Best practice international GSM setup

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by ckh

Do you all agree?
Is this the best setup ever? I'm very curious...

You did not mention the type of phone you have.
Will your phones work in Japan?
Onesimcard does not seem to have much traction in this forum. I do not know why. The Estonian number? [But you solve that with the US numbers.]

I would suggest at least one other brand SIM card, maybe two. There is bound to be some places Onesimcard should work but will not [might not be their fault either]. Also, a simple quadband phone as a spare & you can put one of your extra SIM
cards in that.
Your trip is not inexpensive and the extra SIMs and phones can be a kind of insurance to highten the possibility of communication in general and emergency communication if you needed. If money were no object, a satellite phone might be in order---but they are illegal in some countries.

Do report back on what you take and also your experience after the trip. Welcome to beta testing!

[After looking at the other responses, Piranha and Truphone would be good second choices for additional SIMs.]

ps No matter how hard you plan this aspect of your trip there will be shortcomings. That is why I suggest the extra SIMs.

Did you add this paragraph?

Originally Posted by ckh

There is only one wish left. I would like to also connect a extra SIM with an US number where I can receive SMS messages for free. Do you therefore have some suggestions for me? This extra provider can then directly also be our backup provider for voice.

Truphone has free incoming SMS in the US for US number. I do not know if that works "overseas", but I think it might.

[rfranzq]

One advantage of Onesimcard:

Send Free Text Message, Send Free SMS
You can send FREE SMS text message to any OneSimCard customer. There is no charge to the OneSimCard customer to receive it either.
Alternatively, you can send SMS by sending an email to 372XXXXXXXX(at)sms.onesimcard.com, where (at) is @.
Limit of 25 SMS received per day.

[MBK]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

One advantage of Onesimcard:

Send Free Text Message, Send Free SMS
You can send FREE SMS text message to any OneSimCard customer. There is no charge to the OneSimCard customer to receive it either.
Alternatively, you can send SMS by sending an email to 372XXXXXXXX(at)sms.onesimcard.com, where (at) is @.
Limit of 25 SMS received per day.

Yes, this is one of the features that makes Onesimcard better than the other SIMs using the same backend (XXSIM, etc... don't have this). Thanks to this and all of the features of the Travelsim EMT backend:

• 154 free incoming countries
• more roaming partners in the countries
• much more stable roaming that EKIT (i. ex: EKIT regularly loses network signal in France, Onesimcard doesn't - on the same network with the same phone)
• free call forwarding to 154 countries
• ability to completely disable voicemail (EKIT still charges incoming callers even when voicemail is disabled - the EKIT system still answers the phone to ask if you want to send and SMS)
• listen to voicemail in the web interface
• email to SMS for free on 372xxxxxxx@sms.onesimcard.com
• top notch 24/24 customer service
• concierge service with live translators in dozens of languages (they can translate and complete tasks for you if you need help - great if you are in trouble in a foreign country)
• etc...

All of this makes Onesimcard the best world roaming SIM imho. (I have tested many, but if anyone knows anything better please tell me).

Onesimcard is my primary number worldwide; the One number I give everyone, reachable for free in 154 countires. I then add a second SIM depending on the world part I am in (i.ex: Toggle Mobile UK for Europe - that's another outstanding service).

What the OP can do, is accept incoming SMS messages on his Google Voice number and forward them to email, as explained here:

support.google.com/voice/answer/160203 *

With proper email forwarding he will get the US SMS incoming on Google Voice free on his Onesimcard.

* (I am not making a link because it seems all my message containing links are not getting published, awaiting moderation approval. I replied earlier to this thread with this information and it still wasn't approved. I registered here 8 months ago (I asked a question in another thread), and the message I posted 8 months ago still wasn't published either. I sent an email to the staff months ago, no one is replying. HELLO, IS ANYONE MODERATING THESE FORUMS?)