lower rates from July 1?

[inquisitor]

Truphone is registered as a company in NY, USA, so they are not subject to EU regulations despite they may offer numbers from an EU member state.

[fsotirop]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Truphone is registered as a company in NY, USA, so they are not subject to EU regulations despite they may offer numbers from an EU member state.

that's true, i can't recommend these guys.

[davidtheprof]

thanks for pointing me toward Maxroam and Piranha - lots of innovation going on!

by coincidence, this just appeared on the Truphone blog, perhaps signalling something forthcoming:
Final Countdown for high roaming charges in Europe - The Tru Blog

Truphone does well with very low rates for calls and data in the US, UK, and Australia, and decent rates for short term roaming in rest of Europe. Also very easy to add a UK number for $8 for a month when I visit. But Truphone seems to have been asleep for 2 years while other companies are busy innovating.

I like the way Piranha integrates VOIP, I'd try it just to see how that works. But don't like callback when roaming, (wife wants to keep things simple!)
Also, have to watch the data costs, as costs vary a lot by local provider, and it seems they work with multiple ones in each country.

Interesting that Truphone is officially US-based, originally appeared to be a UK outfit.

[davidtheprof]

And Truphone has now confirmed that they don't plan to reduce rates for non-EU residents.
I can imagine this will be tough to implement, and maybe they’ll eventually be forced to compete with other sim cards that have lowered their rates.
But disappointing in the meantime....

[kuba.g]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Truphone is registered as a company in NY, USA, so they are not subject to EU regulations despite they may offer numbers from an EU member state.

I wonder if times will come that European mobile operators will be moving to such "tax heavens" outside of the EU to circumnavigate the price-dictating regulations and be able to provide us competitive prices

[davidtheprof]

it's now July 1, and Orange, for one, has not reduced their PAYG rates to meet the regulations. (even post-paid monthly customers have to buy bundles to get rates that meet the EU limits.)
That's a pain, I have two of their sim cards, the Camel plan is good when I'm there to call back to the US or elsewhere.

[fsotirop]

Originally Posted by davidtheprof

it's now July 1, and Orange, for one, has not reduced their PAYG rates to meet the regulations. (even post-paid monthly customers have to buy bundles to get rates that meet the EU limits.)
That's a pain, I have two of their sim cards, the Camel plan is good when I'm there to call back to the US or elsewhere.

most networks will update the rates on their websites tomorrow.

[davidtheprof]

Originally Posted by fsotirop

most networks will update the rates on their websites tomorrow.

You're right, Orange just updated, now 59p/MB for data roaming in Europe. Better than 4 pounds, but still not exactly cheap...
and their "bundle" or extra is still 5 pound for 4 MB!