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[NFH]

Originally Posted by NFH

I received two of these SIM cards this week. It's very disappointing that they are full size mini-SIMs (2FF). Why doesn't Toggle supply combination 2FF/3FF SIMs like other operators or even better 4FF nano-SIMs with adapters to enlarge them for those with older phones?

I asked Toggle's customer services whether they could send me a nano-SIM, and they replied that they could. I was quite impressed with this after making my comment above. However, today I received a 2FF mini-SIM cut down to a 4FF nano-SIM, which is 13% too thick, therefore potentially voiding my iPhone 5's warranty as you have to really force a cut SIM card into an iPhone 5. I'm not so impressed now.

[inquisitor]

Mine arrived today, too.

With Internet Explorer 10 (Pre-Release version) I could neither log onto the website nor could I retrieve a new password. Seems like some JavaScript issue. Interestingly customer care advised me to use IE instead of Firefox, which actually worked.

After topping up £10 through PayPal my balance amounted to £11, so I obviously received a bonus for unknown reasons.

The first thing I did was obtaining a German number, which was assigend immediately. However I had to provide my (German) ID card's number - allegedly due to legal requirements (interestingly German providers do not require such) - which has a different format and less characters than those 44 required. I could overcome the problem by entering the last number of my ID (which is a checksum) in the last field and filling up all fields before with opened arrow brackets (<).

I noticed that Switzerland was listed as "Swiss" in the "Register Local Number" menu - a common mistake made by native German speakers due to the resemblance of the German name for Switzerland "Schweiz" with the adjective "Swiss".

Less than five minutes after ordering the German number an OTA update of the SIM card occured on my Nokia 1200 (which in contrast to most modern phones indicates OTA updates). Apparently this OTA updated added the German IMSI.

Now my SIM card has two IMSIs, which can be selected manually through the STK menu. As expected both IMSIs come from Lycamobile's virtual networks using the following MCC/MNC tupals:
234-26 "UK"
262-43 "Germany"

The USSD code *132# does only show my British number. This definitely needs some improvement so all numbers are listed.

[NFH]

I notice that in the UK, Toggle is an MVNO on O2; the SIM card causes the O2 network name to be displayed as "TOGGLE MOBILE" and there is no roaming on to other UK networks. This is in contrast to Lycamobile UK, which is an MVNO on Vodafone UK. I wonder why they chose O2 for Toggle but Vodafone for Lycamobile.

Can you roam on to any network in Germany?

[willemijns]

[QUOTE=NFH;42009]I notice that in the UK, Toggle is an MVNO on O2; /QUOTE]

23426 = lycamobile UK... i think it is a full-MVNO in UK...

In france local france number uses lycamobile MNO "bouygues télécom"

[inquisitor]

After some further testing I realize that after the OTA update my SIM now has three IMSIs, which can be selected manually through the STK menu:

• "Global"
  • IMSI prefix: 204-04 (Vodafone NL)
  • roams on Vodafone DE, O2 DE and (due to so-called steering of roaming) after the fourth attempt to manually select Telekom DE (formerly known as T-Mobile).
  • cannot roam on E-Plus DE
    
    
• "UK"
  • IMSI prefix: 234-26 (Lycamobile UK)
  • cannot roam on any German network - very likely restricted to O2 UK
    
    
• "Germany"
  • IMSI prefix: 262-43 (Lycamobile DE)
  • registers only on Vodafone DE (Lycamobile DE's home network)
    
    

You can see if roaming is actually completey blocked for a certain network by the immediate failure to register after selecting a network. If registration just takes ages and then fails, then this is very likely caused by steering of roaming, which is achieved by the HLR of your home network not responding to the location update procedure performed by your handset when trying to register on another network. Operators assume that a phone in automatic network selection mode will try to register three times on a network in case of timing out location updates and will then try the next network available. By this operators try to steer subscribers onto the preferred network.
However after the the fourth attempt to register the HLR will usually accept the location update as it is assumed that your handset is out of coverage of the preferred networks.

Hence you should also try with each of your SIM card's IMSIs to manually register on each British network four times.

I wonder why they don't market this product under the Lyca brand or at least with some reference to them (like "powered by Lycamobile"). After all those failed roaming discounters many customers (including me) have reservations against these kind of products, so mentioning the entity behind this offer would create some confidence.

P.S.: Of course if you use the "Global" IMSI your calls will not be billed by the cheaper tariffs ("International Rates in toggle mobile countries (with local number)") but instead by the "International Roaming" tariff. So in the UK you would pay £0.34/min for local calls instead of £0.03/min. Despite the higher tariff this is an interesting option in case you are in a coverage hole and need to place or receive calls.

[willemijns]

> roams on Vodafone DE, O2 DE and (due to so-called steering of roaming) after the fourth attempt to manually select Telekom DE (formerly known as T-Mobile).

seems vodafone has """troubles""" with gistorical MNOs ^^ same trouble in France with orange... not an hazard !!!
[/list][*]"UK"

• IMSI prefix: 234-26 (Lycamobile UK)
• cannot roam on any German network - very likely restricted to O2 UK
  
  of course... same in FRance, no access to bouygus telecom competitors
  
  

[*]"Germany"[list][*]IMSI prefix: 262-43 (Lycamobile DE)[*]registers only on Vodafone DE (Lycamobile DE's home network)

of course, your IMSI does the same as a lycamobile DE sim card ! they use their own full-MVNO tariffs...

> By this operators try to steer subscribers onto the preferred network.

cost of roaming are expensive i suppose... oups it is more realistic than a supposition ^^

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by willemijns

cost of roaming are expensive i suppose... oups it is more realistic than a supposition

I wouldn't say that roaming is that expensive, but given the low mobile termination fees in most toggle countries and the lack of roaming fees for inbound calls, Lyca definitely needs to keep an eye on roaming costs. Hence they will need to steer roaming traffic to those network on which they have the best wholesale conditions. Since roaming with the global IMSI is obviously bought from Vodafone NL (they actually supply the global IMSI), who in turn preferably use other Vodafone networks, it's not surprising that you cannot register on some network, at least not immediately.
I'm rather surprised that you can still use the global IMSI within a toggle country even if you have a national IMSI from the corresponding country. Once a subscriber has obtained a national IMSI by ordering a local number, roaming through the global IMSI should be blocked in that particular country in order to save costs.
With FreeTimeTelecom the global IMSI did not register in Germany, where they had a local IMSI from now defunct vistream/Telogic Germany. But I guess for toggle it's way more complicated because you would need to define allowed roaming networks for each subscriber individually based on each subscriber's activated local numbers/IMSIs and then you would need to permanently update Vodafone NL's HLR with these records.

@NFH
Have you tried registering on the British networks through the global IMSI?

[NFH]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

@NFH
Have you tried registering on the British networks through the global IMSI?

I'd be delighted to try if you can explain how. I have registered a temporary Polish number.

[willemijns]

> Since roaming with the global IMSI is obviously bought from Vodafone NL (they actually supply the global IMSI), who in turn preferably use other Vodafone networks, it's not surprising that you cannot register on some network, at least not immediately.

i'm not agree... i have a delightmobile based on KPN NL... i always have access
to the #1, #1 and #3 FR netwiorks.

i know vodafone is affilied in some parts with SFR France but it is not a good reason !

[UKSTEVE]

[QUOTE=inquisitor;42059]I wouldn't say that roaming is that expensive, but given the low mobile termination fees in most toggle countries and the lack of roaming fees for inbound calls, Lyca definitely needs to keep an eye on roaming costs."

No necessarily Inquisitor - if Lycamobile has volume traffic deals with cellcos in various countries, then the Toggle traffic will help to raise the volume at minimal cost to them.

Also, don't forget that this traffic is cream as far as the local cellcos are concerned, since they will generate their OWN MTR revenues from at last some of the traffic.

Toggle is very much a low-cost value-added service for all concerned IMHO.

+Steve