New World Sim Company truphone.com

[petkow]

I just read on another forum that they are now giving away free SIM's which come loaded with 5 GBP or 7.50 US$ of call credit.

See: Truphone Local Anywhere - Find out more

Apparantly the promo code to enter is F23T5J, though that may well be a referral code of the person who was mentioning it on that form.

[RTuesday]

Thanks for that information. Maybe they intended one promo code per user (like an "invite") so although I've ordered a card (US address) it'll be interesting to see if they get too many requests.

I can't find any information about validity and expiry either (but at a price of zero I'll take a chance on that). US prices (from the US, at the "local" rates) are fine, especially to international landlines.

But the roaming rates are weird - some are very high (Mexico), on some the "standard" rate is cheaper than callback (France, Spain, calling US) and some are just plain garbled (Cook Islands - I think it sort of implies texts and data only, no voice, probably an error).

(edit) in the T&C it has "We shall be offering the Truphone Local Anywhere SIM card and its services (the Product) to all Truphone customers and SIM4Travel customers (Customers) who have given Truphone prior consent to use their personal data for marketing purposes (Offer)." - so it's probably only valid for existing customers.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by petkow

I just read on another forum that they are now giving away free SIM's which come loaded with 5 GBP or 7.50 US$ of call credit.

See: Truphone Local Anywhere - Find out more

Apparantly the promo code to enter is F23T5J, though that may well be a referral code of the person who was mentioning it on that form.

I called them and they said the free SIM promo was for people they sent an email to with the promo code.

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by petkow

they are now giving away free SIM's which come loaded with 5 GBP or 7.50 US$ of call credit.

I've just received the free sim, with $7.50 in calling credit on it (sent to a US address). (thanks for mentioning the offer).

Activated it OK on the website. I could choose a US number for it at activation time. Pick a state and you're given a number to either accept or roll the dice again. After a few tries I got a reasonable 213 Los Angeles number (appears to be from a T-mobile block).

Prices look excellent in the US, but in Mexico it only roams on Movistar (not Telcel) and the prices are too high for any use (as I knew, it's for other countries). Roaming doesn't seem to be seamless, had to manually select a network each time, wasn't picked up on an automatic search. Received a test SMS from Google Voice OK (free), sent a reply OK - but the outgoing sms was billed 15% higher than the website prices. (they do say the prices exclude tax, but it is unclear what taxes if any would apply in this case).

I noticed there was no email address, online chat, or web form ticket system when I went to the web site to ask about the rate difference. Seems it's phone calls only (which is a bit tricky if your support request involves not being able to phone!). I haven't tried a support call as it's unclear whether that is chargable.

Next time I'm in the US I'll test it properly. That's if sending one sms a month will avoid the (undefined) inactivity fee, the terms do say it has to be a "call" each month.

Rob

[RTuesday]

I've found where Truphone have hidden the online support:
Truphone | Facebook

Interesting nuggets:

"the inactivity period is 90 days, after which you'll be charged £2 monthly fee that could be avoided by making a call or sending a text." - that's good.

"data is charged per session in 100KB increments. Minimum charge is 100KB, that is 10c in the USA and 5p in the UK." - that's not so good, big chunk.

Rob