About to use a Truphone SIM

snidely · **About to use a Truphone SIM -** 12-03-2011, 03:49

Between UMA and unlimited email, I've managed without prepaid or an "international" card for the past couple years. I would have bought an abroadband data card, if they didn't restrict sales to EU addresses. I didn't want to take a chance with them sending it to a hotel in Spain - and miss the delivery for one reason or another.
That said, thanks to a member here for posting an alert, I bot a new dumbphone with a Truphone SIM with $15 credit on it for about $23 on Ebay. Truphone is NOT cheap. 51 cents for calling within most countries and 86 cents to call U.S. The latter is no savings at all! Incoming is 21 cents. (These seem to be the rates in most first world countries.) You get a U.S. number. (Can get UK or Aussie as well.) I'll be using it for a couple weeks in Spain and Portugal - for making local calls IF necessary when not near wifi.
The only advantage of Truphone seems to be if you are traveling to U.S., UK, or Australia. They call those "Tru Countries". For a $15/mo fee you can make local calls for about 20 cents/min. Incoming about the same. They say they are adding 6-12 more "home countries" in the next 18 months.

...mike
Before abroadband came on the scene, Truphone seemed to have the best data rates. $2.17/mb.

I'll

tux · 12-03-2011, 09:13

If you buy the Tru SIM in the USA, you'll get local rates in USA for free.
And in a couple of months they're going to make available their service in Spain. I've read on their forum that Spain will be a Tru country by April...

snidely · 12-03-2011, 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by tux

If you buy the Tru SIM in the USA, you'll get local rates in USA for free.
And in a couple of months they're going to make available their service in Spain. I've read on their forum that Spain will be a Tru country by April...

That's 2 weeks too late for us. Will be there next week. I know France is on their list to do as well - but it will probably be after we will be there in June.
Obviously I don't need to use them here. Also, to get "local" rates, you have to pay a $15/mo. fee. I mainly got this for insurance just in case the need ever arises to make calls when not on wifi.

...mike
Tux - Thanks, again for your review of abroadband. I wish I could have bought that. They did do a post a response to me on Facebook stating they are new and, for now, just ship to a few countries.
Tru does have killer data rates in their "home" countries. As Tru expands, they would give abroadband serious competition.

tux · 13-03-2011, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by snidely

Tux - Thanks, again for your review of abroadband. I wish I could have bought that. They did do a post a response to me on Facebook stating they are new and, for now, just ship to a few countries.
Tru does have killer data rates in their "home" countries. As Tru expands, they would give abroadband serious competition.

I think that Tru compensate their low rates with the monthly fee

rfranzq · **sweet spot -** 12-04-2011, 02:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by tux

I think that Tru compensate their low rates with the monthly fee

While this is undoubtably true, For some people it will be more convenient and if the 'right' countries are membership when one travels, it could be the best solution currently available for them. The online interface makes it easy to add the membership when you need it and let it lapse when you don't. And local phone numbers [charged monthly] might be something some will find useful.

benjeff · **rates/min. vary but not sure why -** 12-04-2011, 21:06

I've left AT&T and ported my cell phone # to my Truphone SIM. I live in the US and when I use it to call people in the US it seems the rate per minute can vary. The Truphone website does not seem to say anything about this, unless I'm missing something. I've been roaming on T-Mobile.

Bossman · 12-04-2011, 23:13

Yeah. I can ring them up to see what's up. I did not bother initially because I their rates in the countries I am likely to visit are very high, and do not plan on using the sim. However, I can have family members use it when they visit from abroad.

davidtheprof · 05-06-2011, 18:27

was recently in Australia, and truphone sim worked really well, got a local number and membership for a month ($23), then calls around 20c/min, and best of all, data only 10c/MB.
off to Canada, where the data rates are still exorbitant, more than $4/MB

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	(#1)
snidely (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 451 Join Date: 09 May 2005 Location: Berkeley, California and Miami Country:	About to use a Truphone SIM - 12-03-2011, 03:49 Between UMA and unlimited email, I've managed without prepaid or an "international" card for the past couple years. I would have bought an abroadband data card, if they didn't restrict sales to EU addresses. I didn't want to take a chance with them sending it to a hotel in Spain - and miss the delivery for one reason or another. That said, thanks to a member here for posting an alert, I bot a new dumbphone with a Truphone SIM with $15 credit on it for about $23 on Ebay. Truphone is NOT cheap. 51 cents for calling within most countries and 86 cents to call U.S. The latter is no savings at all! Incoming is 21 cents. (These seem to be the rates in most first world countries.) You get a U.S. number. (Can get UK or Aussie as well.) I'll be using it for a couple weeks in Spain and Portugal - for making local calls IF necessary when not near wifi. The only advantage of Truphone seems to be if you are traveling to U.S., UK, or Australia. They call those "Tru Countries". For a $15/mo fee you can make local calls for about 20 cents/min. Incoming about the same. They say they are adding 6-12 more "home countries" in the next 18 months. ...mike Before abroadband came on the scene, Truphone seemed to have the best data rates. $2.17/mb. I'll Make use of T-M's UMA/wifi free calling from any place in the world with access to wifi. I use an LG G6, wife an S7) A/o Oct 20, 2013 no need for intl prepaid as T-Mobile U.S. includes voice roaming at 20¢/min (in and out)., unlimited text (in and out), and unlimited data in 140+ countries. My Plan -[6 lines] U.S. T-Mobile unlimited minutes (incoming and outgoing), unlimited text, fast data on each line. that $145/mo. total! . (In U.S. no surcharge for calling a cell.) If a line exceeds 2G of data in a month, pay $10 more for that line. [That only happens a couple times/year.

	(#2)
tux (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 250 Join Date: 28 Jan 2011 Country:	12-03-2011, 09:13 If you buy the Tru SIM in the USA, you'll get local rates in USA for free. And in a couple of months they're going to make available their service in Spain. I've read on their forum that Spain will be a Tru country by April...

	(#6)
benjeff (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 15 Join Date: 07 Dec 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Country:	rates/min. vary but not sure why - 12-04-2011, 21:06 I've left AT&T and ported my cell phone # to my Truphone SIM. I live in the US and when I use it to call people in the US it seems the rate per minute can vary. The Truphone website does not seem to say anything about this, unless I'm missing something. I've been roaming on T-Mobile.

	(#7)
Bossman (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,257 Join Date: 22 Apr 2005 Location: Chicago Country:	12-04-2011, 23:13 Yeah. I can ring them up to see what's up. I did not bother initially because I their rates in the countries I am likely to visit are very high, and do not plan on using the sim. However, I can have family members use it when they visit from abroad. Phones: Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, Samsung Galaxy A50, ASUS zenfone 3, Sim cards: AT&T (Contract), 3 UK, Piranha Mobile

	(#8)
davidtheprof (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 159 Join Date: 05 Jun 2011 Country:	05-06-2011, 18:27 was recently in Australia, and truphone sim worked really well, got a local number and membership for a month ($23), then calls around 20c/min, and best of all, data only 10c/MB. off to Canada, where the data rates are still exorbitant, more than $4/MB