Watch out: ekit changed Passport Service rates in the middle of the night
 

I've had an ekit Passport Service SIM for about 4 years. I don't use it much, but have kept it active according to the terms.

Yesterday I received a couple of SMS messages for the usual $0.10 per message. Today I received two more and was charged $0.19 per message!

There was no notification or anything.

I called ekit customer service and was told that they can change the rates at any time.

It is crazy since they are still advertising the $0.10 per message on their website for the Passport Service. When I brought this up with customer service, she said that it was because my card was old that the rates were changed.

Any other options for a global SIM with a US number that can receive SMS?

Here is your answer!
 

I received email for four out of five affected accounts.
Check to see that your email address is correct. Perhaps it was spam filtered?

See this thread for more information.
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/amer...html#post42103

At the bottom of the 'Account Details' page is there a button to 'Upgrade Service'? I have done so for 3 accounts and they sent the new SIMs very quickly. I would suggest you do so if at all possible. Might take a few days to get to Bangladesh, though. Do read the thread above. Especially, the first message which contains the email that ekit sent to people.

Nope! Not there any more! I need to call customer service back. I probably never read the email message or deleted it.

More Info
 

Perhaps your kind of service is so obscure they did not get that button on your type of account. The upgrade button still shows on 2 of my accounts so it probably was never there.

Could you provide the url of the 'your service' page?

These are what I have/had:
ekusplus_dual ekusplus_grey ekus_dual ekus ekusplus

These are what they just sent me: /ekusplus_yellow /ekpass_yellow
This is the one that shoes on the website: /ekpass_blue

I have never had a 'Passport' SIM before:: now I have two.
[Glad I was able to provide info so quickly.]

Piranha Mobile use US/UK numbers and they do not charge for receiving SMS.

you better use Piranha's-mobile simcards

That is right but I do not get SMS from German, UK, or Russian provider on my Piranha SIM. Sending is no problem.

Best regards,

Detlef

Thats strange i have no problem with SMS from the Main UK operators back to my Piranha Sim.:o

Just a brief follow up if anyone else runs into this problem.

While a phone call to ekit customer service proved unhelpful, I emailed them with my existing number and address and they said they will send a replacement SIM free of charge.

Thanks for the tips about Piranha. If I were starting from scratch I might go that route.

Great! They have had to do this kind of thing before. A number of years back their provider got flaky and they had to replace everyones SIM cards.