Maxroam (aka Roam4Free V2)
 

Hang on and get ready for the shock !

http://blog.roam4free.ie/roam4free-v2-2/

http://www.maxroam.com
(not online yet)

Just read what Pat has to say. I'm following his blog for a very long time now. This guy is great, and what Nucom Telecom (his company) will come up with, will be even greater.

Maybe let's wait and see when the site will be up and running... as well as the offer... it sounds something like Yackie, you know, it hasn't been a great deal so far...

Great !!!
 

We are waiting :eek:

Pat gave a estimate of about 3 weeks. That was last week.
He's leaving for a beach-trip (don't know where exactly) now, for 2 weeks.
I expect the card to be available by the end of the 3rd week of august.

Hang on.

I am in maxroam.com
 

Hi everybody,

These people at maxroam have loaded their site @ www.maxroam.com/index.php , just go there and the site will SHINE UP.

Good Luck, I didn't do any hacking just common sense addressing.

Abe

Great !!!
 

AM a Reseller of Sim Cards , so i will buy much more if it have did forward because i sell Did Numbers :cool:

MaxROAM
 

Finally... But we're not completely there yet.

http://www.maxroam.com
is online.
Cost: "€29.99 inclusive of €5 initial call credit (If you live outside the EU then we do not charge you VAT) - Rates published soon."

Idle cost: €1/month

Free numbers: USA, France, UK or Ireland

optional
SMS: Unlimited texting for €20/month
Extra numbers in 28 countries; max. 50 numbers/card

That's what's on the website about princing.
Incoming/Outgoing rates will be published in a later stage.

well, it's got some nice flags

Take a look at

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/...yid=single9231

That's why I (about a month ago) wrote:
"Hang on and get ready for the shock !"

I new something like this was coming.

Give it a few more months and see what this magician will come up with, it won't be a rabbit...

I'm a bit more sceptical

As for how soon or what is coming, read all the hype about worldwide free calls to and from mobiles, from well over a year ago (June); read that one blogger responsible for promoting that idea subsequently (January) describes the company as a client.

I don't understand why so many journalists just read PR hype without moderating it by adding any of their own knowledge. This seems to characterise the spoon-feeding that this firm's fans lap up.

From that article, he's done a deal with Pirelli about phones ...

Quote:

... and has struck a deal with Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli to manufacture the devices; one a Wi-Fi-based device and the other a Windows Mobile GSM phone.

Actually, one of those Pirelli handsets (dual-mode wi-fi and GSM) has been around for about a year [to my knowledge, perhaps longer]. There is another discontinued, and a third, a dual-mode wi-fi VoIP and quad-band GSM Windows smartphone one, will be available from November, quite possibly [I would speculate] without any licence fees accruing to Mr Phelan.


It will be interesting to see and hear what this new SIM card deal consists of - which network the roaming deal comes from, how well the call forwarding works and at what tariffs, and so on. It may well indeed include the prospect of diverting calls to be received while on a wi-fi network; he didn't invent that idea though, so will he come up with anything that hasn't been done yet? A good way to start selling it would be to have some tariffs listed for incoming and outgoing calls.

He did seem to find some investors to invest in the company. but most of these guys invest in 10 companies and if 1 or 2 become a succes this makes up for the loss in the other 8-9 investments.

Nothing really new on what I read about this company. There have been so many stories now and promomises but most of them are never heard from again or it turns out to be different when they do introduce their service.

Two words...

Yackie Mobile

or perhaps one word:

Ryanair

MaxRoam is Free or Not
 

Roaming with MaxRoam is free or not , like freeglobalsim , which in certain countries you roam for free .

The company seems more stable than that, but it certainly isn't clear what it's done yet to merit the walk-on-water predictions of some of its fans.

As the website has reverted to a nearly blank page that says coming soon, there's no way to judge at the moment

MaxRoam is live since 11.26

The rates I checked are better than what Yackie offers.

They charge €1 for sending it by regular mail, €2 by registered mail, €20 by courier (48 hours).

It's a pity that the company's marketing is still rather hyperbolic and seems unable to resist sly and untruthful digs at its competitors, such as

• MAXroam is €29.99 (includes €5 initial calling credit). Most comparable products are 2 or 3 times more expensive!

Typical sales prices of other SIM products we've seen are €20 to €50, many with more credit included.

And most of the incoming call divert charges are just above or below roaming with the new Eurotariff. The hype was about call charges in single figures, even free, but it doesn't seem to have stepped ahead of products we've already seen. Perhaps they intend to add a VoIP and wi-fi capability ...

I think they refer to Yackie? Since that's a comparable product (with local numbers not seen on other probucts I mean).

Pat spoke about mobile Data, that's all I know... So let's wait... and see.

Too bad incoming in EU countries are not free.

Well, don't forget that this is inclusive of call forwarding from a landline DID, so that's hardly to be expected. Effectively, it's reversing the caller pays theme, but someone still has to.

Of course, other SIMs at least give you the chance to set up a cheaper route for yourself, if you can find one.

Andy: valid critique but overly cynical. Instead of just having a go at us for trying to do something why not give it a go. If it doesn't work for you and we charge you more money than alternatives then let us know.

Sure we leverage the blogs and the internet to get attention. We're just a small company in the south of Ireland how else are we supposed to do it? Take out a multi-million dollar marketing campaign?

Anyone who is reading this and isn't immediately cynical please feel free to e-mail me with your address at "sean(dot)omahony(at)cubicmobile(dot)com" and I'll send you a free SIM.

If you think it's crap then by all means rip us to pieces. If you think we could improve it then please let us know your thoughts but don't just trach the idea without giving us a fair go.

For my needs the product looks at first sight very interesting. But since it's totally new there aren't any experience reports out yet and I don't want to buy a pig in a poke.

I will travel in November to Japan for two weeks and need an international Sim. When a competitor started to sell a new product I decided to get it (UM+). Soon afterwards I had to learn that it won't work in Japan as advertised, the country disappeared without announcements from the rate sheet.

In the MAXroam FAQ it is mentioned that costs depend on "where you are and who you are calling". However at the calculator it is only possible to choose the location of the caller but not the destination of the call. So I am not sure on the costs (for example what it costs to call from Japan an Austrian mobile).

Only time and experience reports will tell whether it is "crap" or something everyone wants to get.

Hmm, actually might be good in some countries with the calls from the USA.
One less company to route my number through

Hmmm, I think that adding landline DIDs to the international SIM isn't a bad idea especially for RPP-obsessed US customers ;-). However, I also think that the best solution is to join the CPP and RPP billing in one SIM with a mobile CPP number and free incoming calls in plenty countries and DID(s) forwarded to that number. Globalsim.de (business tariff) and Yackie version with Manx SIMs (and 09 too?) are the examples.

Maxroam seems to be landline-only numbered SIM like VoiceSIM or Yackie with Israeli SIMs. Personally, I don't suppose it will be a good deal at least when to compare with eurotariff, as Andy has already mentioned.

BTW, what is a mobile number for Maxroam SMSing? An Irish one?

Excuse my ignorance...

What is a RPP-obsessed US customers :wink:?

http://www.cubictelecom.com/faq/

compare, from Australia

http://www.maxroam.com/how-much-does-it-cost.asp

Apart from the dodgy maths, which is correct, 71 or 77 US cents, or 33 eurocents?

OK, I used wrong words. RPP is a side-effect, not your target, of course :-).
My general impression from posts on this forum regarding the use of mobile phones abroad is that you, the US people, for some reasons are "obsessed" about being accessible on US phone numbers. That's why SIMs that provide US DID numbers with relatively low-cost forwarding to "real" SIM numbers are what you need. All this results in RPP payment model....

I think the reason for that is so that most people that call us do not have to fiddle with dialing an international number. A lot of folks on this end get confused when they see they have to dial so many numbers. Most have never even dialed an international number. So, IMHO, having a US number for forwarding or aa sim with a US number is very attractive. Hence, the reason why most of us jumped on the yackie bandwagon in the beggining. Or look for a US DID number/VOIP that can forward internationally.

Too bad that user name is unknown by that server.


Although they can't spend the big bucks on ads, they must have a great PR person who got David Pogue of the New York Times to write a feature article on MaxRoam in Thursdays paper. He gave the concept a rave review and only in the last few sentences did he reflect the reality of what is actually provided.

harryb

Here's the link for the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/te...ref=technology

Quite an interesting article but obviously the author has little experience with international roaming....he is amazed, for example, that in order to make a call you have to dial the number, wait for a callback, and listen to a voice saying please wait while we complete your call! And he is absolutely fascinated that you have the ability to take a T Mobile US or AT&T phone, provided it is unlocked, switch the sim cards and you now have a phone with a different worldwise number...how revolutinary...I wonder why others haven't thought of that (he also neglects to discuss the frequency issue and that a cheap T Mo and AT&T phone lacking both 900 and 1800 will not work in Europe and that a phone lacking one or the other might not work in certain places)....he also gives the caveat that calls travel over the internet and your call will be perfectly understandable but slightly muffled with a delay (nobody ever mentions that calls made with those calling cards that give loads of minutes for next to nothing also travel that way).

But it is an interesting article worth taking a look at.

You are looking at the average American's level of understanding of international roaming.

Not everyone in US is obsessed......
 

Beg to differ -- ever so slightly.

I am not obsessed. That is one. Several work colleagues have gone and taken either my UM SIM or an unlocked phone and bought local SIM. As you see, I have not taken the US # plunge (YET). I travel abroad maybe once a year on vacation. Probably not needed at this time. Might be different if I traveled more and needed to be reached for WORK/business.

A work colleague, actually a supervisor, is off to the UK next Tuesday and he did not even want a cell phone that I offered him. He has VERIZON and does not CARE that he will have no connectivity. Just the way he wants it. Staying with friends and doing hiking in countryside.

TRUE: is nice to tell your family friends to dial a US number to reach you anywhere in the world. Easier for pampered 'murikuns not accustomed to wearing out their fingers pushing maybe 4 or 5 extra digits. Poor, pampered Americans.

Both sons did use calling cards to reach us this summer from the US while we were in Germany. It can be done.

Cheers.

Stan

I suppose.

Actually this obsession started several years ago when my mobile phone company T Mobile US abruptly took away something I had grown accostomed to namely the ability to forward calls to my local sim card while in Europe (and at that time international cards were not necessarily available for a reasonable or what I considered a reasonable) price and if I was doing a London, Paris, Holland thing, it was easier to simply program the call forwarding then to give them all the local numbers (this was cheaper for me then of course doing international roaming either on the US side or with any of the local sims)

Along came riiing (UM) but T Mobile withdrew this. Luckily for me, I may have one of the few landline lines that allow remote call forwarding to international numbers that is from a remote location I can change the number so now, it doesn't matter where in the world I am and what sim card I am using, I can program my landline to ring to it.....allows me to keep in touch with friends and business associates wherever I am and they only have to dial my home number...if I didn't have that ability, then I would probably have gone for voicestick (I got it anyway but it was free) or something like that to accomplish the same thing.

My apologies the e-mail address should be: "sean(dot)omahony(at)cubictelecom(dot)com"

And yes we got a great PR person to help us. Someone I have worked with for many years and who I can highly recommend if any of you need PR support.

MAXroam updated the rate-page just minutes ago.

http://www.maxroam.com/how-much-does-it-cost.asp

It's better than it was before. Just one thing is missing, the price for an additional local number.

I'm curious when I get my account info. I'd like to see the management pages.

nice webpage but i am not really amazed by the pricing.

Incoming calls in europe are between 0,21 and 0,33 cents per minute. Not really a lot lower than the rates the EU has set for incoming calls.

Having a did number is nice but not really new.

Systems like they offering can be setup at lower rates. I have given the example of free interent pbx at for example www.pbxes.com which is free.
You can install 1,2 o3 or more did numbers. som did numbers are free from some countries other cost money.
You can than forward the call to you roaming free mobile.
Written here many time by using companies like betamax forwarding cost no more than 10 cents per minute.
This means that in any of the roaming free countries you can receive a call for 10 cents per minute. This is at least half of what maxroam is offering.

For 10 euro per month you can get the pro version at pbxes an can setup your own callback system. This means you can a preset number. You get a busy tone. You will get a callback on your roaming free mobile (callback cost you 10 cents per minute) than you get the dialtone of the internetpbx and can dial the number you want. You can dial at low voip cost which vary between1 cents (to fixed lines in most countries) to say 20 cents (for mobile calls to many countries) So you are than paying only 11 tot 31 cents per minute.

What is strange about maxroam is the calling cost to a mobile and fixed number are the same in most countries. Take calls to a dutch fixed line and mobile are the same altough in reallity the cost is at least 9 cents per minute different.

So when cost to mobile number are the same and fixed line I feel that you are paying to much to call to fixed line.

The idea is nice of maxroam but pricing is still to high compared to a do it youself solution like I pointed out above.

Receiving calls on your did number in roaming free countries should cost no more than 15 eurocents per minute. Call to fixed line to european countries no more than 20 cents and to mobiles no more than 30 cents.

Something else is missing: any variation of tariff. Can it really be the same price to landlines and mobile phones, to Belgium, Vanuatu and satellite phones?
_

Reading some of Mr Phelan's feedback on blogs, it appears that he is highlighting the caller vs receiver pays issue. As bbob says, with other SIMs, the choice of forwarding is one's own and probably cheaper.

Having someone as technically savvy and well regarded as Mr Pogue completely fail to notice incoming charges of over a dollar a minute, either on the account or even the website *, is something of a PR coup. Nobody else has managed to get roaming in the USA down to 15 cents. But it's simple: get a local SIM card and divert to it; any of us could set up a landline DID to do that from our contract inclusive minutes at very minimal cost like a cent.



* the tariffs were published on the website for a while, then offline again

I can accept the rates to Eu mobiles but those to satelite phones are surely not correct. Otherwise I will immediately buy the card!

If roaming in a Thuraya phone, all incoming and outgoing calls are €3.70 a minute