Review of Truphone

Stu · 10-06-2014, 13:05

Let me take a stab at why a Yank would use a roaming SIM. My wife and I are grandfathered on ATT's international iPhone plan. I get unlimited (non-throttled) data worldwide on my iPhone. This includes high priced roams. I pay US$65 a month for it rather than $35 for the privilege and there are years that it may not be a good deal, but other years where it is worth its weight in gold.

This doesn't give me cheap inbound calls abroad so a roaming SIM makes a great deal of sense. Many times I can make a respectable VOIP Over 3g call, but this is not 100% of those times. When that happens, I trigger a callback (to the roaming SIM).

Neither me or anyone else gets legal tethering on this plan or on TMobile. I have an old jailbroken phone which I can cheat with or I suppose I good switch to Android where rooting is a much more consistent experience than jailbreaking. This means that there is some times that I need to get something else online beyond my phone. For example, I live fifteen miles (24k) from the Canadian border right off the motorway connecting to the border. This month, my wife will be working three of four weeks in Canada. I was there twice last week, almost went last night, and will be there for a week this month. For these reasons, we have a contract flex data account on a hotspot for Canada. If we don't use it, it is $5 a month. We scale upto 5gigs a month for $35. (We also pay ATT $20 more a month on our family plan to extend our family plan for voice into Canada).

I have a Toggle Mobile SIM card for voice off US shores and also a Piranha Mobile card. My best friend lives in Australia and it means we have a local number when we visit. My wife's company's European headquarters in the Netherlands. Same story. My wife has a client in Hong Kong and I have relatives in the UK. My wife also transits through the Netherlands on her way to Dubai.

When we make those trips, we carry a small Nokia pentaband Asha. On none of those trips do we bother with a prepaid SIM anymore.

davidtheprof · 10-06-2014, 16:06

also, if I'm in Europe, it's useful for local friends, family, etc. to have local number, or at least, UK number to call back to, as calling to US number is expensive for them.
So I'm back to taking 2 phones, the TMobile one for free roaming and cheap calls, and a Tru or Piranha sim.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

	(#1)
Stu (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,091 Join Date: 11 Feb 2004 Location: Detroit (formerly Dubai) Country:	10-06-2014, 13:05 Let me take a stab at why a Yank would use a roaming SIM. My wife and I are grandfathered on ATT's international iPhone plan. I get unlimited (non-throttled) data worldwide on my iPhone. This includes high priced roams. I pay US$65 a month for it rather than $35 for the privilege and there are years that it may not be a good deal, but other years where it is worth its weight in gold. This doesn't give me cheap inbound calls abroad so a roaming SIM makes a great deal of sense. Many times I can make a respectable VOIP Over 3g call, but this is not 100% of those times. When that happens, I trigger a callback (to the roaming SIM). Neither me or anyone else gets legal tethering on this plan or on TMobile. I have an old jailbroken phone which I can cheat with or I suppose I good switch to Android where rooting is a much more consistent experience than jailbreaking. This means that there is some times that I need to get something else online beyond my phone. For example, I live fifteen miles (24k) from the Canadian border right off the motorway connecting to the border. This month, my wife will be working three of four weeks in Canada. I was there twice last week, almost went last night, and will be there for a week this month. For these reasons, we have a contract flex data account on a hotspot for Canada. If we don't use it, it is $5 a month. We scale upto 5gigs a month for $35. (We also pay ATT $20 more a month on our family plan to extend our family plan for voice into Canada). I have a Toggle Mobile SIM card for voice off US shores and also a Piranha Mobile card. My best friend lives in Australia and it means we have a local number when we visit. My wife's company's European headquarters in the Netherlands. Same story. My wife has a client in Hong Kong and I have relatives in the UK. My wife also transits through the Netherlands on her way to Dubai. When we make those trips, we carry a small Nokia pentaband Asha. On none of those trips do we bother with a prepaid SIM anymore.

	(#2)
davidtheprof (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 159 Join Date: 05 Jun 2011 Country:	10-06-2014, 16:06 also, if I'm in Europe, it's useful for local friends, family, etc. to have local number, or at least, UK number to call back to, as calling to US number is expensive for them. So I'm back to taking 2 phones, the TMobile one for free roaming and cheap calls, and a Tru or Piranha sim.