Global Roaming (former Celtrek)

[adam917]

The coverage list at http://www.globalroaming.mobi/pdf/Gl...20partners.pdf shows 310-410 (AT&T, formerly Cingular) as valid.

Also, is there a reason for charging by the minute for incoming calls even in Zone 1?

[Bossman]

I think that price is based on the fact that they offer a free DID. However, I do not that they offer any kind of DID (free or rental) at the moment. So, that makes them less desirable compared to the other sims out there. For example, why would I use celtrek (or even maxroam) for incoming calls in the EU when travelsim, and similar sims, offer free incoming calls in most of those countries.

Originally Posted by adam917

Also, is there a reason for charging by the minute for incoming calls even in Zone 1?

[snidely]

Originally Posted by Bossman

I think that price is based on the fact that they offer a free DID. However, I do not that they offer any kind of DID (free or rental) at the moment. So, that makes them less desirable compared to the other sims out there. For example, why would I use celtrek (or even maxroam) for incoming calls in the EU when travelsim, and similar sims, offer free incoming calls in most of those countries.

These calls to a Travelsim etc. calls are NOT free. In fact, calling an Estonia cell number from the U.S. is very expensive. Calling Isle of Mann numbers are cheaper - but of course = not free. Many users fail to take into accoiunt the charge that shows up on their phone back home that called the "free" incoming. To compare pricing, you need to add the cost incurred on both ends.
Outgoing calls are cheaper, it appears, than incoming in some cases.

...s

[Bossman]

Very True. The calls are not free. The caller pays a premium for calling a mobile. However, in my comparison, my travelSim(Isle of man #) can be forwarded to or reached for around $0.20. The Base belgium number that both maxroam and celtrek use can be reached about $0.20 (higher in most cases). And we then add the cost to receive a call $ 0.20 or more in most countries. It's obvious that it will cost me at least double to use the Belgium based sim vs Isle of man one.

And my analogy above is probably the reason why Adam917 is asking why they are charging for incoming calls in these zones where other sims do not, and the caller still has to pay the premium to reach the number anyway.

Originally Posted by snidely

These calls to a Travelsim etc. calls are NOT free. In fact, calling an Estonia cell number from the U.S. is very expensive. Calling Isle of Mann numbers are cheaper - but of course = not free. Many users fail to take into accoiunt the charge that shows up on their phone back home that called the "free" incoming. To compare pricing, you need to add the cost incurred on both ends.
Outgoing calls are cheaper, it appears, than incoming in some cases.

...s

[adam917]

Originally Posted by Bossman

Very True. The calls are not free. The caller pays a premium for calling a mobile. However, in my comparison, my travelSim(Isle of man #) can be forwarded to or reached for around $0.20. The Base belgium number that both maxroam and celtrek use can be reached about $0.20 (higher in most cases). And we then add the cost to receive a call $ 0.20 or more in most countries. It's obvious that it will cost me at least double to use the Belgium based sim vs Isle of man one.

And my analogy above is probably the reason why Adam917 is asking why they are charging for incoming calls in these zones where other sims do not, and the caller still has to pay the premium to reach the number anyway.

Bingo. I certainly was thinking of what you just said when writing the original question, but forgot to mention it. I wonder when we'll start seeing global SIMs with numbers that aren't such a premium for callers to call. Of course IoM is better than Estonia but that's usually still not good enough for most Americans for instance (& I bet plenty of other people), that either want to dial a US number or the American end-user who would like to just forward all their calls to the global SIM & not incur extra charges from those incoming calls when travelling.

The capability should already exist to give the user a number from the country they would like to be reached at (in my case, I'd prefer any US number, I'm sure most Europeans would prefer a land-line number from their own country). From what I understand, getting SMS to work like this is more difficult, as the SIM can have only a very limited amount of numbers assigned to it, hence the former Celtrek SIMs having a separate voice number & SMS number.

Get my drift?