Toggle Mobile

[UKSTEVE]

From discussions I've seen elsewhere, it seems that Toggle has tightened up its roaming and diversion processes over the last six weeks.

As well as blocking same-country diverts using the usual *21# etc GSM divert codes within the designated home country (as defined by the registered IMSIs on the SIM card - e.g. O2 to UK Toggle number, SFR to French Toggle number etc) the company has also applied quite rigorous roaming steerage where the SIM card has a user-applied local country IMSI registered (for 30 days or 12 months as appropriate).

Where the card has not been pro-actively registered for use in a given country - other than, of course, its Toggle home country of the UK or the Netherlands, then the SIM cards should (famous last words) roam on to all relevant networks, but at the `normal' (and not discounted) roaming rates of 28 cents a minute.

Hope this info assist... Steve

[willemijns]

Originally Posted by UKSTEVE

Hope this info assist... Steve

if i well understood, you confirm my comments ?

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by willemijns

if i well understood, you confirm my comments ?

Yes, he did. Actually your observation applies to all toggle countries including Germany. As soon as you are being assigned a local IMSI roaming through the Roaming IMSI will be blocked.

[ronwi]

This blocking is a good thing. I was in Spain a while ago and for some reason my SIM did not go automatically to the Spanish IMSI - it stayed in roaming mode and charged me quite a bit more than the advertised 3p per minute. I finally figured out how to get into the SIM menu and I manually changed to Spain and all was well.

Blocking the roaming IMSI in Toggle countries would seem to be an extra layer to prevent inadvertent and expensive use of the roaming network.

Originally Posted by inquisitor

It's hardly surprising that toggle now blocks roaming through the "Roaming" IMSI for those countries you have an IMSI from. I would rather assume that there were technical reasons why this barring hasn't been implemented earlier and not legal/contractual ones. You probably remember what I wrote in February in this regard:

[andy]

Originally Posted by UKSTEVE

From discussions I've seen elsewhere, it seems that Toggle has tightened up its roaming and diversion processes over the last six weeks.

As well as blocking same-country diverts using the usual *21# etc GSM divert codes within the designated home country (as defined by the registered IMSIs on the SIM card - e.g. O2 to UK Toggle number, SFR to French Toggle number etc) the company has also ...

Do I understand this correctly, Steve?

This isn't about call diversion from the Toggle SIM itself, but the ability to forward other numbers to it?

Does diversion rely on getting permission from the destination number network, and that can be turned down?

I've seen comments above that it won't be possible, or that's what I think it means, but so far I'm a little confused as I can still do so, though that's not yet tested abroad. Coming soon ...

[ChrisNeedsToKnow]

Hi andy,

may I try to answer your questions?

Originally Posted by andy

This isn't about call diversion from the Toggle SIM itself, but the ability to forward other numbers to it?

Diverts from Toggle to elsewhere are (unfortunately) not possible.

Originally Posted by andy

Does diversion rely on getting permission from the destination number network, and that can be turned down?

Not directly, but it can be indirectly implemented: A diverted call is technically marked as such. Thus the receiving network can identify diverted calls, and handle them differently.

• Diverting my "normal" Swiss# to Toggle is not possible, Toggle rejects the call.
• Diverting my "normal" German# to Toggle is (strangely) possible and Toggle accepts the call. When receiving such calls the phone even displays "diverted call".
• I wish to test the same with my "usual" UK#, but Virgin doesn´t allow diverts.

Originally Posted by andy

I've seen comments above that it won't be possible, or that's what I think it means, but so far I'm a little confused as I can still do so, though that's not yet tested abroad. Coming soon ...

Abroad... I am in Switzerland now, and my Swiss# cannot be diverted to Toggle. On Friday I´ll be in Germany. I´ll test again whether the Swiss divert will suddenly work when I log into the German network. Have to say I doubt it. We´ll see Friday.

Rgds, Christian

[ChrisNeedsToKnow]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

I've just tried to set a call forwarding from several German postpaid SIM cards (Telekom, congstar, Vodafone) to my German toggle number. Unfortunately all calls to those forwarded numbers fail once the forwarding has been set (there's no error message, the call just ends).
I wonder if this is a flaw or if toggle actually blocks inbound forwarded calls to avoid excessive use of free inbound roaming calls.

Hi inquisitor,

I set a divert from callmobile.de to my German Toggle#, and I receive the calls in Switzerland without problems. The call is even shown as "diverted".

Maybe diverts just don't work inside any given country, as inside Switzerland exactly what you describe happens to me. (Although I wouldn´t get the sense of this?!)

As per last post, I´ll report this Friday on whether I can receive Swiss diverts in Germany.

Rgds, Christian

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by andy

This isn't about call diversion from the Toggle SIM itself, but the ability to forward other numbers to it?

Does diversion rely on getting permission from the destination number network, and that can be turned down?

The SS7 protocol which is used for interconnection among carriers has a forward sequence number (FSN) and a forward indicator bit (FIB) by which the originating carrier discloses to the terminating carrier that a call is being forwarded and also from which phone number the call is actually originating. The main purpose of this information is that the terminal of the receiving party can indicate forwarded calls as such enabling the end user to distinguish between regular and forwarded calls (you might have noticed that your mobile phone indicates forwarded calls and displays the original callers number instead of the forwarding line's number).
Toggle unfortunately uses this information to block calls that are flagged as forwarded. I guess the reason for the blocking of forwarded calls is that they try to avoid assymetric call volumes where incoming calls outweigh outgoing ones since they obviously don't earn much from free incoming calls given today's low mobile termination rates in most markets. Toggle's business model very likely relies on a sound amount of outgoing calls and so they probably try to avoid too much incoming calls by blocking forwarded calls. Though the current blocking rules seem to be a bit inconsistent.
In any case when you set up the forwarding through your own VoIP equipment there's no FSN or FIB that may reveal forwarded calls since the FSN or FIB can only be added by the exchange and not by the user terminal. Hence I can still forward all my VoIP numbers to my toggle SIM through intervoip.com (a Dellmont brand) using my FritzBox. Problems start when you let your carrier forward calls in the exchange.

[NFH]

While in the UK, my UK Toggle number receives incoming calls diverted via Flextel. I know you're all testing more elaborate routing, but I thought I should mention this.

[inquisitor]

According to Andy's report forwardings within the UK seem not to be affected by the blocking.
Do you actually see the original caller's number when you receive a forwarded call on your toggle SIM? If not Flextel perhaps doesn't even submit FSN/FIB information which would allow toggle to block your forwarded calls.