Best practice international GSM setup
 

After reading a lot of threads I'm fully prepared for our Round-The-World trip to various countries in South America, Indonesia, Japan, China, and various countries in Africa.

I'll take with me 2 onesimcard.com SIMs, both with an additional US number.

For a couple of reasons:
- One for my wife and one for me, so we can call each other if needed for $0,25
- To "connect" both US numbers to my Google Voice number so both SIMs will ring during our trip; pretty convenient probably
- The Estonian prepaid SIMS are generally of a better quality then others: both for voice and number of roaming partners
- The rates of onesimcard are pretty simply structured and generally low. Offcouse xxsim and airbalticcard offers the same rates (but in euro which is actually my default currency); the support and website of onesimcard is however much better
- And a little bit to also be prepared if one of our phones gets stolen; we can than just switch airtime and order a replacement SIM.

Do you all agree? :)

Is this the best setup ever? I'm very curious...

There is only one wish left. I would like to also connect a extra SIM with an US number where I can receive SMS messages for free. Do you therefore have some suggestions for me? This extra provider can then directly also be our backup provider for voice. :cool:

;)
maybe check too England +447... series GSM offers

you should check out Piranha mobile, they give you US and UK numbers free with no charge for receiving SMS and they have the added extra of VoIP, if you have access to free WI-FI. The choice is yours :D

You did not mention the type of phone you have.
Will your phones work in Japan?
Onesimcard does not seem to have much traction in this forum. I do not know why. The Estonian number? [But you solve that with the US numbers.]

I would suggest at least one other brand SIM card, maybe two. There is bound to be some places Onesimcard should work but will not [might not be their fault either]. Also, a simple quadband phone as a spare & you can put one of your extra SIM
cards in that.
Your trip is not inexpensive and the extra SIMs and phones can be a kind of insurance to highten the possibility of communication in general and emergency communication if you needed. If money were no object, a satellite phone might be in order---but they are illegal in some countries.

Do report back on what you take and also your experience after the trip. Welcome to beta testing!

[After looking at the other responses, Piranha and Truphone would be good second choices for additional SIMs.]

ps No matter how hard you plan this aspect of your trip there will be shortcomings. That is why I suggest the extra SIMs.

Did you add this paragraph?
Truphone has free incoming SMS in the US for US number. I do not know if that works "overseas", but I think it might.

one Onesimcard advantage
 

One advantage of Onesimcard:

Yes, this is one of the features that makes Onesimcard better than the other SIMs using the same backend (XXSIM, etc... don't have this). Thanks to this and all of the features of the Travelsim EMT backend:

• 154 free incoming countries
• more roaming partners in the countries
• much more stable roaming that EKIT (i. ex: EKIT regularly loses network signal in France, Onesimcard doesn't - on the same network with the same phone)
• free call forwarding to 154 countries
• ability to completely disable voicemail (EKIT still charges incoming callers even when voicemail is disabled - the EKIT system still answers the phone to ask if you want to send and SMS)
• listen to voicemail in the web interface
• email to SMS for free on 372xxxxxxx@sms.onesimcard.com
• top notch 24/24 customer service
• concierge service with live translators in dozens of languages (they can translate and complete tasks for you if you need help - great if you are in trouble in a foreign country)
• etc...

All of this makes Onesimcard the best world roaming SIM imho. (I have tested many, but if anyone knows anything better please tell me).

Onesimcard is my primary number worldwide; the One number I give everyone, reachable for free in 154 countires. I then add a second SIM depending on the world part I am in (i.ex: Toggle Mobile UK for Europe - that's another outstanding service).

What the OP can do, is accept incoming SMS messages on his Google Voice number and forward them to email, as explained here:

support.google.com/voice/answer/160203 *

With proper email forwarding he will get the US SMS incoming on Google Voice free on his Onesimcard.

* (I am not making a link because it seems all my message containing links are not getting published, awaiting moderation approval. I replied earlier to this thread with this information and it still wasn't approved. I registered here 8 months ago (I asked a question in another thread), and the message I posted 8 months ago still wasn't published either. I sent an email to the staff months ago, no one is replying. HELLO, IS ANYONE MODERATING THESE FORUMS?)

onesimcard needs a minimum recharge of at least $25 every 10months in order to maintain your credit balance and not loose it...If your balance does expire, it will not be refunded to you.
Piranha also offers free sms from their website: http://www.piranha-mobile.com/index....tegory&path=25

You can direct your Google Voice number to ring on your mobile, but don't expect it to work. I have done that and seldom can answer the GV call before it rolls over to Google's voicemail. GV seem to only allow about 3 rings before going to voicemail and it takes two of them just to connect to my mobile, in the US.

Yes, they should lower the min recharge requirement to 10$. On the other hand, even if you don't recharge it, the onesimcard stays active for 2 years. And it still accepts incoming calls for free in 154 countries with 0 credit (many other international SIMs cut the service when credit runs out, this can be bothersome if you are in the middle of a call, on the move). Imagine yourself in trouble in an urgent situation in a foreign country. This is top notch service IMHO.

If credit expiry is an issue, Travelsim is the same thing (same backend), also active for 2 years after the last recharge, but the credit doesn't expire. The SIM itself is more expensive to purchase though, and Travelsim doesn't have free email-to-SMS.

Only major downside is that it costs silly money for caller to call you on the free incoming +372 number, BT charge a one off £0.14 and £0.88 per minute thereafter and mobile operators charge anything between £0.50 and £1.00, which seems to defeat the object of free roaming, especially if its my family calling me, as i am picking up the callers bill :down:. Does anyone know of a cheaper way for the caller to call +372 numbers. All options welcome.