Like Bossman said same company that yackie used before.

So far the story about maxroam's direct connection they have to go through a provider like I said.

The next question now is, have they really hooked up their maxroam equipment using a direct line to 02 in israel or are they just forwarding the call to the 02 mobile number. I think it's the last one.

A forward to israel mobile cost only 4,8 eurocent per minute which is even lower that forward to iom or jersey mobile.
This explains why incoming call in israel are only 14 eurocent per minute.

"I send an SMS to the UK number that I was assigned, the message did not arrive (as expected, it's a landline number)."

There are landlines that can receive sms, in the netherlands kpn does offer this service so technically it is possible. I assume it does require special equipment to receive the sms and that this is not very common.

So the question now is how does sms work. The idea behind this all was that you did not really have a mobile number to give out, just a fixed did number.

Also note incoming call cost to arab countries, these are high and like yackie this has eveything to do with the "good" relation between israel and the arab countries.

So to me it just looks like nothing new, just another supplier using existing systems and not spectacular.

The biggest question reamins, why did yackie drop this israel route and is maxroam now using it again ?

I think basically any DECT handset can receive/send SMS from a landline

yes, if the provider supports a gateway. In germany T-Com for example tests first if you have a SMS enabled phone - if not you get the SMS by a computer voice (sounds quite interesting if you use a lot of shortcuts in the SMS to get more information inside the 160chars). Reception is free of charge in both ways,

Did you happen to get an answer to the question about additional numbers? I understand that they are 2 euros per month, but I haven't been able to find out whether you can cancel a number after you have purchased it.

Also, it would be nice to know whether the rate calculator is now correct, which would represent a rate increase from the time when the product was introduced.

The MAXroam rate calculator is apparently now correct. It comes with a major apology from Pat Phelan:

http://www.maxroam.com/comment_on_our_rates.asp

David Pogue has also done some extensive backtracking on his glowing review of last week:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...ates/#more-363

I for one accept Phelan's statement that the error was not deliberate. I can't imagine a worse way to launch a product. Bottom line, however, is that this card is now a lot less attractive than it appeared to be initially. It really didn't look too good to be true, but I guess it was nevertheless.

Likewise, here in the UK non DECT landlines receive text. On a BT phone it is read out to you by dialing 1571. It can be quite funny as you can send people freaky messages which are spoken to them in a bionic voice!

Oh dear! I can't imagine it can get a whole lot worse than that! ("In 20 years... nobody has ever deliberately misled me ..."etc. )

My personal point of view is that this may well eventually become a fairly decent product but I really don't understand why such a grand product launch was made whilst the product is obviously still under construction. This is especially true as this company relies on good PR through blogs and people like David Pogue, rather than expensive advertising budgets! The € vs. $ mistake etc. are understandable (but big) mistakes! However misleading expert columnists.... I'm not too sure about that at all! Ouch!

On the contrary, he seems to be able to respond within a few minutes of other new remarks.

On one blog, he slagged of another forum, with highly misleading remarks about what was actually posted there, for instance a named person he criticised had actually defended the product.

We get the assurance that rates are now finally correct (as mentioned on: http://www.maxroam.com/comment_on_our_rates.asp)

But oh help!! Just when I didn't think it can't get worse it does: I cannot believe what I just saw. The requested rates David Pogue talked about in his review have been "equalled" to the rates he put in his original review. Are they trying to honour their mistake? This is indeed great news! But if they are..they still have not gone far enough as they still seem to be having a few huge €/$ issues:

In the original quoted corresponce to David Pogue it was mentioned Russia to USA is $0.49/min. The MAXroam calculator now suggests this is €0.49/min. (which is approx $0.69)

USA to Greece was quoted at $0.42/min. This is now €0.42/min (all rates in this comparison are for landlines)

Now according to the calculator here are the others:
USA to Australia €0.42 (quoted at $0.42)
USA to NZ €0.49 (quoted at $0.49)
USA to Iraq €0.69c (also quoted at $0.69 originally)

So my question is are the above really true rates anyhow? How long will these 'apology' rates last for? They are nothing close to comparible rates to similar countries:

Let's compare Greece with other European countries. There is a rate of €1.23 from USA to call Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, UK etc.

I am not sure what to compare Aus and NZ with as they are also tradionally low termination developed countries (similar to Europe). But closer to that corner of the world consider these maybe:
USA to Singapore €1.23
USA to Hong Kong €1.24

Now what can you compare Iraq with? I don't know but consider:
USA to UAE €1.36
USA to Bahrain €1.40
USA to Kuwait €1.31

I sent a email to their customer care and asked if its possible to call the mobile number directly as well as the assigned DID. The reply is that this number (from israel) is for SMS only. So thats on the same platform like yackie was and like celltrak is now on i suppose.

Chris