United Mobile changes SMS rates & adds 16 countries
 

Just got the Spring United Mobile e-newsletter.

Outgoing SMS is now down to 0,39 € instead of 0,49 €.

They also added 16 countries:

"In the following 7 countries incoming calls are free:

Ghana
Japan (UMTS only)
Malaysia
Saudi Arabia
Tadzhikistan
Uganda
Uruguay

Favourable calling rates available now in:

Afghanistan
Armenia
Belize
Ecuador
Guatemala
Indonesia (Jakarta)
Iraq
Iran
Maldives"

They also intend to add Paypal auto-recharge (currently only available for credit cards).

A little competition is a good thing :)

As you say, a little competition is a good thing!

Useful to see Saudi added to the free incoming calls.

New Zealand is still notable by its absence!

But actually it's a good thing as it allows one to keep the card active, even from the USA, by simply sending a pretty inexpensive SMS message!

I got the same email early today (U.S. time). None of these countries show up yet in either their rate calculator or their coverage list.
When they do, I'll issue ver. 1.2 of my comparison rate chart.

...mike

No rush. Thanks for your great work on the charts.

The new rate charts just were posted on the United Mobile website directly below their current rate charts(rates are effective April 2).

Some countries are now more expensive and some are less expensive. For instance, Antigua and Barbuda went from zone 2 to zone 3 (not surprising because their competitors still charge much more), and Congo dropped from zone 5 to zone 3. New listing Japan (reported as working a while back by other forum members) is a definite bargain as a zone 1 country...providing you have or can borrow a UMTS handset.

Also worth noting is some countries are footnoted with an asterisk that the service level may vary.

Including Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, although expensive, is likely welcome news for people who need to travel there for various reasons.

Even though they are still missing some countries (I would like to see the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands included), it's still an impressive list.

That's so strange!

Yeah! Their rates in Japan were undefined. I'm glad that they picked some number and thrilled that it's zero.

so UM is the best solution for Japan, DRNewcomb? :)

Not sure what's best. 09 also lists free incoming and Celtrek is something like 24c/min for incoming calls with very reasonable outgoing rates. These rates are cheaper than with a Japanese prepaid phone.

SMS Actually Working?
 

I was glad to see the new SMS rates and it almost sounded like they've made it more reliable. However, I've yet to get an SMS through to anyone. I haven't tried a lot, but the few times I've tried it just doesn't seem to work. Sent SMS to Verizon, China Unicom, and a german mobile number. So far no one's received my SMS.

I also notice I'm being charged for the SMS even if it doesn't go through. A support request on this issue got me a reply that said they credit back to my account if an SMS doesn't go through, but it can take up to 24 hours. I haven't actually checked this but I'm curious if it actually happens as they state.

Anyone share their experience or tip on getting these through?

must concur
 

Currently in US. From US in Jan or so I sent and was billed for an SMS (49 cents) to my US T-mobile phone. Never made it. I complained to them (UM). They advised me that I should try using T-Mobile network; I was on Cingular.

SMSbug to UM does not seem to work. SMSbug never responded to my request for help/correction. SMSbug used to work in the past and I received those messages on the UM phone. As late as Sep 2006.

Sent 2 messages last nite from my US Tmobile accounts to the UM phone, one prepaid, one postpaid. Neither of those messages has arrived yet.

It is true that there are switches and routing problems. I am not thrilled with the ability of the UM card to either send or receive SMS.

Sounds as if YOU have tried extensively, without success. You have done more than I have.

Best of luck.

Stan

In october I tried sending two sms, never received, to a french mobile in order to keep my card valid and after few days I've been credited back.
So I can confirm you their commercial correctness!

Actually in the past week I sent sms from my um sim to my tmobile US mobile and the sms went through instantly.

MATHA531,

Were you on T-MO with your UM card at the time you sent the SMS? I was on CINGY and it never made it. I'll try later today and report back. Not expecting much, however, other than a debit to the account.

Stan

Only have used their SMS service a little bit. Have tried sending United Mobile SMS using US Cingular to a British auto-response address (an airport club location service) and the SMS went out OK, and the text response came back within a few seconds.

Immediate? Absolutely nothing. It's been 5 minutes. In the meanwhile I sent myself and received an SMS. Guess the SMS gurus in FL take a long Easter weekend.

We shall see if they refund my money. I doubt that, too.

Stan

I never got smsbug working at all on my O2 phones; they didn't send confirmation on attempting to join.

The UM SIM received recent sms from Vyke (2c) and Voipbuster (7.5c) within seconds; they seem to be sent via Denmark and Sweden, though I think Vyke also uses Jersey and/or Guernsey, and Voipbuster also Russia and Jersey so far.

Outgoing from the UM SIM, I haven't sent any messages for quite a while; in fact I haven't spent any credit on it at all for about 13 months; maybe I could try one soon.

I placed a call to the UM phone and it eventually rang thru to voicemail. I promptly received an SMS notification that I had a new voicemail.

Also, I was sending the SMS to my UM card thru SMSbug via computer AND thru the phone. No method worked. And they never answered my question.

Still no answer from UM support.

Stan

I couldn't get UM / Riing to send SMS from the UK. And each time I tried I was charged, although they did do me a refund after I emailed them.

Very interesting!
 

The tale continues......

Received a reply from UM. Final disposition still pending. They suggested I call T-Mobile USA. The UM card was registered on T-Mobile (THEIR RECOMMNEDATION from a failed attempt to send an SMS from Cingular).

Actually, I had attempted several SMSs from both my TMO postpaid and TMO prepaid phone. I called prepaid CS because I had over the last few days been pestering postpaid CS PDA guys about MMS and email. Turns out prepaid also can see individual items like SMS and downloads. Sure enough, 2 SMS to FL sent (Mar 11 and April 4) sent on my prepaid phone, billed and then CREDITED back to me about a week later. Why? Well, according to rep, the following 4 country codes are BLOCKED by T-MO USA

681
290
247
423

BINGO! 423 is it! Rep thought it would be the same for postpaid. So, your UM card booked on TMO USA is guaranteed to fail to send an SMS to 423 because the country code 423 is blocked. Nice work.

I have written back to UM customer service. We shall see what happens.

Stan

Would be interesting to know why they block three islands somewhere in the ocean and.... Liechtenstein. Very interesting indeed....

Chris

Let's see what CONTRACT CS says
 

I tried again to send an SMS from my CONTRACT T-MO US phone. Am at work and don't have the UM phone with me. The online billing has not come thru. HOWEVER, I have written and am to receive an email answer from CONTRACT T-MO CS about the same issue.

It will be interesting to see if the same blocks appear on PRE- and POST-PAY. I made no mention of my chat with the PRE-PAY rep. I am to receive an email answer back.

Anyone know if you can REPLY to the email response from UM CS -- and expect an answer? I have done that. HOWEVER, just to play it safe, I also cut and pasted my reply into their online service request form.

I submitted my 1st question on Saturday and of course both Sun and Mon were holidays in Europe. However, the UM site says they are open 00-24 hours not citing any holiday hour restrictions.

Stan

681 Wallis and Futuna
290 Saint Helena
247 Ascension
423 Liechtenstein

A nice set :-P. But I don't quite understand what do they mean by "blocked"? No SMS to those countries or also no voice calls??? After all, all the islands mentioned above seem not to have any mobile networks to receive SMS so the SMS-only "blockade" would have no real meaning :-D

Answer from contract side of house
 

Dear Stanley Naimon,

Thank you, Stanley, for contacting T-Mobile and for providing me the
opportunity to help you. My name is Steve and I will be happy to answer
your questions today. I see you sent our online Customer Care group an
email regarding having difficulty sending text messages to a friend in
Liechtenstein. I know how frustrating it can be when you are unable to
contact friends and family so I can certainly look into this for you. I
do apologize, Stanley, for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Stanley I regret to inform you that I show that Liechtenstein is a
country that is blocked from making calls and text messages to. It only
might be possible to send messages to them if you were roaming
domestically on our network and I am sorry you were not aware of this
before.

If you have any further questions regarding this issue or other T-Mobile
services and features, Stanley, please reply to this e-mail referencing
case # 264841 and we will be pleased assist you. You may also call
Customer Care toll free at 1-800-937-8997 or 611 then SEND from your
phone and a representative will be happy to help you.

I would like to thank you personally, Stanley, for being a valued
T-Mobile customer since January of 2004.

Sincerely,

The most possible reason for blocking these country codes is that they are used from many websites as a means of providing access if you do not have a credit card. For example voting, mp3 sites etc provide you access to their content if you call one of these numbers. The incoming costs are very high.

Also these country codes are used by many dialer programms (when using dialup internet access). So I suspect many customers have complained abou this situation and they blocked them. For Liechtenstein the code in question is +4236639.

Yes, maybe you're right! But I can't understand why block a country code (+423) and not only the +423663.9xxx... :rolleyes: it's not so difficoult for a network as T-Mo :D

Probably because most LD providers charge same rate for calls to +4236 in general.
For example in Greece, the main telecom Carrier (OTE) has recently increased rates to this prefix by 300%. They now are 1 euro/min!

UM Customer Care to me AUF DEUTSCH
 

Sehr geehrter Herr Naimon,

Danke für den Einblick in Stil und Antwort der "Konkurrenz" in den USA! Wahrhaftig interessant zu sehen, mit welcher Methode hier versucht wird, Ihnen mehr oder weniger sanft die Verantwortung für ein angebliches Fehlinformiertseins in die Schuhe zu schieben! Herr Naimon, Sie sind nicht falsch informiert gewesen sondern wurden dies jetzt von jenem "Customer Care Specialist": vor ca. 3-4 Wochen fing T-Mobile USA nämlich erst mit dieser absurden Sperrung an. Intern heisst es wegen "Fraude". Das mag soweit sogar einen realen Hintergrund und die Sorge T-Mobiles um Ihre Kunden seine Berechtigung haben aber T-Mobile hat die ganze Nation Liechtenstein und nicht selektiv den evt. betroffenen Nummernbereich gesperrt.

Was Ihre Anregung an uns, uns bei T-Mobile zu melden, betrifft, so haben wir dies natürlich eigeninitiativ von der ersten Minute an getan, da sehr viele Kunden in den USA von der Sperrung betroffen sind. Wir informieren uns schon seit Anbeginn dieser Misère nach dem Hintergrund und regen eine etwas differenziertere Handhabung der Angelegenheit an aber bisher leider ohne zählbares Ergebnis. Uns bleibt uns nur aufrichtig bei Ihnen zu entschuldigen für diesen ganzen Mißstand, ohne eine direkte Verantwortung dafür zu tragen - ganz anders als T-Mobile, der den alten Service an Ihre Kunden nur wieder herstellen möge anstelle Ihnen "frustrierende" Erlebnisse zuzufügen.

Mit freundlichen Grüssen

==============

Bottom line: UM is ticked that T-Mo is blocking ALL 423 numbers and not just the offending FRAUD #s. Started anbout 3 - 4 weeks ago. They have been trying to deal with T-MO USA but to no avail. They are sorry. Nonetheless, they have NOT refunded my 39 ecents for the undelivered messages..

Stan

Three new countries
 

United Mobile is adding Bahamas (Zone 1), Kyrgyzstan (Zone 2) and Ethiopia (Zone 4) as of May 1. New rate charts are posted on their website. Bahamas is a particularly good deal because a Bahamas country specific sim card (Batelco) sells for US$89 from most US dealers. Hmmm....wonder if this has anything to do with Yackie and CelTrek offering Bahamas coverage on their multi-country cards?