Toggle Mobile

[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.

[dg7feq]

my card will travel to france on monday, lets see how it will work in "real-world" conditions.
regarding your 11 pound topup on 10 pound payment - they advertise that you get a bonus for each online-topup.
The customer service called me several times last week cause there was a problem displaying the correct DID when calling on the german numbers (they cut off the country code and displayed e.g. +3012345 instead of +493012345). After some network trace they found the error and fixed it right away. I am very pleased with the customer service so far.

[NFH]

On Toggle's Facebook page, it says "£5 voucher is available anytime now, sale for £5 ), no expiry date". Does anyone know where you can buy a £5 top-up or voucher?

[inquisitor]

My SIM always shows the UK number during outbound calls. Shouldn't the German number be displayed as caller ID when placing a call from the toggle SIM using the German IMSI?

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

My SIM always shows the UK number during outbound calls. Shouldn't the German number be displayed as caller ID when placing a call from the toggle SIM using the German IMSI?

The agent told me that currently they always display the UK number as the card is mainly focused on UK customers. I asked if its possible to swap and he wanted to call back next week. Yes, they really do call back, wonderful helpdesk experiance

All numbes on your SIM are reachable simultanously without additional cost

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by NFH

On Toggle's Facebook page, it says "£5 voucher is available anytime now, sale for £5 ), no expiry date". Does anyone know where you can buy a £5 top-up or voucher?

The owner of this Facebook page, which is run by some reseller who doesn't even have an online shop, has answered. He's selling those vouchers by email (toggle@hp-vn.com).

Originally Posted by dg7feq

The agent told me that currently they always display the UK number as the card is mainly focused on UK customers. I asked if its possible to swap and he wanted to call back next week. Yes, they really do call back, wonderful helpdesk experiance

All numbes on your SIM are reachable simultanously without additional cost

The more I think about this product, the more I like it. I wonder why they don't market it in further markets with a local number as primary one instead of the British one. I've recently checked some statistics to evaluate the potential for such a multi-SIM product in Germany and found that there are about 54k German residents commuting to work in Switzerland and 41k French residents commuting to work in Germany, who would be a great target.
The only thing I miss is data packs that are valid for all countries from which you have an IMSI. Toggle is obviously in the position to tear down the borders in the European mobile market caused by roaming fees and make Neelie Kroes' dream of a pan-European telecoms market come true.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by bene

It works fine for voice and messaging, but I have no idea what is the APN for the toggle UK card.

My answer comes a bit late, but I assume that you need to use the APN depending on the used IMSI.

I don't know if data is actually available for the "Global" IMSI but you could try these settings:

• Global
  APN: live.vodafone.com
  username: vodafone
  password: vodafone
  
  
• Switzerland
  APN: data.lycamobile.ch
  username: lmch
  password: plus
  
  
• Germany
  APN: data.lycamobile.de
  username lmde
  password: plus
  
  
• UK
  APN: data.lycamobile.co.uk
  username: lmuk
  password: plus

Lyca obviously uses a consistent convention for its APN settings internationally, so you can guess them for the remaining countries or just google them.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

The more I think about this product, the more I like it.

Yes, i also think the card has a huge potentional - also regarding business. We are a french-german company and thus always cross bordering and relying on calling each other on the cellphones. So far costs a fortrune on our t-mobile D contracts. If the card works well we'll equip the most called people with a cheap 2nd phone to have a german # in france and the other way around.
Also international calling is much cheaper than on our t-mobile (well we have flatrate to EU landlines, but the rest of the rates are riddiculous)

[dg7feq]

Support confirmed today that currently only the UK number can be displayed on outgoing calls:

"Further to your email, please be informed that as per the current process the UK Toggle mobile number will displayed when you make calls and send text from your Toggle sim card. However the local number will not be displayed when make calls or send SMS.

We are making our best efforts to incorporate this facility as soon as possible and hopefully we can make it available in a near future. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused. "

[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.