Callback World & United Mobile - Changes
 

I've been unable to trigger a call back to my United Mobile sim for several days now. I emailed Callback World and got this response:

"The Liechtenstein route has a lot of problems at the moment and
has been mostly down since last Thursday. The carrier, the
lowest cost one available, is doing a poor job. We are replacing
them with a tier 1 (aka top quality) carrier but the rate is going to
in the 50 something cents range on the 22nd and I expect a lot of
our customers may stop using it. At the moment it is barely
working and not reliable and it will be like that until the switch is
complete. The other global sim routes are stable at the moment,
both in service and rate."

Oh well, I guess it really was too good. It seems to me if what Barry says comes to pass, Callback World will be more expensive then most level one countries straight from the United Mobile sim card. I'm wondering if one of the other cards would now be better for international travel (I'm mostly in Australia/NZ, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe), for example the Travelsim with the Estonia number?

Any comments? Thanks.

I'd probably use up my UM credit making outgoing calls and switch over to using mostly my 09 card for incoming calls.

At this momenti I'm switching to Travelsim too... Estonia is usually in Zone 1 Europe and so cheaper than FL from various carriers (actually I have a italian postpaid plan at only 9 ct./min for UE mobiles!). Be careful for incoming calls, sometimes Travelsim doesn't have free roaming

Same here. Have not been able to trigger a call to UM via CBW. I was testing for an upcoming trip. Even a couple of calling cards stopped working to UM. Just plain dead air! Tried my tmobile sim...message says calling to that number has been disallowed. Never thought the problem was CBW (since I was able to get a callback to other numbers), so I contacted UM and they said it depends on what calling card or carrier I am using to make the call to the UM sim. When the UM guy said he called my # from a german landline and it worked and went to VM I figured something is being blocked. So, I gave up.

Finally, I decided to try if I can forward my globalasim to UM. Well, it went through, I let it ring and roll to VM. Guess what? I was charged $0.78. I knew globalsim could not continue to offer forwarding to Liechenstein for free.

Edit: For me, without CBW's very good rates, UM is not much useful. Outgoing calls are not really cheap. Ok, incoming calls are free in a lot of countries, but as we all know, it's outrageously expensive calling a UM number. Most calling cards are upwards of $0.40/min. BTW, I also tried CBW PIN2DEST. It was just dead air...but still got charged on both occassions.

Going to Europe this summer and ..........
 

I will try to use up the balance on my UM card from Germany. Sunk costs. I rarely am called from US on my trips. Will be giving out SIMYO # and probably forwarding calls from Voicestick to that #.

Not sure what I will do after (if) I burn up the existing UM balance. The market in EU is changing fast.

Stan

Handy Tip from UM
 

QUOTE:
Avoid expensive calls back to your current voicemail by changing the message to include your United Mobile number.
END QUOTE

Can't paste in their image, but I am sure you have received the same email.

What a joke!

Why are calls to +423 #s so expensive or impossible to complete?

Stan

Has anyone tried CBW with an Estonian sim? I am not able to receive the callback on mine at all!

It isn't that bad if they are expensive only - after all, calling the CPP satphones is even more expensive;-). But the impossibility of reaching +423 makes the whole thing really useless (or, let's say - "one way useless") :-?

We have discussed this in the past. Most stable routes to +4236 are expensive due to the fact that there are high incoming charges. There are a few cheap routes still available (some callthrough numbers in the UK offer these)

Most Betamax brands are 20 eurocents. Just Voip 9c, DialNow (callthrough only) 10c

I just had 9 out of 10 VoipCheap and JV attempts ring within a few seconds, and the other with a German message about network busy (uncharged)

So don't throw it away yet

I Have tried to call Um with voipbuster. Most of my attempts were not succesful and was also charged many times.....

I agree I wouldn't throw the UM SIM away just yet.

I wrote UM customer service an email asking for recommendations on inexpensive carriers for calling from US. No answer yet. Access from the other side of the pond may be better than from here.

What is a Betamax brand?

As I see it from the FAQ, Just Voip requires computer access. That won't work for all folks trying to reach me.

DialNow does not have a US number. Does have Canadian #s.

Stan

Betamax is about 20 VoIP brands, like Voipbuster, Voipcheap, etc

comparison of tariffs on http://backsla.sh/betamax

You can forward the VoIP account to a destination number, and you can forward a DID number to the SIP address of most of these accounts. IPKall has more or less stopped working for me, but should work when called from a US number sending Caller ID. Or you can try Freedigits. Or there are free ones in some other countries

CBW introduced new rates from today. UM is now 56 cents.min! The rate almost doubled!

Has anyone managed to receive callback on the Estonian sim or is it me only who has this trouble??

TravelSim & CBW
 

So this is a good question... anyone using Travelsim with CBW successfully????

Also, can anyone speak to the reliability of SMS traffic on the TravelSim? The reliability on the UM card is stinko, if you ask me. Thanks!

Sadly, it is now cheaper to call the US direct using United Mobile than to go through CBW. Total CBW rate now is $.56/minute, whereas UM rate Europe to US is $.49/minute.

CBW might still have an advantage on a very short call, since UM always tacks on the $.30 setup charge. And of course UM is full-minute billing, which can bite you too.

All in all, sad to see CBW fall by the wayside. ;(

Kupe

bummer
 

Bummer, I was just about to use this on my trip to china, but at .56$ a minute, it makes no sense.
What about enlinea? Where are they at now?

But, it does force me to create a reach me work around, for my friends and family in the US.

I have people call my VOIP phone at home, which is direct forwarded to my onesuite account. Then, then are connected directly to onesuite, and press 10#, which auto dials my +423 number, and connects. Onesuite costs .25$ a minute to +423, so that is much less than the .56$ that CBW are now chargin.

So, what card to I get going forward, the number is of no import to me, I just need a fairly cheap card to work.

How does onesuite bill? Per minute? per second?

onsuite FAQ: We use full-minute increments to calculate your usage, with partial minutes rounded up to the next full minute on each call.

Onesuite has a VOIP. What about something like a free did and pbxes.com?

I am using several did's and pbxes. See this thread http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2064

It works fine but for a novice a bit complicated. I am although using it as my total phone communication system. Customers call me on my DID numbers from several countries. My normal voip phone rings and parallel after 2-3 rings my IOM mobile also rings. So whenever in the office I pickup using my normal phone and when away my mobile.

Andy gave an example of an other solution. Forward your betamax account (voipbuster, sipdiscount, internetcall etc) to your IOM number. Have a did number forward to the betamax number. It's simple and it works.

For United Mobile Lichtenstein numbers Betamax is not very good. I have not been able to call my UM number using betamax.