Long Expiry US card with Roaming needed
 

Apologies in advance if this has been covered before, but I can't find any references to my need.

I shuttle between US and Australia a couple times a year. I would like a prepaid US card with US number on which I can get texts or phone calls when in Australia. I have looked at a Passport card from one vendor, but it says US number is deactivated after 7 days from last use. It goes on to say that it can be reactivated online or via customer support. This doesn't really cut it for me to reactivate via web every week.

I guess I could go on a plan with one of the big players, but this would cost me a lot.

Any advice?

I don't know of any US prepaid that supports roaming in Australia. You can get a T-Mobile prepaid to extend the expiration for a year. After you first add a $100 top-up you get "Gold Reward" status which extends your expiration to 365 days. After that you only need to add $10/year to reextend the expiration.

I might suggest a Google Voice number which gives you incoming SMS but I believe it must be forwarded to a US cellular number. You might also look at the new international offerings from Yackie or Telna. They are supposed to offer a US number which can receive calls and SMS.

Or put the TMobile SIM in a "Hotspot at Home" capable phone and leave it connected to wifi.

It's the text forwarding that is hard. Even within a country or network you can't forward text messages (with the exception of Goggle Voice - somebody correct me if I am wrong).

The US prepaids generally only have voice forwarding (if any) to US numbers. So before you leave you need to remember to set the forwarding to another US number. You would pay US airtime on the forwarded call, make sure you have some way to recharge it from outside the country.

The US number you forward to can be a US VOIP number such as free one from ipkall.com, which you forward (free) to the SIP address of a home voip service (such as Pennytel in Australia), or something like mysipswitch, from where you then forward to an Australian mobile (AUD 0.10/min with Pennytel).

Not all US prepaid have voice forwarding, 7-11 Speakout does (at least mine do), and they have 365 days expiry. But I always forget to set the forwarding when crossing the border!

US SIM that works in Austrailia
 

This product is brand new [and ekit claims they have it in stock and are shipping]. It is still a little early to know how that 7 day thing will work. I have a SIMple Calling SIM that works in USA and Canada and it does not seem to deactivate even though they said it would.

You are right about Google Voice. It forwards SMS to a US cellular number but I don't believe that it will forward SMS to e-mail. Google Voice will also forward voice calls to Gizmo which you can answer on a computer anywhere in the world.

As I mentioned earlier. Your solution may be found in one of the new offerings from either Yackie or Telna. They are supposed to have US numbers which deliver SMS anywhere. You might be able to give out your Google Voice number, forward incoming calls to Gizmo and incoming SMS to the roaming SIM. It might also be possible to configure these cards to forward incoming calls via VOIP and/or SMS via e-mail. We have to wait and see the details.

I agree with the Hotspot @Home with T-Mobile idea. T-Mobile prepaid is cheap to keep running and it has really good US coverage. If you don't need immediate access to phone calls and SMS in Australia, just timely access, then being able to use it via WiFi is pretty practical.

These new hybrid SIMs with UK and US numbers might work well, too. I don't know what the cost to use them in Australia will be, but you'll apparently be able to get SMSes and voice calls there.

Another option is to try to get a Google Voice number. You can receive SMS by it. You can check your SMSes online, perhaps even by a mobile phone. Voice calls can be forwarded to your Australian number when in Oz, and your US prepaid when in the US.

Hello,
just a quick note about receiving SMS on telna Mobile numbers. As of today this is not available yet, as we are still in interop testing with the SMS service provider, and we're looking at probably another month or so before the inbound SMS service is operational.
The good news is that will work with the existing telna Mobile numbers we are assigning today, and forwading the messages via email will be one of the offered features. We did not think about forwarding messages to another phone via SMS, but we may offer this is it makes economical sense (meaning we have to charge enough for it to cover our costs, and it still has to make sense for the customer)

Jean

Google Voice doesn't yet forward to numbers outside the US (and Canada?), so a US number (such as ipkall.com) that connects elsewhere or forwards is still needed, at present.

Google Voice does ring directly to Gizmo, which allows you to take the call as VOIP or the Gizmo call can be forwarded to any other number. Odd that they don't ring to Google Talk.

True, although that limits you to Gizmo rates, with a ipkall number you can still terminate it on VOIP, or forward it via the provider that has the most suitable rates. For this usage, forwarding to an Australian mobile, it'd be nearly 20c/min on Gizmo compared to 7c/min (US) on a local provider like Pennytel.

The way Gizmo credit expires a year after purchase has always annoyed me so I avoid them. I see the minimum purchase is now smaller, but before when it was $25 it made it an effective annual fee for low users. (of course really low users like me are not profitable, so driving me away with expiry dates works for them!).

Thanks for all the info. I would dearly like to get a Google Voice account, but they're not giving them out at the moment. Any advice on where to get one, would be appreciated.

I am happy to use a US SIM in a spare phone in Australia, as the frequency of calls would only be a couple of calls per month, if that, and I have a spare phone. I have an Australian mobile for local use. The long period out of the US is my difficulty, I don't want a contract, I am happy to pay a reasonable fee.

T-Mobile's your answer then. $100 in it gives you a one-year validity period. $10 a year after that keeps it going. (This assumes low usage, of course, but it's cheap to keep it going even with very low usage.)

But it does not roam.

True, but get a Samsung T409 off eBay for $30 (or a better UMA phone for more) and you can use it with hotspots around the world at the US minute price.

It's a slightly fiddly solution, but it does work, and there are no roaming fees.

It does not need to. He can call the 805 voicemail number to get the messages, or use the phone via UMA.

US prepaid that roams overseas does not exist. Canadian roaming is rare enough.

Yah. ATT roams in Mexico, but not Canada. TMobile roams in Canada, but not Mexico. Go figure.

Tmobile works in Mexico and Canada. I was in Cozumel in March and used my tmobile payg there without problems. It goes back and forth between telcel and Movistar. I also used tzones without any problems. Good to be able to view CNN, ESPN, etc. freely.

Hi, I am the CEO of ekit, the provider of the Passport card. The US service is required to be activated to make outbound calls in the US. It stays active if you make a call or send a text once a week. You can re-activate by dialing a shortcode 870 from the mobile or going to the web. You can receive calls to the US service indefinitely, even if the service isn't active, provided you make a call or send a text at least once every 9 months. I hope that helps. Please send through any additional questions you may have.

I'm happy to let you know that US prepaid, that roams overseas does exist. ekit recently launched a dual US and UK number service which is prepaid (press release attached). You can receive calls on both the US and UK numbers regardless of your location. The service provides both cost effective roaming in 130 countries. Let me know if you'd like any more information on the service.

This needs to be communicated well to relieve worry.
 

Another 870 question!
 

From the ekit web site: 'How to get started' for one of the SIMs:
Does the '870' short code only work outside of the US and Canada?

Yes, the '870' short code works outside the US and the UK. It works from all countries where service is provided. We wanted customers to be able to activate the US & Canada service from overseas prior to arriving in the US or Canada, so it's working on arrival.