Telna Again?

[squawk1200]

Originally Posted by Bossman

So you are saying that the moto L6 does not work int he US? The US version is a quadband phone and should have worked. Now, the non-US version is Triband (900/1800/1900) and should have worked on Tmobile as well, since that's what Telna roams on. My suspicion is that you have another issue not phone related.

I apologize for the confusion. The L6 does work in the US. I (personally) have not seen much success with using SMS with Telna, regadless of handset used with the SIM.

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by squawk1200

I apologize for the confusion. The L6 does work in the US. I (personally) have not seen much success with using SMS with Telna, regadless of handset used with the SIM.

I've had good results with Telna SMS, except between them and C-spire (a regional CDMA carrier in my area). I have not heard from the friend I loaned my Telna SIM & V550 to take on a Mediterranean cruise. Either he never tried it or it didn't work; probably the former. People are so scared of high roaming bills that they will often not turn a phone on, just out of fear of what it might cost. He should be home by now.

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb

I have not heard from the friend I loaned my Telna SIM & V550 to take on a Mediterranean cruise. Either he never tried it or it didn't work; probably the former.

My friend got back from his Mediterranean cruise. He never powered up the phone I loaned him. This is two overseas trips my Telna SIM has made without ever attempting to register on a foreign network. Time for me to go back to Europe.

[GadgetKen]

Just signed up for Telna Mobile using the PPGSM referral link.

To be a replacement for an inactive ekit SimpleCalling callback card and possible replacement for a Digicel Bermuda sim card once I spend the balance down on an extended trip in early June.

Pluses for me are:
1. I can put this in one slot of my dual sim Blue Rave Android smartphone and keep my MVNO H20 (AT&T USA reseller) in the other slot. Since Telna has a friendly roaming agreement with T-Mobile USA this will give me both major US GSM networks in one handset.
2. Local US phone number was available in Connecticut! Hard to find an international sim that offers local numbers (the ekit sim I was using had a Long Island, New York number that was not a local call).
3. Postpaid so I don't have to worry about a prepaid balance on an international card disappearing for whatever reason or how to use a balance if the rates become unfavorable where I travel.
4. Telna apparently now has a friendly direct dial roaming agreement with Digicel in the non-US Caribbean and Telus and Bell in Canada (I'll need to keep the Telna sim in the 3G slot of my phone to make calls in Canada though). Rates in these 2 areas are much better than when I looked at this last.
5. No US or Canada connection charge like I was getting with Ekit...but of course I'll get hit with taxes and a federal Universal Service Fund fee since this is postpaid.
6. Might use this for very light data usage to get Gmail on my phone without using a mifi device or a computer with a USB aircard. The H20 AT&T sim card I have is not data enabled (legacy Locus O2 sim card) but the Telna card will be. My phone can also be used as a 3G wifi hotspot, which might come in handy for international travel where no free or low fee wifi is available; although would only use very lightly for email, boarding passes, etc.

Intrigued by Telna's status as an actual cellular phone company with 1900 mhz 2G GSM service in St. Louis, MO according to an FCC filing. Must make it easier to negotiate roaming agreements with other carriers.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

Intrigued by Telna's status as an actual cellular phone company with 1900 mhz 2G GSM service in St. Louis, MO according to an FCC filing. Must make it easier to negotiate roaming agreements with other carriers.

Given their tiny customer base as a local wireless carrier and the resulting low volume of airtime they will hardly be able to negotiate favourable roaming rates with other carriers. What actually puts them in a position to offer good rates is that they recently launched an IMSI roaming hub: Telecom North America launches the multi-IMSI roaming hub? | Prepaid MVNO
In simplified terms Telna can now buy airtime through other participating carriers around the world and so benefit from the better wholesale rates those carriers get on other networks.
Do existing Telna SIMs already support mulitple IMSIs? Has anyone looked up which MCC/MNC tuple their SIMs use and if it changes in some countries? Can you perhaps select IMSIs from the SIM toolkit menu?

[VladS]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Do existing Telna SIMs already support mulitple IMSIs? Has anyone looked up which MCC/MNC tuple their SIMs use and if it changes in some countries? Can you perhaps select IMSIs from the SIM toolkit menu?

My telna SIMs have two IMSIs - one from Telna's MO network and the other from TIM IT. While there's no specific pulldown to select IMSIs, they thave the 'Set subscription' menu where you can enter card and carrier specific four digit codes (eg 9999 sets the card back to automatic).

[GadgetKen]

The Telna sim card I ordered arrived in the mail today. Put it in the 3G slot of my dual sim Blu D230 phone and my AT&T/H20 sim card in the GSM only slot.
The Telna card made a successful call off a distant T-Mobile tower, and also received a test Gmail message via an Edge data connection once I set up the APN and temporarily enabled data roaming (will just use data occasionally). More interested in this card for domestic/international voice rather than data usage, but it's nice to have this feature.
There is a USSD command in the Telna menu to get an account balance so I can keep track of how much I spend on calls/data/sms.

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb

My friend got back from his Mediterranean cruise. He never powered up the phone I loaned him. This is two overseas trips my Telna SIM has made without ever attempting to register on a foreign network. Time for me to go back to Europe.

Once again I've loaned my TelnaMobile phone to someone who took it to Europe and never even turned it on.

[DRNewcomb]

I recently had my TelnaMobile number changed to an exchange in my local area. At the same time I mentioned the problem I'd been having with the system being unreliable about not connecting to a strong T-Mobile signal. David replied that I did have one of their very early SIMs and that their new SIMs had improved firmware. He sent me a new SIM, which has been perfectly reliable over the last week.

[DRNewcomb]

This weekend my Telna SIP connection stopped working. I sent a message to customer service about it and was informed that for security reasons they changed my (and maybe everyone else's) SIP passwords. Who knew?