Hi ~ptx,

According to the 09 users manual on the SimphonE site (the US distributor of 09 cards), the prices for the service numbers are:

090 ? 24/7 customer support (+354 585 0909 from any phone). ?0.39 per minute.
091 ? Automated Top-Up system using PIN codes. Free call.
092 ? Automated credit balance check. Free call in most countries.
039 [sic: I think it should be 093] ? Language selection. ?0.39 per minute.

But I think Chris is right: you'll get the most authoritative word by calling them.

And I'd like to know the results.

Marc

I just got back from Lebanon where I used 09 my entire trip in conjunction with Callbackworld. Except for the last hour at Beirut Airport, the SIM function great the entire time. All of a sudden, at the airport it lost service which was strange since the airport is certainly covered. When I landed back in the UAE, the SIM functioned properly. I don't use it here, however, because Riiing gives me voicemail and I pack a local SIM as well.

Some time ago I wrote to someone on Ebay who had purchased an 09 SIM.

Here is the reply I just received:

Sorry for the extreme lateness of this reply. i rarely do check my messages on ebay. if you are still interested let me answer your question as to the quality of the 09 service. sms seemed to be hit or miss most of the time. I have used the service for about 1 yr only now. the reason i started using 09 was because often i visit my family back in cambodia and 09 claims to have the most worldwide coverage with fairly reasonable rates. both incoming and outgoing work fairly well in cambodia, oddly enough in the United states it was almost impossible to use for outgoing calls but sms seemed to work just fine to my knowledge. i would keep getting error messages everytime i tried to make an outgoing call; it stated something to the effect of that 'the dialed numbers were not allowed' for one reason or another.

one other dissapointment is that the 09 homepage claims that their service works in both korea and japan. they also claim to be the only card that WILL work. to my dismay i found out this month(apr 11-25) that the service works in neither korea OR japan owing to the fact that those particular countries use some form of cdma vs gsm as their mobile infrastructure. this was inconvenient for me as i had to hunt down a phone shop in korea to rent a phone as well as wasted money on that original refill. although there IS a disclaimer on their homepage stating that it might not work in all parts of the countries listed... just some... but let's be honest, if you are traveling to korea or japan you're most likely going to visit the capitals at one point or another, and if it doesn't work in seoul or tokyo it most likely won't work in the rest of the country. my advice to you is if you are contemplating using the service during a trip DON'T purchase the sim! most countries(including cambodia, korea, and japan) have either prepaid SIMs or rental phones. it's much cheaper that way. to put it into perspective in both korea and japan phone rental is only like $3 a day...

==========

Stan

thank you very much for the answers!

I tried to call them before posting my question here, but noone answered the call :( It was a strange feeling...

I was not able to use the SIM in Hungary and in Italy, tried several times, not only from one city.
But it was OK in Austria.

Just to keep the pot bubbling. Encouraged by the success stories some people have reported--and also just because I'm stubborn--I picked up a modest Siemens triband (CF62) to substitute for my Nokias to see if I could get around the curse on Nokias and actually get this 09 SIM to work.

Um. No. Not here in southeastern Michigan, anyway. Same problem as RTuesday began the thread reporting: can call to the phone, but not out from it, not even using the 09 Services menu, not even manually switching the network I was connected to (choices of T-Mobile, Cingular, or AT&T).

I'll be back in France in a few weeks, and I'll see whether once there the Siemens will be able to call out, though the Nokias couldn't.

Marc

Actually I had a fair amount of success using O9 in the UK a couple of weeks ago using enlinea for calling out....o9's charge on enlinea is 10?/minute to call the USA...I use it quite a bit to call 1-800-555-8355 which enables me to get the scores of various games I'm interested in (sorry the BBC doesn't give mlb scores and I'm not too interested in the Premiereship scores)...it worked probably 75% of the time; certainly not something to totally rely on but helpful.

btw enlinea...

I was not able to use 09 with enlinea. I was able to trigger from online, thats's fine. But was not able to make a call initiated from my mobile. It would have been the first try, so maybe I made something wrong, misunderstood something, I don't know.

Would anyone provide some explanatory "enlinea&09mobile for dummies" message for me? :meh:
As it's a bit off-topic, maybe some private message would do (& highly appreciated :) ).

I plan to use my 09mobile SIM in 3-5 European countries in the next few weeks, I hope it will work -- both 09services and enlinea..

cheers
~ptx

In Greece the sim works ok, but I noticed that it does not accept sms :(

Do SMS sending and receiving in 09 work at all at least in one country???

http://www.orate.co.uk/Roaming/09tariff.html

<quote>
Text messages will cost ?0.49 to send. Receiving text messages will be free of charge. We expect the text messaging function to commence soon after March 2006.
</quote>

Is May "soon after March" :P?

I sent a order for a 09 SIM-card on their website about a week ago. And didnt get any confirmation at all. Now their website is not reachable at all. That doesnt sound very promising at all...

Maybe there is anybody here who wants to sell his card ;) ? I need one for my parents for Namibia (or do you any other card that will work in South Africa and Namibia?)

Chris