I agree. These sims are very risky for customers. As Prezmelog mentioned, they can raise prices, or just cease to exist. Both of these happened to me with freeGlobalsim. I had already made up my mind not to spend a dime to purchase any more of these global sims. Unless if there was no initial cost for the sim. And I'll just purchase topup up as needed. So, it's a good thing that they (yackie and Maxroam) were giving out free sims. I really can't see anyone shelling out the initial costs to purchase these sims out right (Yackie and maxroam probably saw that too). For exampe, yacke and celtrek at $49, maxroam at 29 euro. There is just too much uncertaintly at the moment for me to take that chance.

we can give the Sim for free.....and just use the first top up for cover the initial cost, BUT what about a distributor network ?

They will not make any commission on their SIM 'sales, and if we give them the SIM for free, dammed, we will not have enough factories for producing all SIM requested by the Distribs.....who will drop them away

What about the DID ( for our business model; who need to be covered too, at last for fews months in case if the customer do not use his card)

Maybe the best solution is to give the SIM for free and to charge few $ for the DID as monthly basis, one month unpaid or unused, and the customer lose his DID, he pay again, he have a new one, or he reserve his DID for a period of 3/6/9/12 months

We can have many scenario.....no one should be the UNIVERSAL SOLUTION

And....our SIM cost 39 $.....not 49$, for 49 $ you have 10 $ credit

Your only option would be to buy a um+ sim, setup your own callback system and setup your own voip did numbers.
Always keep 2 sims from 2 different providers on 2 networks. If 1 goes out of business you just reconfige your callback and the forward of the did number to the other card.
Also the did numbers are your own so no problem when a prepaid provider goes out of business, meaning you also loose the did number.

Negative side of do it yourself is that it needs some work and knowledge to confige your own pbxes.com server.

The choice is yours.

@YackieMobile

... it is not the 49 bucks, and it is not that you should not ask for covered value on the SIM. I and other customers do not care about 49 dollars, BUT make the system work and do not change all 4 weeks the game rules.

What makes me realy pi...d off is that I have now a new Iceland number, gave it to my customers had to explain why my old 00447624... number is dead and so on ... I mean I do want make business with you guys, I buy a SIM pay money for it, I accept your prices and 4 weeks later you change the prices. Please don't tell me know the USD is falling etc. etc., I don't care about ... the Dollar isn't weak since two days this issue is going on now since nearly 4 years constantly and you had time to build security currency positions to cover currency risks.

That is not the way doing succsefull business, i want a long term business relation and no 2 week partnership. Maybe I want to much or you guys should get out of the Beta stadium. You have one big bonus I do really like, it is your availability here and the availability on the web page (chat) and the nearly fast reaction, that gives a kind of security feeling.

How does the prices now do look like? Raised or not raised?

Buytel and Manx have indeed gone kaput (any talk still out there of resurrecting these Isle of Man cards????)...UM has been pretty stable although for the life of me I don't understand who was ultimately responsible for the humongeous increases in termination fees that ended up being the ruination of the +423 service....the Jersey service seems to be okay...both O9 and the Estonian cards seem to be stable although huge termination fees do hurt their use.....

Yackie seems to be piggybacking on O9 and of course as has been noted ad nauseum, the lack of service in Switzerland is a big big drawback.

Right now, today, I would go with UM+44 service and continue to hope for the best.

I confirm.......Human error, in fact the + $*,00 is already include

when we have a RPP surcharge in the countries, you have the Free incoming who can not be free, we just use the profit made in this incoming call for decreasing your cost for the RPP, and this is cost for us, we dont charge any Mark up, and with the DID, it`s simple, Surtax + 0,29 $

It is just a Presentation error, the rates tables is good

Hi Mister......

This mystake will be fixed next week, with also a new Rates Tables for Dec 1

Have a great BBQ.....

At the moment, as pointed out, some of your outgoing published rates are 10 to 30% higher than your supplier, and significantly above the Eurotariff available to anyone in Europe.

Your remarks appear to suggest that the published rates are the mistake, but the posts of John Doe suggest that these higher charges have actually been billed, and perhaps even for some time.

14th November:
22nd

:D ... @YackieMobile ...

... come on have I hurt you? I honestly apologies for being possibly rude.

The thing I really do not understand is the following, why are you implement new prices in the web interface when you don´t gave the new quotes green light?

It is a BIG plus point that you keep up the conversation in this forum, it is BIG plus point that you change things. No question about that. It !would! be very sad if you !would! think that customers won´t look after purchased goods.

Just a idea from me why don´t you implement a service update site on yackiemobile.com to avoid situations like this? Small ad hoc infos (before you do changes), just to make sure that customers understand what is going on.

After the Callkey crash everybody is nervous and is asking who will be the next.

So take my apologise if this was an mistake and not thought this way ;)

The prices billed was the good one, we will decrease the price, for just respecting the Prices Showed to our Web site, before we made the change

09 charge a set up price, We dont....( but they charge us )

Hungary to Germany need to be billed 0,89 $ per minutes, but
we will decrease to $0,69

DE to DE ....we will also decrease, and we will also change the call to a land line by decreasing the rate for 0,10 $ to most of the countries

If the problem is the weakness of the dollar, then declare your prices in Euros. If you want to provide customers with an unofficial current conversion rate as a courtesy, great. Most of the people in this forum or in the market for a roaming SIM can easily handle prices in Pounds, Dollars, or Euros.

January 1, 2008 the European sales will be made in EURO, with the balance, the rates and the load available in Euro, in fact the customer will select if he want have his SIM in $ or €

Dec 1, we will publish our Rate Table updated with the landline call decreased

Ah ok.. good to know. Thanks for the clarification.

Yackie in Mexico
 

What's the status of the rates for Mexico?

They still show incoming though the +354 number @ $1.30/minute, while 09 still shows them as being free...

09 charge us 1.30 $

RPP countries, Mistake on 09 web site

Mexico is CPP not RPP. Also 09 doesn't charge for incoming calls in Mexico, at least they didn't last week.

Agree. 09 didnt charge me for mexico incoming this year at all.

is already or will be?

At the moment quote:
Mexico - Germany:

Rate is : € 0.49 per minute.
Rate to a mobile phone is : € 0.69 per minute.
Free incoming calls

I just got off the phone with 09 customer service and they confirmed incoming calls are free in Mexico and that there are not plans to change that.

just spoke to the 09 management, and they told me allready been changed

Just tried the complimentary Yackie card on a trip to Grenada and Union Island (island in the Grenadine Islands chain that is part of St. Vincent). Compared to Iridium and Digicel-Bermuda card.

Yackie on Motorola V3 Razr worked well in Grenada and the rates apparently have dropped (was orginally listed at I think $1.79/minute and is now $.49/minute). Ring back occured in 10 to 30 seconds, voice quality was very good and there was no noticeable voice lag and or audio distortion(have had audio problems or failed callbacks with competing United Mobile card in the past). Didn't use in Union Island, St. Vincent because rates were and are still listed higher there ($2.09/minute). Hoping Yackie will add a USSD balance and expiration date feature plus data in the future. Plan on using Yackie next month on Grand Cayman because rates there looked like they have also dropped and are more competitive than direct dial international long distance with my Digicel Bermuda card, and I can be reached with my US based Yackie number. Thumbs up on their new Iceland based sim card service.

Used Digicel Bermuda prepaid sim card in both Grenada and Union Island. Advantage of Digicel card was that I got charged local prepaid rates (feature they call DigiRoam) and can refill over internet or buy a local digiflex prepaid card and it was converted from XCD to BMD, and could direct dial out (more discreet than a call back). Disadvantage was direct dial rates are higher for international calls, so probably better paired with a long distance prepaid card or a CBW or similar call back scheme (just one or two calls made home a day so didn't amount to much in call charges. Still ease of use is a factor for me so I prefer a single dialing solution where possible (I suppose I could program something into speed dial).

Used Iridium for 2 calls on Union Island and 1 on Grenada (when running low on Digicel prepaid airtime before I bought additional airtime). Voice quality very good if used outdoors and had few nearby obstructions(both calls on Union Island worked fine). Call on Grenada was good but then got audio distortion after 3 minutes because I was on a balcony of my room and lost line of sight as satellite passed overhead. Glad I had Iridium with me because there was a 7.4 richter scale earthquake while I was in the Caribbean and this would have been my emergency backup if local mobile phone service had been lost, which it was not.

Wifi Skypeout on Sony Mylo only available for free on 2 of 16 nights in Caribbean (others would have been paid access by hour or day), so only used wifi for email or Digicel Bermuda web refills on a couple of occasions, not for SkypeOut.

All methods of mobile calls were much cheaper than if I had dialed from my room using a credit card on 1800callusa Cable and Wireless service (quoted in my room guide in one hotel as a very steep US$3.50/minute for a 6 minute call).

Well Yackiemobile, if your 09 is the same that I am checking at the web (www.09.is) they didn't change.

Check it:
Rate is : € 0.49 per minute.
Rate to a mobile phone is : € 0.69 per minute.
Free incoming calls

So, or you are talking with the wrong person or 09 is not so honest with their clients.

dont worry i'm talking to the good person, and they will update the web site, because mexico is a rpp and they charge for RPP, they made a mistake so they made a gift to few users, sorry guy, they will come back to the right rates

Ugh,

You couldn't have waited until next year to call them. I'm going to be in Mexico for X-Mas.

Since when is Mexico RPP?

What does RPP mean?

Receiving party pays. i.e. the person called is charged for the call just like it is in the US.

I believe Mexico used to be RPP up until sometime last year or so. Now, the cost to call Mexicao mobiles has increased because incoming calls are now free. i.e the caller party pays. (CPP)

Calls from Skype to Yackie Mobile are working normally.
When I started using my Yackie Mobile, I was unable to place any calls from Skype. I contacted Skype by e-mail and we made a few tests.
They called me several times from their landlines to make sure it was a valid number, and today I was finally able to place the first call from my Skype to my Yackie Mobile.
The price was €0,237 Not so cheap, but at least it works with a good sound quality.

In Mexico reception of calls is free in your home call area (your area code). Outside this area code you are in national roaming and pay also for inbound calls. Confirmed by our mexican customers.

Chris

I see that no body trust me here

:o

We'll give you a stay of execution for a week to give 09 a chance to update their Mexico rates.

To make sure you don't get bored and decide to change more rates let's do more comparisons. Please explain the discrepancies between your card and 09 when it comes to the Dominican Republic.

As of 12/04 the incoming call rates are:
09 - free
Yackie - $1

When it happens the country is RPP or CPP? :eek: or PRPP (Part receiving party pays) or PCPP (Part caller party pays)? :)

I think it is CPP, but that the country should be viewed as regionalized like India.

Telcel is still regionalized however Movistar is not anymore.

Progress! Do you know if the CDMA carriers have moved towards national pricing?

For US citizens who travel a lot to Mexico probably a flat rate plan with dual US/Mexican numbers on a single handset would be best. Only one I can think of off the top of my head would be Azteca Mobile: http://www.aztecamobile.com/ingles/index.htm

When Yackie comes out with a North/South America SIM that has lower rates in Mexico, they might be more competitive with an offer like that. Still, there are plenty of countries that the current 09 Iceland based sim chip has competitive rates in.

WOW. Azteca Mobile sounds great! I already ordered a refurb Sanyo handset for $30.

Thanks for the info!

walkie-talkie? Is it Iden?

PTT over CDMA 1X