Maxroam (aka Roam4Free V2)

[Grampa]

The MAXroam rate calculator is apparently now correct. It comes with a major apology from Pat Phelan:

http://www.maxroam.com/comment_on_our_rates.asp

David Pogue has also done some extensive backtracking on his glowing review of last week:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...ates/#more-363

I for one accept Phelan's statement that the error was not deliberate. I can't imagine a worse way to launch a product. Bottom line, however, is that this card is now a lot less attractive than it appeared to be initially. It really didn't look too good to be true, but I guess it was nevertheless.

[petkow]

Originally Posted by Grampa

David Pogue has also done some extensive backtracking on his glowing review of last week:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...ates/#more-363

Oh dear! I can't imagine it can get a whole lot worse than that! ("In 20 years... nobody has ever deliberately misled me ..."etc. )

My personal point of view is that this may well eventually become a fairly decent product but I really don't understand why such a grand product launch was made whilst the product is obviously still under construction. This is especially true as this company relies on good PR through blogs and people like David Pogue, rather than expensive advertising budgets! The € vs. $ mistake etc. are understandable (but big) mistakes! However misleading expert columnists.... I'm not too sure about that at all! Ouch!

[petkow]

We get the assurance that rates are now finally correct (as mentioned on: http://www.maxroam.com/comment_on_our_rates.asp)

But oh help!! Just when I didn't think it can't get worse it does: I cannot believe what I just saw. The requested rates David Pogue talked about in his review have been "equalled" to the rates he put in his original review. Are they trying to honour their mistake? This is indeed great news! But if they are..they still have not gone far enough as they still seem to be having a few huge €/$ issues:

In the original quoted corresponce to David Pogue it was mentioned Russia to USA is $0.49/min. The MAXroam calculator now suggests this is €0.49/min. (which is approx $0.69)

USA to Greece was quoted at $0.42/min. This is now €0.42/min (all rates in this comparison are for landlines)

Now according to the calculator here are the others:
USA to Australia €0.42 (quoted at $0.42)
USA to NZ €0.49 (quoted at $0.49)
USA to Iraq €0.69c (also quoted at $0.69 originally)

So my question is are the above really true rates anyhow? How long will these 'apology' rates last for? They are nothing close to comparible rates to similar countries:

Let's compare Greece with other European countries. There is a rate of €1.23 from USA to call Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, UK etc.

I am not sure what to compare Aus and NZ with as they are also tradionally low termination developed countries (similar to Europe). But closer to that corner of the world consider these maybe:
USA to Singapore €1.23
USA to Hong Kong €1.24

Now what can you compare Iraq with? I don't know but consider:
USA to UAE €1.36
USA to Bahrain €1.40
USA to Kuwait €1.31

[dg7feq]

I sent a email to their customer care and asked if its possible to call the mobile number directly as well as the assigned DID. The reply is that this number (from israel) is for SMS only. So thats on the same platform like yackie was and like celltrak is now on i suppose.

Chris

[prion]

How do they manage to have coverage in various arab and muslim countries?

[petkow]

Judging from the blogs (and the comments), potential users have not been satisfied with the way this initial crisis was handled. One thing is for certain, even bad publicity is publicity. They've been given an awful lot of that and no doubt they have lost some, gained others. Many are at least now aware that such products exist, and some have even been made aware of ppgsm and some alternatives to this.

See:
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/...final-chapter/

http://www.goebel.net/technews/2007/...t-article.html

http://consumerist.com/consumer/oh-d...ard-307416.php

[Grampa]

FWIW, Pat Phelan has moved his apology ("Comment on our rates"), which was previously linked to the main rate page, and which I referenced in an earlier post. It is now found on a new blog on the company's website, http://www.maxroam.com/blog.asp.

The blog also includes a new defense of the company's rates by Sean O'Mahoney ("it turns out that our rates actually do rock"), which compares MAXroam's rates for calling the USA from a handful of countries to the corresponding rates from T-Mobile and AT&T. Of course, this is hardly an apples-to-apples comparison, in that MAXroam uses a callback system, requires getting a new phone number, etc. A more apt comparson would be another global roaming SIM. Celtrek, for example, offers a similar product, but has rates that are substantially lower for all but one of the countries listed in MAXroam's blog.

I wonder how many people are still purchasing this card based on Pogue's original review, but have not checked the actual rates or reviewed all the critical comments in numerous blogs covering its introduction?

[ygeffens]

Today, I received my iPhone, that I won on MaxRoam's launch-day.

Just using it for an hour, but I love the interface.
YouTube is coming in slow.
Voice quality is very good.
In my basement (where my Nokia E70 has problems) I can continue calling with no problem.

More news, when I have time to do more testing...

[bylo]

Back to Pogue. Seems his apology got /.ed today: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/14/1314204

[patphelan]

Hi ViJU/bobb
As I said you can email me directly now from the forum
I will endeavour to fix any issue TODAY, please email me asap.