I'm travelling to several European countries next month and I'm considering an "International" SIM card like CallBlue. Quality/reliability is most important to me: I don't mind paying slightly higher call rates for a more reliable service, and a +44 number would be a plus (but perhaps not essential).

I'm hoping that Caller ID works and that my phone number will be consistent for both calling and TXTing. Can someone confirm that these are both true for CallBlue? Any other SIM cards that I should consider?

Thanks!

I took delivery of my Callblue sim about 4 weeks ago but have yet been out of the UK with it.

I can confirm however that Caller ID does not work - when calling from the sim the number comes up as witheld, although obviously the number is displayed when texting. It uses the same number for calling and texting.

I have found that when turned on initially or switching networks manually, the first call the sim receives requires two attempts at calling for the handset to start ringing, the first time the number will ring but the handset wont.

Voicemail is very cool - you can download voicemail as wma attachments from a web portal and play them back on a PC, also from what I've found listening to voicemail is free of charge.

Additionally for UK users, I have found that calling the IOM sim from my O2 contract is counted as inclusive minutes and therefore when leaving the UK I can set my normal phone to full divert and not worry about the cost.

Overall very happy, but will see how it performs in France when I head there later this week.

Thanks for the information, renfro. I guess I can live without outgoing caller ID, although the "two attempts at calling" sounds a bit worrying - hopefully they will be able to get that sorted out! I went ahead and ordered the Callblue SIM and a $25 prepay credit. I'll report my experiences back here after my trip.

Update: I ordered the Callblue GSM pack and received it 2 days later by FedEx - no complaints there. Unfortunately the SIM seems to be faulty - whatever phone I insert it into doesn't seem to recognise it. I just get an "Insert SIM" message. I've emailed Callblue about the problem (calling them just went to voicemail), waiting to hear back.

I did get a faulty SIM fm. UM a year ago. Tried it in 4 diff. phones. They sent me a new one. First time that ever happened.

...mike

Yes, I tried it in two different phones (SE k600i and a Nokia 3100), both of which are unlocked and have been used with a variety of different SIMs worldwide. Neither would recognize the SIM.

Such things DO happen. I purchased 2 T-MO prepaid SIMs off Ebay several years ago. At the time I had a Treo 180 and 2 Moto P-280s. One worked perfectly in both phones. One would only work in the Treo. Since I wanted the Treo and wanted my wife and son to have the MOTOs, the seller agreed and I sent the "dud" back and received another SIM that worked perfectly.

Stan

I read on their site that the callblue starting kit costs 50$ and doesn't include any credit.
It doesn't seem really cheap...