the post made it perfectly clear that it was 420 days without being used.

Bossman 06-12-2012 15:29

As someone who has used several of these international sim cards, 420 days seems quite generous. Assuming Piranha is still around after 420 days of course...LOL! I picked up piranha a few months ago, after I've had it with Telna. Have not had the chance to really use it outside the USA though. Besides the couple of test calls I have done on it. Their rates just seem too good to be true, especially in the Caribbean. Again, I have had several of these sim cards show very reasonable rates for most of these countries, but come to find out the sim would not work once one is on ground. Anyway, I always have a backup. For now, it's Ekit and Piranha as my international sims.

gkeeper 06-12-2012 16:14

So far the Countries I have been in through work, the piranha sim has worked well. The counrties are as follows:

USA
Canada
South Africa
Australia
Singapore
Thailand
Germany
France
Ukraine

I hope they are still around for a long time I do not want to have to go through the saga of finding another sim that works.

fsotirop 07-12-2012 09:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb (Post 41445)
Seemed perfectly clear to me. The "..420 DAYS!" thing seems like a "Wow!" to me. The rest of the post made it perfectly clear that it was 420 days without being used.

420days are quite a lot, only another travel simcard, Camelmobel, offer unlimited expiration for borh credit and the simcard.

Stu 08-12-2012 00:29

The callback module doesn't seem to work right on many phones. Other than that, it is great. Telna (which shares some infrastructure with these guys) just started offering texting over the web and receipt of text messages that way. It would be great if an Android/iOS client was released that implemented these features.

Piranha is now offering an interesting unlocked Android phone.

PSIM 08-12-2012 00:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu (Post 41459)
The callback module doesn't seem to work right on many phones. Other than that, it is great. Telna (which shares some infrastructure with these guys) just started offering texting over the web and receipt of text messages that way. It would be great if an Android/iOS client was released that implemented these features.

Piranha is now offering an interesting unlocked Android phone.

Hi could you please specify make,model and firmware of the handset or handsets you are having an issue with and we will look into it for you.

VladS 08-12-2012 01:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSIM (Post 41460)
Hi could you please specify make,model and firmware of the handset or handsets you are having an issue with and we will look into it for you.

If the Piranha callback STK is the same as the one in the Telna SIMs, I can provide two Samsung models that don't handle it well: C414 and Nexus S.

depee 09-12-2012 01:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSIM (Post 41460)
Hi could you please specify make,model and firmware of the handset or handsets you are having an issue with and we will look into it for you.

I have also the problem with a HTC Desire (4.1.2), HTC Sensation (4.1.2), Google Samsung Nexus (4.2.1), Samsung B2710 and Sony Ericsson Elm.

Also with all devices I have to use the SIM Toolkit for a call. The normal callback module don't work.

PSIM 09-12-2012 01:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by depee (Post 41480)
I have also the problem with a HTC Desire (4.1.2), HTC Sensation (4.1.2), Google Samsung Nexus (4.2.1), Samsung B2710 and Sony Ericsson Elm.

Also with all devices I have to use the SIM Toolkit for a call. The normal callback module don't work.

Can you contact admin with your account details and IMEIs of the handsets, so we can look into this for you, This comes as a bit of a surprise as we have tested most of these handsets and found no issues, I myself use the Samsung Nexus S without issue. you can contact admin at http://www.piranha-mobile.com/index....mation/contact

Stu 09-12-2012 03:15

My friend in Germany emailed tech support with the details. It was a Huwai Comet. I don't know what my other friends in Oz used. I had them dial *111*12125551212# and it worked, but it took a bit to figure things out.

PSIM 09-12-2012 08:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu (Post 41482)
My friend in Germany emailed tech support with the details. It was a Huwai Comet. I don't know what my other friends in Oz used. I had them dial *111*12125551212# and it worked, but it took a bit to figure things out.

This is correct, we requested the IMEI number from the customer on 26.11.12, which he duly sent, and the issue was resolved by 27.11.12.

User manual sent on purchase of Sim and downloadable via web-site states:

5. On rare occasions, a user using may have trouble with the auto Call-Back connection method. In this case please dial via the "Piranha Sim Tool Kit Menu" or dial *111*destination-number#send, always using full country code, if problem persists please contact Piranha Admin.

Piranha would appreciate any user having handset issues contact admin with make model and IMEI number of handset. In 99% of cases issue will be resolved with 24-48 hrs.

depee 09-12-2012 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSIM (Post 41481)
Can you contact admin with your account details and IMEIs of the handsets, so we can look into this for you, This comes as a bit of a surprise as we have tested most of these handsets and found no issues, I myself use the Samsung Nexus S without issue. you can contact admin at Contact Us

Thank you. I have opened a support ticket.

Stu 09-12-2012 16:46

I wasn't suggesting you guys did anything wrong. I was just suggesting that remotely troubleshooting an only moderately technically inclined person's problem from the other side of the globe introduced some complications.

PSIM 10-12-2012 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by depee (Post 41480)
I have also the problem with a HTC Desire (4.1.2), HTC Sensation (4.1.2), Google Samsung Nexus (4.2.1), Samsung B2710 and Sony Ericsson Elm.

Also with all devices I have to use the SIM Toolkit for a call. The normal callback module don't work.

Hi we have received your support ticket with IEMI for only one of the handsets mentioned could you please send info on the rest and we will get to work resolving your issues. Thank you Kindly.:)

rfranzq 12-12-2012 05:49

received my SIM today
 
Well, I received my SIM today. [8 days to California from UK pre-Christmas.] You go online to activate it. Area code was local. Prefix is my city. Kind of weird using £s instead of $$. Rates US to US are as advertised. One can add £5.00 using PayPal on the website [& I did]. One can send SMS to it using US or UK phone numbers from web site.
Very pleased so far.

dg7feq 12-12-2012 08:58

what i dont like is the fact that they charge each callback. no matter if someone picks up or not. This can also be quite costy if you try to reach someone who hardly listen to his phone... Do they actually bill both legs right away or only the inbound leg first (as it was with the very first yackiemobile card)?

Chris

PSIM 12-12-2012 10:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg7feq (Post 41501)
what i dont like is the fact that they charge each callback. no matter if someone picks up or not. This can also be quite costy if you try to reach someone who hardly listen to his phone... Do they actually bill both legs right away or only the inbound leg first (as it was with the very first yackiemobile card)?

Chris

Unfortunately we are charged by the operators when call-back (not charged when used via direct dial or VoIP) is answered and therefore we have to pass thees costs on (You are only charged the call-back leg not termination leg), if we were to waive this cost, it would have to be covered by charging more for incoming, outgoing calls, SMS and Data.

On a more positive note we will be reducing the call off load and call forwarding charges in the coming weeks by approximately 10%.

dg7feq 12-12-2012 13:33

Yes, its understandable but it makes the costs quite unpredictable. In that case i prefer to pay 1-2ct/min more but know when i get billed...

DRNewcomb 12-12-2012 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg7feq (Post 41501)
what i dont like is the fact that they charge each callback. no matter if someone picks up or not. This can also be quite costy if you try to reach someone who hardly listen to his phone... Do they actually bill both legs right away or only the inbound leg first (as it was with the very first yackiemobile card)?

I remember that Celtrek also charged for unanswered callback calls. It does not seem unreasonable to me because the company gets charged for the time you are waiting for the other party to answer. It's the downside of using USDS callback technology. The alternative would be to use a regular roaming system at much higher cost.

PSIM 12-12-2012 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg7feq (Post 41505)
Yes, its understandable but it makes the costs quite unpredictable. In that case i prefer to pay 1-2ct/min more but know when i get billed...

Hi, if it was just a case of charging 1-2ct more we would agree, but it would be substantially more than 1-2cts. We are always looking for ways to bring down the costs for callers, not increase costs. On the whole, there are more answered than unanswered calls.

dg7feq 12-12-2012 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb (Post 41506)
I remember that Celtrek also charged for unanswered callback calls. It does not seem unreasonable to me because the company gets charged for the time you are waiting for the other party to answer. It's the downside of using USDS callback technology. The alternative would be to use a regular roaming system at much higher cost.

sure, but most of the other companies calculate this and dont charge for the incoming callback.
Of course everybody has to take his own decision - but for me this is definitely a no-go criteria for a SIM card.

PSIM 12-12-2012 18:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg7feq (Post 41508)
sure, but most of the other companies calculate this and dont charge for the incoming callback.
Of course everybody has to take his own decision - but for me this is definitely a no-go criteria for a SIM card.

Please contact Piranha Admin if you would like to discuss further, as we do not feel it is appropriate to discuss your options on an open forum.

rfranzq 13-12-2012 01:31

Piranha Mobile 3G on T-Mobile's refarmed 1900mHz band.
 
In case anyone is wondering, Piranha Mobile can and does operate on 3G on T-Mobile's refarmed 1900mHz band.

depee 14-12-2012 12:36

I am now in South Korea and the card is working good.

amgee 14-12-2012 18:16

About the carrier
 
:o Do you know what's the preferent carrier for this company? For example, in Maxroam is Vodafone...

Thank you!

fsotirop 14-12-2012 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by amgee (Post 41522)
:o Do you know what's the preferent carrier for this company? For example, in Maxroam is Vodafone...

Thank you!

O2 UK i think

rfranzq 14-12-2012 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by amgee (Post 41522)
:o Do you know what's the preferent carrier for this company? For example, in Maxroam is Vodafone...

Quote:

Piranha Roaming on::
Make Call Receive call Send SMS Voicemail Data Per Mb VoIP call Call Type
Movistar 0.19 0.10 0.18 0.16 0.56 0.03 Call Back
Orange 0.19 0.10 0.18 0.16 0.56 0.03 Call Back
Vodafone 0.19 0.10 0.18 0.16 0.56 0.03 Call Back

Tiny text quote for illustrative purposes only<g>.

If you go to the web page and look up the rates it will show networks.
In Spain, [I assume you can verify this] all 3 networks listed have the same rate. Is one of them preferred? Does it matter?

amgee 15-12-2012 09:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by fsotirop (Post 41523)
O2 UK i think

Then in the rest of the world it uses O2 partners, no?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfranzq (Post 41524)
Tiny text quote for illustrative purposes only<g>.

If you go to the web page and look up the rates it will show networks.
In Spain, [I assume you can verify this] all 3 networks listed have the same rate. Is one of them preferred? Does it matter?

I'm not talking about Spain but throughout the world. Many operators are connected to other carriers, but preferred are those in which they are connected primarily. Vodafone uses Vodafone carriers in the world before other carriers.

fsotirop 15-12-2012 15:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by amgee (Post 41526)
Then in the rest of the world it uses O2 partners, no?



I'm not talking about Spain but throughout the world. Many operators are connected to other carriers, but preferred are those in which they are connected primarily. Vodafone uses Vodafone carriers in the world before other carriers.

camelmobile uses vodafone partner networks.
piranha sim uses telna (telecom north america) infrastructure and product which i think has an agreement with O2-UK for the roaming interconnection

squawk1200 25-12-2012 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bossman (Post 41552)
Same here - for the countries that I need these roaming sims for, maxroam is insanely expensive. So, I used up my credit and moved on a year ago or so. Same thing with truphone. Telna is just too unreliable for me, so I stopped using that too. I now just have Piranha, and Ekit. Have not traveled with piranha yet, but ekit has served me well. When I am in UK/France, I just use my UK sim card.

I would be interested in your experience with Piranha. In the Piranha thread there are claims that Piranha uses Telna as their infrastructure provider. Unless it's a SIM issue, I would expect the same experience as Telna, in the event the claims are true.

I had some family go over to London for the Olympics and Truphone was the SIM i gave them. Other than taking some time to register, it worked flawlessly. I did have to work with Tru as the per minute pricing that I was charged did not match the prices on the web site. They did refund the difference, but it would be nice to not have to do that step.

gkeeper 25-12-2012 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by squawk1200 (Post 41553)
I would be interested in your experience with Piranha. In the Piranha thread there are claims that Piranha uses Telna as their infrastructure provider. Unless it's a SIM issue, I would expect the same experience as Telna, in the event the claims are true.

I had some family go over to London for the Olympics and Truphone was the SIM i gave them. Other than taking some time to register, it worked flawlessly. I did have to work with Tru as the per minute pricing that I was charged did not match the prices on the web site. They did refund the difference, but it would be nice to not have to do that step.

I have been using the Piranha Sim for a few months now, i have been on business in the US,Canada, Australia, Germany, Singapore,Thailand and South Africa. So far it has worked without issue, I am UK based and i have tested there without issue, i have found that there support is very quick to answer any questions and i did receive my Sim card within 2 days of order, so all in all quite happy. I would not know about Telna sorry, hope this helps and Merry Xmas.

rfranzq 25-12-2012 21:57

Who/What is Telna??
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by squawk1200 (Post 41553)
In the Piranha thread there are claims that Piranha uses Telna as their infrastructure provider.

I think that Telna is a little unique and strange in this business. Not neccesarily a bad thing. It actually owns some infrastructure/tower[s]/frequency licences in the USA. I do not know where or how much. It does allow them a bit more flexibility in making deals with other companies.
In the USA, Piranha uses Telna and T-Mobile for carriers. Until someone actually reports seeing 'Telna' as thie network on their cellphone, I would assume 99.9% of the time will be on T-Mobile in the USA. I assume that Piranha uses Telna to get access to the T-Mobile network. Probably much easier than dealing with T-Mobile itself.

This is my understanding, but not verified in any way to be true. Thus, if anyone _knows_ with more certainty than idle speculation, I would love to stand corrected.

If you go to:::Mobile World Live - Coverage Maps

And then scroll down and click on United States and then scroll down to:
>>Telecom North America Mobile Inc. (telna Mobile)
You will see about all there seems to be available about Telna.

Here is some more from Telna's website.

Quote:

Questions about Telecom North America, provider of telna Mobile
Who is Telecom North America?
telna Mobile is operated by Telecom North America, a US based company offering long distance service to US customers with international calling needs since 2002, providing dependable high quality service with no hidden fees and fair rates. It's only logical for Telecom North America to accompany these customers when they travel to foreign countries, and continue to provide them with an inexpensive communications solution during their trips.

I've recently heard stories about telecommunications providers going out of business. What about Telecom North America?
Telecom North America has been consistently profitable for many years. We are in business to provide a good service at low rates while making a profit. Most telecommunications providers that go out of business were selling service below costs at one point or another.

Why would Telecom North America be able to offer lower roaming rates than anybody else?
telna Mobile is a licensed mobile operator in Missouri and a full member of the international GSM Association. Our service is provided using a combination of aggressively negotiated roaming agreements, proprietary callback and call routing technology, and Telecom North America's international network with connections to many of the largest telecommunications providers worldwide. While the service is not as inexpensive as international calling from landlines, it is built to provide international travelers with an alternative to traditional cellphones, at a much lower cost than that charged by American cellphone carriers for roaming in foreign countries.
So there you have it. Somewhere in Missouri they have a network. So if anyone happens to be in Missouri with a Piranha SIM, watch your phone.
I know of no links between Telna and Piranha other than this network use.

rfranzq 25-12-2012 23:42

El Dorado Springs, MO 64744
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by rfranzq (Post 41555)
So there you have it. Somewhere in Missouri they have a network. So if anyone happens to be in Missouri with a Piranha SIM, watch your phone.

El Dorado Springs, MO 64744

Quote:

417 400 AS 955F TELECOM NORTH AMERICA MOBILE INC ELDORDOSPG
Area code 417 prefix 400 is the only prefix for TELECOM NORTH AMERICA MOBILE in the USA [as best as I can tell]. That is where they are a cell provider.

Stu 26-12-2012 04:06

El Dorado Springs, Missouri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DRNewcomb 26-12-2012 07:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfranzq (Post 41555)
So there you have it. Somewhere in Missouri they have a network. So if anyone happens to be in Missouri with a Piranha SIM, watch your phone.
I know of no links between Telna and Piranha other than this network use.

The FCC licensee database shows three PCS (1900 MHz) licenses for Telecom North America: St. Louis, MO; Flagstaff & Prescott, AZ. They appear to lease spectrum from Commnet in MO and to them in AZ.

rfranzq 26-12-2012 09:06

Commnet
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb (Post 41559)
The FCC licensee database shows three PCS (1900 MHz) licenses for Telecom North America: St. Louis, MO; Flagstaff & Prescott, AZ. They appear to lease spectrum from Commnet in MO and to them in AZ.

This keeps getting better.
I was able to find six prefixes for Commnet in Arizona.
Tucson in the 520 area code.

928 area code: PAGE, TUBA CITY, DILKON, KAYENTA, FT DEFIANCE.
These in the 928 service near or in the Navajo Nation [also possibly the Hopi Nation. Page is outside of the Navajo Nation but on former land of the Navajo.
All these prefixes serve small communities and one prefix is enough for them. Also, there are probably other cell providers in each.
Coverage maps: Commnet Wireless

dg7feq 26-12-2012 12:23

what is actually the use of these very tiny mobile operators in the US that cover one or two corn fields? Is that more like a network for closed communication (like a petrol company or sth like that) or do they really seriously getting customers?

Stu 26-12-2012 15:21

Mostly they are purchased like land to resell. Sometimes the theory is to make money from roaming revenues. Occasionally it is a small town that just wants service and the big guys didn't think it was worth it.

Remember that the US started with a bunch of these companies and they were bought out. We did not do like most of the EU and grant licenses nationally. The theory at the outset was that the smaller licenses holders would have a greater incentive to cover their little plot of coverage area. Until roughly 2000, most Americans had plans like the folks in Canada, Mexico, and India do where we roamed if we got 80k from our homes.

Notice that Verizon Wireless holds a number of GSM licenses in the US even though they use the competing CDMA technology. In small towns where they have licenses, they will often through up "roamer nets" which are GSM networks solely designed to get roaming revenues from GSM visitors who travel through or visit these towns.

The United States is geographically as large as the EU but when you get away from the coasts, we have a large areas of land with very light population density. There is an opportunity for investors to develop this areas for roaming revenues and eventually to sell to the big guys. Additionally, several years ago our Justice Department granted an antitrust waiver to the major U.S. carriers to develop roaming collectives for desolate parts of our country. ATT, Sprint, Verizon, and TMobile can agree to jointly cover a desolate stretch of a North Dakota freeway and each invest in the collective. Lastly, a small amount of the US carriers are actually Indian Tribal Governments who function as semi-autonomous/self-governing regions in the US. In addition to raising revenues from roamers, they may have an aspect demonstrating self-autonomy over practicality.

I was looking at the Canadian list of small providers last night and there were a lot of tiny Canadian ones I never heard of. The idea of buying one of these to take advantage of Government mandated lower roaming rates is interesting. E.g. China Mobile buying the Artic GSM cooperative outside of Anchorage and letting China Mobile subscribers get FCC mandated domestic discounted roaming rates.

depee 26-12-2012 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by squawk1200 (Post 41553)
I would be interested in your experience with Piranha. In the Piranha thread there are claims that Piranha uses Telna as their infrastructure provider. Unless it's a SIM issue, I would expect the same experience as Telna, in the event the claims are true.

I had some family go over to London for the Olympics and Truphone was the SIM i gave them. Other than taking some time to register, it worked flawlessly. I did have to work with Tru as the per minute pricing that I was charged did not match the prices on the web site. They did refund the difference, but it would be nice to not have to do that step.

During my trip to South Korea and the Piranha SIM worked good. The first time the SIM needs to register in a new network takes really long. Round about 30 minutes in South Korea. Back in Germany the SIM needed round about 12 hours to register in a network. During this time I have tried to register with different mobiles.

Does anybody knows what the reason for this is?

The Callback worked really good and the voice quality was also high.

Sometimes I was not direct reachable over the US number. The caller had to try 3 or 4 times to reach me.

The VOIP application worked for outgoing calls good with also a good voice quality. For incoming calls was the voice quality was really bad and I removed the VOIP application from my phone.

SMS are only working outgoing. I' am not getting any incoming SMS. Only the SMS from the Piranha support are working.

The prices are really good and I hope Pirnaha will be longer in business.

rfranzq 27-12-2012 00:36

SMS issues?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by depee (Post 41573)
SMS are only working outgoing. I' am not getting any incoming SMS. Only the SMS from the Piranha support are working.

I have been testing [playing with] the SIM. I do get SMS sent to my US number. I did not get SMS to my UK number. This was from a US AT&T MVNO and a Philippine SMART SIM. This was done from California.
Sending an SMS from Piranha's web site worked for both the US and UK numbers.


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