An Observation about ekit SIM cards if you plan on using them in the USA.

[GadgetKen]

Can you be more specific on which countries/carriers in South America it did not work in so other travelers are aware? Also did you try the alternate dial method from the sim card menu or by dialing "*126* followed by the country code (1 in the United States), area code and phone number, followed by #"? That worked for me in Grand Cayman the first 2 weeks of January when direct dial didn't generate a callback reliably (I just stored commonly dialed numbers in auto dial with the *126*number# codes.

[schuster]

Has anyone had experience with using the USA side of the eKit SIM on Google Voice? I'm trying to "add" my eKit US number to my list of linked phones, and I'm running into a technical issue. The verification procedure sends a callback to the phone you'd like to link, and gives you a 2-digit number to enter on the phone's keypad. Well ... I've tried 3 different phones and several locations (all with good signal strength) and the touch tones just don't go through. After 2 tries, Google Voice says "I can see you're having trouble" and hangs up. The SIM is operating on AT&T.

[schuster]

Well, I just opened a trouble ticket with eKit on this.

It appears that the MVNO they use in US/Canada (Immix?) is swallowing
touch tones at least in my area. I can call myself on another phone and
listen in; if I speak the voice comes through; if I press a number of
the keypad it does not come out on the other side.

I've tried roaming on both AT&T and T-Mobile. If I make same call on the
same phone, camped on the same cellular tower using a different SIM card,
everything works.

Why would they do this?

[PhotoJim]

VoIP can do that, if it's being used somewhere in the loop, which is quite possible. The ability to pass touch tones can be configured; usually the tones are transmitted electronically and created at the other end, rather than transmitted as digitized audio.

[FBlack_111]

Just a quick comment again about EKIT. I have not been out of the U.S. for a long while so I have not needed or used my EKIT Passport SIM. So they sent me a reminder e-mail yesterday to use it (make a call or send an SMS) soon or it will be deactivated. I don't know if other SIM companies do this, but it's a great service from EKIT.

[rfranzq]

The US numbers _seem_ to be 'deactivating' sooner than in the past in my experience. I go online twice a week to make sure they stay activated. It is easier for me to do that than have to change a US number in my 'system'. Another thing, I have two US only SIMple Calling SIMs and really do not want to lose those numbers--especially if that number is the ONLY number I have to log into the web site.

Another hint. If the US number is not working on your SIM in your phone and you do not have online access, turn your phone onto the global number [in the US even] and dial '870' . That will activate the US number in about 5 minutes. You will also receive an SMS with a new phone number if it has been a while since the US has been alive.

[FBlack_111]

After I got my EKIT e-mail, I turned on the phone in Global mode. A text message came in that said to turn the phone off and on and then enter the U.S. code (2 plus the pin code) for cheaper calls. But before I did that, I logged on to my account using the UK number. My online account showed that a new US number had been assigned ( I don't know when it happened).

Anyway, I turned the phone on in US mode and the new US number was activated and working. I never actually did anything to activate it. FYI....it was a Seattle number rather than my previous California number.

[Stu]

I think you can call forward eKits through their web panel. Can you use this for the Google activation?

[kenair]

I have foudn that E kit is deactivating my US number after a week, what a pain.

Also I find that text messages sent via my Ekit sim and not received by any one who is on the MTS network in Manitoba Canada, E kit said they can't fix this.

cheers - ken

[GadgetKen]

A way to get around the ekit/MTS SMS text message block would be to send an email to 10digitphonenumber@text.mtsmobility.com from the handset. Have sent MMS messages to email addresses from my ekit sim so this should work (at least in theory...).

Another way would be to send a text message from the MTS webpage from a browser enabled phone: Send a Text Message - MTS Mobility

Of the two methods, a flat text email would likely be cheaper because the web browsing function of ekit has to be in the UK number mode rather than the US/Canada number mode.