SIM only kit for $10!
http://beyondwirelessgsm.com/product...products_id=70

That's interesting but.... where are the rates?

There's a button marked "rates". :D

Like most US prepaids (except 7-11, which I have) it's got very short expiry times so there are monthly running costs. Cheapest is the $15 card online every 60 days, $7.50/month (similar to Virgin Mobile), 13c/min.

But there are no international rates shown (or even mentioned as being possible) which makes it less useful for visitors.

Note the coverage on the map. Seems to be generally a little better (more complete) than T-Mobile prepay. Still somewhat spotty in the wild west, however.

Stan

Wow, it seems I'm getting blind! :D

About the coverage, I think it roams on Cingular/AT&T, so it's surely better than T-Mobile, it's also dual band 850/1900.

Yes, correct. However......

There are RUMORS that T-MO prepaid will also have roaming and possibly also on 850. The postpay service coverage area has recently been expanded quite dramatically by some roaming agreements. Also T-MO is building towers like crazy.

Stan

The coverage is based on Cingular (on one of the pages, they mention a phone locked to Cingular will work). The coverage should be similar to 7-11/Circle-K, but the map seems a little worse than those (less coverage in the AZ/NV/CA area near Bullhead City, I-80 missing in northern Nevada, etc). Could just be an older map.

The really good point about the offer is the sim-only deal, normally hard to get, but the short expiry (and lack of published international rates so far) makes it less interesting.

They do mention roaming rates (4 x normal rate!) but don't show anywhere off-network that it will roam.

Hmmmm. I have not heard that rumor but I guess we could always start one. Perhaps that would lead to T-Mo prepaid roaming outside the US?

Perhaps RUMOR was the wrong word. In any event, postpaid T-MO US is expanding its coverage by:

1. Builiding new towers (native coverage applies to prepay also)
2. Roaming agreements (applies to postpay only AT THIS TIME), including 850.
3. Phones they sell on prepay often include the 850 band.

TRUE, I have read or seen nothing official, but one might read between the lines or connect the dots. One way to attract customers is to expand service. T-MO prepaid coverage is not what one might call extensive. Overall T-MO US is growing in terms of customers. They are the low price leader for one and have a good reputation as far as service. At one time not so long ago the T-MO website did not even MENTION the prepay option. It now does. It would be logical to attract prepay customers by expanding coverage. Certainly point 1 applies to prepay. Whether the other points will ever apply to prepay is an open question.

AFAIK T-Mo does not have any licenses for 850 spectrum. Then why the devil are they offering phones with the 850 band if they are not intending to use that feature?

One explanation might be that the manufactures (Nokia, Moto, Samsung) are providing 850 on these phones for Cingular anyway.

I doubt T-MO are thinking of allowing prepay to roam internationally and how much market appeal that would have. First and foremost would be IMHO the improvement of coverage nationally. My impression is that, given US prepay population, not many of those would travel abroad or even to MEX or CAN.

Stan

Along the Mexican border, the prepay market (in fact the entire economy!) is heavily Hispanic. The first US prepay to allow roaming in Mexico will do very well, there are hundreds of thousands of people who cross back and forth frequently or even daily (including many Americans who live in Mexico south of San Diego).

The Mexican prepaids have some limited roaming in the US, and even provide a list of places in the US where you can buy recharge cards, so the cross-border demand is there.

Post Pay T-Mo does have roaming coverage south of the border in both the CA and TX areas. I have also seen adds outside a Cingular store about international roaming, Europe, Mexico, and others.

I am not quite sure why US prepay will not roam. I can tell you the prepaid Fido Canada card I had did not roam in the US. I think you admitted MEX prepays do not roam here either or only on a limited basis. My guess is the companies just have not wished to discuss the matter FOR PREPAID. Suspect prepaid is only a small market segment in comparison to the post pay contracts.

Stan

Well, was looking at hofo and found this of the prepaid thread:

Yesterday, 21:58
Kar98's Avatar

Called customer service a few minutes ago to change my cell number. Kept minutes, gold rewards rates and 1yr expiration date, got converted to an actual local phone number, and was informed that (without me asking about it) off-network roaming will be introduced "in a few months".

==============

On the same thread here is another link see especially 6:

http://go4prepaid.blogspot.com/

T-Mobile To Go Developments (have to start somewhere)
Sorry, but I've been doing various things for the past several days and haven't caught this blog up to the changes made in the prepaid world on and around February 1st. I'll tackle T-Mobile To Go and Virgin Mobile tonight, with the others later.

First of all, T-Mobile's voicemail now works normally, namely that you get the specially-formatted voicemail message that lets you listen to a newly received message with just one button push. Nice...

Second, though little know, the $25 and $50 cards are now 166 and 500 minutes on Gold Rewards, respectively. I got all this info from a TMo rep, but sounds right.

Third, if you want to get free text messaging don't hope to keep it for too long; T-Mobile knows about the bug and is starting to work to patch it, or so I've heard. But it's not patched yet so have fun while it lasts...

Fourth, T-Zones is going to get bigger any day now. It'll still be free and not unlimited, but it will be larger than what it is right now.

Fifth, an account management system (but no call logs yet) will be added as well as an online photo album funtion (MMS charges apply, so it will cost 25 cents per photo uploaded) around the time the new T-Zones comes out.

Sixth, and probably the best of all, T-Mobile To Go will get (at the same time as it gets T-Zones and account management I think) free (yes free) roaming on Cingular's and Centennial Wireless's towers! Roaming in Mexico and Canada will also be available, albeit at an extra cost. Hey, I'll take 10 cents a minute with a $100 1-year card that's good almost everywhere where a normal, expensive, Tracfone GSM phone would have coverage. And no, there won't be any more fees for this...more on why I said that bit later...maybe tomorrow...

Stan

I've checked with Beyond and the prepaid GSM does NOT have international calling (i.e. you can't call internationally FROM the US), plus as usual no international roaming.

Makes it much less useful for visitors! Pity, as a sim-only pack would be very popular.

They are however launching a companion calling-card next month, to enable international calls. Sounds like an interesting price as well, I'm checking the details.

Visitors to the US, should they be brave enough to attempt to enter FORETRESS AMERIKA, should STILL be able to use callbacks or US or foreign calling cards with either local or toll free #s. Of course the user would incur both the international LD charge and the local charge.

Stan

yep, that's not too much - just my two cents

That's bad, I updated the page on this site...

And I see they added SMS rates which weren't on the site before! :D

Boost Mobile/Nextel does have limited prepaid roaming in Canada (on Telus Mobility you have PTT, SMS, MMS, and WAP but no phone calls) and in Baja Mexico there is full service at higher rates (surcharge of 69 cents US a minute for phone calls to USA and 10 cents a minute surcharge for PTT) : Baja Mexico prepaid coverage map . However this is using 800 Mhz Motorola Iden handsets.

This was interesting until I saw the coverage (three cities only, two of them on the border). Still, it is a rare case of a US prepaid roaming internationally, and is useful for commuters. (it would explain why the 7-11's in Calexico have Boost for sale but have never heard of their own Speakout).

I wonder if they realise titling a map "Baja, Mexico" is like titling a map of New York State "New, America".

If it can be found, the Beyond Wireless SIM-only kit would probably be the best solution for the visitor to the US who already owns an unlocked quad-band phone.

Just ordered a Beyond Wireless SIM chip for myself. The price per minute, no daily surcharge, and coverage where I needed it was an irresistable combination. Will swap as needed with a Riiing chip in my phone.

I agree it would be good for international visitors to the US, but there is one sticky point:

Their website says "Shipping & Returns: We do not accept international orders.
US ORDERS ONLY" on their shipping policies page. :thumbdown:

Hopefully, a lot of retailers will be interested in this product so an international visitor could still buy a kit at a convenience store or cell phone kiosk in a mall, and call a tollfree number to activate it. Maybe it could also be indirectly purchased through a web retailer that would ship abroad. :thumbup:

Well, it's lucky I never saw that, otherwise I wouldn't have sent this email

Hello. Can your SIM cards be ordered by people outside the USA? - and
delivered abroad or only in USA? I notice that your account page has a
possibility for foreign addresses, but a US state still appears by default.
Thanks

reply -

Our website and UPS could technically allow anyone almost anywhere to
purchase our products and have them shipped to them - but our SIM cards only
work with Cingular's North American GSM network.

Thank you for contacting Beyond GSM!

Based on the response I think they are politely discouraging non-US orders(maybe they got burned in the past on international orders). You could still get an Oxygen, Locus or Callplus sim card from the ecallplus website Ecallplus Link that would work on the same Cingular network. From the order form page on the ecallplus website, they apparently have no problems in accepting foreign orders (plus they include international long distance to many countries).

Very good chart that someone came up with on major US prepaid plans that include coverage in the Northeastern US: Cell Guru Prepaid chart

Based on my needs, I went with Beyond GSM, because they can activate a local US number for me that ecallplus can not(trying to avoid having family members dial long distance to reach me for domestic phone calls), their rates are slightly lower, and their minimum usage per month is slightly lower. I'll see if it's as good as it sounds when I get my sim from Beyond GSM.

I don't think he meant to discourage - it's just we were competing to see who was being daft - did I really think I could use the SIM for roaming / did he think I wanted to?

Strangely, Oxygen/Callplus told me last June they would not export
"We are unable to ship overseas for security reasons"
(I was asking for a friend last year).

I did look at the XE one, and wondered about the package of free incoming calls - so why not use callback? The maths got too convoluted for someone with no plans to visit in the near future.

Interesting that some US companies are getting so tough on US sim card exports. Probably the easiest and cheapest way is just to buy a prepaid SIM from a cellular carrier's store or an independent dealer when visiting the states. It's got to be easier if you are there in person and can flash a passport to prove your identity.