SeaRoam - anyone know anything about this company?

albino · 01-02-2010, 19:31

Searoam is provided by Base, KPN group who manage the callback product.

It seems that Base have a funky way of calling. With most callback systems there are two legs of a call: the country you are in and the country you are calling to. Each leg costs money. But the Base callback system has 3 legs, all calls go back to the Base hub first and then out. This extra leg means they will never be as cheap as a regular callback system.

But there seems to be one advantage, that is for roaming in those countries that have an Inter-Operator-Tariff, which is a very high levy add to calls and used by some networks in some countries, like the USA. You can call to the USA cheap, but because of the IOT it is very expensive to use it in the USA. The Base system means they can make the IOT rates much cheaper.

One has to weigh up where one travels. If you go to the countries with high IOT charges, then Base is Excellent, but for anywhere else it is expensive. There are only about 20 countries with an IOT, many of them are funky countries that aren't on the beaten track (Except USA and Canada) so for most I dont think it would make sense.

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albino (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 52 Join Date: 04 Feb 2006 Country:	01-02-2010, 19:31 Searoam is provided by Base, KPN group who manage the callback product. It seems that Base have a funky way of calling. With most callback systems there are two legs of a call: the country you are in and the country you are calling to. Each leg costs money. But the Base callback system has 3 legs, all calls go back to the Base hub first and then out. This extra leg means they will never be as cheap as a regular callback system. But there seems to be one advantage, that is for roaming in those countries that have an Inter-Operator-Tariff, which is a very high levy add to calls and used by some networks in some countries, like the USA. You can call to the USA cheap, but because of the IOT it is very expensive to use it in the USA. The Base system means they can make the IOT rates much cheaper. One has to weigh up where one travels. If you go to the countries with high IOT charges, then Base is Excellent, but for anywhere else it is expensive. There are only about 20 countries with an IOT, many of them are funky countries that aren't on the beaten track (Except USA and Canada) so for most I dont think it would make sense.