Maxroam (aka Roam4Free V2)

[prion]

Originally Posted by andy

If roaming in a Thuraya phone, all incoming and outgoing calls are €3.70 a minute

Yes, but If roaming in a Greek mobile network (or a Uk mobile) I can dial satelite networks dirty cheap!
Cheaper than all other options. That is what I meant.

[ViJu]

My question is :
1. what is maxroam sms number ? Maybe the same Estonian +372 (EE) number ? I didn't find any information about it on website. Is it the same number , or we will get two numbers - one for calls and one for sms ?
2. Billing ? Is it 60/60 , or 30/6 like Geodesa ?

[andy]

ViJu, you're right that there isn't enough info on the website about sms. But I don't think it is an Estonian SIM.

[ViJu]

Originally Posted by andy

ViJu, you're right that there isn't enough info on the website about sms. But I don't think it is an Estonian SIM.

Previous Roam4Free sim card had Estonian number , now I cannot find any information about it .
Another question - is it possible to buy other number for a short period 1-2 months ?

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Bossman

I think the reason for that is so that most people that call us do not have to fiddle with dialing an international number. A lot of folks on this end get confused when they see they have to dial so many numbers. Most have never even dialed an international number. So, IMHO, having a US number for forwarding or aa sim with a US number is very attractive. Hence, the reason why most of us jumped on the yackie bandwagon in the beggining. Or look for a US DID number/VOIP that can forward internationally.

After Stu reported my post of 28-09-2007, 00:30 http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/show...7694#post17694 I'm feeling a little 'guilty' about my opinions .

First of all, it wasn't my intention to offend the Americans or anyone else.

As to the reasons given by Bossman.

1) People don't know how to dial an international number.
AFAIK the international dialing code in the US is 011. So, if you give to someone a number like 011 44..., 011 423..., 011 375... et. what is the difficulty with dialing such number???
2) People are confused when they have to dial so many digits.
That's in fact a problem. If saying "I'm abroad - it's a foreign number" doesn't help, i don't know what to do

The most important issue, IMHO, is the rates. Of course, international rates to mobile phones in CPP countries can't be very low. However, I haven't realised that US operators may rip off so much on international calling . $3.49 per min from Verizon to Jersey mobile - an example sent by Stu - was a little shock to me. Now I understand that leaving people with international numbers may result in two alternatives: either they will check the rates and they won't call at all or they will pay horrible bills...

From my point of view another issue is confusing about SIMs like MaxRoam - the SMS number is different from the voice number. Doesn't it matter?

[akraus88]

Does the MAXroam service expire if I don’t use it?

Yes it does. What we do is charge you a minimal monthly amount EUR 1 if you do not use your MAXroam service during a particular month.

This might sound unfair but it is common industry practice for pre-paid type services. Specifically the reason for doing this is because of accounting. When we have prepaid credits for our customers on our books they show up as a liability. If these credits are never consumed, or never expired, we would have a very difficult accounting problem.

Cubic Telecom is a different kind of communications provider. We want to explain why we do everything we do. We will never rip you off or mislead you.

If you would like to know anymore about this please feel free to contact us and we will provide all the gory details from our accountants.

[bbob]

akraus88 that not all look at this:

"In order for the MAXroam service to be a low cost service we may rely on advertising and marketing supplied through the service and other mechanisms to subsidize the service. We intend that any such marketing services shall be discrete and of targeted interest to you. By agreeing to these terms and conditions You agree to receive such advertising and marketing. If You do not want to receive such services You should notify us in writing. MAXroam reserves the right to charge You a higher fee for the service should You choose not to take these marketing services. This higher fee, if applicable, will be posted on the MAXroam website."

"We take our customers' privacy seriously. Please read our Privacy Policy for full details at www.maxroam.com/privacy. Whilst we respect the privacy of our customers, cellular calls may be subject to interception by law enforcement agencies and bodies."

The above speaks for itself, marketing and privacy don't go hand in hand.

Another one:

"You may request a refund for unused credit by sending an email to support@maxroam.com. Refunds will only be available for credit purchased directly by You and not through any special offers, prepaid cards, vouchers or similar mechanisms. Refunds shall not be made for balances under EUR 5.00. MAXroam charges a EUR 20.00 fee to process any refund requests. Any breach of these refund terms shall lead to termination of this agreement."

So when I want 7 euro credit back it will cost me 20 euro meaning I have to pay them an extra 13 euro.

Sorry but when they want to be taken serieously don't write terms like this on credit back. Anyone who can think and calculate knows that this is crazy.

"We reserve the right to make changes to these terms and conditions. You should check the MAXroam website regularly to see if any changed have been made or announced. We will endeavour to provide 30 days advance notice of significant changes, either by posting such notice on our website, or by contacting You directly. If You do not notify us within 30 days of a change then You will have been deemed to accept this change to this Agreement."

Also what if I don't agree with the new terms and want the remaining money back, still charge me 20 euro for doing this ? When so this is not how it should be done.

As for the marketing, I thought this was an open company but no somewhere they hide the fact they are reselling your data for marketing purposes.

some more:

We may have translated the original English Language version of this Agreement into other languages. If there is any inconsistency or discrepancy between the English Language version and any other language version of this Agreement, the English language version shall prevail."

So far for good certified translations.

Reading the small print makes me wonder even more. They shout a lot = marketing but when you read between the lines it's nothing new.

[petkow]

I hadn't realised about the marketing. What shape will that come to you in? Texts?

Originally Posted by bbob

Another one:

"You may request a refund for unused credit by sending an email to support@maxroam.com. Refunds will only be available for credit purchased directly by You and not through any special offers, prepaid cards, vouchers or similar mechanisms. Refunds shall not be made for balances under EUR 5.00. MAXroam charges a EUR 20.00 fee to process any refund requests. Any breach of these refund terms shall lead to termination of this agreement."

This sounds like that other 'slightly more famous' Irish business: Ryanair

[Stu]

In response to bob's post, I'd note:

A controlling language in the event of discrepancies is common. You see this in international treaties and even International Court of Justice Opinions. Even where the opinion does not state a controlling language, the original language (French or English) of the authoring justice controls if there is a discrepancy between the two versions.

I'm no defending anyone, just giving "El Diablo" his due.

[PhotoJim]

The refund issue isn't a big one to me. Personally I don't expect that any of my prepaid airtime on mobile phone SIMs is ever going to be refundable. T-Mobile US certainly won't give me my $110 back at any cost, so the fact that a refund is available here, even at a penalty, is a plus to me, not a minus.

The marketing stuff is a little bit of a different issue. They should be rather open about that and clearer about what it entails. What am I saving by taking marketing, and how much marketing will I get? I might endure a little annoyance for significant savings, but if the savings are tiny I might not want the bother.