ekit dual number [US & UK] SIMs - Page 11

rfranzq · **Uh, have you tried ekit or ekit on eBay? -** 13-06-2009, 04:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by MATHA531

Go to www.telestial.com

Normally not a big fan of telestial as they rip you off big time for local sim cards tripling or quadrupling the price but they seem to be the only people selling the dual ekit card in North America at the present time.

Ekit has their own web site and on eBay they have very good prices.
And if you can find an ekit partner the prices are even lower than ekit themselves.
For instance railpass.com has rates that are far less than ekit itself!?

Added info: The telestial rates beat the railpass rates. Telestial has the 'lite' with $5 credit railpass'/ekits' nonlite has $10 credit. eBay has the best prices and shipping by far. Shipping is a killer.

tivoboy · 13-06-2009, 19:54

so, there is currently nobody offering an ekit card to UM orphans?

kupe · 13-06-2009, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by tivoboy

so, there is currently nobody offering an ekit card to UM orphans?

I don't believe so. I've written off my UM card to the "school of hard knocks" account. ;(

Kupe

Stu · 14-06-2009, 18:50

I watch numerous forums on prepaid SIM cards. Overwhelmingly, it seems like people are more concerned about the incoming rates rather than the outgoing rates. I'm not sure if this means that everyone is using callback services or informal call back
services ("Mom ring me back at..."), but I am a little surprised. I expect that this group (on this forum) would route the call around the world twice rather than pay 1p more per minute, but more importantly this seems to be the prevailing trend. I would presume that most people would be delighted to pay a fraction of what their home provider charges for roaming, but the numbers don't seem to match my theory.

The folks who hang out on this forum (myself included) pinch every penny they can, but what is your opinion about friends and colleagues.

glhs509 · 15-06-2009, 22:09

Since I'm still waiting for Yackie's next step, I was contemplating grabbing an ekit SIM for my upcoming trip. However, needed some clarification on the rates (Passport US SIM): Are you guys using callbacks for your outbound where you have free incoming? (although calling to the U.S. is almost the same as say Callbackworld)

For example, calling a local mobile number in Czech Rep. while roaming there is shown as $0.84 + $0.35* = $1.19/min which seems quite high...

* the $0.35/min surcharge is shown on the Passport US SIM, whereas the + version has $0.40/min...Are these typos and actually one time surcharges, in lieu of per min rates?

FBlack_111 · 15-06-2009, 23:02

glhs509:

The connection fee is a one time charge per call. If you look at the Ekit rate sheets, the 35 cents per minute surcharge to call a cell phone is already shown on the rate sheet.

So in the Czech Republic it's 49 cents a minute to call a land line and 84 cents a minute to call a cell phone. Incoming calls are free.

So a 10 minute call to a cell phone is .84 x 10= 8.40 +35 = $8.75. Thus a 10 minute call is .875 cents per minute.

glhs509 · 15-06-2009, 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by FBlack_111

glhs509:

The connection fee is a one time charge per call. If you look at the Ekit rate sheets, the 35 cents per minute surcharge to call a cell phone is already shown on the rate sheet.

So in the Czech Republic it's 49 cents a minute to call a land line and 84 cents a minute to call a cell phone. Incoming calls are free.

So a 10 minute call to a cell phone is .84 x 10= 8.40 +35 = $8.75. Thus a 10 minute call is .875 cents per minute.

Thanks for the quick response...I thought the surcharge was a one-time fee, but per Telestial's website, one of the footnotes (the one below ** Service in Japan...) states the following:
"There is a $0.35 USD per minute surcharge when you make a call to a cell phone (does not apply when calling to a US or Canadian cell phone)."
Any thoughts?

-Ken

FBlack_111 · 16-06-2009, 00:38

Those two 35 cent numbers are a bit confusing. The 35 cent (one time per call) connection fee is self explanatory. Then their notes say there is a 35 cent per minute surcharge to call a cell phone. Yet their chart showing rates has that extra 35 cent a minute fee built in to the rates.

One thing I never checked up on is the "Additional surcharges apply when calling certain countries.". As a example the web site says :

"Outgoing Call Surcharges
A $0.75 USD surcharge applies to all outgoing calls made to the following countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, etc. "

I always assumed it's a one time surcharge per call, not per minute. But I never confirmed this. I need to find out because I will be in Egypt in September.

glhs509 · 16-06-2009, 01:15

Chatting w/ Customer support at the moment, and they've confirmed (as you stated) the $0.35 is included in the rate table...They also stated the 'other country' outgoing surcharge is actually per minute, so be forewarned...

I guess I may just grab one for tooting around eastern Europe...the outgoing calls are unfortunately on the high side (considering callback and a UK mobile number), but being able to roam with enough free incoming countries makes up for it...

-Ken

kupe · 19-06-2009, 03:07

Well...just spent 3 days in Paris with my new eKit sim and have to say it did NOT go well...

Inbound calls were a complete bust. Callers to my US number all reported that calls went straight to voicemail. And in no case did my phone ever ring for those calls, nor did it show any missed calls. At all times I had a full 4-bar signal.

Callers to my UK number reported that the phone would ring continuously, NEVER go to voicemail, and these calls also never rang through to me, nor showed any missed calls.

Outbound calls succeeded sporadically. Frequently I never got the eKit callback, or I would get a message that "call failed" and nothing would happen.

Outbound text messages also were iffy- in most cases it reported "could not send message", though in several cases the message was in fact sent despite that message.

I tried all 3 Paris networks- FSFR, Orange, and Bytel. eKit seems to prefer registering with FSFR, on which I could receive no calls. On Orange, I received one call, but could not make any calls. Bytel seemed to work better, but still no consistency.

I called Customer Service and we went through the usual Tier 1 malarkey- i.e. turn off phone, remove batt and sim, try different networks, etc. Blah blah blah. All stuff I had tried already. The agent tried repeatedly to call my US and UK number and it never rang through to me. Finally on one try to my US number it did ring, and she then said "the US incoming problem is now resolved." I said "whoa- once out of 10 times isn't resolved." She never was able to reach my UK number and she opened a ticket for that.

And that's where it stands. Needless to say this was VERY disappointing, especially given my good experience with eKit in Zurich the week before. I'll be in Germany to try it next week, and I hope the results are very very different. I need a phone I can rely on, and currently my eKit is exhibiting late United-Mobile style reliability! ;(

Kupe

	(#102)
tivoboy (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 150 Join Date: 11 Aug 2005 Country:	13-06-2009, 19:54 so, there is currently nobody offering an ekit card to UM orphans?

	(#104)
Stu (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,091 Join Date: 11 Feb 2004 Location: Detroit (formerly Dubai) Country:	14-06-2009, 18:50 I watch numerous forums on prepaid SIM cards. Overwhelmingly, it seems like people are more concerned about the incoming rates rather than the outgoing rates. I'm not sure if this means that everyone is using callback services or informal call back services ("Mom ring me back at..."), but I am a little surprised. I expect that this group (on this forum) would route the call around the world twice rather than pay 1p more per minute, but more importantly this seems to be the prevailing trend. I would presume that most people would be delighted to pay a fraction of what their home provider charges for roaming, but the numbers don't seem to match my theory. The folks who hang out on this forum (myself included) pinch every penny they can, but what is your opinion about friends and colleagues.

	(#105)
glhs509 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 6 Join Date: 06 Dec 2007 Country:	15-06-2009, 22:09 Since I'm still waiting for Yackie's next step, I was contemplating grabbing an ekit SIM for my upcoming trip. However, needed some clarification on the rates (Passport US SIM): Are you guys using callbacks for your outbound where you have free incoming? (although calling to the U.S. is almost the same as say Callbackworld) For example, calling a local mobile number in Czech Rep. while roaming there is shown as $0.84 + $0.35* = $1.19/min which seems quite high... * the $0.35/min surcharge is shown on the Passport US SIM, whereas the + version has $0.40/min...Are these typos and actually one time surcharges, in lieu of per min rates?

	(#106)
FBlack_111 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 171 Join Date: 27 Feb 2008 Country:	15-06-2009, 23:02 glhs509: The connection fee is a one time charge per call. If you look at the Ekit rate sheets, the 35 cents per minute surcharge to call a cell phone is already shown on the rate sheet. So in the Czech Republic it's 49 cents a minute to call a land line and 84 cents a minute to call a cell phone. Incoming calls are free. So a 10 minute call to a cell phone is .84 x 10= 8.40 +35 = $8.75. Thus a 10 minute call is .875 cents per minute.

	(#108)
FBlack_111 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 171 Join Date: 27 Feb 2008 Country:	16-06-2009, 00:38 Those two 35 cent numbers are a bit confusing. The 35 cent (one time per call) connection fee is self explanatory. Then their notes say there is a 35 cent per minute surcharge to call a cell phone. Yet their chart showing rates has that extra 35 cent a minute fee built in to the rates. One thing I never checked up on is the "Additional surcharges apply when calling certain countries.". As a example the web site says : "Outgoing Call Surcharges A $0.75 USD surcharge applies to all outgoing calls made to the following countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, etc. " I always assumed it's a one time surcharge per call, not per minute. But I never confirmed this. I need to find out because I will be in Egypt in September.

	(#109)
glhs509 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 6 Join Date: 06 Dec 2007 Country:	16-06-2009, 01:15 Chatting w/ Customer support at the moment, and they've confirmed (as you stated) the $0.35 is included in the rate table...They also stated the 'other country' outgoing surcharge is actually per minute, so be forewarned... I guess I may just grab one for tooting around eastern Europe...the outgoing calls are unfortunately on the high side (considering callback and a UK mobile number), but being able to roam with enough free incoming countries makes up for it... -Ken

	(#110)
kupe (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 103 Join Date: 19 Jun 2006 Country:	19-06-2009, 03:07 Well...just spent 3 days in Paris with my new eKit sim and have to say it did NOT go well... Inbound calls were a complete bust. Callers to my US number all reported that calls went straight to voicemail. And in no case did my phone ever ring for those calls, nor did it show any missed calls. At all times I had a full 4-bar signal. Callers to my UK number reported that the phone would ring continuously, NEVER go to voicemail, and these calls also never rang through to me, nor showed any missed calls. Outbound calls succeeded sporadically. Frequently I never got the eKit callback, or I would get a message that "call failed" and nothing would happen. Outbound text messages also were iffy- in most cases it reported "could not send message", though in several cases the message was in fact sent despite that message. I tried all 3 Paris networks- FSFR, Orange, and Bytel. eKit seems to prefer registering with FSFR, on which I could receive no calls. On Orange, I received one call, but could not make any calls. Bytel seemed to work better, but still no consistency. I called Customer Service and we went through the usual Tier 1 malarkey- i.e. turn off phone, remove batt and sim, try different networks, etc. Blah blah blah. All stuff I had tried already. The agent tried repeatedly to call my US and UK number and it never rang through to me. Finally on one try to my US number it did ring, and she then said "the US incoming problem is now resolved." I said "whoa- once out of 10 times isn't resolved." She never was able to reach my UK number and she opened a ticket for that. And that's where it stands. Needless to say this was VERY disappointing, especially given my good experience with eKit in Zurich the week before. I'll be in Germany to try it next week, and I hope the results are very very different. I need a phone I can rely on, and currently my eKit is exhibiting late United-Mobile style reliability! ;( Kupe