Best practice international GSM setup

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by ckh

In general I'm however curious why most of your are against the Estonian number, even if they offer a US number to hand out to friends en family.
At the end paying 17 cpm for a good global reach with one sim provider seems a good deal to me. But offcourse we'll also work with local prepaid sims.

Cost and ease of use. [in this example onesimcard] If someone calls Estonia, it will cost them. If you pay for a US number it will cost you for the number and the time. If you have them call the provided numbers it will cost you money and them ease of use.[double dialing] If you are using it 'enough' it can be easily justified. but take the total cost of ownership and setup and usage to compare cost with other providers. And if it works and works well it will have been a good investment of your time for research and value for your money.

Originally Posted by ckh

At the end paying 17 cpm for a good global reach with one sim provider seems a good deal to me. But offcourse we'll also work with local prepaid sims.

You will have other SIMs but too much dependence on one provider has burned many of the people in the forum.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by HappyCamp

I went with Piranha Mobile and TruPhone as my two SIM cards for my trip to Europe.

I think you will be happy with these choices. Please remember to tell us how things went==what went wrong!

Have a good trip.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by ckh

At the end paying 17 cpm for a good global reach with one sim provider seems a good deal to me. But offcourse we'll also work with local prepaid sims.

Why pay so much when, as posted above, it costs 7 cpm to forward to +372 (and there are several other alternatives that call/forward for 8 to 11 cpm).

Especially since you are talking about forwarding your home VOIP, this is so easy to do if you have a half decent VOIP provider (= that allows forwarding to sip addresses - for more flexibility and cheap providers in the chain).

-------

Regarding Anveo and SMS: It's nice with onesimcard as you can forward the SMS for free via email. If you don't use onesimcard you will have to pay for the SMS forwarding.


If you need voice + SMS forwarding for world travel on a single US incoming number this is what I would do:


Voice: Anveo incoming -> you@sip.hotvoip.com -> +372 (= 7 cpm)

SMS: Anveo incoming -> 372xxxxx@sms.onesimcard.com (= free)


OR with Google Voice (= free incoming number):

Voice: Google Voice -> callcentric -> you@sip.hotvoip.com -> +372 (= 7 cpm)

Quality will not be degraded as there is no audio transcoding between callcentric and hotvoip (of course hotvoip quality is lower than a direct call, but for friends and family calls it is more than enough considering the price).

SMS: Google Voice -> 372xxxxx@sms.onesimcard.com (= free)

[ckh]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

Cost and ease of use. [in this example onesimcard] If someone calls Estonia, it will cost them. If you pay for a US number it will cost you for the number and the time. If you have them call the provided numbers it will cost you money and them ease of use.[double dialing] If you are using it 'enough' it can be easily justified. but take the total cost of ownership and setup and usage to compare cost with other providers. And if it works and works well it will have been a good investment of your time for research and value for your money.

You will have other SIMs but too much dependence on one provider has burned many of the people in the forum.

What do you mean with "double dialing" in your reply above?

With xxsim the additional numbers are free; so no monthly cost like at onesimcard. And the rates are just a low as onesimcard, or lower.

For example: mysims2go, a provider that was suggested asks extreme high rates in Chili (just for example); 1,5 for receiving calls and almost 2 euro for calling, where xxsim costs 0,20 for receiving and 0,55 for calling.

But let me first give them a try, before judging completely.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by ckh

What do you mean with "double dialing" in your reply above?

I think what he means is when people call a toll free 0800 number to call you. They have to dial twice.

Originally Posted by ckh

With xxsim the additional numbers are free; so no monthly cost like at onesimcard. And the rates are just a low as onesimcard, or lower.

For example: mysims2go, a provider that was suggested asks extreme high rates in Chili (just for example); 1,5 for receiving calls and almost 2 euro for calling, where xxsim costs 0,20 for receiving and 0,55 for calling.

Onesimcard is free to receive calls in Chile. (outgoing is about the same as XXSIm charges in euros, Onesimcard in $).

I have been following them both (Onesimcard & XXSIM = same backend) for over a year. Onesimcard has lower rates overall. Every couple months Onesimcard is announcing lower rates in some countries and free incoming countries on their facebook. They are giving us new rates as soon as the backend (Travelsim) sets new rates; this happens very often.

On the other hand, XXSIM is slower to lower the rates and add new free incoming countires. Onesimcard is more proactive.

To sum up:

XXSIM advantage: free US number (but, given the incoming rate, is this really an advantage as you can setup a US number with cheaper forwarding yourself AND you can keep the number you setup yourself should you ever move to another SIM card).

Onesimcard advantage: free email-to-SMS & more proactive = lower rates + free countries sooner. (+ I don't know if XXSIM also has online voicemail? And the 3 Android/Iphone applications, i.ex: cheap VOIP with free incoming when on WIFI/3G with autoswitch from WIFI/3G to your +372 when not reachable on WIFI/3G , etc...)


edit: as an alternative to Onesimcard I would prefer Airbaltic card to XXSIM, as someone posted above it's also the same backend but their credit doesn't expire during 2 years. Airbaltic is still less proactive than Onesimcard with the rates and free incoming countries though (but not much?) , and it doesn't offer free email-to-SMS (+ what about the 3 Android/iphone applications?).

[ckh]

Thank you MBK. I actually agree with you about proactivity of onesimcard vs xxsim. It also costed me multiple emails to get to all the required information.

But now I already order xxsim and its in euro; that is a plus for me. And offcourse I can setup a better rate myself, so 15 cpm is just the start

Piranha mobile btw seems also a good deal. I think I might consider them for my second pair of sims. I'll for sure research them; only too bad their rates tool is so complicated; the rates seem to be low but not as simply structured as xxsim

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by ckh

What do you mean with "double dialing" in your reply above?

Yes, MBK is right.
Further explanied:
Using 'Common Access Numbers' LA, Washington,DC, New York or toll free USA you callers would call the phone and then need to dial your number.
All these cost you $0.20/minute.

Apparently, they are now providing a 'free' US number for one month and $11.99 to keep it for a year [with no setup fee].
Calls direct to you cost $0.20/minute.

The 'Personal Extra Number' the 'PEN' can be a US area code or a toll free number [same price!] forwarding to you.
$4.99 setup fee. $19.99 for a year and $0.20/minute.

Everything is $0.20/minute.

If these terms are agreeable/flexible for someone, great!
If not there are other options. [This might be the easiest setup for technophobes.]
No SIP. No VOIP. No setting up other call forwarding through multiple entities.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by ckh

But now I already order xxsim and its in euro; that is a plus for me. And offcourse I can setup a better rate myself, so 15 cpm is just the start

I'm sure you will be happy with the XXSIM. It's still a very good sim, and the difference is not much as they all use the same backend.

Talking about this, could someone advise why not to go with Travelsim (the backend) directly?

Advantages:

• Travelsim has recently added worldwide WIFI access to the SIM (paid for with SIM credit): travelsim.com/trustive/
• With travelsim you get new rates and free countries the soonest (they are the backend).
• It is more expensive to purchase as you have to pay for 50€ credit, but credit never expires and the SIM remains active for 2 years with no recharge.

Disadvantages:

• no email-to-SMS compared to Onesimcard

Originally Posted by ckh

Piranha mobile btw seems also a good deal. I think I might consider them for my second pair of sims. I'll for sure research them; only too bad their rates tool is so complicated; the rates seem to be low but not as simply structured as xxsim

I didn't go with piranha because they always charge for incoming and they are expensive in some countries. But to call out they are of course interesting in some countries. I would take EKIT Passport as 2nd world sim backup (80+ countries free incoming), but Piranha deserves some consideration too due to the cheap outgoing calls in some areas.

In Europe my 2nd SIM is Toggle Mobile and elsewhere local sims (coupled with the MobileVOIP android/iphone app and the dozens of voip providers it supports (all the betamax voip clones) you often get extremely cheap/free callback and the lowest outgoing calls worldwide (free calls to many countries landlines and mobiles). + you can set any callerid you want).

i.ex with this dual-sim setup: if you set +372 as caller id you have free incoming in 154 countries and the worldwide cheapest outgoing calls showing the same callerid.

Nothing can beat this.


edit: if you don't use the local sim for the data, the onesimcard charges data in 1k increments, so triggering the callback costs less than $0.01

[MBK]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

Yes, MBK is right.
Further explanied:
Using 'Common Access Numbers' LA, Washington,DC, New York or toll free USA you callers would call the phone and then need to dial your number.
All these cost you $0.20/minute.

Apparently, they are now providing a 'free' US number for one month and $11.99 to keep it for a year [with no setup fee].
Calls direct to you cost $0.20/minute.

The 'Personal Extra Number' the 'PEN' can be a US area code or a toll free number [same price!] forwarding to you.
$4.99 setup fee. $19.99 for a year and $0.20/minute.

Everything is $0.20/minute.

Right.

2 things to add:

• With the Onesimcard VOIP app ( play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.onesimvoip ) incoming calls to a PEN are free when on WIFI (or 3G on your local dual-SIM). Free for you and free for the caller. When not available on WIFI/3G it automatically switches to ring on your +372 number.
• And with OneSimCard Connect ( play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onesimcard.connect ) people call and SMS you for free (SMS free but calls are charged 0.20$ to you).

Originally Posted by rfranzq

If these terms are agreeable/flexible for someone, great!
If not there are other options. [This might be the easiest setup for technophobes.]
No SIP. No VOIP. No setting up other call forwarding through multiple entities.

The link is hidden?

[rfranzq]

OK, I can't help myself. I almost started a new thread but decided not to. I am curious about the SIMs on the 'Travelsim platform'.
TravelSim
airbalticcard
xxsim.com
OneSimCard
Is this all of them?

OK. What are the differences? Only Onesimcard is in US dollars[& based in the US], everything else in Euros?
They all seem to have a way to get decent US rates.
Do all use both AT&T and T-Mobile for US networks?

What have been your experience if you are a user?
Any one that should be avoided at all cost??--what happened?

How well do they work in Europe?
Where do they not work?