Will Tru SIM work & rates on Cruise ships????
 

It has been over a year since I last asked this question so I think it will be appropriate to ask anew.

In December 2010 i wrote::
Tru works on cruise ships, Mexico rates - 22-12-2010, 20:56
My sister will be flying to Japan and then taking a cruise on
Holland America to South Korea, Russia, Alaska, and ending at Vancouver, BC, Canada.

I will have her call me a few times so we can check rates.

I have just sent two email to Tru and their CS responses indicate a profound misunderstanding on how things work.

Maybe it'll be interesting to you to travel, see the link from "xxsim" (+372,estonia) and other GSM Company.

Seanet On Board

https://xxsim.com/en

https://xxsim.com/en/rates

first report
 

She seems to be able to receive SMSes onboard the ship at sea[for free]. She has not been able to send from the ship.
[She sends emails so that works out for me of essential free communication.]

The only charges on the Tru account have been two 84cent charges for DATA.
I suspect she accidently started the browser. I assume this happened on a Russian network at Vladivostok.
She does not know enough to have intentionally used the data.

second report
 

While receiving SMSes worked sending did not. I am not sure if she tried to call when at sea.

SMSes sent from Alaska, Kodiak city/island specifically, were 20cents each.

On a related issue::

Well, here are the results of my '89' day experiment when I use my 8 Tru cards to make sure they stay alive. A couple of months ago there was an email saying that for US calls that the minimum amount of time would be one minute. Previously, it had been 30 seconds. [17cents for a full minute and 9cents for half a minute.] Well now it seems to be half true. In the USA calling is now 9cents for calls less than half a minute and receiving a call is 17cents for a minute or less.

re the cruise ship question, was on an NCL cruise last winter, and the Trusim did not work with the ship's system - could see it, but not register.

I was surprised that I could get phone signal on Tru at around 15 miles offshore, including Mexico and Cuba.
Also, Shipboard internet is far too slow for VOIP.

Standard GSM has a maximum range of 35 km or about 18 nm. At that point it hits a brick wall. You can see the signal farther out but not actually use it. There is an extended range GSM, which is not very common, that has a much longer range. To use ER GSM you pretty much need an external directional antenna. I believe it only supports voice and SMS, not GPRS. ER GSM is most often found along coasts where it reaches out to serve marine interests. UMTS has no hard range limit but just fades out of usability.

new reduced rates within europe for Tru: Tru SIM pricing

press release: New European Union Roaming Rates Taking Effect Today for Tru SIM Customers TruTower | Unofficial Tru (formerly Truphone) News, Reviews, and more

note that Tru is only giving the lower rates to EU residents, not those with primary residence in US or Australia. (I posted this on the Europe thread of the forum). I think Tru is the only international sim card to discriminate like this, a real pain. Don't think they would make it easy for me to switch the sim to be UK-primary, either!

In order for you to switch the SIM to be UK-primary, Tru would require your payment information to be based in the UK. A little workaround I discovered. If you have any friends in the UK who would be willing to loan you their payment information (or somehow obtain a UK prepaid credit card attached to a UK address), you would be able to change your SIM information to be UK primary and take advantage of the lower rates. ;)

It's not easy, it's inconvenient, but it does work.