Koko Mobile / Naka

[bourbonkiller]

I thought it's about time to start a new Thread for Koko Mobile / NAKA, as people do post in the "2017 Piranha Mobile" Thread about it.

As I am aware of, @GadgetKen already have such a SIM and I bought one too. The provider behind is NAKA AG, that also provides service for this Brands:

• Swiss Mobile
  Lufthansa Mobile
  Cerafon

I came across this SIM card via a post on Teltarif.de (https://www.teltarif.de/naka-mobile-....html?page=all). Originally looked up cerafon because it's been mentioned by a member on the Austrian lteforum.at

The reason why I opted for Koko Mobile instead of another family brand of NAKA is quite simple. I stay in Switzerland and Koko Mobile has a special price band for calls in and from Switzerland, CHF 0.08, where the other cards charge about 15 Eurocents. Also on Koko the EU data packages apply, where the other family brand mostly doesn't include Switzerland in the EU data package.

Originally, the SIM comes with a UK format mobile number. It seems, that all Brands of NAKA give you the possibility to book additional country numbers, with Koko mobile, the first additional number is free of charge. In my case I have opted for a German mobile number. At the moment you can choose from the following countries: Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Switzerland (DID) and US. All mentioned but not the Swiss DID are mobile numbers and come with a special "local tariff set" that gives you better prices when roaming in these countries. Additional numbers can be booked monthly and cost 1 CHF monthly (after the first which is free) and can be deleted after each month.

Additional numbers are activated immediately and will work instantly after activation. You can set any of these activated numbers as sender number and even SMS sending and receiving works through this numbers. I noticed a slight lag when calling the German number, until it connects to the Koko phone line.

Out of curiosity to try, I booked a Swiss DID. The number is a landline from Zurich (+41 43 xxx) and is also activated immediately. This DID cost CHF 5 per month and can also be set as Caller ID. Haven't tried SMS yet, but do think it will not work, as it is a landline number. There is no lag, if you call the landline number, the phone rings instantly. All call forwarding from DID to SIM are covered with the monthly price of CHF 5, no incoming charge like with some Estonian SIM cards. As roaming prices for Swiss mobiles still exists with Europe and are partially sky high, this is a excellent feature. Landlines are commonly reachable for around 0.01 to 0.03 Eurocent via VoIP and call forwarding from a Swiss mobile to a Swiss landline is mostly covered by national minutes.

There is a wide choice of monthly data packages (valid for 30 days):

• EU 500 / 1000 / 2000 (CHF 8.00 / 14.90 / 28.90)
  World 1 400 / 800 / 1500 (CHF 10.90 / 19.90 / 36.90)
  World 2 400 / 800 / 1500 (CHF 19.90 / 37.90 / 69.90)

EU Package is valid in Belgien, Bulgarien, Czechia, Deutschland, Dänemark, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich, Griechenland, Irland, Island, Italien, Kroatien, Lettland, Liechtenstein, Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Niederlande, Norwegen, Polen, Portugal, Rumänien, Schweden, Schweiz, Slowakei, Slowenien, Spanien, Ungarn, Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Zypern, Österreich

World 1 covers: Albanien, Armenien, Aserbaidschan, Australien, Belgien, Brasilien, Bulgarien, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czechia, Deutschland, Dänemark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich, Georgien, Ghana, Griechenland, Guatemala, Hongkong, Irland, Israel, Italien, Japan, Kanada, Kasachstan, Kirgisistan, Kolumbien, Korea (Republic of), Kroatien, Lettland, Liechtenstein, Litauen, Luxemburg, Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of), Malta, Montenegro, Neuseeland, Nicaragua, Niederlande, Norwegen, Panama, Polen, Portugal, Rumänien, Russische Föderation, Schweden, Schweiz, Serbien, Singapur, Slowakei, Slowenien, Spanien, Südafrika, Tadschikistan, Taiwan, Chinesische Provinz, Thailand, Türkei, Ukraine, Ungarn, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Zypern, Österreich

World 2 covers: Albanien, Anguilla, Antigua und Barbuda, Argentinien, Armenien, Aserbaidschan, Australien, Belgien, Brasilien, Bulgarien, Cayman-Inseln, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czechia, Deutschland, Dominica, Dänemark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich, Georgien, Ghana, Grenada, Griechenland, Guatemala, Hongkong, Indien, Irland, Israel, Italien, Japan, Jordanien, Kambodscha, Kanada, Kasachstan, Kirgisistan, Kolumbien, Korea (Republic of), Kroatien, Lettland, Liechtenstein, Litauen, Luxemburg, Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of), Malta, Mexiko, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mosambik, Neuseeland, Nicaragua, Niederlande, Norwegen, Panama, Peru, Philippinen, Polen, Portugal, Rumänien, Russische Föderation, Saudi-Arabien, Schweden, Schweiz, Serbien, Singapur, Slowakei, Slowenien, Spanien, St. Kitts und Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent und die Grenadinen, Südafrika, Tadschikistan, Taiwan, Chinesische Provinz, Thailand, Turks- und Caicosinseln, Türkei, Ukraine, Ungarn, Uruguay, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Virgin Islands (British), Weißrussland, Zypern, Österreich

I must admit that I really thought about replacing my Toggle Mobile SIM with the Koko Mobile Sim. Calls might be slightly more expensive than with Toggle, but KOKO also has a forwarding option and far cheaper data then Toggle.

Website says that there is a VoIP feature via any SIP app or with their own App called Blab, but I was not successful with setting it up. All I get is a error message.

Bourbonkiller

[bourbonkiller]

One thing I forgot above. Koko Mobile does support LTE data roaming in several countries and the list of networks is constantly expanding. Just recently they added Austria!

Albanien Vodafone Albania
Aserbaidschan Bakcell Ltd
Australien Singtel Optus Proprietary Limited
Brasilien Vivo S.A.
Bulgarien Mobiltel
Chile Telefónica Móvil de Chile
China China Mobile
Costa Rica Telefónica Móviles Costa Rica
Frankreich Bouygues Telecom
Georgien Mobitel LLC
Griechenland Vodafone Greece
Griechenland Wind Hellas Telecommunications S.A.
Guatemala Telefónica Móviles Guatemala (Telefónica)
Hongkong CSL Limited
Hongkong PCCW-HKT
Indien Punjab
Indien Madhya Pradesh
Indien Karnataka
Indien Delhi & NCR
Indien Rajasthan
Indien Maharashtra
Indien Kerala
Indien Haryana
Indien Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Indien Tamil Nadu
Indien Mumbai
Indien Kolkata
Indien Himachal Pradesh
Indien Chennai
Italien Vodafone Omnitel N.V.
Japan SoftBank Mobile Corp
Jordanien Petra Jordanian Mobile Telecommunications Company (MobileCom)
Kanada Fido Solutions (Rogers Wireless)
Kanada Rogers Communications
Kolumbien Telefónica Móviles Colombia
Korea KT
Mexiko Movistar - Telefónica Moviles
Neuseeland Vodafone New Zealand
Nicaragua Telefonía Celular de Nicaragua, S.A. (Telefónica, S.A.)
Österreich Hutchison Drei Austria
Österreich A1 Telekom Austria
Philippinen Globe Telecom
Polen Polkomtel Sp. z o.o.
Portugal Vodafone Portugal
Rumänien Vodafone România
Russland OJSC Vimpel-Communications
Schweiz Orange Communications SA
Serbien VIP Mobile
Singapur StarHub Mobile
Spanien Vodafone Spain
Sri Lanka Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd
Südafrika Vodacom
Taiwan Chunghwa Telecom
Thailand Total Access Communication
Thailand DTN
Türkei Vodafone Turkey

[GadgetKen]

In answer to @kctopitz in the Piranha thread, the Koko mobile sim I have uses JT (Jersey Telecom) as the background provider. Number begins with +44-7937 which is a Jersey mobile number.

Currently just using the Jersey number since most calls with this sim will be outgoing and adding a USA number would increase the USA incoming/outgoing voice call cost when the USA number is used (quoted as .09 CHF for the Jersey number and .16 CHF for a US number).

A local USA prepaid sim card I have (the AT&T MVNO called H2O) is normally used domestically at cheaper rates per minute for a domestic call (.09 CHF for Koko versus .05 USD for H2O). But since the local sim is USA only, I need Koko for international travel.

Koko did ship my sim quickly. I put it in my dual sim phone and it is working normally in the USA as a 4G voice/text sim on AT&T. Calls are direct dial in the US but according to the Koko website may be via callback in some countries. A manual network search will show AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon but only connects to AT&T (which is fine for me). Not using it for data since I normally use one of three mifi data devices in a small belt pouch.

Will be in Bermuda for a week starting tomorrow and will report on how Koko works there. The two cellular carriers there are Digicel and CellOne.

[bourbonkiller]

I swapped my Koko SIM card now to my iPhone to replace my Toggle SIM card. Network comes up automatically (which was not the case with my old Toggle Sim). There is a special profile for Switzerland in Koko-Mobile and when looking into the the "info" pane of iOS it list under provider "Partner Israel 32.1".

[kctopitz]

Originally Posted by bourbonkiller

It seems, that all Brands of NAKA give you the possibility to book additional country numbers, with Koko mobile, the first additional number is free of charge. In my case I have opted for a German mobile number. At the moment you can choose from the following countries: Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Switzerland (DID) and US.

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

Currently just using the Jersey number since most calls with this sim will be outgoing and adding a USA number would increase the USA incoming/outgoing voice call cost when the USA number is used (quoted as .09 CHF for the Jersey number and .16 CHF for a US number).

That it comes with an additional free number, which can be a US number, makes it more interesting, especially if incoming SMS are free on the US number, as there are very few prepaid SIMs available that have a US number with free incoming SMS: Truphone, Piranha which is in limbo right now, Toggle which changes your US # each month unless you pay, and LycaMobile US, which has very high international roaming rates.

GadgetKen, if you feel like testing out a US number, maybe you can confirm whether incoming SMS to it are in fact free while you're on your travels.

I'm kind of surprised that there's no mention of the free additional number on their website. it's a pretty big oversight by them.

[GadgetKen]

I am in Bermuda. Although my Skyroam mifi says I am in Jamaica and my Koko mobile SIM card welcomed me to Antigua and Barbuda. Skyroam works fine and Koko is working by USSD call back dialing but not by direct dial. Koko is on Digicel rather than Cellone. Voice quality is high.

Not sure if I want to add a US number to Koko because primarily use for voice and roaming rates in US are cheaper for the JT number.

[bourbonkiller]

Finally email support fixed my error with VoIP login on Saturday within hour, very prompt! Tried out the VoIP feature which is for outgoing calls only (no incoming like on old piranha).

It seems that calls not answered get billed for the first minute on VoIP, whereas calls from the SIM card are not getting billed for unanswered calls.

I took my phone out for testing network registration, this works very good. Only problem I can tell is with LTE networks. It seems, even with data switched off on the phone, there is a LTE Ghost traffic of 50kb increments which sometimes get billed and sometimes not. It didn't occur any more when switching to 3G only.

Looking up the apple App Store, there is also a app to handle customer zone on the mobile, it is called noi box.

[wolfbln]

Besides DrimSIM from Russia which i sometimes use for the low per-MB rate until a get a local SIM, Koko Mobile seems to be an interesting choice. It's by far the best priced Naka product with monthly packages.

I still have issues with DrimSIM about their different network profiles which have to be changed through the Toolkits app. You never know which to choose. "EU" is for most EU countries which makes sense, but "Oris" is for major EU countries like France, Greece, Austria or Italy. You don't know which to choose (DrimSIM doesn't name the country/profile matches) and trying out all profiles when entering a new country is annoying.

There is another string attached in their T&Cs that makes this Koko SIM quite unappealing for occasional users: "When using the SIM regularly it will not expire, but If you do not use the SIM card for a period of 120 days, a small monthly processing / number reservation fee (currently CHF 1.00) will be debited from the balance of the SIM from the 120 +1 day on. When the balance is completely consumed, the SIM card expires.

So when I'm low on balance after a trip and forget to replenish, my card will expire after 4 months only. A minimal use every 3 months or so is better than running into their inactivity fees and eventually shut-off.

[kctopitz]

Originally Posted by wolfbln

Besides DrimSIM from Russia which i sometimes use for the low per-MB rate until a get a local SIM, Koko Mobile seems to be an interesting choice. It's by far the best priced Naka product with monthly packages.

First, thanks for all your work on the prepaid data SIM wiki. It's a resource I use often, and I often refer others to it.

Koko may offer the best priced packages of the Naka SIMs that offer packages (DrimSIM doesn't), but it's debatable as to whether you'd be saving any money with them. For example, the cheapest Koko data package, for their data SIM only (no voice), is the EU PLUS package at CHF 5.90 - about 5.11 Euro at today's rates - for 500MB. That's slightly more than 1 cent per MB, which is what you'd pay with the DrimSIM for pay-as-you-go data. So at least in the case of light data use in the EU, DrimSIM makes more sense. Even with the largest Koko data package (~€20.71/2500MB) for the EU, you're only getting down to .8 cent per MB, so not a huge savings, especially when you factor in that you probably won't use all the data in 30 days (so each MB effectively costs more) or you'll go over and pay 5 cents per additional MB (their rate in most EU countries I think).

As mentioned, those packages are for the data SIM only. If you want a Koko voice/data SIM (as the DrimSIM is), the data packages cost more, e.g. €6.93 for the 500MB package, so the DrimSIM becomes the clear winner - at least in the EU, though I'm guessing this may be true for all their packages. It's hard to say right now since it looks like Koko just updated their website, and the data packages no longer list which countries are in the other "Global" packages.

Since you have a DrimSIM maybe you can answer: does it include the option to add an additional number, e.g. a German or US number? Is there a cost for it?

[wolfbln]

Hi. Thanks for all your advice. I re-grouped the Naka section in the prepaid wiki according to your suggestion. Now Koko and DrimSIM are both featured. The one for its packages, the other for the low per-MB rate.

With DrimSIM is hard to get decent support as it's very Russian. Many messenges, websites, part of the app are nor or poorly translated. And when you like to talk to an agent, it's a hit and miss whether he/she speaks sufficient English.

So I cant really tell you whether you can add local numbers. But I guess not. In all what is accessible in English there is no hint of it. Also no dual pricing like on other Naka products. On the other side, I can't rule that completely out as lots of information is available in Russian only.