Piranha sim question
 

Hi, sorry in advance if this is the wrong place to ask this question, but I am hoping someone with more experience will have an answer for me.

I have a Canadian Samsung Note II (Telus) that I unlocked using the free popular method that can easily be found online. I actually bought it outright directly from the Samsung store myself. I could not wait the 3 months grace period for Telus to unlock because my parents were leaving prior. I got the phone for them thinking it would be easier for them to send me texts.

Anyway, on the first trip, I gave them an old ekit sim (the one where you have to enter a passcode), and it worked fine.
I later lost that ekit sim.

They recently went on another trip, and I ordered a new ekit sim and a piranha sim. They could not use the new ekit sim at all (this sim asks you North America or Rest of World, instead of a passcode), it would not roam, and the piranha sim keeps giving them "invalid sim". I have since found the old ekit sim, and it still works fine. Sometimes the new ekit sim will work at home, but it is slow to register? I don't trust that the new ekit sim will work reliably abroad with my Note II.

All three sims work on my old unlocked LG P500H though!

I have asked Pirahna support for help, but they think the Note II is not fully unlocked? I have asked Telus, and they say if another sim works, it is fully unlocked. Also, since I have cancelled my monthly plan with Telus, they can't do anything for me anyway?

Is it true that my Note II is not fully unlocked? are there levels of unlocking??

I have also noticed that the Piranha sim chip (the gold part) is bigger than ekit or Telus sims. Maybe the Piranha is just not compatible with the Note II? (The Piranha tech said they have not had problems with the Note II?)

I am interested in the mysims2go, but am worried it won't work either.

I just want a stable sim that will work most of the time. Heck, the new ekit sim didn't even work in the U.S.!

If anyone has some insight, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello. My qualifications to answer this question are that I have
a Piranha SIM and more than two ekit SIMs.
I have no knowledge of the phones mentioned.
Why did you need to unlock it? You bought it from a Samsung store and not Telus.
Are you sure it was locked in the first place? Did 'unlocking' it mess something up?
You don't specify which ekit SIMs you have. I suspect that you needed to do 1xxxx or 2xxxx or 3xxxx to choose the location you are in. xxxx=passcode.
This quote below from ekit seems to make clear what needs to be done.
SIMs seem to work. Must be the phone.

Its not Telus' phone. [Unless somehow it is?] Why are you asking them?
Do you have any SIM besides Telus and ekit and Piranha to test if it is unlocked and working? Did the method you use to unlock it involve putting a SIM other than Telus' in it and did it say stick in an unlocking code?
I am not sure if it was locked to begin with. Is there anyone you can ask about if the free popular method has issues with unlocked or locked phones?
If it fits it should not be an issue.
If you choose 'North America' does it still not work?
Tell us[no pun intended] what ekit SIMs you have.

Hi rfranzq, thanks for the reply!

I tried to initially buy this phone from Bestbuy, but they only sell on contract.
So I went to the Samsung store, and they sold it outright, but I was given a choice of Bell or Telus. So I chose Telus. Honestly, I am a simple cheapo prepaid user, and did not do enough research :rolleyes:. I just needed it before they left. My parents are old, and I thought this was much easier for them to use because of the size and especially because of the stylus. Anyway, I was told I could call Telus and request the unlock code from them since the phone is bought outright. Later I find there is a three month grace period I must wait, but they were leaving before that, so I did the easy unlock method.

The unlock I used is supposed to be permanent, involves no rooting, and doesn't void the warranty (because no rooting). It was definitely locked prior to the unlock.

Regarding ekit: I did not even think about them being different!!! I think you figured it out for me!!! I logged into both accounts, the old sim was Passport PLUS, and the new sim is just Passport. There is no Passport Plus on the website anymore, and that's why I chose the Passport, unless it is well hidden on their website? The passport plus sim makes you select geography by entering either passcode xxxx (international) or 2xxxx (North America). The new passport sim doesn't use the passcode.

I can only test at home in Canada, but so far... The old passport plus sim registers fast. The new passport sim is either slower to register or doesn't register at all. The piranha is the one that gives me the invalid sim message.

The piranha works in the LG unlocked phone, and that's actually what they ended up using. The Piranha in the LG was the one that worked (not all the time though).
The new Ekit passport sim in the Note II would not roam at all.
This was a South American cruise around the horn from Brazil to Los Angeles.

I really want the piranha to work in the note, but it just isn't :down:
I think I will try ordering mysims2go and onesimcard to try out, and go through the pain of teaching them how to change out sims. Seriously... it will be difficult...

*edit*
I thought I'd mention, they don't use the phone on the ship. They only use it at the ports, on land where it shouldn't be a problem to connect. They say they also did wait a long time for the roaming, but it just won't work with the note. Surely it shouldn't take more than 10minutes to connect?

Also, if you have recommendations for other travel sims, please let me know! I want to be prepared for the next time they travel.

*edit 2*
When I tried the new Ekit and Piranha sims, I connected the Note to my home wifi, and it did an automatic software update.
I only noticed when a lot of software appeared and the layout changed a bit *sigh*
I read that there are a lot of bugs with android 4.3, maybe this is part of the problem?

*edit 3*
I forgot to mention, when I tested out the new Ekit passport, it really doesn't like me selecting North America for some reason. It works better when selecting Rest of world, but of course I get charged a lot more.

If you log onto your ekit account with the Passport Plus number it will have the instructions under 'My Service'.
'Getting started' shouod at least get your phone turned on. You shall find info for your other ekit SIM should be there also.
Let the troubled ekit SIM try overnight. Do you have the ability to manually choose networks? If you do, if you try overnight have it on 'automatic. Also, I would be cautious about sending any SIM that did not work in Canada with your parents.
Why can't the LG be used in the future? [It Works!]. And the phone should work on the 'Rest of World' setting except in California.

But only in Canada. Send it on the trip. And the phone should work on the 'Rest of World' setting except in California.

Send as many SIMs as possible. Do teach the user how to swap SIMs if necessary.

Hi rfranzq,

I think I will end up buying a new cheap world phone for them as the backup.
I got the Note II because it's bigger and easier for them to send me messages with. Bigger text and the handrecognition with the stylus is so much easier for them, like writing on a notepad.

With the lg, it's too hard for them to send me messages, but at least they can phone when it connects. I even have a hard time typing on it with my big yucky thumbs. The lg is actually my normal phone. I've been using a really old school flip one while they were away. Also, I don't think the lg works in Korea or Japan, which are places they want to go in the future.

I will definitely teach them about the sim card swapping. I tried before, but its really hard teaching some people about things like this...

Please report back after the 'test'.

I tried posting in a canadian forum too, and it may be that I did not unlock properly? In any case, I have done some research, and if I can find a Huawei? Y300 prepaid for cheap, I will try to unlock that and use that as a backup. I think that will work in Asia.

In any case, I have ordered a mysims2go, and a onesimcard.
I was also considering xxsim as it seems popular, but I will see how the other two are first.

When they arrive, I will post whether they worked or not in my weird Note II, and if they work in my LG. Hopefully I can also find another cheap phone to unlock that will/should work in Asia.

Except for Japan any phone that has the 4 basic bands (800,900, 1800, 1900) will work overseas in Asia.

South Korea requires HSPA well.

If it helps, my Piranha sim works in a Moto G dual sim within the USA. The Moto G US and International also have the right HSPA band (2100) for Japan and Korea.

I did have to get a Piranha sim replacement after I sent mine over to China with relatives in an old flip phone... It died somehow with no visible physical damage. The bad sim failed to register in all of my GSM phones.

You could also consider a Nexus 7 3G. No Voice but you can root Nexus 7 3G 4.4+ to work with sms. A used 4.3 o/s Nexus 7 3G should have sms working out of the box.

So I found the Huawei at Walmart for $79.99, unlock cost about $5.50

I'm pretty impressed by this phone. Much better than my old LG (so far!).
The piranha registers on this phone and seems to work.

Now for a few tests...
both ekit sims register on the Huawei. However, the messaging is exhibiting the same behavior when they were on the Note II, which makes me think it's an ekit-Canada problem.

1. both ekit sims will send voice calls to my normal Telus prepaid sim.
2. both ekit sims can recieve voice calls from my Telus prepaid sim.
3. both ekit sims will send texts to my Telus prepaid sim.
4. both ekit sims will NOT recieve texts from my Telus prepaid sim, no matter what network I select (Telus-automatic/Rogers/Bell) - also having problems connecting to the Rogers network.
5. piranha has no problems sending/recieving calls, sending/recieving texts. It automatically selects the Telus network.

The Note II specs directly from the Telus B.C. website state:
Network LTE: 700MHz (Band 17) / 2100MHz (Band 7) HSPA: 2100MHz (Band I) / 1900MHz (Band II) / 850MHz (Band V) / 900MHz (Band VIII) GSM: 850MHz / 900MHz / 1800MHz / 1900MHz

I think the Note II should have worked in Korea. I found a post where someone said they did the same unlock as me, and it was confirmed working in Korea. His model was SGH-I317 (AT&T I think). Mine is SGH-I317M. I am suspecting the ekit sims... I don't think I can trust them as my main sims now, especially the new one since it would not even connect in the U.S. on the last trip.

I will run a few more tests when the other two sims show up.

Are you sending these texts to the US or UK phone number or both??
[And using the +1xxxyyyzzzz and correct UK format +447??????????]?

Same question, although it is working for the Piranha SIM?
Both numbers or just one of them?

I tried both US and Uk numbers, and I put the +1 or +44
I also tried replying to the messages that were sent successfully from the ekit, even though the number formats are the same as me typing it in manually.

I totally forgot about the sms problem, because I was reading their texts on the ekit webpage when you log in. Basically my parents would try to text me, and I could see the history of what they wrote even though I didn't get it directly on my phone (kind of nice backup actually - because they would often make mistakes either phoning or messaging, they really arn't tech savvy). I noticed this particular problem on the 2nd sim when I was testing it before they left, but it connected at home, voice worked, so I wasn't very worried. I didn't suspect it wouldn't connect at all on the last trip. It's a good thing I sent my LG with the piranha as backup! Now after this testing, I have found 1st sim is doing the same thing (when I originally got it, it worked fine with messaging, sending and recieving).

Another option to send SMS to Piranha
 

Another option to send SMS to Piranha to test or perhaps easier for your parents to send is from their website under features:
http://www.piranha-mobile.com/sim-ca...text-messaging

Test both numbers. If your parents do the web at all this is probably an easier way to do things and it is free to send.

Also free to receive on the Piranha SIM.

Hi rfranzq, lets not go there with the online messaging system and my parents. I've tried so hard to teach them how to connect a netbook and later tablet (because I thought it might be easier - WRONG) to wifi, but I've yet to see them successfully do it by themselves while travelling. :chair: haha

So... I got the onesimcard just now! Activated, popped it in the Note II. It takes a few minutes to register, but it seems to work!

First time connecting, it used Bell. Messaging back and forth with the Huawei/Telus phone works. (Forgot to check voice)

Second time connecting, it used Rogers. Messaging back and forth with the Huawei/Telus phone works. Voice works.

So far I am happy!

*edit* I will report back with results when the other sim comes

Oh, sorry. I was thinking that you were the one traveling when I said this and that they could send the messages to you from their computer.

So, the mysims2go sim came yesterday.

Not a very good experience.
I had issues with connecting to a network, and tried to call the 24/7 csr U.S. number, but it just rang and no one picked up!

Waited until today, tried calling the U.S. number again, same thing.
Tried the 24/7 U.K. csr number, same thing! No one picks up??

Anyway, this sim won't register on Telus or Bell.
It will only register on Rogers, and it may take a while.

It seems to autoselect the Rogers 2G, but I can't complete a call on it for some weird reason. Then I looked in the sim toolkit - advanced info, and the global callback is set to - OFF. I turn it on using a code (from the info sheet they sent with the sim). However, then I loose the 2G connection :confused:

So I restart the phone. Make it select Rogers 3G this time. I check the global callback, and it is set to - OFF again. I turn it on, and try calling my landline. This time it finally works.

This sim is too hard for my parents to troubleshoot. It troubles me that the 24/7 csr line doesn't work...

Is this sim working for anyone else?

*edit* and I was supposed to be sent a pin number for online account use when I first use the sim. I never got it - I think because the thing selected Rogers 2G and there seems to be a problem with it using that network. *ugh*

*edit 2* well! how about that? turns out the offline message I sent through their website was replied to very quickly! Got the pin, and they tell me I wasn't charged. I'm much happier now, but I don't think my parents will be able to use this sim because they may have to fiddle with the settings - too hard for them.

mysims2go sim works great in several EU countries I used it

Not sure what you're looking for now, cirus5, since you seem to jump from Piranha to eKit to OneSimCard - my advice is to test them all and pick the one you like best :D I like Truphone as well, though it is probably the most expensive of them all.

However my experience with Piranha has been quite good, I just ordered a second one and tried to use it in the Netherlands the past 3 weeks. At first it wouldn't work, but after an evening mailing back and forth with Piranha's support, they managed to get it working. I found them pleasant and helpful.

As stated many times in these forums, and a lesson learned the hard way by some: NEVER top up a higher amount than you are prepared to lose: these companies come and go!