Which card for travel to Portugal, Spain and Morocco?

[eurouser]

We have a new unlocked SonyEricsson W580i, but I have not removed the AT&T branding. I think it will take the SIMS just fine (I hope).

We will be traveling in July to Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Germany. We will only be in Morocco for 4 days, 7 days in Portugal, 6 days in Spain and 21 days in Germany. Our plan so far is to get a UM+ card to use outside of Germany and to use the Ortel Mobile card in Germany. All our calls from Spain, Portugal and perhaps one from Morocco will be to the US and Germany. We will make about 5-10 minutes of outgoing calls per day. We will forward our US number to the number(s) we get in the EU and expect about 5-10 minutes of incoming calls from the US per day. Are there issues I need to be concerned with about getting calls to connect from the US? I have read a thread here about callers in the US not being able to get to UM+. Is this service an unusually expensive number to dial from the US?

We would like some feedback as to whether this is the best plan or if I have overlooked a better alternative. Since we leave in less than 3 weeks, I need to make my mind up very soon. Is our plan the most affordable for *reliable* service?

[monkeyboy]

Originally Posted by eurouser

We have a new unlocked SonyEricsson W580i, but I have not removed the AT&T branding. I think it will take the SIMS just fine (I hope).

We will be traveling in July to Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Germany. We will only be in Morocco for 4 days, 7 days in Portugal, 6 days in Spain and 21 days in Germany. Our plan so far is to get a UM+ card to use outside of Germany and to use the Ortel Mobile card in Germany. All our calls from Spain, Portugal and perhaps one from Morocco will be to the US and Germany. We will make about 5-10 minutes of outgoing calls per day. We will forward our US number to the number(s) we get in the EU and expect about 5-10 minutes of incoming calls from the US per day. Are there issues I need to be concerned with about getting calls to connect from the US? I have read a thread here about callers in the US not being able to get to UM+. Is this service an unusually expensive number to dial from the US?

We would like some feedback as to whether this is the best plan or if I have overlooked a better alternative. Since we leave in less than 3 weeks, I need to make my mind up very soon. Is our plan the most affordable for *reliable* service?

I can't tell you from experience. But we are also going to Morocco, in about 7 weeks.

In my reading various posts, there doesn't seem to be any clear guidance, but there is some doubt that UM+ will work well in Morocco. I therefore decided to also get Celtrek, which claims to work in Morocco. I hope between UM+ and Celtrek, at least one will work...

Please report what you find out... Thanks (have a good trip)...

[Bossman]

I will assuming you are using an intermediary number, such as a VOIP or so , to forward to UM+ or the numbers you get in EU, since you can not forward internationally.

Your plan sounds ok. Most folks in this forum do something similar regarding forwarding. I use voicestick and les.net if I have to foward to an international sim.

[eurouser]

I have been using an 800 call forwarding service that allows me to change the number I forward to through a web page. I forward my phone to that 800 number and it forwards to the international number. I have not used it with UM+ or Ortel. I will look at voicestick and les.net. Can you tell me which of their many offerings you use and why you use that one?

[Bossman]

Ok, sounds like you are all set. As for voicestick and Les.net, they are just about the same. However, voicestick is a little cheaper. You can do everything via the web. Les.net also gives you a few more options. les.net charges $1 (canadian) per month for the DID. Voicestick requires a minimum usage of $1/month. So, if you use $0.60 a month, they will charge you $0.40 for that month. In my opinion, call quality is just about the same.

Originally Posted by eurouser

I have been using an 800 call forwarding service that allows me to change the number I forward to through a web page. I forward my phone to that 800 number and it forwards to the international number. I have not used it with UM+ or Ortel. I will look at voicestick and les.net. Can you tell me which of their many offerings you use and why you use that one?

[monkeyboy]

BTW, Celtrek gives you a US domestic forwarding number as part of its int'l roaming service...
and I think you can specific any US areacode that you want...

add Grandcentral and you end up with multiple *local* domestic forwarding number for "free"...

[Bossman]

Yackie and Maxroam also gives a US number. They also allow you to select your area code. You can actually choose a number from a few other countries, including UK and France.

Originally Posted by monkeyboy

BTW, Celtrek gives you a US domestic forwarding number as part of its int'l roaming service...
and I think you can specific any US areacode that you want...

add Grandcentral and you end up with multiple *local* domestic forwarding number for "free"...

[eurouser]

Yackie looks very interesting. Outgoing calls are a little more expensive. But having a local number in the US would make incoming calls cheaper when you consider what we pay on both ends of the call. But, how is the voice quality and reliability?

[prion]

Yackie is good in regard to voice quality. Also Yackie gives you a second number (+354380) which can be dialed directly and has free incoming in many countries

[Bossman]

However, yackie now requires a minimum of $5 usage every 90 days to keep the DID.

(*) To keep your DID number active minimum usage of $5 USD every 90 days is required. Failure to do so will result in the expiration of your DID number.

See this thread: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/yack...age-t3861.html

Originally Posted by prion

Yackie is good in regard to voice quality. Also Yackie gives you a second number (+354380) which can be dialed directly and has free incoming in many countries