Hello,

meanwhile we are in end of March, GT-SIM is already out since November last year... I would like to take the opportunity to ask about your experiences with GT-SIM.

There is already a GT-SIM thread opened in this forum, but it's quite old, quite long and not always on-topic. So I decided to open a new thread, asking about your experiences with GT-SIM.

For me, I have to say that I cannot complain, incoming calls work fine (no CLIP yet, this is because for German subscribers, calls are routed through MCN Worldcom switch in Hamburg and there is still a SS7 patch missing, which should have been installed in February this year). As far as I remember, for UK subscribers, CLIP is working?

There was also a change when calling GT-SIM: in the beginning, caller heard a prompt "please wait, while we connect your call" and was already charged for this.

This changed, several months ago, and it seems, that calling GT-SIM is not charged anymore, when the subcriber does not answer.

In GT Web-Interface, there are also some improvements: mailbox can now be enabled and disabled online.

Outgoing calls are working fine. SMS works fine, but still not charged :wacko: :blink: :lol: :( - same to GPRS (where available). I can establish WAP connection, but no Internet IP-connection. GPRS seems not to be charged, either.

But as Germany is not a very "exotic" country, it would be interesting to know about experiences in countries more far away from Europe. Where have you guys already used your GT-SIM? How were your experiences? Has anybody travelled to "exotic countries" outside Europe, using GT-SIM? Asia? South Africa? Americas?

Thanks a lot and regards,
Klaus

OK, I'll respond here instead of the other thread. I have been reading this site for a while and decided that the GT-Sim card was what I wanted for an upcoming trip from the US to Europe. I had a Sony/Ericsson T39m phone and got the card.

I initially had problems making calls. I could recieve calls OK. After some comminication with GT customer service, I changed phones to a Ericsson T68i and now can both make and recieve calls.

I have yet to be able to fully test SMS, as any that I have sent have not been recieved, and my normal US phone is CDMA and has not been able to get any messages from the GT phone.

After my trip, I will re-post about the experience I have in Europe.

The service is actually quite intriguing as the calls are cancelled at your phone and a SMS message is sent to the GT_SIM gateway which calls you back and connects you with the party you wanted to call.

So far I like the service.


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Jeff

Ok I will post as well. I could not make calls or have I been able to make calls here in the U.S.

I contacted CS and they called me on the phone so I know it works. I had old firmware so I had my 6230 flashed. Still it does not make calls out.

It flashes called not allowed. I wonder if it is because of 850 band. It seems like it would work on 1900. Like the poster before me. I have tried to send a SMS, but I did not receive it. I am also on CDMA here in the states. My Hop works fine.

I will be going to Kyrgyzstan in May. I will be in UK for several hours I will work on it and try to call from there. [FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][

It's nothing to do with the band if you are getting a network connection. It must have been roaming with Cingular or Tmobile.

I put it on T-mobile. Like I said they called me. The CS was supposed to send me a SMS never received it.

Go into your phone settings for SMS and change the gateway from ending in 77 to 55. That was the instructions that you were going to get in the SMS from GT -SIM.

To further see if it is a phone issue, send a sms to this number: +447624803766, (this is one of GT-SIM's SMS gateways) with the text in the message like this: *1*+xxxxxxx

Where the x's are the country code and number you want to call. Use the "star 1 star plus" as the prefix for the number. This instructs the gateway to call you back and connect to the number in the message. This is the information I was given to be able to use a phone that is not on their approved hardware list, the Ericsson t39m.

good luck!


Edit: I was also getting the same error you are with the restricted calling message. I thought I needed a password from GT-SIM to unlock (allow) outgoung calls. It appears that they do this on the SIM and then format and send a sms with the attempted number. Then the sms gateway calls you back and connects you with the number you tried to call.

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Jeff

GT-sim has worked fine for me in the US (it's too expensive for general use, but great for SMS) and, less exotically, it's worked fine in the Isle of Man and Ireland.

It also started working in late february in Mexico (Manx Telecom added Mexico roaming in early Feb). However, on a more recent trip it stopped working - so did another callkey card, so it looks like a Manx Telecom roaming problem.

Other than in Mexico, it's the card I find most reliable, especially for SMS.

Hmm, one can expect this. Since Callkey uses SMS call triggering, reliability of SMS is the crucial point of the solution :).

BTW, AFAIK the very first roaming prepaid (from Spain? :unsure: ) also used SMS triggering setting up outgoing calls, but those SMSes were typed in the standard way, without sophisticated SIM applications involved :).

These are network or CallKey functions, not GT-SIM.

I am interested in GT-SIM, but I have some questions that are not answered by the FAQ on their web site.


1- is GT-SIM prepaid or postpaid? How do you pay? By credit card? What's the minimum amount?

2- In their FAQ there is an answer that says that GT-SIM calls are billed 60/60, and 60/1 for Business plans. What are these business plans?

Postpaid, by credit card. It's debited monthly, no debit if no transactions (so minimum is zero). It's billed in Euros from Gibraltar.

I think the business plan involves a monthly subscription, I don't think they're promoting that yet.

Thanks RTuesday.

How does the SIM work? I like the idea of a postpaid SIM, if it works well. I currently own a Riiing SIM that always worked flawlessly with my old Nokia 8210.

I'm no expert on these things, just a user. I dial the number, it calls me back and completes the call. Somebody mentioned it does it all via SMS internally.

I haven't been a heavy user of it (apart from SMS) because I've been in the US for a while where it's a bit expensive to use for voice. However, it has worked fine whenever I've needed it (with the one exception of roaming in Mexico, which is very new and unreliable, a Manx Telecom problem).

The only phones I've tried it on are both very basic - Siemens A60, A56.

What I wrote is the instructions I was given by GT-SIM customer service (Markus Hauschild) to get my Ericsson T39 to be able to use their service. I do not know anything about a Callkey service.

As far as the service goes, I was on London and Prague last week and had great reception and had no problems making calls in either location. I roamed on O2, Orange and another in London and T-Mobile and ET-CK while in Prague. The couple of tests I made in the US have also worked well, but as is mentioned before, the cost of calls while in the US is a little expensive.

As for the payment of the service when you visit the GT-SIM website, you can choose a pre-paid or postpaid account. I also chose the postpaid as I did not want to worry about trying to get a re-charge at anytime.

So far I like the service. I was in Brugge about three years ago and used a different plan that just plain did not work. It was on a phone that only had 900mHz reception, but I always had problems finding service.

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Jeff