United Mobile Sim Card - Upgrade Email

[Juliadlf]

Has anyone else gotten an email from United Mobile concerning the offer to change to the 44 dialing prefix?

Any advantages to switching from the current prefix?

 

Thanks

Julia

[martyap]

Hi Julia,

 

I use United Mobile on all my trips to Europe and the rates are reasonable and the service is great. I just upgraded to the +44 sim card as per the e-mail offer. There was no charge. The old sim was a Lichtenstein exchange. The new sim is UK. I imagine calls from the US to the +44 will be easier and less $$$ and as they are advertising calls from Europe will be a few cents less per minute as well.

 

Marty

[Juliadlf]

Hi Julia,

 

I use United Mobile on all my trips to Europe and the rates are reasonable and the service is great. I just upgraded to the +44 sim card as per the e-mail offer. There was no charge. The old sim was a Lichtenstein exchange. The new sim is UK. I imagine calls from the US to the +44 will be easier and less $$$ and as they are advertising calls from Europe will be a few cents less per minute as well.

 

Marty

 

Thanks Marty. I wasn't quite sure of the advantage of hitting the button to upgrade but now will do it. I like that they are transferring the balance and no shipping charge.

 

Julia

[Lsimon]

I was looking at a UK sim called Geosimm for my phone. Seems a little less expensive.

 

Anyone know how to find out what countries my US "International" tri-band phone will be Ok with as opposed to buying a quad band phone just for this trip?

[martyap]

Not sure....I use a quad Motorola RazR....the United Mobile worked great in Turkey, France, Italy, Croatia, Spain and Greece. Easy to make and receive calls + easy to replenish. Now with the new SIM+ and a UK +44 exchange I imagine it will be a little better and a few cents cheaper. United Mobile takes a few days but their customer service does respond to emails. Ask them if their sim will work in your tri mode phone.They should know which countries accept that band.

 

Marty

[Fblack]

This site will help you.

 

http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

 

I am close to buying a SIM for my unlocked Europeran Tri-bank phone. One issue in buying a SIM in addition to rates is what needs to be done to keep them active. One SIM charges a 10 pound annual fee. Some you need to re-charge every 9 months. Some every 12.

 

Some have low fees and a one time connection charge. Some hidden surcharges fro certain countries. Some have UK numbers, others Estonia. Free incoming is important too.

 

I am down to Passport SIMS from Telestial, GOSIM, GeoSIM and United Mobile. Lesaning towards Passport.

[bigwally]

Anyone know how to find out what countries my US "International" tri-band phone will be Ok with as opposed to buying a quad band phone just for this trip?

 

So I'm assuming your phone is 850/1800/1900?

 

You should be fine. The two bands in Europe work much the same way as the two bands work here. So if you don't have 900mhz on your phone you should be able to find a 1800mhz network to connect to under most circumstances.

[bigwally]

Some have low fees and a one time connection charge. Some hidden surcharges fro certain countries. Some have UK numbers, others Estonia. Free incoming is important too.

 

I am down to Passport SIMS from Telestial, GOSIM, GeoSIM and United Mobile. Lesaning towards Passport.

 

I bought the Telestial. IIRC all you have to do to keep it active is to use the SIM (IE: make a call) at least once within the year. Easy if you have a phone that will still work in the US.

[Fblack]

BigWally:

 

Did you buy the Passport with a UK number? I am not sure when you bought ii but Telestial has changed the rates on it from 90 days ago.

 

They lowered most of the outgoing call rates, are charging a small connection fee, and have a big surcharge in a few countries like Egypt, Malta etc.

 

I will probably still buy it. Have you actually used it in Europe?

[Juliadlf]

I was looking at a UK sim called Geosimm for my phone. Seems a little less expensive.

 

Anyone know how to find out what countries my US "International" tri-band phone will be Ok with as opposed to buying a quad band phone just for this trip?

 

I may be wrong but, I thought some of the websites selling the sim cards have a link which you can check to see if their sim card would be compatable with your type of phone. If not, then email the company. Just need to be sure your phone is unlocked.

 

Julia

[bigwally]

Did you buy the Passport with a UK number? I am not sure when you bought ii but Telestial has changed the rates on it from 90 days ago.

 

Yes, the one with a UK number. You know, I thought it looked like they'd played with the rates since I bought mine in May.

 

I've not gotten a chance to use it in Europe yet, though I have stuck it in my phone and called it from my desktop phone just to make sure it worked.

 

But frankly, I gotta think it's the cheapest way to go when you're travelling from country to country. However, for someone staying in the same country for a few weeks I think I would suggest a SIM for a local provider.

[Fblack]

I will probably get the Passport. I will be in many countries over the next year or two and it has many free incoming call countries.

 

I will not be using it out of the USA until late September. If you use it before then, post you comments.

[Lsimon]

The Passport looks like a nice plan. They have the Passport with free incoming calls and the Passport Plus with lower rates, but without free incoming. A nice feature the other sims we've looked at don't have is the toll free incoming, where we can give a toll free US number out to our family and they can call for free - we'd pay the Passport charge of around 40 cents a minute.

 

What I'm trying to decide is if all this is worth it. We'll be gone 3 weeks and I know we'll want to keep in some contact with our 3 kids (all young adults in their early to mid 20's). We can get a roaming package on Cingular for $6/month that is around $1/minute v. around 35 cents with the UK sims we're looking at (more or less) so the break even is around 100 minutes. For us, with one trip planned, it might not be worth the hassle of the sim card.

 

At first I thought the free incoming calls would make the sims a no-brainer, then it dawned on me that our family, or us, would have to pay for the international call from the US - and that there is generally a surcharge of about 40 or 50 cents for calling UK or European mobile numbers, so the free incoming doesn't make quite the difference I thought it would.

 

On the phone issue, I think I figured that we'll be more likely than not to get access with our current phone in all places except our one day in Dubrovnik, and possibly a couple issues in our Greek stops, as our phone doesn't have the 900 service (it is a tri-band phone not a quad band phone). The Cingular ATT site has a feature for figuring where your phone will or will not work, that shows ours is OK in all places except Croatia, but from other comments I've read on the internet I might find a couple of issues elsewhere. Overall I'm not sure it will make a big enough difference for us to get a quad band phone.

[martyap]

I used my United Mobile sim every day to receive and make calls. It was great having a number that friends and family could reach us at. It worked in every country. We made short calls just to keep in touch. I bought a very inexpensive international calling card on e-bay and shared the pin with everybody......I think the total outlay for calls to Europe was less than $10. The most expensive part of the deal is the actual phone but I have used it already on a second trip with a third to come.

 

Marty

[Fblack]

Lsimon:

 

I also have an IDT international calling card to make cheap calls from the US to all over Europe. There are no monthly fees, connection fees or setup charges. Basically you call their toll free number, then dial the Europe phone number. Costs about 5 to 8 cents a minute to call. And if you register your outgoing phone number, you do not need to enter a pin code. I used it to call my son who was in South Korea on business and calls were 7 cents a minute. Some plans have a surcharge to call a cell phone in Europe.

 

So with a Passport SIM and free incoming calls, my son can call me for very little.

 

Lots of companies sell this service.

 

 

Try these sites:

 

http://www.idt.net/personal/cards/

 

http://www.ecg-longdistance.com/ Calls to UK are 5 cents

[bigwally]

Yes, I thought the free incoming calls in the countires I'll be visiting was the feature with the most value to me.

 

I will not be using it out of the USA until late September. If you use it before then, post you comments.

 

Will be using mine starting September 18th for about 2.5 weeks. Don't know if I'll be able to post during that time or not.

[Dbedros]

I did not upgrade, but now I am wondering. I have had my Mobal phone for years using the sim card with the Liechtenstein telephone number from Mobile. I also use Callback World to make my outgoing calls cheaper. I currently have the incoming calls are free feature and it works everywhere except Japan, Guam and a few others.

 

I saw no benefit and my number would have changed necessitating my having to notify others of the change. It appeared to me that this offer was very good for those from or visiting the UK quite a bit, but did not make sense for most of us. Did Mobile change something and we now have to pay for incoming calls on the old sim?

[martyap]

New United-Mobile SIM+ with the UK phone number:

Incoming calls are still free and outgoing are now $.29.

 

Marty

[Dbedros]

Thanks martyap for the confirmation. I pay less than $.29 using Callback World so my old SIM will do. Mobile must now be trying to get their users to stop using Callback World and other such services.

[Fblack]

How does CallBack World work with your SIM? I thought cell phone calls in Europe to certain toll free numbers were prohibited or very expensive?

[Fblack]

Dbedros:

 

Would you answer a few more questions on Callback World?

 

I have an unlocked cell phone and a Passport SIM with a UK number that has free incoming calls in some European countries. Outgoing calls are about 49 to 99 cents a minute. Incoming calls to non free countries are the same price.

 

How would the call back service work? If I do not use their toll free numbers, are call backs from their service charged as an incoming call to my cell phone? So in a country where I pay for incoming calls, do I pay twice? (Callback service and the incoming cell phone call charge) Is there any charge for an outgoing call to connect to the service?

 

If friends call me on their Pin2dest service, is the call shown as an incoming call to my cell phone? So do I again pay the call back charge and the SIM card incoming call charge?

 

Are calls from my SIM to a European toll free number free? Or are some blocked? Or do I pay the SIM provider?

[Dbedros]

Fblack, it easy after you get used to it.

First, you are not calling a Toll Free number. When you sign up you will give them a credit card number that will be charged for your calls. They will give you a special access number to call to connect to Callback World who will call back and connect you to the number that you wish to call. The only charge is to your Callback World account as all incoming calls to your Mobile SIM card are free.

The Toll Free number and PIN is for others to use and you pay for the call on your Callback World account. I do not use this feature because if people want to call me they should pay and this keeps frivolous calls to a very minimum or they are non existent.

You can always ask questions on the web site and they will get back to you with your answers. I found out about this feature from "Frommers" and it really works. Here is a link to Callback World: http://www.callbackworld.com/

The only problem I had was getting used to the two rings. After accumulating charges and a lot of hit and miss, I finally sent another email to Callback World and they explained it to me. Because I was using a Mobile SIM with their system I was getting a "double callback". You dial the number that you have been given and you will get a strange message on your screen. Ignore the prompts that show on your phone and just hang up. The first ring/callback is from Mobile, answer and listen for the number to start ringing, then hang up immediately after the first ring. If you do this there will be no charge to your Mobile account!

The next ring of your phone is Callback World calling you back. After you answer you will be instructed as to how to enter the number that you wish to call. The only charge is to your Callback World account at what I believe are extremely low rates.

The only time I could not get through was at Iguaçu Falls, Argentina trying to call Buenos Aires. I think that was their system as the Sheraton Hotel and an Internet place in the Airport could not get through without several attempts.

I hope this really helps you and saves you some of the grief that I went through trying to learn to use the system. I would not change for any reason. If I am not traveling out of the country for awhile I just have to remember to use the phone to keep the Mobile account active.

[Fblack]

Thanks for the answers. Now I see how the double ring back will work. Since most SIM cards ring back too, I see how a double ring back could be confusing.

 

I compared rates. Most outgoing calls from countries I will visit in September will cost about 49 cents via the SIM. They are closer to 30 cents using Callback World. The big savings are if you use a SIM to callback from places like Egypt, Tunisia, Russia, Malta, Morocco, (which I will visit next year).

 

So since it's free, I plan to sign up and have Callback available to try.

[Dbedros]

I sent Barry at Callback World an email concerning the new SIM with the UK telephone number and he suggested I get the new SIM. He stated that all providers have increased the charges to the Liechtenstein Telephone Number.