Will Tru SIM work & rates on Cruise ships????
 

It has been over a year since I last asked this question so I think it will be appropriate to ask anew.

In December 2010 i wrote::
Tru works on cruise ships, Mexico rates - 22-12-2010, 20:56
My sister will be flying to Japan and then taking a cruise on
Holland America to South Korea, Russia, Alaska, and ending at Vancouver, BC, Canada.

I will have her call me a few times so we can check rates.

I have just sent two email to Tru and their CS responses indicate a profound misunderstanding on how things work.

Maybe it'll be interesting to you to travel, see the link from "xxsim" (+372,estonia) and other GSM Company.

Seanet On Board

https://xxsim.com/en

https://xxsim.com/en/rates

first report
 

She seems to be able to receive SMSes onboard the ship at sea[for free]. She has not been able to send from the ship.
[She sends emails so that works out for me of essential free communication.]

The only charges on the Tru account have been two 84cent charges for DATA.
I suspect she accidently started the browser. I assume this happened on a Russian network at Vladivostok.
She does not know enough to have intentionally used the data.

second report
 

While receiving SMSes worked sending did not. I am not sure if she tried to call when at sea.

SMSes sent from Alaska, Kodiak city/island specifically, were 20cents each.

On a related issue::

Well, here are the results of my '89' day experiment when I use my 8 Tru cards to make sure they stay alive. A couple of months ago there was an email saying that for US calls that the minimum amount of time would be one minute. Previously, it had been 30 seconds. [17cents for a full minute and 9cents for half a minute.] Well now it seems to be half true. In the USA calling is now 9cents for calls less than half a minute and receiving a call is 17cents for a minute or less.

re the cruise ship question, was on an NCL cruise last winter, and the Trusim did not work with the ship's system - could see it, but not register.

I was surprised that I could get phone signal on Tru at around 15 miles offshore, including Mexico and Cuba.
Also, Shipboard internet is far too slow for VOIP.

Standard GSM has a maximum range of 35 km or about 18 nm. At that point it hits a brick wall. You can see the signal farther out but not actually use it. There is an extended range GSM, which is not very common, that has a much longer range. To use ER GSM you pretty much need an external directional antenna. I believe it only supports voice and SMS, not GPRS. ER GSM is most often found along coasts where it reaches out to serve marine interests. UMTS has no hard range limit but just fades out of usability.

new reduced rates within europe for Tru: Tru SIM pricing

press release: New European Union Roaming Rates Taking Effect Today for Tru SIM Customers TruTower | Unofficial Tru (formerly Truphone) News, Reviews, and more

note that Tru is only giving the lower rates to EU residents, not those with primary residence in US or Australia. (I posted this on the Europe thread of the forum). I think Tru is the only international sim card to discriminate like this, a real pain. Don't think they would make it easy for me to switch the sim to be UK-primary, either!

In order for you to switch the SIM to be UK-primary, Tru would require your payment information to be based in the UK. A little workaround I discovered. If you have any friends in the UK who would be willing to loan you their payment information (or somehow obtain a UK prepaid credit card attached to a UK address), you would be able to change your SIM information to be UK primary and take advantage of the lower rates. ;)

It's not easy, it's inconvenient, but it does work.

tru is crap a lot of times anyway. I am currently in Jamaica. They are charging for incoming calls that never reached me. And are charging $1.71, instead of the $0.50 listed on their website.

new rate checker from Tru: Tru SIM pricing

Finally with rates in €

Tru has been good for me, as I travel a lot from US to UK. Has worked as a spare for family visiting in the US as well.
The new rates are clearer, at least. I did notice that calling from the US to European cells is really expensive, 40c/min, most discount services are 12-20c.

Tru has alienated me by reducing their roaming rates in Europe for Europeans, but not for anyone outside. Only company to discriminate that way. Then they ran a blog post touting their faith in free markets to bring down rates, when it's clear that only the new EU regulations forced them to. Chutzpah, we call it.

I've decided to try Piranha (see separate thread under international sim cards)

I agree. That makes no sense. To be able to pull that off, it means their billing system will have to factor in the address/location that the sim was purchased in. I suspect most people in the EU will just roam on their local sims anyway, unless tru's rates are much cheaper.

Edit: I just checked their rates in the UK for someone living in the US. It's quoted in US $ and is just about equivalent to the rates for someone living in the UK, which is quoted in pounds. So, for a US traveler using tru in the UK is not bad. However, it's more expensive in any other EU country.

yes i agree, Piranha mobiles is much chepear than Tru and reliable.
they offer a true UK number too.

Bossman, did you ever get a resolution to this? About to head off to the UK and hoping I get billed for what is published on their website....

I did not bother to contact them. You'll probably be ok. They have since updated their rates page, which reflects what I was charged in Jamaica.

same thing happened to me with Truphone in Mexico, was billed a higher rate for incoming, they did credit it back after a phone call,
But never any billing problems in Europe or the UK. Only issue for me is that when I call others in the UK, the US primary number shows, which can cost someone a lot of money if they call back on that.