Is Yackie Mobile working again and is it reliable?

read the other thread

personally, I'd buy a lottery ticket instead

No and No!

I actually tried my Yackie card right now and its working for me, reliable is another story. It rang here in the US logged into tmobile after I dialed my miami DID number. The rates page on their website also seems to be working, so we'll see what happens, i am going to Mexico, Belize and Honduras next month and Ill report back on how well it works if at all.

Confirmative,
incoming and outgoing calls work again.
And you can also listen to the voicemail on the website or let them get delivered by email.

The billing is still wrong though.

Chris

Mine is working too...somewhat. Since my balance is erroneously showing a negative because of the billing problems, I can't receive (it rolls to VM) or make calls. No way to top it up either!

A couple of observations:

There is a few seconds of dead air before the phone rings. I thought the caller userd to hear a message that indicates connecting (connecting please wait...) or so.

After the VM greeting there is no tone to indicate to the caller that they can proceed to leave a message. Just dead air!

Anyone else notice the same things above?

There is dead air for a few seconds followed by the "connecting... please wait!" message.

Voicemail gives a announcement including the phonenumber and gives you a "beep" to proceed. Just tried this again.

Chris

Lucky you! Mine is not doing any of that. I just tried it again. Just dead air. Then the VM comes on and there is no tone after VM greeting.

I am not even going to waste my time contacting yackie about it. Hopefully, it will fix itself over time. I had excellent experience using GlobalSim+voicestick on my recent trip, so that will be my first option on future trips. If yackie eventually works, it will be a backup!

Well, I contacted Yackie about these issues because next week a friend is going on a cruise that will take them through Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman and some other country, and wanted to be reachable. Yackie is supposed to work in these countries, so I wanted to let him use my sim, if I could top it off and iron out these issues.

Here is the response I received below.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

This is an issue with the DID and with the new DID provider that we will have soon this issues will be solved. At the moment its nothing we can do to change it.

Best Regards,
YackieMobile Customer Support
www.yackiemobile.com

It sounds like anyone with a Yackie SIM should give up and ask their card company for a refund.

There are loads of cheap telco firms around that are unreliable.

What I want is a service that works pretty well most of the time. I get that with United Mobile (Riiing) plus Callbackworld.

End of story... Steve :)

Did you already see the new price calcuator?

They raised the prices quite a lot as far as i could see now.

For example USA:

Incoming calls to United States $1.19/min.
Incoming sms to United States $0 per sms
Outgoing sms from United States $0.35 per sms
Outgoing call to a local land line in United States $1.29/min.
Outgoing call to a local mobile line in United States $1.29/min.
Voice mailbox
Customer service
Call divert
Language selection
in United States $1.3

Compared with Incoming $0,24, outgoing $0,39/0,69 as it had been before...


EDIT: But other countries also got cheaper... argh :P I hate the websites where you can not download a whole rate sheet but have to click trough tons of countries before you get your personal rate list.

I suppose it may be a mistake. Incoming rates for Alaska, Hawaii and Canada are $0.19, also other rates have 0, not 1 placed before the decimal dot separator :)

What countries got cheaper? At least as to incoming rates, I checked a few European countries and I see 39 cents instead of the former 24 :P (only Ukraine 29 and Russia 19).

I had a look for Thailand as i am there quite regularely. There incoming calls are now 19 ct, before 24.

But there are mistakes in the price list for sure. Calls to UK-Mobiles from UK are written as $99 a minute for example ;)

Well, I checked also India which is a very expensive country when using other international SIMs (except Hop, of course) and incoming rate is 19 cents when it used to be over 30, AFAIR.
However, no matter what listed rates are, the most important issue is whether thew whole stuff is reliable or not. The Yackie story so far makes me think it may not :P

I checked also a list of countries in the rate calculator and it doesn't match the coverage list.

And there are no extra landline numbers available to buy (checked Poland, Germany, Italy and Latvia) :whistle:

Wow! All the rates went up. At least all the rates in the countries that I am likely to visit went up by at least 20 cents. Most incoming calls used to be $0.24. They are now $0.49. Not only that, my DID does not even work any longer. It's been ringing busy over the last couple of days. It was working as of last week. Not that I plan on using it anyway.

Yackie Telecom Inc. Merges its Two Product Divisions into One


Yackie Telecom Inc. introduces a merger between its two corporate divisions, Yackie Mobile? and Yackie Voip?.

(PRWEB) November 16, 2006 -- Yackie Telecom Inc. (www.yackiemobile.com) is excited to introduce a merger between its two corporate divisions, Yackie Mobile? (GSM SIM cards) and Yackie? (VoIP services). Yackie Telecom Inc. is one of the first companies to introduce this revolutionary global solution to the market. Now customers can stay in touch with the world, save money and manage their calls when calling around the world.

Yackie Telecom Inc. is now offering its customers a Yackie Mobile? GSM SIM card and a Yackie? VoIP account together in one package. Both accounts will have the same incoming number (you can have up to 8 phone numbers linked to one SIM card), which can be selected from 40 different countries.

This SIM card roams in over 162 countries (we have more than 400 roaming partners) and it works with the most powerful network.

Now the customer won?t have any more problems saving money. They will be able to receive their calls either on their computer with our Yackie? Softphone, their IP phone, their WiFi phone, a Yackie? Box, a Yackie Mobile? GSM WiFi or any other GSM phone. This means that a Yackie subscriber can be anywhere and still receive their calls! As long as there is an internet connection, WiFi spot, or if you have your GSM phone you will be able to make calls and receive calls worldwide while saving both time and money.

This is the ultimate solution for people who are on the go, for business and leisure travelers. Imagine being able to stay in touch for only a few cents per minute. You will never miss any calls and you also have the option of diverting your calls between your GSM phone and your VoIP account.

? No monthly fees
? Billing every Minutes
? Calls can be recorded and sent via email
? Intelligent Voicemail
? Conference Calling
? FREE incoming SMS

Features for your Yackie? VoIP account:

? You can link up to 8 numbers to your GSM and VoIP account
? Call for free between Yackie? VoIP customers anywhere in the world
? Receive faxes to your email address
? Add your friends and family
? Voicemail
? Conference calling
? Forwarding call from your local number to your Yackie Mobile? & VoIP and vice versa
? the option to add Yackie Mobile? SIM features?.

Become a part of our revolutionary global solution today! Sign up for your Yackie Mobile? GSM SIM card and Yackie? VoIP account and start your journey to hassle free and cost effective calling.

Yackie Mobile? and Yackie? are brand names registered by Yackie Telecom Inc.

Yackie Telecom Inc. is a subsidiary of Harriman Capital Group, Inc., an Oregon based corporation. Harriman is one of the first companies to develop new technologies based on telecommunications, online payment solutions and money transferring business solutions. Talk more, pay less, pay faster and pay easier. "One world connected together."


Yackie Mobile
20801 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 403
Aventura, FL 33180
Phone: 1-305-728-6293
Fax: 1-305-728-4849
www.yackiemobile.com

:spam: :spam: :spam:

Fool me once, shame on you...

I think I speak for everyone when I say:

DIAF!

Some days ago i set up my VoIP router with the yackie.com settings which are linked to my SIM-card to try out this feature that was mentioned in the post above. Btw, there is a 10$ initial balance on the VoIP account so you can test for free as far as i can see.

I have to say that this is really a nice idea and is working well.

As long as the SIM-cards is registered to the network the phone rings. When you switch off the phone the DID number rings on the VoIP-account.

So everywhere where you have access to the internet (they use the GSM-codec, so not neccessarily need for broadband) you can receive calls for free and dial out for reasonable rates.

Chris

Yackie - Is anybody still using? [merged]
 

I was wondering if anybody is still using the Yackie SIM? I was one of the initial believers in this service, but unfortunately it was not functioning correctly at the time when I needed it. Any feedback from you guys would be appreciated - how recent experiences have been, has the service improved, billing, etc...??

Thanks so much!

I used it in France between Christmas and NYE. Outgoing calls and SMS worked fine, with good quality, but I never succeeded in receiving any call, using an Italian number provided by them and, of course, associated to my Yakie sim.

With international SIMs it's much more probable to have problems with outgoing calls, not incoming ones, due to callback issues. But Yackie is not just another "normal" international SIM. I hope that at least you weren't charged for attempted unanswered calls :)

Uhm, I took a look at my details and there's something wrong and strange...

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4...hermata8nd.png

Do you understand the difference between a "phone call" and an "outgoing call"?

And I don't remember I made a 20" call, while I surely remember the "busy line" calling myself just after...

The "phone call" seems to be to (or from?) my home number, which is actually the only number I called in these days. Probably in the detail they show you the roaming price (outgoing call) plus the rate for calling an Italian landline, but that is just an idea...

And there seems to be no incoming calls, which actually I never received (since if I call my Yackie number I only get tritonal sound...)

I tried it about a week ago in California (3rd week of Jan). The SIM has no problem registering to both AT&T/Cingular and T-Mobile. I initially tried couple times calling my US virtual number (mine is in Miami, FL). All I got were fast busy tones. I then tried an outgoing call to another US landline using the SIM and that worked correctly (callback to SIM happened pretty much immediately). Strange thing is, after the outgoing call, incoming call started to work (caller hears the usual "connecting" message and the phone rings). The online billing correctly reflected the outgoing call within a day or two. Online billing also did not charge me for both the unsuccessful and unanswered incoming calls.

I also tried sending a SMS to the SIM 2 month ago (also in California), and that worked without any incidents.

No, but ...

It looks like each call consists of concurrent "Outgoing Call" and "Phone Call", the Outgoing Call to France Global presumably being the callback.

For the successful pair, one part starts at 20:20:52; the second part 8 seconds later and 8 seconds shorter, so both end at the same time [20:22:30].

I don't know what the advertised tariff is, but it looks like 1:30 to Italy has cost you 1.47 - is that dollars? And the incoming call looks like 30 second billing units @ 28c.

Whereas a French SIM with other callback might have been about 27c or 30c for a minute and a half ...

The billing system is totally weird.
We used the card quite a lot in the US (before the tariff changed) and the billing was different for nearly each call.

Latey I made some test calls here in germany and the billing still looks the same.

Chris

Yeah, I thought that too, but it really seems to be quite expensive (around .90$/min to call a landline...) with Wind in roaming I spend the same, with direct call, what's the advantage of using Yackie so?

That is the busy call. They charge them as well....

Yes. Thay charge for busy calls, even if you call a number that's no longer in service, you still get charged for it. At least that's the way it was about 2-3 months ago when I last used the sim.

Given that they apparently still have system problems(incoming calls, billing, etc.) I think I'll stay away from them for now. Was thinking of getting one of their SIM cards because of the availability of US incoming numbers and US$.49/minute calls from Bermuda or Mexico to the US. Plenty of other alternatives for me to use that are more reliable.

They charge any callback you pick up. so you always pay for the "connecting... please wait...". The same occurs for incoming calls. They pick up immediately and then start to connect your call. Thats not good at all :P

hello mister the admins and Moderators

We went you two cards before christmass, and we was not sure you got them, you dont sent us as usualy a short message for say, we have them...

So we do not have activated your DID....
You will have monday your did working

We dont have any issue with oyr system since few months ( October )

We can provide instantanetly around 24 countries include with the SIm card and a total of 40 Countries for any additional number

Our SIm card work in bundle with a Voip account who offering you to receive your call ( At home or to your office or to any hotel who offert you a WiFi spot ) on your computer or to any Wifi device ( Like our GSM WiFi phone )

This avoid the incoming fees off course when you switch on your Voip account

We will increase our roaming coverage in February and we will also decrease some countries rates

Our system is a call back system, for the outgoing call, when you want reach one person, you send you call to our server ( with a triggger ) and our system will call you back and in the same time he will call your correspondant.

Because you have reach the system, we charge the first leg ( the system who call you ) because you use the IVR, and we charge you the second leg when you reach your correspondant, because if the number is busy, wrong or doesn't reply, you can still be online and using one other service by using the IVR fonction, you are charged

But we work on our rates for finding a solution regarding how much we charge for this and be more competitive at the end of the day
( We are allready competitive, but we understand a certain confusion when you read your billing statement )

Thank you for your remarck, they are very important for us, and thank you also to be our customers

regards

The management

Please don't write false things. You sent us 2 cards and I received mine the day before I was leaving for France. I wrote you at once since the card didn't work at all and you had to activate it. Unfortunately you answered me after 2 days, and I was already traveling in France so it was not easy to check e-mail every hour. Fortunately I had my Wind card with wap-pass so I could read your PM and the card kept on not working since there was no credit on it. After another day you refilled it and it worked for outgoing calls and SMSes, like I wrote. I could NEVER receive an incoming call, and I told you that at once, but you never wrote me back. And the issue is still not solved. So don't say that you don't have problems, since me, AndreA and other guys here on the forum ALL have problems with incoming calls. I didn't complain about the rates, which are the highest ones BTW, since I got the card for free, I just wanted to understand how the traffic details works, and it seems you still have big billing problems as well.

So by now what I can say about Yackie is:
- incoming calls don't work
- outgoing calls usually work but are expensive
- you pay also for busy calls
- customer care seems to be more interested in repeating that everything is ok, but unfortunately it isn't

I'm sorry, I've nothing agains Yackie, but unfortunately (for you and your customers) it seems your service is still not reliable at all. I hope to test this card once again in Ireland at the end of February, then I'll go to Germany and I'll test it again. But if I cannot receive any call it's really not much useful...

What do you mean by IVR - sending DTMF tones?
Moreover, even if your product is callback-based, it doesn't mean that you must charge for uncompleted (unanswered/busy) calls. There are many callback solutions in which there's no charge for unusuccesful calls.
Moreover, I wasn't able to find on yackiemobile.com where it is explicitly stated that uncompleted calls are also charged.

he means this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IVR

But i dont see any functions that i could access there. Neither balance check nor sth else..

Chris

Besides, I am not aware of any other callback based product that charges for incomplete/busy/disconnected numbers, etc. calls. Also, this is the only sim that I have that does not allow you to check the balance from the phone(only on the web). I'd say yackie still has some work to do!

I think it's a moot issue about whether the incoming first half of an incomplete call is charged; some do and show slightly different call lengths for all completed calls.

Perhaps those that do not are being unduly generous as they still incur cost (but it's a good thing, especially when someone kept triggering callback to my UM number at 2 am here as they couldn't remember their own CBW DID)

It appears that the Betamax companies charge the 5c connection fee, which has caused some complaints, but not the incoming time on the first leg while the second number is or isn't connecting.

I knew one - roaming with USSD-based callback in Simplus GSM prepaid in Poland. It was in spring 2002. They abandoned this stupid policy after a few months...

So they haven't fixed this feature yet? "Congratulations", Yackie! :-P

Excuse me, Gentlemen, I hope you won't mind my question, but as we're talking about Yakie : did anyone here receive the refund they promised us some 6 months ago?
Well, maybe that was a stupid question...

I don't think anyone got a refund. The suggestion was to do a credit card chargeback, and that worked for me.