Yackie - Is anybody still using? [merged]

[Effendi]

I used it in France between Christmas and NYE. Outgoing calls and SMS worked fine, with good quality, but I never succeeded in receiving any call, using an Italian number provided by them and, of course, associated to my Yakie sim.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Effendi

I used it in France between Christmas and NYE. Outgoing calls and SMS worked fine, with good quality, but I never succeeded in receiving any call, using an Italian number provided by them and, of course, associated to my Yakie sim.

With international SIMs it's much more probable to have problems with outgoing calls, not incoming ones, due to callback issues. But Yackie is not just another "normal" international SIM. I hope that at least you weren't charged for attempted unanswered calls

[albino]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

With international SIMs it's much more probable to have problems with outgoing calls, not incoming ones, due to callback issues. But Yackie is not just another "normal" international SIM. I hope that at least you weren't charged for attempted unanswered calls

This is in theory true ... but interetingly the big problems most international cards have is with datafilling. That is another network filling their switching gear with the numbers of another network. For companies like vodafone it isnt a problem, they spend a fortune on it and they are big so other networks would be foolish to ignore them. But for companies like UM .. hmmm. They are tiny, and other networks are not really botherd. They spend all day phoning other networks to datafill .. but 6 months later is not uncomon, if at all. (which is why older cards are often better) What it means is that if you go to the dominican republic for example - you will be able to phone the UK, and UKers will be able to phone you (because UM has concentrated on the main networks in their market to make sure they are datafilled) BUT ... you will not be able to phone a local number, and a local wont be able to phone you.

It happens all through Europe too. A huge pain for UM and the others. Interestingly the most reliable system for this is the Manx card. I am not sure why .. different people have different theories, would be nice to pick the brains of the fellars who set up the system. The Manx problem is the delay to receive a call, and no caller ID... but reliability seems the best out of all the international cards

[Effendi]

Uhm, I took a look at my details and there's something wrong and strange...



Do you understand the difference between a "phone call" and an "outgoing call"?

And I don't remember I made a 20" call, while I surely remember the "busy line" calling myself just after...

The "phone call" seems to be to (or from?) my home number, which is actually the only number I called in these days. Probably in the detail they show you the roaming price (outgoing call) plus the rate for calling an Italian landline, but that is just an idea...

And there seems to be no incoming calls, which actually I never received (since if I call my Yackie number I only get tritonal sound...)

[andy]

Originally Posted by Effendi

Uhm, I took a look at my details and there's something wrong and strange...

Do you understand the difference between a "phone call" and an "outgoing call"?

No, but ...

It looks like each call consists of concurrent "Outgoing Call" and "Phone Call", the Outgoing Call to France Global presumably being the callback.

For the successful pair, one part starts at 20:20:52; the second part 8 seconds later and 8 seconds shorter, so both end at the same time [20:22:30].

I don't know what the advertised tariff is, but it looks like 1:30 to Italy has cost you 1.47 - is that dollars? And the incoming call looks like 30 second billing units @ 28c.

Whereas a French SIM with other callback might have been about 27c or 30c for a minute and a half ...

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by andy

No, but ...

It looks like each call consists of concurrent "Outgoing Call" and "Phone Call", the Outgoing Call to France Global presumably being the callback.

For the successful pair, one part starts at 20:20:52; the second part 8 seconds later and 8 seconds shorter, so both end at the same time [20:22:30].

I don't know what the advertised tariff is, but it looks like 1:30 to Italy has cost you 1.47 - is that dollars? And the incoming call looks like 30 second billing units @ 28c.

Whereas a French SIM with other callback might have been about 27c or 30c for a minute and a half ...

The billing system is totally weird.
We used the card quite a lot in the US (before the tariff changed) and the billing was different for nearly each call.

Latey I made some test calls here in germany and the billing still looks the same.

Chris

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by Effendi

Uhm, I took a look at my details and there's something wrong and strange...



Do you understand the difference between a "phone call" and an "outgoing call"?

And I don't remember I made a 20" call, while I surely remember the "busy line" calling myself just after...

That is the busy call. They charge them as well....

[achu]

I tried it about a week ago in California (3rd week of Jan). The SIM has no problem registering to both AT&T/Cingular and T-Mobile. I initially tried couple times calling my US virtual number (mine is in Miami, FL). All I got were fast busy tones. I then tried an outgoing call to another US landline using the SIM and that worked correctly (callback to SIM happened pretty much immediately). Strange thing is, after the outgoing call, incoming call started to work (caller hears the usual "connecting" message and the phone rings). The online billing correctly reflected the outgoing call within a day or two. Online billing also did not charge me for both the unsuccessful and unanswered incoming calls.

I also tried sending a SMS to the SIM 2 month ago (also in California), and that worked without any incidents.

[Effendi]

Yeah, I thought that too, but it really seems to be quite expensive (around .90$/min to call a landline...) with Wind in roaming I spend the same, with direct call, what's the advantage of using Yackie so?

[Bossman]

Yes. Thay charge for busy calls, even if you call a number that's no longer in service, you still get charged for it. At least that's the way it was about 2-3 months ago when I last used the sim.