Yackie Mobile and 09: troubles by email

[Bossman]

Tried to edit my post above but could not because it's been more than 2 mins.
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EDIT: I should add that maxroam does charge for calls that do not complete or to an invalid number. Bottom line: They charge as soon as you answer tha call back. In my experience they charge about 25-30% of whatever the rate is for outgoing calls in the region you are in. I brought this up with them, and the guy said they get charged for the call back, so they have to pass it on to the customer.

[GadgetKen]

Originally Posted by Bossman

Tried to edit my post above but could not because it's been more than 2 mins.
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EDIT: I should add that maxroam does charge for calls that do not complete or to an invalid number. Bottom line: They charge as soon as you answer tha call back. In my experience they charge about 25-30% of whatever the rate is for outgoing calls in the region you are in. I brought this up with them, and the guy said they get charged for the call back, so they have to pass it on to the customer.

Thanks for feedback! I can live with being charged for a brief callback for incomplete calls or invalid numbers. I sometimes have gotten this issue with other providers.

The news on voice quality and DID caller ID is good. Important issues for me are reliability (why I also use Iridium in certain situations), voice quality and price (but willing to pay more to get the reliability and good voice quality). I'll order the Maxroam sim tonight when I get home.

[GadgetKen]

I ordered the MaxRoam sim card as a replacement for Yackie. The 20% off "yackie" promotional code did work, although it was at the end of the checkout...correct amount converted from Euro to USD was charged to my credit card. I'll see if I can get a local US dial-in number once I get the sim card in the mail and I activate the card. Also noticed that TravelSim and CelTrek are now doing similar google ads if you search on Yackie on Google to get people to switch their cards over.
Hope that the ZeroMobile problem with Iceland will be resolved more professionally than Yackie...

[Bossman]

Yackie Mobile would like to thank you for your patients during this extended outage. We are doing our best to keep you informed of connectivity and an ultimate fix for the current loss of service.

Yackie is close to finding another provider to handle our termination. We expect to have a new card and service restored shortly. We will contact you for shipping information once the new roaming SIM has arrived.

There are many rumours that Yackie is out of business and or we have collaborated with other roaming SIM providers. YackieMax and our VoIP services are still in service. Our GSM product is the only product affected by this outage. Also, we do not have any agreement with any companies and do not endorse their technology, SIM exchange programs or service.

Users who have $0 balance issues! We are aware of this and it is part of the transfer of accounts to the new system. All balances will be restored on new system. For example a user with a $23.52 balance at the time of the outage will have the same $23.52 on the new service.

When new service is available new SIMs will be provided free of charge and shipped to a confirmed address.

Thanks,

Yackie Support

[GadgetKen]

I just got the same email from Yackie (actually two identical ones).

On a replacement Yackie sim, I'll believe it when I actually see it. Not very impressed with the way Yackie has handled this so far. Found out about the Iceland backbone provider 09 tanking through PrePaidGSM.net, not Yackie, and when I opened a trouble ticket about a replacement sim on an alternate provider they only responded with the single word response "closed". Yackie really should have immediately notified all of their customers of their problem, and kept in constant contact with them on their progress searching for a replacment carrier. Also concerned Yackie is running their website as if nothing is amiss, and unsuspecting new customers could get burned. Yackie is really going to have to work hard to win my trust back...

I suspect the MaxRoam sim chip I ordered as a replacement will come in the mail faster than a replacement Yackie sim will.

When I go to Bermuda at the end of May, I'll likely use my Digicel Bermuda sim chip for primary service, and callback sims, Iridium or landline prepaid cards as backups. For that location, a local sim or a prepaid landline card is by far the cheapest communications solution.

[dg7feq]

Well, at least they sent some emails this time. I can imagine its quite hard for them to loose their 3rd provider just a week after sending the 4th SIM card.
So far i had a +972 card which worked in my opinion very well at good rates (until they raised them a lot), then i had a +44 card that never properly worked, now i have two +354 cards... Lets guess what will come next

[prion]

Originally Posted by dg7feq

Well, at least they sent some emails this time. I can imagine its quite hard for them to loose their 3rd provider just a week after sending the 4th SIM card.
So far i had a +972 card which worked in my opinion very well at good rates (until they raised them a lot), then i had a +44 card that never properly worked, now i have two +354 cards... Lets guess what will come next

Estonia probably?

[GadgetKen]

So has anyone actually gotten the promised "replacement Yackie" card they emailed us about? I was never mailed one, and wasn't really expecting they would send one, so I got a MaxRoam card as a replacement. Curious to see if Yackie will actually follow through and reissue sim cards that are non-Iceland based...

[Bossman]

No. I do not expect it to be a quick fix for yackie. First they have to find a carrier that they can work with.

Same here. I will use my maxroam sim primarily when I head out on a Western caribbean cruise (Roatan, Honduras. Belize, Cozumel, Mexico, and the Bahamas) in a couple of weeks. My other sim, UM+ either does not work or is just too expensive.

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

So has anyone actually gotten the promised "replacement Yackie" card they emailed us about? I was never mailed one, and wasn't really expecting they would send one, so I got a MaxRoam card as a replacement. Curious to see if Yackie will actually follow through and reissue sim cards that are non-Iceland based...

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

But that's Yackie...I think the poster was referring to his or her remaining balance with o9...if indeed o9 is now the late o9, that money is probably lost and gone forever although we remember that some of the Isle of Man sims arose from the dead!

I wonder if there is an Icelandic Consumer Protection Agency to whom we can complain about 09? I sort of miss the 46+ Euro I lost in that deal.