PrePaidGSM.net Forum (Archived) - View Single Post - Italian Pre-paid Sim Cards

MATHA531 · 24-02-2006, 14:02

Here is the only problem with United Mobile....

You get a Liechtenstein number (country code 423)...that's not the big deal you would dial 011 423 66 3xx xx xx. The big deal is that long distance charges from the US to Liechtenstein mobiles vary humongously and have been going up in recent months. I have a UM sim....my AT&T ld plan features a $1/month option for international calling. As of this writing, they are an unbelieveably low 11?/minute to call the Liechtenstein mobile vs. something in the order of 40?/minute to call local sims in most European countries. You will have to charge what your ld carrier charges to Liechtenstein mobiles and some of the cheaper ones, say net2phone direct don't always go through. AT&T quality is excellent and always goes through but many are skeptical what with the charges for calls to Liechtenstein mobiles having tripled in the last year, how long the AT&T rate will hold.

Also, be aware, united mobile operates on a call back system. That means if your daughter were calling the United States from Italy on her United Mobile phone she would dial the number +1 212 555 1212 for example, she will get a message to the effect please wait (the siemens phone does work on United Mobile as do most Nokias) and will get a call back and hear the ringing tones. For mobile phones, the charges are not pad 0,39?/minute with a 0,25? fee for each call. Incidentally you can now buy a United Mobile card denominated in US dollars. Their web site has the details. Also topping up the card is easy.

However, you can do much better with a callback service. Currently the best priced callback system is callbackworld at www.callbackworld.com. Here's how that works...they give you your own US number...you dial the number as above. You hear the phone ring and after 2 rings you hang up. About 10 seconds later, a call back comes in (the 2nd callback) and the computer asks please enter phone number followed by the number sign key now....and you do that and the call goes through at an astoundingly cheap rate of 14? (US) /minute billed in 6 second intervals (talk for 66 seconds and pay 16?, not the 1,03? you would with United Mobile)...they (cbw) also give you an 800 US number but it is not a dedicated number to you, you need a pin, which you can key to the Liechtenstein number and by dialing it you would pay the 14?/minute charge.

When it works, it's great. And recently it has worked pretty well. Call quality is okay considering callback world uses intrnet providers similar to other internet providers, on the European end the quality is fine as you are roaming on some local network...the beauty of callbackworld is you don't pay anything to United Mobile as the triggering call is never answered and on the callback you are receiving and while in Western Europe you don't pay to receive on gsm carriers as long as you are in the home country of the sim. The United Mobile sim considers every Western European country as well as Central European and Eastern European as well as Australia, China and South Africa to be home countries.

The bad thing? Well there was another company called enlinea which until a month ago provided almost the exact same service for 12?/minute and their 800 number did not require a pin. But in the last month, the rate has tripled to 42?/minute making it not such a great deal. Also sporadically callback world has been down for extended periods of time (local carriers blocking calls??) but in that event you can always fall back on the naitive united mobile system and as noted calls are not all that expensive for a roaming mobile situation.

Also be aware it's far easier to make a local call (while she's in Italy to say an Italian friend) on the local sim. You can also use cbw on the Italian sim but it's triple the price of the Liechtenstein mobile.

There is really no one answer...what folks here are trying to do is lay out all the options and then you have to decide. You can order, I think you have discovered, a United Mobile sim cirectly from the web site, have it denominated in US currency and you will know your Liechtenstein number as soon as the card arrives.

My vote despite it all is still probably, in this case, for the Italian sim mostly due to the fact she will be in only one country.

	(#3)
MATHA531 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 869 Join Date: 15 Oct 2004 Country:	24-02-2006, 14:02 Here is the only problem with United Mobile.... You get a Liechtenstein number (country code 423)...that's not the big deal you would dial 011 423 66 3xx xx xx. The big deal is that long distance charges from the US to Liechtenstein mobiles vary humongously and have been going up in recent months. I have a UM sim....my AT&T ld plan features a $1/month option for international calling. As of this writing, they are an unbelieveably low 11?/minute to call the Liechtenstein mobile vs. something in the order of 40?/minute to call local sims in most European countries. You will have to charge what your ld carrier charges to Liechtenstein mobiles and some of the cheaper ones, say net2phone direct don't always go through. AT&T quality is excellent and always goes through but many are skeptical what with the charges for calls to Liechtenstein mobiles having tripled in the last year, how long the AT&T rate will hold. Also, be aware, united mobile operates on a call back system. That means if your daughter were calling the United States from Italy on her United Mobile phone she would dial the number +1 212 555 1212 for example, she will get a message to the effect please wait (the siemens phone does work on United Mobile as do most Nokias) and will get a call back and hear the ringing tones. For mobile phones, the charges are not pad 0,39?/minute with a 0,25? fee for each call. Incidentally you can now buy a United Mobile card denominated in US dollars. Their web site has the details. Also topping up the card is easy. However, you can do much better with a callback service. Currently the best priced callback system is callbackworld at www.callbackworld.com. Here's how that works...they give you your own US number...you dial the number as above. You hear the phone ring and after 2 rings you hang up. About 10 seconds later, a call back comes in (the 2nd callback) and the computer asks please enter phone number followed by the number sign key now....and you do that and the call goes through at an astoundingly cheap rate of 14? (US) /minute billed in 6 second intervals (talk for 66 seconds and pay 16?, not the 1,03? you would with United Mobile)...they (cbw) also give you an 800 US number but it is not a dedicated number to you, you need a pin, which you can key to the Liechtenstein number and by dialing it you would pay the 14?/minute charge. When it works, it's great. And recently it has worked pretty well. Call quality is okay considering callback world uses intrnet providers similar to other internet providers, on the European end the quality is fine as you are roaming on some local network...the beauty of callbackworld is you don't pay anything to United Mobile as the triggering call is never answered and on the callback you are receiving and while in Western Europe you don't pay to receive on gsm carriers as long as you are in the home country of the sim. The United Mobile sim considers every Western European country as well as Central European and Eastern European as well as Australia, China and South Africa to be home countries. The bad thing? Well there was another company called enlinea which until a month ago provided almost the exact same service for 12?/minute and their 800 number did not require a pin. But in the last month, the rate has tripled to 42?/minute making it not such a great deal. Also sporadically callback world has been down for extended periods of time (local carriers blocking calls??) but in that event you can always fall back on the naitive united mobile system and as noted calls are not all that expensive for a roaming mobile situation. Also be aware it's far easier to make a local call (while she's in Italy to say an Italian friend) on the local sim. You can also use cbw on the Italian sim but it's triple the price of the Liechtenstein mobile. There is really no one answer...what folks here are trying to do is lay out all the options and then you have to decide. You can order, I think you have discovered, a United Mobile sim cirectly from the web site, have it denominated in US currency and you will know your Liechtenstein number as soon as the card arrives. My vote despite it all is still probably, in this case, for the Italian sim mostly due to the fact she will be in only one country.