United Mobile+ (new service with +44 Jersey number)

[inquisitor]

My UM+ SIM, which is currently in France, is unreachable, too, allthough it's booked into a local network.

[UKSTEVE]

Just back from 10 days in Paris - customer services eventually unravelled the SIM authentication issue. I'd suggest all users of UM+ call customer services to activate their new SIM and avoid using the Web interface - it clearly doesn't work reliably.

Outbound calls worked as with the standard SIM. Inbound calls were patchy, and seemed to work best after the phone had been switched on for 30 minutes or so - presumably the French switches were able to update the Jersey Telecom switches to the fact that the phone was switched on.

Unhappy with the way we've been used as guinea pigs with the new service. UM have lost a lot of brownie points in my book because of this. A very stupid act on their part IMHO...

The service works and is reasonably priced, but there are other better and more reliable services out there in the 2007 GSM world...

Pull your socks up United Mobile!

Steve :/

Originally Posted by inquisitor

My UM+ SIM, which is currently in France, is unreachable, too, allthough it's booked into a local network.

[Bossman]

That's probably the reason why they allowed free upgrade to the new sim for current UM customers, an most importantly, they allowed us to keep the +423 number too...to fall back on I guess.

Originally Posted by UKSTEVE

Unhappy with the way we've been used as guinea pigs with the new service. UM have lost a lot of brownie points in my book because of this. A very stupid act on their part IMHO...

The service works and is reasonably priced, but there are other better and more reliable services out there in the 2007 GSM world...

Pull your socks up United Mobile!

Steve :/

[UKSTEVE]

True, but it would have been nice if UM had warned us about the shortcomings of the UM+ SIM - I took the UM+ SIM to Paris, but left the old UM SIM at home.

I've just done a rough analysis of my UM+ usage in Paris and compared it to my O2 contract roaming bill and found that, with inbound roaming calls costing 22 euro cents a mnute and outbound costing 50 euro cents a minute, it's clearly a lot cheaper (i.e. free) to use UM+ for inbound roaming, and 20 per cent cheaper for outbound roaming.

BUT - it's a lot more convenient to use my O2 mobile when roaming for calls, especially as my number is well known to all my friends and family.

And that's a big but, especially given UM+'s crappy inbound service when the phone is switched off or out of range.

The difference is around £50.00 for 10 days in Paris and (I calculate) £30.00 using UM+.

Is it really worth the hassle, I ask myself...

Originally Posted by Bossman

That's probably the reason why they allowed free upgrade to the new sim for current UM customers, an most importantly, they allowed us to keep the +423 number too...to fall back on I guess.

[bones_boy]

Just wanted to share my experience. I activated via website and my sim seems to be working okay. Did not transfer entire balance over - +423 is still active too.

Caller ID works outbound every time so far, but inbound calls only show caller ID about 50% of the time.

SMS works perfectly out and in - however, the SMS settings (message center number for example) was not picked up automatically off the sim - it has to be put in manually each time you put the sim in a phone. Most other cards have that information on the card, and the correct setup information is automatically applied.

Of course, I still get the "reorder" sound if I call to UM+ with the phone off ... doooo doo ... doooo doo...

[UKSTEVE]

As a postscript to my Paris trip with UM+, the UM customer service team finally replied to my email last night. The email had a lot of information in it, but failed to address the root cause of the problem

Here's the reply just out of interest / Steve


Dear Customer,

Your case with United Mobile Customer Service has been updated.

CASE NOTES
-----------
[16/8/2007 06:41:37 - 1stlevel_deu]
Dear Mr Gold,

Thank you very much for your inquiry.

We are sorry to hear that you cannot make or receive calls.

Well, in many cases the best method to enable your mobile phone to make and receive calls is that you choose another network manually in the menu of your mobile phone (Settings> Phone Settings> Network selection).

The coverage of the different network operators is of different quality in some regions. Although you have full strength of an operator you could try to choose another network manually to see if it would operate better then.

You will need to use Menu Based Calling if you are experiencing problems trying to connect your call using your United Mobile SimCard. Some specific error messages are:

'Call Barred'
'Restricted Number'
'Call Not Allowed'
'Check Operator Service'

It also can happen that your mobile phone reboots.

IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THESE MESSAGES OR SITUATIONS TRY MENU BASED CALLING

To use this feature you will need to access a new menu item: 'United Mobile'. The location of this menu will vary depending upon the make of your phone:

Nokia: Last item on the 'Main' menu
Sony Ericsson: In the 'Connectivity' menu
Motorola: Under the 'Office Tools' menu
Samsung: In the 'Application' menu
Siemens: In the 'Main' or 'Extras' menu

If all else fails than you can try to make telephone calls using an USSD-command: Please dial *137*Countrycodes without "00", Areacode without "0", phone number and at last the pound sign (#).

Example for London/UK: *137*442072xxxxx#

If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us again.

Yours sincerely

Ferdinand Creutz
United Mobile Customer Service

You can now contact United Mobile around the clock. Our Customer Service Team is now available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.



CASE DETAILS
------------
ID : 18933
Customer: Steve Gold
Title : um+ call problems

DESCRIPTION
-----------
Type of problem:
It is not possible to make calls

Email:
sg@mail.com

First and last name:
Steve Gold

Country code:
+44 7937

Your United Mobile number:
032111

Date and time of problem:
ALLWEEK SINCE SUNDAY

Country where the problem occured:
FRANCE

Region where the problem occured:
PARIS

Your mobile phone model:
SIEMEN A65, LG CHOCOLATE, MOTO V3

Number of the person your were calling:
ASSORTED UK AND FRENCH NUMBERS

Further information:
Hello - long standing UM423 user here - New SIM worked in UK when activated - here in France 089 bal check works, but calls trigger SIM not acticated yet...

Called customer services 7ral times. Timed out.

Not at all happy with your new service one bit.

Steve((((((((






Best regards

United Mobile
Customer Service






[QUOTE=UKSTEVE;16841]Just back from 10 days in Paris - customer services eventually unravelled the SIM authentication issue. I'd suggest all users of UM+ call customer services to activate their new SIM and avoid using the Web interface - it clearly doesn't work reliably.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by UKSTEVE

If all else fails than you can try to make telephone calls using an USSD-command: Please dial *137*Countrycodes without "00", Areacode without "0", phone number and at last the pound sign (#).

Example for London/UK: *137*442072xxxxx#

If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us again.

That's great that they revealed the USSD code behind the callback SIM application

It helped with the lack of callback when roaming on Era Poland - with the code above it works!

[Nokia1610]

Originally Posted by UKSTEVE

If all else fails than you can try to make telephone calls using an USSD-command: Please dial *137*Countrycodes without "00", Areacode without "0", phone number and at last the pound sign (#).

Example for London/UK: *137*442072xxxxx#

Thank you very much!!!!!
I've tried the above-mentioned USSD-command on my Nokia 6510 (I remind this phone couldn't make any outgoing call even through the sim-menu) and it works perfectly!! I have also the credit displayed.
It is uncomfortable, but at least it works.

Italian landline numbers need the "0" before areacode all the same. For example, to Milan: *137*3902xxxxxxxx#