United-Mobile Update
 

Hello there,

due to the new tariffs at United-Mobile incoming calls are charged with an one time event price of 19 Euro-Cents per Call plus incoming costs (if apply), even, if you are in a "free incoming" country. This applies up from to today to UM+ and to UM423 SIM-Cards :-(

First of all this 19 Cents applied to UM+ (+44 7937 Isle of Jersey) and led to the funny situation, that calls which were forwarded to the voicemail, where charged, too. This led to the not funny situation, that my account melted down during people calling to my mailbox. At least my number was told "The subscriber is not available".

I contacted the CEO of UM, which confirmed me that there was a mistake in their systems and they repaired it today. Calls to Mailbox are not charged any more :-)

Seconds the "Balance" Call to find out the balance of my UM 423 (+423-663, Liechtenstein) was charged on Wednesday with 3 Euro-Cent per call.
This was another mistake, which was fixed today, too. Calling short code 089 to ask for your account-balance are free of charge again :-)

I'm living in Germany, so incoming call costs my one time 19 Cents, no matter,how long the call would be.

UM+ SIM-Card registers with all german networks.

UM 423 SIM only registers with E-Plus-Network, at this time. If you try to send a Text-Message (SMS) from your UM423 (registered at E-Plus) to lets say T-Mobile.DE you will get an error-message. The Text-Message is charged with 29 Euro Cents, but will refunded automatically a few minutes later back to your account.

My UM+ is at 0.05 EUR at the moment, i've changed the mailbox greetings, announcing my german phone number.
My UM423 is at about 2 Euros at this time. I would appreciate, if it would register with all four german networks.

Some time ago, I tried to call +423-663 from a T-Mobile.DE contract-SIM registered at T-Mobile UK. I got the response "number not allowed". Same thing happend at the network of T-Mobile USA (Florida) with my T-Mobile.DE contract-SIM. Anybody can tell me, if this is still the case?

I'm using Liechtenstein SIM-Cards for a long time (starting with MONTEL from VIAG Europlattform in the late 1990's) but I'm not sure, if I will need it for the future. Maybe I'll switch to my NATEL Easy Liberty Uno from Swisscom. It's not the cheapest one, but it works.

No wonder I was dinged $1.59 euro to check my balance on the +423 card. I thought I called the VM by mistake so I did not bother to push it. But now it does confirm that the balance check was somehow forwarded to VM.

This is a big trouble. I have the same on in Italy. I can't reach +423 from Voda IT (the only roaming partner...), Tim, Wind and H3G :chair:
We have a long thread here too: UM +423, varie problematiche - Mondo3.com - Telefonia mobile 3G in Italia - Forum (in italian)

Well even making balance calls free and calls to voicemail will not help UM.

I made some balance calls that were charged and wonder if the autmoatically refund everyone ?

But I am using the easyroam travelsim card now, review will follow and this works fine, no incomming call cost and free in belgium (where I am most of the time, UM+ was not free in Belgium)

:OT:

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/euro...mendation.html :p

So until Now the best Sim is Gt-Sim after Yackie and United Mobile .

You made some mistakes here.

Foget GT-sim, only by reading this:

How long will the card and the balance on the account remain valid (only for Prepaid customers)?
If there are no calling activities within a period of 3 months, a rental charge of Euro 9,95 for the number will be automatically deducted from teh account. To avoid these charges simply top up your account by Euro 25.00 and the life time of your number will be extended for another 3 month at a time. If you would add another Euro 100.00 your life time of your number would be extended for another 12 month.

Meaning the card will cost you a minimum of 100 euro per year.

Yackie, does not work anymore as Iceland is down.

On first place I would put cards like easyraom / travelsim.co.uk no incoming call charges like UM.

Estonian number might still work but do you really want to giveaway an estonian number.
Maxroam might be an alternative but oyu can't call the number direct only through a did number, which might be an advantage for some users but it will cost you money to receive the calls, just like UM.

So IOM sim card like easyroam on place 1, than followed by UM and Maxroam, than estionian cards.

A two-stage work-around if this occurs might be to use a prepaid callling card that has access numbers that are not toll-free (most call back sim's block toll-free numbers) and allows access to +423. The ones that do allow +423 calls tend to have fairly high per minute charges, but at least the call would go through. Probably best to program this into speed dial to avoid manually dialing a lot of numbers each time you call +423.

Another thought for using the T-Mobile USA network is to use a Tuyo (reseller of T-Mobile airtime by an international long distance company called IDT) prepaid sim card that has cheap international rates (including to 423 Leichtenstein).

At one time neither calls nor SMS to FL were not permitted on the US T-Mobile network. FL was listed as one of several countries blocked because of FRAUD suspicion.

Stan

Not sure what current status is for the T-Mo 2Go US cards for FL.

Suggested the Tuyo route because the T-Mo 2 Go US card rates are fairly high for most international destinations plus the blocking issue you mentioned. The Tuyo MVNO routes their international long distance through IDT so it's only US 14 cents per minute for an FL call according to their rate chart. Only a two or three cents more to call using the Tuyo account as a calling card from a landline.

Edit: Actually should have added 14 cents PLUS T-Mobile airtime (ten cents per minute plus ten cent connect charge). Still a good deal.

Tuyo has always listed FL at $0.14. When I first saw that I'm like wow! they have not heard the news yet. I just checked now, and it's still the same rate. I doubt if anyone on their network calls FL. Their rates are quite competitive with the best calling cards out there. And, in some cases, FL for example, their rates are a whole lot cheaper.

TúYo.com - International Rates

Hello,

on more addendum to UM+

If the account is 19 Cent or lower and the Phone is logged on to a network, an incoming call doesn't work, an announcement tells you, that the subscriber cannot be reached at the moment.

This is logical, due to the fact, that there are no 19 cent so setup the call.

If you switch off your UM+ SIM (with less than 19 Cents) the call goes to the Mailbox free of charge.

To retrieve the message call your UM+ SIM Card from another phone, interrupt the announcement with # PIN #

UM+ Mailbox speaks German out of the box (as it is a German product of Dr. Materna who is also running the virtual vistream network) but can be switched to english using the "Einstellungen" (=Setup) Menu.

So, if I understanding this correctly, there is now a one time connection charge of $0.19 euro for any connected calls. That is, for both incoming free and non-incoming free countries. It must be hidden somewhere on the website as I have not seen it there yet.

EDIT: I see it now--- * Call set up rate for all calls (one time) EUR 0.19

the only good news from um:(

Teltarif.de is a little late
 

teltarif.de News: Tarifwechsel bei United Mobile: 19 Cent Aufschlag für jeden Anruf

Of course they are a little late. Article does offer several REASONS for the increases in rates (one-time charge for all incoming).

NOTE: if I am reading correctly, the article says T-MO USA (and others) blocks calls to 432 numbers. Did you try calling via TUYO to see what happens. Published info often varies from ACTUAL INFO.

Stan

Interesting, but I need a translation... I can't understand everything in "germanGOOGLE" :lol:

Yes, +423 has a lot of troubles... please follow this thread -> http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/inte...it-thread.html

partial "naimon" translation
 

Google translations are unintelligible.

Try this for a partial:

Rate change at UM: 19 cents setup fee on every call.

Incoming fees applied for a short time even if the phone was off
...
Problems in transitioning rates
...
UM423: Balance inquiry remains free
...
Possible background for price increases

The reason for the price hike could come from among others UM's extremely low rates for roaming. Incoming calls were free even though the rates offered (for outbound-inbound mix) was only marginally more than the outbound-inbound mix calculation. Connections to Jersey cards were available at prices similar to landlines. The best call-by-call operator is asking 1 cent rates to British landlines and 10 cents to British mobiles. The rate UM pays for that internconnect is unknown. If a call is routed to the voicemail, which is being hosted by Materna in Dortmund, Germany, additional costs are incurred by UM. UM must factor these into its own cost structure. UM customers who only received calls or used external callbacks were hardly profitable for UM.

Calls to FL at the high premium rate paid to Telcom FL make the calculation much easier. Until now the income was high enough to cover a call to China at no extra charge; since Jan 1 that rate increased to 69 cents per minute and require the 19 cent sutup fee.

Afficionados were struck to learn that UM+ customers in EU Belgium were no longer in the "free" incoming zone. It is entirely possible that providers are using targeted price increases to put the brakes on UM's attractive roaming tarifs. UM423 customers are not being charged a per minute fee in Belgium, although they must pay the 19 cent setup fee.

UM roaming conditions markedly worsen
.....
One difficulty is that UM423 SIMs are only registering on E-plus....
There were times with UM423 cards would register on all networks in Germany. We guess that German operators would like to keep the unwelcome competition from UM off their backs and have either terminated their roaming agreements or they find UM roaming rates they have to pay too high [and refuse to allow SIMs to register].

Btw hrgajek is the author of the linked teltarif-article, which is also based on the information on this board.

I'd be interested to hear about calling a Jersey mobile at the same price as a landline. From a BT landline in UK the rate is ~29 pence a minute, and other providers worldwide have higher rates to this range than other +447, which doesn't quite support the idea of UM's difficulties arising solely from a share of low incoming rates. Perhaps one or two questions should be addressed to the call-by-call operator ...

I suppose the comment was referring to callthrough services and that is why it cited the call by call provider.

As for the low rates to Jersey mobiles....

I just translate. I suspect it is as Prion suggests. In any event, most rates to Jersey mobiles are lower than to FL mobiles.

Stan

Hello,

Thank you, that my article at Teltarif was interesting for you. It was so late, as it needed a lot of research, to check out whats going on and what works and what doesn't work.

I used in both cases a *german* T-Mobile-DE SIM Card logged on to T-Mobile USA or logged on to T-Mobile UK and tried to call +423.

But these tests were made in Summer '07 maybe they have fixed it until now.

I'll travel in February to Barcelona (MWC) and will try it there with various SIM-Cards.

Yes, very interesting article.

I was having problems sending SMS to my FL SIM from T-MO USA, my home carrier. I like to test things out BEFORE a trip. I cannot remember exactly when this was, but I posted the UM and possibly T-MO USA responses here somewhere. It was probably in the summer of 2007. I do not believe I tried in 2008 because of my prior failed attempts.

T-MO had blacklisted several countries, including FL, as suspicious of fraud. No point in arguing with the customer service rep - just company policy. The idea is totally preposterous, if you ask me. So T-MO refused to deliver an SMS to a number of countries because they thought these messages could be used in some fraudulent scheme. Turns out they should have been blocking SMS to and within the USA in view of all the financial fraud taking place right under their noses!

Stan

It looks like some of the german call-by-call providers didnt realize that this number range is a mobile phone and gave us the rate for a UK landline. I dont know if there are any providers left who didnt learn the difference by paying a huge bill to their carriers yet ;-)

Chris

Wow, I had NO idea that they were now charging a .19 setup fee for even INCOMING calls. I DID receive a new email last year in December that there were some NEW TARRIFS but not that a NEW CHARGE for every single call was going to be levied

Guys,

See my other post about United Mobile selling +423......