Where do I turn for international sim card
 

I have only this morning found out the Global Roaming has joined United Mobile, leaving me with the largest collection of useless sim cards in N. America (internet authorized hyperbole)

It seems that the safest thing for me is to just rely on my expensive ATT or TMobile roaming rates and forget prepaid sims all together. I may well get a national card for the country that I travel to the most (Australia) but otherwise it looks like the end of the road.

Are there any hopeful people out there? Is there any hope? I did read, again, that Europe will have reasonable roaming almost any year now, but I am not too optomistic on that either . . .

Hi...

We conferred on a forum regarding cruises. As a reasonable alternative, at least on the receiving end, go to ebay and look up e-kitg simple card (they have two on ebay, I prefer the simple one)....it costs $9 with $3 shipping but come with $10 credit.

While obviously nobody really knows, e-kit has been around for a while. Their current sims give you 2 numbers, a USA (+1) number and a UK (+44) number. You enter the pin code with a 2 to indicate you are in North America and with a 1 to indicate you are outside North America.

You get lots of countries for free, including the usual European countries and I believe Australia too as far as reception is concerned if the call comes in on the +44 number. If the call comes in on the +1 number, you pay 19¢/minute to receive the call if you're in free roaming turf. Calls cost 49¢/minute to landlines throughout and an additional surcharge for calls to mobile (not to US and Canadian mobiles as usual) and all calls carry a 35¢ set up fee....you can dig up lots of other information on ebay.

You can give it a whirl. After all for $12, how bad can it be?

A new kid on the block is Truphone Local Anywhere, and they currently offer local rates in the USA, UK and Australia, which seems exactly what you are looking for. No idea how they will do in the long run, but for now they seem eager, flexible and reasonable. Good luck in your choice, hope you find what you are looking for :)

I have had very good luck with my EKIT Passport SIM cards. They have good rates and a customer service group that is available 24.7. And as others have said, they have been around for a number of years. They have free incoming calls and texts while you are in Australia.

To all of you. Thank you. I am twice burned in a year on this having lost about $100 to United Mobile and now about $50 to Global Roaming. I have used these cards in the past to help clients have a phone while abroad and for my own use as well. I will think about Ekit and truphone, though I fear that they will be like restaurants that my wife and I like, not open long enough!

Just do not put too much money on these sim cards. May be just enough to get you through the next trip. Same here, I was burnt UM, Global Roaming, Yackie (they are still trying to come back since about a year...what a joke!). Consider these things disposable and just buy the best one for your current trip and use the thing up.

For example, for my trip to Jaimaca next week, I bought an Ekit Simple sim on Ebay, since they offer good rates there for incoming calls, which is the only thing I will use it for. I also have Telna mobile, if you do not use it, it will not cost you anything besides the $19/year fee.

You better read the Truphone TOS very well. I believe they have a monthly fee or may be it's a monthly non-use fee, in addition to the 90-day non-use fee. And Truphone is very expensive everywhere else besides US and UK.

You're right, they are expensive except for their data roaming really, $3/mb is not bad here in Canada. (at least I think that is pretty good? am I wrong?)
Actually they don't have a monthly fee unless you buy a local number, but indeed they reserve the right to charge a non-use fee. Though they are pretty vague about that and not sure if they'd enforce it, they don't even say how much they would charge.

Ekit sounds good too, though I find their website a bit frightening, and what really put me off for now is their stern warning that if you forget to press a key combination before you phone somebody, you get a heck of a high rate :D Who knows I might try them one day soon though, when I get brave enough :)

Ekit dual SIM start up
 

What actually happens is when you turn on the phone it asks for a PIN number. [lets say xyzz] If you are in the US or Canada you key in 2xyzz and if you are not in US or Canada enter xyzz or 1xyzz. If your phone allows two lines for the network name it will say the network name on the top line and whether it is 'global' or the 'US' like thus:
T-Mobile
Global
or
T-Mobile
US.

So you can know if you are OK or not.

Also, one of them (the US IMSI) won't work outside the US or Canada anyway so you're usually in the clear, especially outside North America.

Ooooh ok, NOW I understand, thanks!