International Cards
If you travel a lot and always go to
different countries it can be much more comfortable to use only one
prepaid number which can be used (almost) worldwide.
Here we list some of the "international offers" available by now.
Along with all the details of each prepaid offer, we made a comparison chart with all the available offers, in order to have a simple and fast overwiev of pros and cons of each offer:
International Cards Comparison Chart
Liechtestein (+423) based sim-cards
One of the first prepaid global sim-cards was 'Riiing', using a +423 Liechtenstein (FL1) international prefix. After a very good start
it was rebranded into United Mobile and then UM+423 which is the actual offer, still valid with cheaper rates than the beginning.
At the beginning of 2008 a new card has been launched by United Mobile in cooperation with ICQ instant messenger. It's called
ICQsim, it has +423 prefix and the same rates as UM+423, except for cheaper SMS and, what's most important, with some
GPRS/3G data capability, even if by now limited to few European countries.
Both offers are valid and very reliable, the only big con could be the often high charge to call a +423.663 number from landline,
other mobiles or VoIP providers. Soon, very probably, the 2 offers should be merged.
| United Mobile | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | UM+423 - ICQsim |
| Activation fee/credit: | UM+423: € 29.90/10.00 ICQsim: € 15.00/10.00 or € 25.00/25.00 |
|
| Card validity: | At least 1 billed event every 9 month | |
| Country code: | Liechtenstein (+423) | |
| Where to buy it: | United Mobile official site - ICQsim official site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 22/02/08 | |
Jersey (+44.7937) based sim-cards
After the high rise of rates to call Liechtenstein numbers, United Mobile launched a new offer, called UM+, with a British
prefix, +44, which is a Jersey prefix. Surely calling a +44 number is generally much cheaper than calling +423 and UM+
had some cheaper rates compared to the former United Mobile offer. These days, by the way, rates are usually the same,
while UM+ has less coverage and higher rates on some key-countries like China. UM+ also has never been so reliable as
the +423 offer, having more uncompatibility problems with phones which by the way seem to have been largerly solved.
Another operator followed United Mobile using a Jersey prefix, and that's Callblue. Their offer doesn't anyway look as interesting
as the one by United Mobile, but surely it's an alternative, using the same prefix.
| United Mobile | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | UM+ |
| Activation fee/credit: | UM+: € 29.90/10.00 | |
| Card validity: | At least 1 billed event every 9 month | |
| Country code: | UM+: Jersey (+44.7937) | |
| Where to buy it: | United Mobile official site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 22/02/08 | |
| BlueMango Technologies Limited | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | GSM-EURO |
| Activation fee/credit: | US$ 49.99/30.00 (€ 34.71/20.83) | |
| Card validity: | Unlimited, no renewal fee | |
| Country code: | UK Jersey (+447937) | |
| Where to buy it: | Official Site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 04/10/07 | |
Estonian (+372) based sim-cards
Following the good success of United Mobile, Travelsim launched its offer using an Estonian (EMT) number, offering some good rates, expecially in former Soviet Union (it's still the only global sim-card with free incoming calls in Russia) and Asia. Travelsim is usually less convenient than its competitors in EU, but has its convenience mainly in the east. Their service has proved in these years to be very reliable. Some other offers with Estonian prefix came out in the last years, but they are all rebrands of Travelsim, so we didn't fine of any interest to list them here. PrepaidGSM has a referral agreement with the Travelsimhop dealer, so here we link to this online shop for Travelsim.
| Travelsim | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | Travelsim |
| Activation fee/credit: | € 29.90/€ 10.00 | |
| Card validity: | At least 1 billed event every 24 month | |
| Country code: | Estonia (+372) | |
| Where to buy it: | Official Site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 25/11/07 | |
Icelandic (+354) based sim-cards
09 Mobile is another long time competitor in the global-sim market offering the widest coverage possible
and using an Icelandic number. Rates have been identical to +423 United Mobile offer before UM lowered
them, while 09 apparently never changed its rates, making it quite a reliable and stable operator. Few services
are available, but it simply works and it has the best coverage.
A new competitor based on 09 Mobile is Yackie Mobile which, instead, tries to offer a very wide range of
services to its customers, offering one or more IDD numbers and a VoIP account too. Yackie had many troubles
in the past, but since it moved to the 09 Mobile platform most of them seems to have been sorted out, making
it quite a reliable service with some attractive rates and services.
| Scarlet Holdings NV | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | 09 Mobile |
| Activation fee/credit: | € 39.00/€ 15.00 (free shipping) | |
| Card validity: | At least 1 billed event every 10 month | |
| Country code: | Iceland (+354) | |
| Where to buy it: | Official Site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 26/10/06 | |
| Yackie Telecom Corp. | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | Yackie Mobile |
| Activation fee/credit: | US$ 49.00/10.00 - € 33.03/6.04 | |
| Card validity: | At least 1 billed event every 10 month | |
| Country code: | Iceland (+354) plus IDD number | |
| Where to buy it: | Official Site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 25/11/07 | |
Israeli (+972) based sim-cards
Formerly used only by Yackie Mobile, with many troubles, now the Israeli platform is used by Maxroam which instead offers a reliable service even if with some cons in the billing system (you pay unanswered calls too) and without the possibility to choose between using Israeli or DID number (only the latter can be used for calls). They probably offer the best quality among operators using DID number, but rates and maintenance costs are not always so cheap.
| Cubic Telecom Limited trading (MAXroam) | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | MAXroam |
| Activation fee/credit: | € 29.99/5.00 | |
| Card validity: | At least 1 billed event every month or you get an € 1.00 surcharge | |
| Country code: | IDD number, plus Israel (+972) number for SMS | |
| Where to buy it: | Official Site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 25/11/07 | |
Isle of Man (+447624 or +447924) based sim-cards
During 2006 and 2007 dozens of new international operators came out, all offering Isle of Man prefixes, some with good offers, some a bit less,
surely too many to be all listed here. Unfortunately most of them seem to have died in September 2007, when the service provider which offered them
the IoM prefix closed its activity, with very few information about what happened. Some International providers moved to other service providers
with Jersey or Estonian prefix.
Geosim started its operations again in 2008, still with IoM prefix number, as well as GT-Sim, which has different offers, both prepaid and postpaid
and also including a dual-sim phone. Not much information about this last operator is available by now.
| Geodesa Limited | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | Geosim |
| Activation fee/credit: | £ 19.99/5.00 (€ 26.53/6.64) | |
| Card validity: | 12 months (+ annual fee of £ 14.10) | |
| Country code: | UK IoM (+447624 or +447924) | |
| Where to buy it: | Official Site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 15/10/06 | |
| Global Termination Holdings HK Limited | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | GT-SIM |
| Activation fee/credit: | € 39.95/0.00 | |
| Card validity: | At least 1 activity every 10 month | |
| Country code: | UK IoM (+447624) | |
| Where to buy it: | GT-SIM Homepage | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 18/09/06 | |
Hop Mobile
Hop Mobile has been the very first international offer along with Riiing (then United Mobile). These days it can still be quite interesting and cheap, expecially for EU people due to the very high value of Euro compared to the US Dollar (Hop bills in dollars). The problem is that it's impossible to buy a new one, while old ones will keep on working just till April 2008, and services will be limited to outgoing calls only from March.
| Hop Mobile | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | HopAbroad |
| Activation fee/credit: | US$ 55.00/15.00 (€ 43.05/11.74) | |
| Card validity: | 12 months | |
| Country code: | Monaco (+377) | |
| Where to buy it: | Hop Mobile Homepage | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 21/12/05 | |
Postpaid International Offers
The most long established postpaid global sim-card is the one sold by Mobal, which is a British O2 postpaid contract, without any monthly charge, you just pay as you use. It's surely the most reliable service among global sim-cards, but rates are very expensive.
| Mobal | ||
 |
Prepaid card name: | Mobal |
| Activation fee/credit: | Free of charge | |
| Card validity: | Unlimited | |
| Country code: | UK (+44) | |
| Where to buy it: | Mobal official site | |
| Prepaid offer: | click here | |
| Last updated: | 21/12/05 | |
