[Bossman]

From reading through the posts, you will also observe that the UM+ sim does to work with direct dialing from a lot of phones. Most of the time, you want to disregard any message that displays on the screen when attempting an outgoing call. You will get something like "call not allowed" etc. As for the charges for calls that may not have connected, I have experienced the same. Most recently when I was in the Caribbean a couple of weeks ago.

Originally Posted by rp_aust

A few months ago I bought a UM+ SIM in preparation for a family holiday in France in September. The SIM roamed onto both the Telstra and Optus networks and seemed OK. This week I bought a new el cheapo phone and tried the SIM again. On the new phone (LG KP202) the SIM registers on both Telstra and Optus, but cannot make calls - a message comes up that service is barred (even though I specifically had the phone network unblocked). Putting the SIM back in the old phone (Motorola L Series), again it registers on both networks, but can only complete a call (to an Australian landline phone) on the Optus network.

Adding injury to insult, my call credit has shrunk dramatically through these trials and I can only suppose that I am getting slugged a call connection fee (and maybe even call time) for each unsuccessful trial!

Reading through the posts for the previous couple of months I see that my experience is not unusual, and that the UM+ service is very flaky. At this point I could not recommend the "service", certainly not for any assured point of contact. Maybe I will have to buy a French SIM after all.....