Problems with texting, sending and receiving - onesimcard

[catlikegrace]

has ANYONE had problems sending or receiving text messages with onesimcard? i've confirmed that nobody has received any text messages i've sent either through dialing the phone directly or through the SIM application menu, and i haven't received any sent to me by anyone else, either through the website or their phones - with three exceptions: one finnish client got a text message through yesterday, two days ago i was able to get a test message through to my phone via the website, and i tested the SIM card about a week ago from the US before I traveled by sending a message to it from the website.

i've been going round and round with the onesimcard people about this for a day and a half, but have not gotten any satisfaction on the matter. in the end, i've had to use $170 worth of data charges to communicate with people via mobile email, which was NOT what i intended to do.

i'm on an unlocked iphone 3G. any advice would be appreciated.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by catlikegrace

any advice would be appreciated.

Since you said 'any', I will ask the (hopefully) obvious one: Are the people using the '+' and the country code? = +3725xxxxxx
Or from their website it indicates an email alternative that would be free for you to receive and free for the folks to send:

Alternatively, you can send SMS by sending an email to 3725XXXXXXX(at)sms.onesimcard.com, where (at) is @.

This is a start. If you can not sucessfully send an email to yourself something is wrong. Or an SMS for that matter from the website.

Here is some more info from their website::

Problem with Sending SMS:
The OneSimCard Balance should exceed $5 for SMS to go out.
Incorrect SMSC number (SMS Service Center Address) in handset settings. It should be set to +3725099000. You can find it in SMS settings of your phone.
SMS lifetime is short - must be at least 2 hours or set to Maximum settings.
Try sending SMS from OneSimCard menu
Problem with Receiving SMS:
Receiving Handset does not have enough free memory for incoming SMS.
Receiving Handset was turned off or out of the coverage area during SMS lifetime set on the sending phone - usually 2 hours.
Sender SMS provider does not have an agreement with the receiving network.
You should have at least $5 on your account for free messages to be delivered.

The last line might not be right as in another place it says:

Sending SMS messages from OneSimCard phone require balance of more than $5.00.
You can always receive an SMS message as it is free.

Please give an update when and if possible.

[catlikegrace]

i'm pretty savvy with international SIM cards, and most of my clients are as well, so yes - all of those solutions were tried. it appears the only way to get through is SOMETIMES from the website, and if someone sends an emailSMS to me. I cannot reply to anyone at all (i think? or maybe I can reply to a website SMS - i can't remember now).

i was trading messages for several hours late last night (in russia) with the onesimcard folks and they finally determined that yes, this is a legitimate problem, and have sent the ticket to the engineering people. now i can only hope they reimburse me the $170 i used in charges trying to send messages to people, and then having to resort to ENORMOUS data charges because nothing was being sent or received and I had to use email.

i'll update if there's any news.

[OneSimCard]

catlikegrace,

There haven't been any other issues reported regarding sending or receiving SMS, so this appears to be an isolated issue with either your phone or the roaming network. Customer Service is still looking into this to try to determine the problem, so thank you for your patience while it's being investigated.

[catlikegrace]

just thought i'd update, in case anyone is actually interested in following this thread.

this sim card did not work for me AT ALL for SMS in the following locations:
Finland
Russia
Japan
Singapore
Korea

I could neither send, nor receive, SMS messages. Users who wished to contact me apparently could ONLY send messages to me via the website or by using the email method, except that the email method seems to modify even fairly brief messages into several SMS messages on receipt, thus racking up additional charges.

Using the SIM for telephone calls did seem to work alright, except that the weird ring back feature, etc. made it a little weird.

There has been no resolution to the problem, as of today. I'm extremely disappointed in this service, and even had business cards printed up with this number for international clients, and now it doesn't work. I would not recommend this SIM service, unless you're possibly only going to use it in northern or western european countries.

I was told that nobody else had ever reported such a problem, so perhaps it was merely a faulty SIM, I don't know. I also tried the card in two different unlocked phones, an iPhone 3G and a Sony Ericsson candybar/slider (it's so old, i forget the model number, although 580i seems to come to mind)... it didn't work in either phone.

The company has offered to credit me for the incomplete SMSs that were sent, but not for the data service charges I had to incur because the SMS wasn't working (the bulk of my expense - something like $160 worth) and couldn't keep in touch with clients and family as I'd hoped while I was (literally) on the road between Helsinki and Moscow - thus having to connect for internet service. However, crediting me with $10 or $15 doesn't really matter if I can't really utilize the SIM card ANYWAY, and probably WON'T, know that I know it doesn't work properly. So I am basically out $200.

Just thought I'd update. I cannot recommend this service at this time. If there is some acceptable resolution, my thoughts may change. As far as their customer service goes, it's been quite good - I'm just not happy with the (promised) service of the product.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by catlikegrace

jt thought i'd update, in case anyone is actually interested in following this thread.

Using the SIM for telephone calls did seem to work alright, except that the weird ring back feature, etc. made it a little weird.

Thanks for updating. Sorry to hear of the SMS problem. With regard to the "weird ring back feature": most of the international SIMs have it. That is the way it is for most SIMs with lower rates.

Good luck. Perhaps the problem will be resolved. Perhaps not. Different options are appearing and disappearing all the time. Good luck on finding one that will work for you.

[powerlifter]

Originally Posted by catlikegrace

just thought i'd update, in case anyone is actually interested in following this thread.

this sim card did not work for me AT ALL for SMS in the following locations:
Finland
Russia
Japan
Singapore
Korea

I could neither send, nor receive, SMS messages. Users who wished to contact me apparently could ONLY send messages to me via the website or by using the email method, except that the email method seems to modify even fairly brief messages into several SMS messages on receipt, thus racking up additional charges.

Using the SIM for telephone calls did seem to work alright, except that the weird ring back feature, etc. made it a little weird.

There has been no resolution to the problem, as of today. I'm extremely disappointed in this service, and even had business cards printed up with this number for international clients, and now it doesn't work. I would not recommend this SIM service, unless you're possibly only going to use it in northern or western european countries.

I was told that nobody else had ever reported such a problem, so perhaps it was merely a faulty SIM, I don't know. I also tried the card in two different unlocked phones, an iPhone 3G and a Sony Ericsson candybar/slider (it's so old, i forget the model number, although 580i seems to come to mind)... it didn't work in either phone.

The company has offered to credit me for the incomplete SMSs that were sent, but not for the data service charges I had to incur because the SMS wasn't working (the bulk of my expense - something like $160 worth) and couldn't keep in touch with clients and family as I'd hoped while I was (literally) on the road between Helsinki and Moscow - thus having to connect for internet service. However, crediting me with $10 or $15 doesn't really matter if I can't really utilize the SIM card ANYWAY, and probably WON'T, know that I know it doesn't work properly. So I am basically out $200.

Just thought I'd update. I cannot recommend this service at this time. If there is some acceptable resolution, my thoughts may change. As far as their customer service goes, it's been quite good - I'm just not happy with the (promised) service of the product.

Cat, Why don't you look into a call forward service such as Kall8? You get a toll free number to forward to any number in the world. I have used it in Dubai, Afghanistan, All of the old Soviet Block countries. Of course there is a long list of companies that do this but, find one that fits for you. I have the number on my business card as well as my cell number. I have always received calls when they were made. Of course you have to buy a sim in the country you are in, but when they call you the call is free. You can make local calls for a small price. Just a thought.

[OneSimCard]

Originally Posted by catlikegrace

the email method seems to modify even fairly brief messages into several SMS messages on receipt, thus racking up additional charges.

Catlikegrace, incoming SMS messages are free so there are still no charges when a long message is split into several SMS.

We sincerely apologize that our engineers have not yet been able to determine why you are having problems with SMS, but they are still working on it. It could be a faulty SIM and if so then we can send you a replacement. You will be contacted directly with a resolution and we will also update this post. Thank you again for your patience.

[OneSimCard]

Catlikegrace, you were actually informed last week by Customer Support that your problems with sending SMS were fixed, so please feel free to test and confirm. Thank you.