Vodafone UK Abolishes Roaming Charges for Summer and cuts long distance cost for good

[inquisitor]

Thank you, petkow.

I'm asking because of my experience with a French Orange SIM, which I bought on eBay last summer. When it arrived here in Germany, it registered immediately on German networks, but the SIM wasn't activated properly. The phone number was unreachable and SMS didn't arrive, too. Also outgoing calls, texts and USSD-commands failed, allthough there was an initial credit on the SIM.
After I arrived in France and registered on the Orange network for the first time, everything was fine and also back in Germany I could use all services, that failed before.
Other operators like MTel in Bulgaria require an activation call from within their network in order a phone number to be assigned to one's SIM.
However that question needs a definitve answer, so I just ordered a British Vodafone SIM on eBay.co.uk and will let you know, if it works without ever having been registered on it's home network.

Actually, as long as you stay in Europe, a British Vodafone SIM is the best deal you can get, if you find a way to trigger callbacks for cheap. Does anyone have experience in setting up your own SMS gateway?

[petkow]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

However that question needs a definitve answer, so I just ordered a British Vodafone SIM on eBay.co.uk and will let you know, if it works without ever having been registered on it's home network.

Hope it works! UK SIMs always have a number preassigned in any case, so not like the Bulgarian problem you described. I have a few Vodafone UK SIM packs sitting around here somewhere, so perhaps I should test one here in Spain. I will try do so as soon as I can. Not sure where my big box of SIM's got too.

Actually, as long as you stay in Europe, a British Vodafone SIM is the best deal you can get, if you find a way to trigger callbacks for cheap. Does anyone have experience in setting up your own SMS gateway?

I agree. I have been using a UK SIM (but from o2) for all my calling when travelling in Europe for the last few years, and am happiest with the stability of a big mainstream network that like Vodafone also gets me 0c/min incoming in practically every European country. For callback, I use Betamax with their Java client. (Though GPRS data is a bit cheaper on o2UK than VodaUK). For callback, I use their dialnow.com brand which works out them charging me 7c/min for the incoming leg to the UK mobile number but other brands of theirs are a bit cheaper at around 5c/min. (check voipzoom.com and smartvoip.com). That coupled with the destination cost often works out cheaper than using a local SIM for calling a local number. I never pay more than a few pence for the data part.

[castrobayon]

Hello to all. It´s my first post in the forum. I have a question, I´m looking for it in the web vodafone uk but i don´t saw it. What is the cost of activation of vodafone international on pay as you go. I read the terms and conditions but didn´t say of cost. Can you help my?. Thank you very much.

P.S. Sorry for my "write" english. It´s very bad. I hope that you understand me.

[babble]

Aqui dice que el servicio vodafone UK international es gratis:

International Calling - Vodafone

" Getting Vodafone International is easy. Already with Vodafone? Call 36888 or text INTERNATIONAL to 2345 - free."

Pero para activar el servicio, no se si puedes llamar al numero 36888, o mandar un sms al numero 2345, desde Espania gratis.