hello

I am leaving on 1 May for 8 week trip - 2 weeks in france, 3 days in Germany, 3 weeks in Croatia, 10 days in Italy and 5 days in England.

It is most impartant that I have a mobile number I can be contacted on by family at home in Australia.

I have an unlocked phone. Had considered United mobile (Vroam in Australia) but having trouble contacting them - and now possibly running out of time to get United Mobile card sent from Europe. The call back method of United Mobile also seems a bit complicated for my very technologically challenged husband to master!

I'm now wondering about getting a prepaid SIM in France and using that everywhere.

Can anyone let me know what would be a good SIM to purchase, the best place to get it (are theey available at Charles de Gaul airport?) and approx how much I would pay. Both my husband and I will have phones and may make occasional calls to each other eg if we lose each other!

As we will be making very few calls the cost of international roaming when in the other countries should not be an issue.

Many thanks

I still think united mobile is your best bet...you can buy the sim package directly off their web site at www.united-mobile.com....I received the sim pack in America within a week.

Thanks - was it difficult to use the call back.

My husband hates mobile phones.

Can you please describe how it works.

Thanks again

You dial the number you are calling...you get a message or something to the effect call not allowed....you hang up the phone.....seconds later your phone rings, you answer and you hear the ringing tone (ot busy tone) of the call having been made (sometimes the call is still going through)...

Couple united mobile with an account with callbackworld.....they give you a dedicated number in the USA..no matter where you are from or calling from. You follow the above and on the first call back you hear a ring tone and hang up...seconds later you get a 2nd callback you answer and a voice tells you to enter the number you are calling (you lead with the country code) followed by the number sign key now and the call goes through at very low rates (you can check their rates on their web site)....not a problem in the slightest (although I should warn you that from time to time, the callback on callbackworld comes too quickly for the phone to re-set and be able to receive calls but that doesn't seem to be as big a problem as once it was. You can always use the naitive calling function of united mobile if this is a problem.

I think that Matha described you the basic principles of mobile callback clearly enough.
Of course, using another callback service like callbackworld is nor necessary but it may cuts costs down significantly and protects you from running out of the prepaid balance (callbackworld charges directly your credit card).

Unfortunately, not only UM, but all "international SIMs" (with one, yet very expensive exception of Mobal) use some versions of callback when initiating calls.
But, if your husband doesn't want to "play" with callback, he can answer calls only, just in the "normal" way :)

Forgive me if this is a naive question; I'm just now learning about all this.

What is the advantage of a callback service like Callbackworld if you are, say, a United Mobile customer? The outgoing calling rates seem the same and sometimes higher than UM's rates.

Keith

This riiing seller is in Australia. I have used them to topup recently and they were extremely responsive.

http://www.riiing.com.au/

"same" On the contrary....

With the UM card anywhere where you have FREE incoming such as most of Europe, your rate is 14 cents per minute to US vs 39 euro cents PLUS the 25 euro cents setup fee.

Understand the concept of callbackworld with united mobile...

If you are in a UM zone 1 country where receiving calls is free, you make the triggering call to the US number they give you, hear a ringing tone and hang up. UM does not bill you as the call has not been completed. You then wait for the call back, now you are receiving on united mobile in a country with free reception of calls so you don't pay united mobile...you simply pay the rate listed on their web site from Liechtenstein to wherever you are calling....we know the rate from Liechtenstein to the US on callbackworld is 14?/US per minute timed in 6 second intervals to sweeten the deal....they will also give you for free a US 800 number with a pin that you can have people call if they have cheap rates ot the USA and you pay the same 14?/US per minute for usage.

What we all hope here is that the rate does not suddenly jump up but cbw has managed to hold the line for a while even though a competeing company, enlinea, now charges an astronomical 62?/minute US to call from Liechtenstein mobiles to the US and again remember no matter where you are the call rate is Liechtenstein mobile to.....

Hope that shows you the big advantage of cbw.

Thanks. I get it now. I understood the callback concept and UM free incoming. What I missed was that the callbackworld rate was for a call to a 423 number. I will be in the UK and France where the callbackworld's rates are not competitive. I was looking up France and the UK rates.

Thanks again

BTW, have you ever checkout RingCentral? I was considering them because they also have low rates to 423 numbers (0.19 USD) and they provide a local number that I can forward my Verizon cell to. That way, anyone can reach me by calling my regular USA cell number at 0.19/minute plus Verizon airtime (assuning I am in a zone where incoming is free). One downside is a monthly fee ($15) but they email you voice messages which is pretty cool.

Keith

Are you sure the cost TO A 423 663 is included in that? USUALLY, rates to cell phones are higher than to land line phones.

I have found numerous services that CLAIM low rates to 423 663 #s and then

1. cannot connect at all
2. have incorrectly low rates posted
3. suddenly increase their rates

I NEVER like fixed fees, but if you get the forwarding it might be worth it. I would never need it for my few calls.

Stan

Yes, as Matha531 explained, you will pay whatever the rate is to call from Liechtenstein to hwereever you are calling, be it UK or France, or whereever. If you are calling the US, then it's 14 cents/min. As per CBW website, The UK and France mobiles are 0.464 cents/min and 0.523cents respectively. Still not bad. Because without using CBW with the UM sim, you would be paying more than that. For example without using CBW, calling a UK mobile in the UK would cost 59 eurocents a min. after the first minute which will cost 59 + 25(setup fee) euro cents. This is how I understand it. the experts in here will probably correct me if I am wrong.

It does seem to work and it does seem to be 0.19 USD/minute. I signed up for a month to check it out. I used RingCentral to call my UM number and let the voicemail pick up. First of all, it worked; I was able to connect twice. The second time was by calling my Verizon number and having to forward to the RingCentral number. Ringcentral gives you a call log and I was indeed charged 0.19 each time for 56 and 58 second calls. There is supposed to be nothing except the per minute (and monthly) charge. They bill by the minute, BTW. As for the sudden increase in rates, we'll see.

neocortx...

You might wish to look into verizon remote call forwarding which is $6/month and use at&T ld as your primary ld carrier...

Currently that is my set up and at present with teh AT&T ld $1/month plan, calls to Liechtenstein mobiles are 11?/minute and I can forward directly to the Liechtenstein mobile and at&t connections are excellent.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Do you mean remote call forwarding my landline residental phone? That's not an option for me. As far as I know Verizon Wireless does not offer any such service.

I did mean your landline...I saw verizon although I would suspect most American landline companies have that...but you might be using a cable or other landline provider......

CBW tariffs for other mobiles are not so hot.

Although Enlinea's Papaya is more for landlines (21c), calls from FL mobiles to UK and French mobiles are 37c and 44c. This is why the Mango tariff was a bit more of a loss than 12c vs 14c, as other mobile tariffs from FL mobile were about two-thirds of the tariff than CBW.

Indeed, leaving aside Liechtenstein mobiles, there are many cases where calls from any country's mobile are about equal for CBW calling a landline and Enlinea calling another mobile

BTW enlinea is still 10? minute to the USA using o9 which uses an icelandic provider....

If we've confused the OP enough with all these alternative callbacks, I'd suggest that the SIM with the cheapest indigenous tariffs is the CallKey SIM, available for 0044 and Geodesa. [But it too can be used via cheaper methods]

Does Geodesa have the same rates as 0044?
I think that we cannot say that 0044 is in general (i.e. for any origin-destination pair) cheaper that UM e.g. 0044 rates from France seem to be pretty high.
Instead GT-sim is "unconditionally" cheaper than UM (when used outside USA, Canada or India) but it charges for incoming calls in all countries but one selected.