Can we trust callblue again??

[ls129]

After Freeglobalsim took my money and ran, i went ahead and gave more money for charity this time to CallBlue .

To my horror I found out (now that my prepaid credit has been exhausted and the sim card is blocked!) that they actually DO charge for roaming!!!

you wont find this on their home page or in their rate table!

it is hidden nicely in the terms and conditions that their "fair use policy" implies that after 10 minutes of an incoming call, they start charging 10p/min.

Someone should up update http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/international.html as it endorses a card that doesn't really provide free international roaming.



So.. are there any hidden roaming costs after 10 minutes also with UM+ ?

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by ls129

Someone should up update http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/international.html as it endorses a card that doesn't really provide free international roaming.

I updated the page, I really didn't knew about this "fair use policy" at all, thank you very much for the news.

Originally Posted by ls129

So.. are there any hidden roaming costs after 10 minutes also with UM+ ?

not at all, as well as with all the other simcard that I've used (both UM, Travelsim, 09...)

[snidely]

Originally Posted by ls129

After Freeglobalsim took my money and ran, i went ahead and gave more money for charity this time to CallBlue .

To my horror I found out (now that my prepaid credit has been exhausted and the sim card is blocked!) that they actually DO charge for roaming!!!

you wont find this on their home page or in their rate table!

it is hidden nicely in the terms and conditions that their "fair use policy" implies that after 10 minutes of an incoming call, they start charging 10p/min.

Someone should up update http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/international.html as it endorses a card that doesn't really provide free international roaming.
?

There is no such thing as "free roaming". Either the cost shows up on your home or office phone when the premium number is dialed to reach the SIM - or a local number is dialed and you incur a (hopefully) small charge against the credit on your SIM.

...mike

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by snidely

There is no such thing as "free roaming". Either the cost shows up on your home or office phone when the premium number is dialed to reach the SIM - or a local number is dialed and you incur a (hopefully) small charge against the credit on your SIM.

Sorry but both Callblue and UM share the same Jersey prefix, so with the same calling costs from "home" (which can be very cheap, and the roaming actually free). But UM doesn't apply that ridiculous "fair use policy". I think that's the difference between a serious company and one of the many...

[bbob]

Originally Posted by Effendi

I think that's the difference between a serious company and one of the many...

Wow If I would have said that some people would have been pissed.

Again I can only repeat when chossing a sim, look at the provider you choose, look at their background and also look at how they solved problems in the past. The solving problems in the past can be a very good indication on how they will react in future when something goes wrong.

Snidely does make a point as we now all know that calling iceland mobile is almost impossible or very high price. lichtenstein the same. Withinh the UK they sometimes have different rates for the 07 numbers but most carriers worldwide just have 1 rate for +44 mobile.
The roaming free carriers are using that advantage because +44 mobile is a big destination and iceland or lichtenstein is only called mainly to roaming free numbers.

[ls129]

Originally Posted by snidely

There is no such thing as "free roaming". Either the cost shows up on your home or office phone when the premium number is dialed to reach the SIM - or a local number is dialed and you incur a (hopefully) small charge against the credit on your SIM.

...mike

To my understanding, the phone number provided by UM+ is +4479...
I dont have to pay anything when I receive a call in Europe even if the call is 45 minutes long.
Calling this number costs as low as 2-3p/min in the UK or 8p/min with Betamax SIP service (http://backsla.sh/betamax)


The ideal free-incoming-call-when-roaming SIM card would have a country code such as +1 (USA), +65 (Singapore), +852 (Hong Kong)
Because these prefixes are currently free with Betamax.

This would allow me to have a landline number anywhere and forward it to this mobile phone for free..

[bbob]

Originally Posted by ls129

This would allow me to have a landline number anywhere and forward it to this mobile phone for free..

I do have such an option and yackie knows which one . There is a way to do this but it's due to a mistake in one of the sim card providers here. I don't really use it because the forward quality suck and it takes up to 30 seconds before the forward gets thru. Most people have hung up by than. But it is due to a mistake so it's not a solution.

I have writen a review on yackie and their $ 0.29 incoming rate on a fixed number is fair. I also explained that it can be done cheaper using betamax and pbxes but this is really a do it yourself solution, not suitable for most people.

But the thread is about callblue, the above can also be found by searching the forum.

[ls129]

I realize the world is not free but i love finding new tricks to save a few cents. And I hate being a sucker of FALSE advertisement practiced by Callblue.

I don't understand exactly how UM+ (or the defunct Freeglobalsim) can offer free roaming.

My guess is that Jersey and Lichtenstein have reciprocal free roaming agreements with 80 or so operators around the world. And these 80 operators assume that there are only a handful of Lichtenstein sim cards that are ever going to show up on their network.

With this line of thought, I imagine that once UM+ subscribers pass a certain volume of subscribers, the magic will be over.

Is that why the Isle-of-Mann free roaming sim cards have magically disappeared a month or so ago?
were there too many IOM sim card owners ?

[snaimon]

An interesting idea, but don't the ESTONIAN cards offer FREE INBOUND, too? Now I admit Estonia does not have as many mobile users as say Germany.

Wonder what others think? I am guessing the OUTBOUND payoff to the host networks are lucrative.

Stan

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by snaimon

An interesting idea, but don't the ESTONIAN cards offer FREE INBOUND, too? Now I admit Estonia does not have as many mobile users as say Germany.

Wonder what others think? I am guessing the OUTBOUND payoff to the host networks are lucrative.

Stan

Well, its a mixture of inbound call fees and outbound revenues.
German mobile carriers take about 10cent/min for calls that are placed to their subscribers. So they could offer free inbound calls for countries that charge 10ct/min or less for incoming roaming calls. Combined with the revenues of outbound calls (which can be very high...) you can make a nice marketing mix.