Has anyone had a problem accessing Toggle voicemail? I have been toing-and-froing with Toggle support, but all I can get is are very nice replies telling me what number to dial to access voicemail! In fact I can actually get to the service, but I can't listen to the voice message itself. Maybe my English explanation is not clear? This what I have said to them:
Quote
I am sorry but I can NOT listen to any messages. I know that I have them because:
1. I left them by dialling my UK Toggle number!
2. I have received SMS notifying me that there are new messages!
3. When I dial into the mailbox I am told that there are both old and new messages!
But there is NO WAY of listening to them. When I press the required number to listen to an old or new message, I just get a ‘beep’ straight away and then the next list of menu options.
If I try to listen to a new message, I get just a ‘beep'. Then the new message count goes down by one (and the old message count goes up by one). The system thinks that I have listened to the voice message, but it never actually plays them!
Could you please find some way of fixing the problem, then testing that you have fixed it?Unquote
Any help would be appreciated...I am at my wits end. I have even tried calling support, but we had problems understanding each other (I am English).

They definitely get the termination rates, which are as follows:

UK £ 0.0069/min (April 1st, 2013 Ofcom | Regulated prices)
FR € 0.008/min (January 1st, 2013)
ES € 0.0109/min (January 1st, 2013 to be lowered to € 0.0098/min from July 1st, 2013)
SE € 0.017/min
DE € 0.0185/min (4Q2012, disputed by EU Commission EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press Release - European Commission halts German plans to set fixed termination rates 3-times above EU-average)
NO € 0.0265/min
NL € 0.027/min
DK € 0.0309/min
AU A$ 0.06/min (January 1st, 2012, set to fall to A$ 0.036/min from June 2014)
CH CHF 0.0875/min

IE ? (varying termination rates, Lyca not listed)
PL ? (varying termination rates, Lyca not listed)

soure: http://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_...shot-as-_0.pdf

Obviously many carriers charge higher rates for calls to British MVNOs but I cannot find any source confirming that there's a higher termination rate for those.

Given the termination rates above I wonder why toggle does not block calls forwarded to the British number (for which they get the lowest termination fee) but blocks calls forwarded to Swiss toggle numbers which would yield a very high termination rate that can definitly cover the costs even while roaming in other European countries.

I had written to Localphone last week and said that in light of the fact the UK mobile carriers were no longer charging extra for calls to Lyca UK, perhaps they were not either and they might want to consider lowering their rates.

I got an email back today informing me that they were lowering the rate to Lyca UK to 14.9 (US) cents per minute, which is now reflected on their website. Orange, Tmobile, and Vodafone are still at 2.9 cents. I would assume that for whatever reason Localphone is paying more than the termination rate shown on the Ofcom site. Perhaps those rates only apply to charges from one mobile carrier to another, and Localphone does not qualify for that rate.

Voipyo (Dellmont) still has Lyca for 1/2 Euro cent per minute. Using Voipyo with Mobilevoip in callback mode becomes insanely cheap - e.g., calling the US would be a half cent per minute plus a 5 cent setup charge (setup only charged using callback mode, not charged for pure voip or calling a local Dellmont number that cross-connects to your destination number.)

I see two ways out:
1) Use flynumber instead, and forward calls via voip to another terminator. For example rebvoice.com (Dellmont spinoff) charges 0.5c/min + 3.9 connection/call to UK Mobile, incl. Lyca.

2) As localphone determines their tariffs on prefix, not on actual network, you can get a UK-T-Mobile number, or any other "normal" UK number, and port it to the ToggleCard.

I´ll (try to) implement strategy 2), also in the light of presenting a "normal" number. I will do this in ~2 weeks, I´ll report on how it worked out.

Rgds,
Christian

Or use Localphone to forward to a French Toggle number at 3.9 cents per minute. In my experience Localphone passes through the caller ID while the Dellmont carriers usually do not.

With localphone I used this strategy, and it works incl. the number passing through. Call quality is excellent.

With flynumber I´ll experiment some time soon and report back.

Rgds,
Christian

I recently received a SIM in the USA (for an upcoming UK trip) I was HOPING to get it setup prior to departure, get the number, load some value, maybe even signup for a data package. But, i can't seem to get it to connect to a local USA network at all. I've tried changing all the APN settings, changing profile to roaming, I can SEE a number in my profile, but it starts with a 300 which apparently is a "dynamic number" that is assigned till the actual 074 UK number is allocated or made known.

Anyone have any thoughts about how to activate - or confirm prior to actually BEING in the UK? should this BE possible at all?

My toggle SIM has never been in the UK and started working flawlessly here in Germany after online activation. Have you actually activated your SIM card? Have you performed a manuel network search and then tried to register on each available network four times in a row? Which networks are actually available at your location?

activation
 

So, there really was nothing to do for "activation" when I put the card in the iphone (unlocked of course) it didn't pickup a network here in the USA. I tried updating the APN, and searching for a network, but there is no additional network selections.

I tried registering on the website and it TOOK my 300 xyz number, which isn't really a number at all for registration with the PUK I had on the credit card thingy that the SIM comes in, but there was NO number listed on the package, documentation, credit card thingy, etc..

toggle says, "once you connect to the network it'll tell you what you UK number is" but that of course hasn't happened.

When I check under the phone settings on the iphone it says my "number" is 44 300 xyz, which toggle says is just the "dynamic" number that'll GET me my regular number.?

I wonder if there are no roaming networks to connect to here in Washington, makes no sense.

I've also set the PROFILE to ROAMING and to INTERNATIONAL, and that doesn't work.

I've also tried using the tweakker webapp to have the settings automatically done on the phone, but THAT didn't work, so I put them back to the APN settings that toggle lists on their website.

There are no settings that need to be done in order a SIM to register on a roaming network. APN settings only affect Internet access and have no impact on network registration. Please try what I suggested in my previous post.

Yes, I've tried selecting other networks, but no other networks show up to select from. ? It's like it doesn't see anything network wise?

Even if the SIM card has not been activated properly or it is being refused by all available networks the network search should show up at least one network. I would assume that you are either out of network coverage or that something is wrong with your phone. What phone do you actually use?

So, I am using an iphone 3gs which is unlocked. I took out my searoam sim and put in my germany mobile sim, those both worked. MAYBE the toggle doesn't like the networks where I am right now, and it'll find something different when I head into town. I'll try that. I have an older unlocked int'l four band (whatever THAT used to mean, since we have like dozens now) gsm phone, if I can find it I'll pop the card in there and try it.

Are you sure you have performed a manual network search as described here? And it really doesn't list a single network in the fourth screen?

Is there anywhere a list of carriers on which Toggle roam on (at least in the countries in which they provide local numbers)? :)

And... do you know if it is possible to port an existing number to Toggle?

No, and since they use an IMSI from Vodafone Netherlands for roaming outside toggle countries they probably don't know themselves either. But I guess in the US toggle should roam on AT&T as I've found several sources on the web that say that Vodafone prepaid SIMs from other countries roam on AT&T and Vodafone actually operates a global roaming hub (afaik located in the Netherlands) I assume that roaming network availability is the same for all Vodafone subsidiaries.

Yes, you can import an exisitng number but only a British one.

So, I GOT A TEXT with the number now. It connected to I THINK tmobile for a SECOND. It is odd, because where I am I have very good ATT coverage (that's my domestic carrier) but the toggle sim just won't connect to the ATT that is here, and I KNOW that the tmobile coverage is poor and comes and goes with the wind.

that said, I've been able to add value to the card, and will test in town tomorrow and confirm balance et al. (I have now turned off data so I don't pay while in the USA at the moment, although they may not have data but in the text I got it said boom your data will cost 4.70l per mb...ouch

Does anyone know if I can sign up for UK data plans, so using the *141*7500# to sign up for a UK plan, but sign up while I'm in the USA? or does one have to do that only in the UK?

Either roaming on AT&T is blocked for toggle SIM cards or they do roaming steering to force your phone to TMo despite the worse signal strength. If the latter is the case you should be able to force your phone onto AT&T by performing a manual network search and selecting AT&T. If this fails repeat the search and selection process four times. If is still fails after the fourth attempt, you definitely can't roam on AT&T.

As long as you haven't changed your iPhone's default settings it won't establish an Internet connection while it's on a roaming network anyway.

If USSD (those codes containing * and #) works out of the US, you will be able to activate a data bundle. You can find out if USSD works by dialing *131# which should display your current balance. If it fails USSD probably doesn't work on the selected roaming network. In that case you could try registering on another network and try it again.

thanks IQ, I'll give it a try

Is there a way to remove expired local IMSIs from the Toggle STK menu?

I find it quite difficult to remember which local countries are still active without having to check the online account before each hop to a Toggle country.

Won't they be deleted automatically? I think my Swiss IMSI had disappeared before I renewed it last week. Also I didn't pay attention whether the current IMSI is actually a new one or if I was re-assigned the previous expired one.

In any case I guess deleting an IMSI manually is not that easy as you will need to hack the STK application on the SIM card, which probably cannot be downloaded from the SIM card so it can't be reverse-engineered making such undertaking even more complicated. Perhaps you would need to inject a faked OTA update to delete an IMSI which is also quite challenging, as I expect such to come encrypted.

I am in the US - and the Toggle SIM will only roam on Tmobile, not AT&T. And yes, I have tried selecting AT&T multiple times in a row to overcome steering.

Lycamobile US uses Tmobile only as well, so I suspect they have some special deal with Tmobile. The fact that they have free incoming calls in the US without a US IMSI (I think they are the only mobile operator that does this) suggests a highly negotiated deal with Tmobile.

I have also activated a number of these SIMs in the US (I only kept 2 the rest were for friends.). I have found that it will refuse to register on any network when first taken out of the package and put in the phone. This is because at first it is in UK mode, and it seems to take some time to go into roaming mode. In fact, for the last one I activated I became impatient and went to the STK SIM menu and manually selected roaming. I then changed it back to Automatic later when I had more time.

That's interesting because according to p.2 of this document Dutch Vodafone customers are charged higher rates when roaming on AT&T than on other US networks. Hence you should assume that Vodafone NL's wholesale purchase price for airtime on AT&T is higher and so other roaming networks should be preferred. But there are many possible reasons why toggle does not roam on T-Mobile - one of them could be lacking support of the required CAMEL phase that enables realtime billing, a basic requirement for prepaid tariffs.
Anyway, I expect toggle to start assigning American IMSIs from Lycamobile sooner or later and then customers will be locked to T-Mobile.

I think that Toggle uses Vodafone Global Gateway only for global roaming, not for local numbers & tariffs :S

Please disregard my last post. Obviously I have misread ronwi's post and assumed that his toggle SIM did roam on AT&T but not on T-Mobile. Actually, the opposite is the case. So the higher roaming prices for Dutch Vodafone customers on AT&T absolutely make sense.

So, just to update my post and query. Once I was on tmobile, I was able to use all features. Incoming calls rang (no charges for them) I could enable the data plan I wanted to have already for my upcoming trip this weekend. Easy peasy. Seems to all work pretty darn well. We'll see what the service quality in GB is like soon over the weekend.

thanks for all the help folks.

I heard back from Toggle support - expired IMSIs don't get removed from the STK menu.

It is up to the user to keep track of the active IMSIs through the web site.

This yields the "9 IMSIs" a more interesting question. What if you have 9 IMSIs on the card, of which some are expired, and wish to add a new country as IMSI#10? Works, doesn´t work?

Also, I wonder how the SIM knows which IMSI to use when in auto mode. If it is trial and error, then it might take longer to cycle through.

I do know that using a SIM in the US the first time (as in the very first time) it sits on the UK IMSI for a while before going to the US IMSI.

I don't think IMSI selection is based on trial and error. While or before your phone tries to register on a certain network it must somehow submit the network's MCC/MNC-tuple to the SIM card because all the authentication stuff happens in the SIM card. That's where the STK application running on the SIM card comes in and decides to switch IMSIs if the requested MCC is from a country where another IMSI should be used. Of course the selection will be somehow unpredictable when you are in an border area where there are networks from multiple countries available.

On my Nokia C2-00 automatic selection doesn´t seem to work at all.

On selecting anything in the STK (automatic, or one of the IMSIs), the phone crashes. After restarting, the selection I made comes into effect. However, when selecting "automatic" the phone doesn´t register in any network. Neither on manual nor automatic network selection.

As such I just select everything manually, and I don´t really mind about that. I guess that´s because of the phone.

Which country are you in?

From what I've read here (and my own experience), in the Toggle countries it will only register on the localized IMSI for the country you are in. If you are not in one of the Toggle countries, it will only register on the roaming IMSI.

@ChrisNeedsToKnow
STK implementation has ever been quite buggy, especially when the STK application does odd things like resetting the SIM (which toggle does when the IMSI is being changed). Back in the days of United Mobile some phones even crashed when placing an outgoing call (which should have made the STK requesting a callback by USSD) while others simply aborted the call. Perhaps a firmware update can solve your issue.

Toggle (and Other Multiple IMSI Cards) Don't Play Well With Google/Gmail Products
 

Google has an annoying security feature on Android phones- every time you change the SIM card, you have to log into Google again. So, no Gmail, no Play Store, etc. until you log back in.

Of course, Google sees and IMSI change as a change of SIM card.

This is a particular pain for people like myself who use two-step authentication. You have to use a non-memorable Google generated "application specific password."

There is likewise an annoying process on iPhones when you switch SIM cards. The iPhone sends a chargeable SMS to +44 7786 205094 and/or +44 7537 4102X1. These numbers are Apple's iMessage and FaceTime activation servers hosted by Vodafone UK. Presumably this happens on the iPhone every time you change IMSI; it certainly happens with an Orange UK SIM card when switching between lines on Enhanced Line 2. As Toggle have yet to issue nano-SIMs, I haven't been able to test this yet on my iPhone 5.

I wonder where the "order" to send the SMS originates? I would have a hard time believing that the phone issues the order, given that Iphones are sold around the world and I doubt that an Iphone in the US for example would send an SMS to the UK. Was the Iphone in question originally locked to Vodafone?

BTW, I have a Toggle nano SIM - it was a regular one that I cut down to size using a SIM cutter and it works fine.

The iPhone gives the order to send the SMS. It displays a warning the first time a SIM is inserted but doesn't do so on subsequent insertions of the same SIM. It is puzzling that the iPhone can remember a previously used SIM card with regard to the warning message but still needs to send the text to verify the SIM's phone number when it has already done so for the same SIM in the past.

All iPhones send SMS to these Vodafone UK numbers, irrespective of who supplied the iPhone or SIM card. If you look around various forums, you will see complaints about this from many countries. There are rarely complaints from UK users because most UK users have inclusive SMS to other UK mobile numbers; the problem affects UK users only when roaming. Many (but not all) iPhone supported carriers suppress the charges for SMS to these numbers. I also believe that a US number has been introduced to run in parallel with the Vodafone UK numbers, although the iPhone's criteria for its selection are not clear.

I'm wondering when will Lycamobile use the assigned italian MNC to issue sim-cards (along with its new assigned italian mobile prefix: 351 0)

I think that when they're ready, they will use them to provide also IMSI and local numbers to Toggle customers.

Thanks for the hint. The C2-00´s firmware is up-to-date. Luckily I only use it as a backup phone. I´d love to see an official "direct"-Google-Android-dual-SIM mobile, but I guess that will have to wait.

Over the weekend in Spain toogle worked like a charm. Incoming calls on my Swiss number reached me free of charge. It´s as if the EU´s plan to abolish roamingcharges was already true now, incl Switzerland :)

Last but not least I found out that my Samsung i9250 ("Galaxy Nexus") does not support STK, there´s simply no menu. However, changes made on the C2-00 seem to be saved on the SIM, so it´s just a matter of changing settings first, and swapping the SIM after. For me, not crossing the border every day, this is not great but acceptable.

I´m now looking for a solution to automate the toggle D/CH network switch for a friend from Konstanz/Germany, who crosses the border all the time. Switching manually every day would be a pain. He lives so close to the border that all networks (4German 3Swiss) are available. I hope this won´t dry the battery on automatic mode. Will report back with findings once I have them, but this will take a while...

@ChrisNeedsToKnow
According to this post the Galaxy Nexus actually supports STK but - obviously due to a bug - the app will only appear if there is a PIN set for the SIM card.

During a trip via Luxembourg and Belgium to the Netherlands on the weekend I noticed that automatic IMSI switching works unreliably on my Nokia 1200. While crossing Luxembourg it didn't register on local networks, instead Belgian Base was the first roaming network my SIM did register to. But it did not switch to my Dutch IMSI for half an hour after I had entered the Netherlands. On my way home however it did automatically switch back from the Dutch to the Roaming IMSI after a couple of kilometres into Belgium.
Reliability of the automatic IMSI switchting probably very much depends on the STK implementation of the used handset. Unfortunately I don't see how IMSI switching could be improved since at least Android doesn't provide an API for low level access to the SIM card so you cannot send the appropriate commands from an Android app to the SIM (discussed here).