Maxroam (aka Roam4Free V2)

[PhotoJim]

Prepaid SIM operators require no loyalty of us as customers. In exchange, they have no obligation of loyalty to us.

Prepaid operators that do not act fairly and consistently will not attract as many customers. Those that are fair and reasonable will attract more customers.

As with any product, vote with your dollars (or euros or pounds) and choose products in context with all the competitive options.

I hear the word "scam" bandied about as if every business in operation intends to defraud its customers. While a handful clearly do, most are honest. Changes in rates are due to economic necessity or market forces.

To avoid rate increases, use your minutes up. If you don't use many, use a provider that forces you to buy fewer prepaid minutes so that your risk is less. (Expect to pay more per minute, however.)

[Grampa]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Prepaid SIM operators require no loyalty of us as customers. In exchange, they have no obligation of loyalty to us.

Prepaid operators that do not act fairly and consistently will not attract as many customers. Those that are fair and reasonable will attract more customers.

As with any product, vote with your dollars (or euros or pounds) and choose products in context with all the competitive options.

I hear the word "scam" bandied about as if every business in operation intends to defraud its customers. While a handful clearly do, most are honest. Changes in rates are due to economic necessity or market forces.

To avoid rate increases, use your minutes up. If you don't use many, use a provider that forces you to buy fewer prepaid minutes so that your risk is less. (Expect to pay more per minute, however.)

Fair enough, "scam" is too harsh. I can't speak about the intentions of these companies. However, I've been reading the comments in this forum, and there is very here little to inspire confidence in them. Many providers appear to be thinly capitalized, running on a shoestring, and operating from jurisdictions such as Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Estonia, Jersey, Iceland or Monaco. Do they make their profit by taking advantage of some temporary regulatory anomaly available in those places? I don't claim to understand their business models, but their ability to operate seems extraordinarily subject to changes outside their control, witness the IoM providers or UM's +423 plan.

In this context, we are asked to "prepay" for a service the price of which can change without notice. I can't avoid rate increases by using my minutes up if the rate increases take place before the card even arrives in the mail. It's like paying in advance for ten pounds of potatoes, but then getting only seven because the price went up between the time of payment and the time of delivery. I'm not asking for loyalty; I'd just like to get what I paid for.

[andy]

Originally Posted by Grampa

... and operating from jurisdictions such as Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Estonia, Jersey, Iceland or Monaco. Do they make their profit by taking advantage of some temporary regulatory anomaly available in those places?

Why assume there could be regulatory anomalies in these places?

No, the territories are small and finite, which means their companies might be more disposed to listen to certain ideas to expand their markets, but which might not earn much attention in large companies with networks in many countries. Thus some of these have coverage on ferries aircraft and global SIMs, while Vodafone sells or buys a network in Sweden or India

[Grampa]

Originally Posted by andy

Why assume there could be regulatory anomalies in these places?

I'm asking, not assuming. This area is new to me. Are you saying that the only reason prepaid providers operate out of small jurisdictions is that there are no small telecommunications carriers in Europe or the UK willing to do business with them?

[ygeffens]

This evening I received my MAXroam SIM.
Activation was not necessary. I could log in with username and password that I received 2 days after buying the sim online.

3G, Internet and MMS settings were all pointing to *.orange.co.il

I send an SMS to the UK number that I was assigned, the message did not arrive (as expected, it's a landline number).

I entered my simcard number here:
http://www.numberingplans.com/?page=analysis&sub=simnr

and got back this:
Network name Partner Communications Co. Ltd
Operator name
Country or global network Israel
MCC-MNC 425-01

Cheap ass as I am, I didn't try to make a testcall.
I did send an SMS to my Belgian Mobile (cost €0.30)
It arrived immediatly, and was from an IL number (+972 543 56 xxxx).
I then tried to send a message back to this number (cost €0.02 - thank you justvoip ). The messages did not arrive.

That's it for now.
Now I'm waiting for my iPhone to arrive

[Bossman]

This sounds like the same company "Orange il" that yackie first used. And, sms sent to the +972 number worked. So, may be they just have not ironed it out yet.

Originally Posted by ygeffens

This evening I received my MAXroam SIM.
Activation was not necessary. I could log in with username and password that I received 2 days after buying the sim online.

3G, Internet and MMS settings were all pointing to *.orange.co.il

I send an SMS to the UK number that I was assigned, the message did not arrive (as expected, it's a landline number).

I entered my simcard number here:
http://www.numberingplans.com/?page=analysis&sub=simnr

and got back this:
Network name Partner Communications Co. Ltd
Operator name
Country or global network Israel
MCC-MNC 425-01

Cheap ass as I am, I didn't try to make a testcall.
I did send an SMS to my Belgian Mobile (cost €0.30)
It arrived immediatly, and was from an IL number (+972 543 56 xxxx).
I then tried to send a message back to this number (cost €0.02 - thank you justvoip ). The messages did not arrive.

That's it for now.
Now I'm waiting for my iPhone to arrive

[alexmore]

Originally Posted by ygeffens

This evening I received my MAXroam SIM.
Activation was not necessary. I could log in with username and password that I received 2 days after buying the sim online.

3G, Internet and MMS settings were all pointing to *.orange.co.il

Do you talk about DATA configuration.
Does dataplan is out?
do you try some 3G connection?

alex

[ygeffens]

Originally Posted by alexmore

Do you talk about DATA configuration.
Does dataplan is out?
do you try some 3G connection?

No, I was just referring to the settings in the card, to prove it's a card from Israel. Most 'global' cards have the datasettings preloaded, but this doesn't mean it's working already.

The only card that is offering data at this moment (AFAIK) is the GT-Sim, at €0.12/10kb. As long as it doesn't become 10 times cheaper, I think it's too expensive, and I look out for a (free)Wifi Hotspot whenever I'm abroad.