Telna Again?

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by schuster

....... need some confidence in the arrangements I have made.
I do have an original Mobal SIM that is still active; however, it is expensive and I do not like the changes they are making to their service model in general. It remains for emergencies only..........
As suggested I am looking at Truphone and Piranha from the standpoint of reliability, ease of use, long expiration period for prepaid credit and SIM, ability to top-up automatically, and perform account maintenance on a trip without data access.

I have both Truphone and Piranha for a few years now.
I have not used them outside of the USA.
They seem to be pretty stable:
unlike the apparent flakiness of your two current options.

I would strongly encourage both if 'confidence' is highly valued.
Also, no doubt if you go to a number of countries one will have a better rate than the other.


====================

Originally Posted by schuster

I see that Piranha is a UK company, although they have a USA support number.
I am in the USA - do you know where US customers have their billing charges originating? (i.e. will an automatic top-up appear to be an international transaction to the bank's fraud monitoring detectors).

I believe if you set your currency on Piranha's website that you will be charged in dollars for your purchase I just checked and it is possible to choose a top up in US dollars [though the drop down box shows pounds with US equivalent--$14.31] In the past only Capital One credit cards did NOT charge a currency conversion fee though it is better now. Check with your issuer. Also you should warn your credit card company if you are traveling out of the country anyway. The ones I have allow you to do it online at their websites. If not call and tell them.

Originally Posted by schuster

On that note, I also see USA-based patriot-sim which seems to be using Piranha's infrastructure and the essence of their web design. I see no reviews on them anywhere, and their web site does not indicate that they offer automatic top-up.

I am going to guess that 'patriot-sim' is a white-label of Piranha.
[I guess that I will be coming back here to update after looking at the site.]
I am back. Not even a white label. And this is at the bottom of the website:

Part of Piranha Mobile Ltd Group

Additional information:
Piranha's rates for USA to USA calling are cheaper.
I was able to send an SMS to my Piranha phone number from P-SIM's website.
Address is a UPS store.

[schuster]

Thanks for the considered comments ... all quite helpful.