Advantage of int'l SIMs versus other solutions?

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by adam917

what are the advantages of an international SIM besides maximum coverage & one number?

Even those advantages are dubious because 1. the roaming can be unreliable and 2. it's usually a number in a location that is expensive to call or for you to forward calls to.

A lot has changed in the past few years and I'd say international SIMs had their market window - and blew it. They've never really become visible on the mass market, 90% of even international travellers have never heard of them.

With both Callkey-based sims and now O9 based going under, it's clear the business model is still very difficult - the target market is expert users who want to pay as little as possible at all times, not exactly a way to make a profit! For example, just about all I used my O9 for was to get the free incoming in Mexico with callback, I made virtually no outbound calls with it.

I now use local prepaid SIMs in my main three countries, and a VOIP account on the (wifi) phone. Plus a couple of UK postpaid (no monthly fee) SIMs for when I'm elsewhere without wifi - higher roaming costs but cheaper than trying to keep global sims active on the off-chance they'll still be in business when I next travel!

For the one-number part of it, I have an IPkall US number, and a UK number, as "find-me" numbers that I forward, via a VOIP account, to whichever country sim I'm currently using (I pay the forwarding part but that's OK, especially as I can pick and choose VOIP rates).