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kctopitz · **hold-off on Piranha -** 24-04-2013, 02:29

I've been using a Piranha SIM for the past month in the US, and thus far I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone. On paper it's a great product. In reality, it seems that they have some serious bugs that need ironing out.

Some experiences:

- Within the first few days, I noticed I was not receiving text messages being sent to my Google Voice number (i.e. I saw them online at Google Voice, but they were not being forwarded). With further testing I discovered that it had nothing to do with Google Voice, and direct phone-to-phone text messages were not going through to my device. I contacted Piranha online and the problem was quickly resolved.

- A couple weeks ago on a road-trip to Chicago, my phone service stopped working completely. No reception at all. I was able to see T-Mobile's service (Piranha's US provider) when I did a manual service search, but was unable to connect. Despite restarting my phone and reinserting the SIM numerous times, nothing helped and service was unavailable for hours - even in areas I had used Piranha and T-Mobile before. I tried an actual T-Mobile SIM in my phone just to make sure it wasn't a T-Mobile outage. The problem was clearly on Piranha's end. I contacted Piranha online and the problem was quickly resolved (confirming my suspicion that it was a problem on their end). In my email I asked to speak with a supervisor, as not having service for such a long period is a serious fault. I received an email suggesting this was to do with T-Mobile's 3G bands and an incompatibility with my device - which it wasn't (I was using GSM and have used T-Mobile's GSM for years). Despite asking again, I've still received no explanation as to why I had no service for hours on end, nor any assurance that it won't ever happen again.

- Once your balance goes below 3 pounds (remember it's a UK service), you receive a low balance SMS after EVERY call or SMS sent that reduces your balance further. Highly annoying. I've just contacted them asking for this to be disabled or at least reduced so that only one such notification is sent out per day at maximum.

- On the plus side, they do allow you to change your outgoing caller ID info to another number. To do this simply contact customer service through their website. I changed my outgoing CID to my Google Voice number, and this plus the free incoming SMS (an unusual feature in the US market) make this ideal for using with Google Voice.

So, if they can just fix the first 3 problems I'll continue using them. As it is now, if you're considering a Piranha SIM, I'd hold off if you can to see how things pan out. I'll definitely report back here if things get better or worse.

	(#146)
kctopitz (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 94 Join Date: 05 Jan 2008 Country:	hold-off on Piranha - 24-04-2013, 02:29 I've been using a Piranha SIM for the past month in the US, and thus far I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone. On paper it's a great product. In reality, it seems that they have some serious bugs that need ironing out. Some experiences: - Within the first few days, I noticed I was not receiving text messages being sent to my Google Voice number (i.e. I saw them online at Google Voice, but they were not being forwarded). With further testing I discovered that it had nothing to do with Google Voice, and direct phone-to-phone text messages were not going through to my device. I contacted Piranha online and the problem was quickly resolved. - A couple weeks ago on a road-trip to Chicago, my phone service stopped working completely. No reception at all. I was able to see T-Mobile's service (Piranha's US provider) when I did a manual service search, but was unable to connect. Despite restarting my phone and reinserting the SIM numerous times, nothing helped and service was unavailable for hours - even in areas I had used Piranha and T-Mobile before. I tried an actual T-Mobile SIM in my phone just to make sure it wasn't a T-Mobile outage. The problem was clearly on Piranha's end. I contacted Piranha online and the problem was quickly resolved (confirming my suspicion that it was a problem on their end). In my email I asked to speak with a supervisor, as not having service for such a long period is a serious fault. I received an email suggesting this was to do with T-Mobile's 3G bands and an incompatibility with my device - which it wasn't (I was using GSM and have used T-Mobile's GSM for years). Despite asking again, I've still received no explanation as to why I had no service for hours on end, nor any assurance that it won't ever happen again. - Once your balance goes below 3 pounds (remember it's a UK service), you receive a low balance SMS after EVERY call or SMS sent that reduces your balance further. Highly annoying. I've just contacted them asking for this to be disabled or at least reduced so that only one such notification is sent out per day at maximum. - On the plus side, they do allow you to change your outgoing caller ID info to another number. To do this simply contact customer service through their website. I changed my outgoing CID to my Google Voice number, and this plus the free incoming SMS (an unusual feature in the US market) make this ideal for using with Google Voice. So, if they can just fix the first 3 problems I'll continue using them. As it is now, if you're considering a Piranha SIM, I'd hold off if you can to see how things pan out. I'll definitely report back here if things get better or worse.