[GadgetKen]

Just tried the complimentary Yackie card on a trip to Grenada and Union Island (island in the Grenadine Islands chain that is part of St. Vincent). Compared to Iridium and Digicel-Bermuda card.

Yackie on Motorola V3 Razr worked well in Grenada and the rates apparently have dropped (was orginally listed at I think $1.79/minute and is now $.49/minute). Ring back occured in 10 to 30 seconds, voice quality was very good and there was no noticeable voice lag and or audio distortion(have had audio problems or failed callbacks with competing United Mobile card in the past). Didn't use in Union Island, St. Vincent because rates were and are still listed higher there ($2.09/minute). Hoping Yackie will add a USSD balance and expiration date feature plus data in the future. Plan on using Yackie next month on Grand Cayman because rates there looked like they have also dropped and are more competitive than direct dial international long distance with my Digicel Bermuda card, and I can be reached with my US based Yackie number. Thumbs up on their new Iceland based sim card service.

Used Digicel Bermuda prepaid sim card in both Grenada and Union Island. Advantage of Digicel card was that I got charged local prepaid rates (feature they call DigiRoam) and can refill over internet or buy a local digiflex prepaid card and it was converted from XCD to BMD, and could direct dial out (more discreet than a call back). Disadvantage was direct dial rates are higher for international calls, so probably better paired with a long distance prepaid card or a CBW or similar call back scheme (just one or two calls made home a day so didn't amount to much in call charges. Still ease of use is a factor for me so I prefer a single dialing solution where possible (I suppose I could program something into speed dial).

Used Iridium for 2 calls on Union Island and 1 on Grenada (when running low on Digicel prepaid airtime before I bought additional airtime). Voice quality very good if used outdoors and had few nearby obstructions(both calls on Union Island worked fine). Call on Grenada was good but then got audio distortion after 3 minutes because I was on a balcony of my room and lost line of sight as satellite passed overhead. Glad I had Iridium with me because there was a 7.4 richter scale earthquake while I was in the Caribbean and this would have been my emergency backup if local mobile phone service had been lost, which it was not.

Wifi Skypeout on Sony Mylo only available for free on 2 of 16 nights in Caribbean (others would have been paid access by hour or day), so only used wifi for email or Digicel Bermuda web refills on a couple of occasions, not for SkypeOut.

All methods of mobile calls were much cheaper than if I had dialed from my room using a credit card on 1800callusa Cable and Wireless service (quoted in my room guide in one hotel as a very steep US$3.50/minute for a 6 minute call).