new UM card with +1/+44 dual number soon

[hrgajek]

Hello,

I wrote the mentioned Article at teltarif.de - Kommunikation ganz einfach and I own the UM +44/+1 SIM Card. If anybody is interested, drop me a private line (or e-mail) and I'll give you the +1 Number, to test it. As I'm based in Europe, I have no personal experience with roaming in the US or CDN yet.

The price list says:

located in the US or Europe, incoming calls on the UK-number: 0,00 EUR/per minute plus one time 0,19 EUR per call.

located in the US or Europe, incoming calls on the US-number: 0,19 EUR/per minute plus one time 0,19 EUR per call.


It's a UM+ Jersey number with a add on IMSI for the US including a SIM-Tool-Kit-Application to change the Identities if necessary.

When I make outgoing calls with the card it shows the UK-number.
If I'd be in the US, I could change the ID to show the US-number.

[inquisitor]

Guys, I repeat: according to Henning the US IMSI will be usable within the US only. Whatever international roaming agreements Immix have, they won't apply for 44/1. Outside the US (that includes Canada) you'll only get Jersey Telecom's roaming capabilities.

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Guys, I repeat: according to Henning the US IMSI will be usable within the US only. Whatever international roaming agreements Immix have, they won't apply for 44/1. Outside the US (that includes Canada) you'll only get Jersey Telecom's roaming capabilities.

Sorry, I don't understand.

You must mean OUTGOING only. It should be quite clear that using the US SIM portion outside the US is not going to work. Since Canada is also "1", there might be some questions about Canada and possibly other "1" islands/areas. Immix is not going to register on any non-North American or non-US network unless there are roaming agreements.

If you do not mean only OUTGOING calls, your statement contradicts hrgajek's statement (claim):

"located in the US or Europe, incoming calls on the US-number: 0,19 EUR/per minute plus one time 0,19 EUR per call." ---- the "or Europe" portion is the contradiction.

Located in the US is clear. That is what Immix normally serves US market.

If hrgajek is correct, then, when in Europe, UM 44/1 must have some means of handing off or transferring the inbound call to the Immix # in the USA over to Europe.

And, as someone else has pointed out, in US, "0,19 EUR/per minute plus one time 0,19 EUR per call" is NOT attractive compared to most other US carriers. Since UM 44/1 requires a US #, what is the point? Just get an ATT or Tuyo or other SIM and use it. TRUE, that rate is cheaper than the current UM or UM+ rates in the US, but that is not saying much at all.

Stan

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Guys, I repeat: according to Henning the US IMSI will be usable within the US only. Whatever international roaming agreements Immix have, they won't apply for 44/1. Outside the US (that includes Canada) you'll only get Jersey Telecom's roaming capabilities.

I think that's well possible, indeed probable, but not absolutely certain. It all depends on how Immix handles Rogers' network in Canada. It could treat it like a domestic roaming partner network, or it could treat it like an international network for roaming purposes. Canada and the US are both integrated into the North American Numbering Plan (NANP).

Few US prepaid providers currently provide international roaming, but those that do usually roam in Canada or Mexico, or both. In fact, I'm not aware of any that permit roaming in other countries.

T-Mobile USA, for example, roams seamlessly in Canada, although at a premium rate. There are no callbacks. You dial, and you get connected. This is the case on both postpaid and prepaid. This is quite different from the callbacks that are necessary when using most European prepaid services that permit Canadian roaming. (Strangely, Orange UK does permit direct dialing though. Then again, Orange is the last of the major UK prepaid providers to enable prepaid roaming in Canada - it was just turned on in 2008. Three still doesn't permit it.)

[inquisitor]

Incoming calls will always work for both numbers, no matter where and through which IMSI you roam.
When you're using the Jersey IMSI, calls (and hopefully SMS) to the US number will be forwarded to the Jersey number.
When you're using the US IMSI, calls (and hopefully SMS) to the Jersey number will be forwarded to the US number.

The fact the US IMSI comes from Immix does not necessarily mean, you'll get the same international roaming capabilites as Immix customers. From what I read, I assume, that the US IMSI will register only on US networks excluding Canada and the Carribean.
If I'm wrong and 44/1 customers do get the same roaming capabilites like Immix customers, that would mean the US IMSI would work also on these networks, which include O2 Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and VOXmobile Luxembourg.

Whether international roaming (i.e. outside the USA) will work with the Immix IMSI is not a technical question, e.g. of the numbering plan, but depends on what UM has decided from the economic point of view. Maybe letting a customer roam on Rogers is cheaper for Jersey Telecom than for Immix - then it would make sense to enable roaming on Rogers for the Jersey IMSI only. Another reason could be the price of outgoing calls - if 44/1 uses direct calling for the US IMSI, there could be enough margin for calls inside the US. But in Canada direct calling could result in higher costs than letting customers roam with the Jersey IMSI and realizing calls through callback.

[PhotoJim]

You're right, it will be the economics.

I don't know what this Jersey SIM's rates in Canada are (if they are the same as UM+ or not), but the existing rates are prohibitively expensive. It cost me 5 euros to set up my voicemail, and I was less than 3 minutes.

T-Mobile roams in Canada at 69 US cents per minute; if the Immix IMSI permitted rates in that ballpark, that would be far more attractive than the Jersey IMSI's rates.

[Stu]

My point in reposting Immix's e-mail to me is that they don't know what the Canadian provider is going to charge them until they are billed by the Canadian provider. The quoted a rate between 0.32 and 1.6x. If they can't narrow down the rate, they can't allow prepaid roaming in Canada. That was why I posted it.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by Stu

My point in reposting Immix's e-mail to me is that they don't know what the Canadian provider is going to charge them until they are billed by the Canadian provider. The quoted a rate between 0.32 and 1.6x. If they can't narrow down the rate, they can't allow prepaid roaming in Canada. That was why I posted it.

Well thats quite a normal but not satisfying answer. Our german providers also tell us usually "we charge the rate we get charged by the roaming operator +25% service surcharge". And its hard to find out which are the roaming operators rates.....

[inquisitor]

A short update on SMS:
SMS are not being forwarded, so when you're outside the USA, you won't receive any message sent to the US number. The same applies for messages sent to the Jersey number while staying in the USA.
So if you want to use SMS you will have to tell people when you enter/leave the US otherwise messages will be lost.

[bbob]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

So if you want to use SMS you will have to tell people when you enter/leave the US otherwise messages will be lost.

Funny isn't that what a dual sim should be about, not having to think about where you are to receive calls or messages. Calls is no problem but sms messages does seem to be a problem.

Many people do use sms these days so not being able to receive them makes the card less interesting if you sms a lot.