Truphone Local Anywhere quietly increases pricing

bartolo5 · **Truphone Local Anywhere quietly increases pricing -** 21-10-2010, 00:07

I just noticed that Truphone Local Anywhere has considerably jacked up their prices for incoming calls on roaming if you are a US customer. Check prices here

It used to be that incoming calls would cost you $0.26/min in most european countries but seems like they have quietly raised this up to $0.70/min unless I am missing something. This pricing is for the 'non membership' countries, that is countries where Truphone doesn't have local agreeements, which is virtually all of them at this point. Data is still at an unpalatable $2090/GB, yes, 2 grand per gigabyte.

I guess this is still competitive with straight roaming from US carriers like ATT or T-Mobile who tend to market roaming in Europe for $1/min incoming but it's sort of downer that they are increasing prices without notifying costumers.

Anyone else noticed this?

Bossman · 21-10-2010, 02:26

You are correct. With the exception of their rates in the member countries of UK and US, their rates are insanely high! They certainly are not after Europeans roaming in the EU. Their voice rates are not even competitive with those of most international sims.

teleroam · 21-10-2010, 07:55

It's hard to see what market is left for Truphone Local Anywhere.

Nine months after launch, countries other than the UK and USA are still "coming soon", and as you say roaming in countries other than the UK and USA isn't really competitive.

Many countries are 70c/min in/out, some are $2.64/min outbound (New Zealand, Albania, UAE etc) but some (Russia, Mexico etc) are even a spectacular $5.28/min outbound! Most standard home-country sims would roam for less than this.

I got a free sim from them on launch, given their (unannounced) increases and the lack of the "coming soon" countries I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

**Truphone** · 21-10-2010, 09:45

Hi All

It's been a while since we posted on here, but I have read this thread with interest. As you say, at present I would agree our offering is most relevant to those travelling between the US and UK, and most of our marketing thus far has reflected this. In terms of bringing other countries on board, we have a number of agreements signed with operators in new countries, however we also have to ensure that the product works correctly in these countries before launching - ie when you land, the connections is made to Truphone rather than a different roaming partner, the relevant IMSI works etc... We want our users to be confident in our product before they travel and the experience to be nothing short of seamless.

There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes currently to make using Truphone the best possible experience and to bring new countries on board quickly and efficiently. We also recognise the need to have packages and pricing not only for voice but also data, and we hope to have some exciting news on pricing very soon.

In answer to the final point, is there a market left for Truphone? A product which offers the best value in communications no matter where in the world you are? Absolutely there is. The product is by no means the finished article, and as we bring on more countries and our pricing gets more competitive, our market gets bigger.

123456 · **Testing 123 ... -** 21-10-2010, 10:30

If you need testers in The Netherlands please let me know.

bartolo5 · 21-10-2010, 10:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truphone

Hi All

It's been a while since we posted on here, but I have read this thread with interest. As you say, at present I would agree our offering is most relevant to those travelling between the US and UK, and most of our marketing thus far has reflected this. In terms of bringing other countries on board, we have a number of agreements signed with operators in new countries, however we also have to ensure that the product works correctly in these countries before launching - ie when you land, the connections is made to Truphone rather than a different roaming partner, the relevant IMSI works etc... We want our users to be confident in our product before they travel and the experience to be nothing short of seamless.

There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes currently to make using Truphone the best possible experience and to bring new countries on board quickly and efficiently. We also recognise the need to have packages and pricing not only for voice but also data, and we hope to have some exciting news on pricing very soon.

In answer to the final point, is there a market left for Truphone? A product which offers the best value in communications no matter where in the world you are? Absolutely there is. The product is by no means the finished article, and as we bring on more countries and our pricing gets more competitive, our market gets bigger.

Hello Truphone,

Let me start by saying that the little I've used your product, in supported countries and during roaming it has worked exactly how it was supposed to, which is something pretty good at this day and age.

I for one understand that the technicalities behind Truphone Local Anywhere have to be hugely involved and your service has not been on for even a year so getting things in place for solidly growing the product is important. For us customers, we just see no action for a long time and makes us wonder what's going on.

I guess my complain and I'm sure I'm not alone here, is that you are taking your sweet time to come out with new countries, and the current pricing as it stands it can hardly deter anyone from using their regular home service. It makes us all question hard if TLA has any change at this.

I still believe you do, but you have to come out with supported countries faster and your pricing has to be really compelling to make a difference in this space, specially with data, I think your voice rates on membership countries are actually fine.

Looking forward to hear all the new stuff down the pipe from Truphone

bartolo5 · 21-10-2010, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by teleroam

It's hard to see what market is left for Truphone Local Anywhere.

Nine months after launch, countries other than the UK and USA are still "coming soon", and as you say roaming in countries other than the UK and USA isn't really competitive.

Many countries are 70c/min in/out, some are $2.64/min outbound (New Zealand, Albania, UAE etc) but some (Russia, Mexico etc) are even a spectacular $5.28/min outbound! Most standard home-country sims would roam for less than this.

I got a free sim from them on launch, given their (unannounced) increases and the lack of the "coming soon" countries I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

I'd cut them some slack. The global MVNO operation they are trying to come up can't be an easy task and we should judge them once they have over 20 countries up and and running. Straight roaming is and will always be expensive by definition so where they can make a difference is where they are acting as MVNO. Let's see what happens.

**Truphone** · 25-10-2010, 09:56

One important point I overlooked in my post last week - the reference to pricing. To clarify, the price for a US customer to receive a call in Europe remains 26cents - it has not increased. Huge apologies for the confusion, I've discovered that our online rate checker is posting incorrectly. Thank you for flagging this and we are looking to correct asap.

bartolo5 · 26-10-2010, 08:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truphone

One important point I overlooked in my post last week - the reference to pricing. To clarify, the price for a US customer to receive a call in Europe remains 26cents - it has not increased. Huge apologies for the confusion, I've discovered that our online rate checker is posting incorrectly. Thank you for flagging this and we are looking to correct asap.

Good to hear that the $0.70/min incoming is actually incorrect. I just checked though ( 7:00 AM Tuesday, October 26, 2010 UTC ) and your prices are still showing $0.70/min incoming for european countries..

masr4779 · 04-11-2010, 19:19

I have been trying to purchase a truphone sim card now for two weeks. I seem to be having some extreme difficulty with the website, and the truphone customer service. First, when I tried to add a credit card to the account that I created, the card is not authorized. I emailed and then spoke on the phone with the help desk. The first person I spoke with told me that it seems like they are having some problems, so what he was going to do was just mail me a sim card and then I could try adding a card when I activate the account. 10 days later no card. I call again, they tell me that they show no record of sending me a sim card, and that they would not send me a sim card. They said to try again to purchase one online, and if it does not work the problem is with my bank. I tried several different cards (with several different banks) none of them work. I call each bank and the banks all verify authorized charges by truphone that never post (so the charge was accepted). I try to explain this over email and phone calls with truphone. They insist that it is my banks error, not theirs. I try again and again to buy a sim card, each time verifying with my bank that a charge from truphone has been authorized. I explain that to truphone. No response. I even create an account with truphone voip, and add $5 to that account. Truphone ignores the email when I ask them to verify that there is a card added to that account.

As of this morning, I have now sent three emails that have not been answered. The whole process began over two weeks ago and I still have not been able to get a sim. I would like to purchase this sim, and I really like the "local anywhere" concept. I travel to Spain and the UK enough to where this would work (even before Spain becomes a "member" country). It seems difficult to believe that this company will actually succeed if they cannot even satisfy a costumer that is happy to give it business. Regardless of what the problem is, you would think that within two weeks they would find a way to accept my money for their product.

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	(#1 (permalink))
bartolo5 (Offline) Member Official Member Posts: 31 Join Date: 19 Oct 2010 Country:	Truphone Local Anywhere quietly increases pricing - 21-10-2010, 00:07 I just noticed that Truphone Local Anywhere has considerably jacked up their prices for incoming calls on roaming if you are a US customer. Check prices here It used to be that incoming calls would cost you $0.26/min in most european countries but seems like they have quietly raised this up to $0.70/min unless I am missing something. This pricing is for the 'non membership' countries, that is countries where Truphone doesn't have local agreeements, which is virtually all of them at this point. Data is still at an unpalatable $2090/GB, yes, 2 grand per gigabyte. I guess this is still competitive with straight roaming from US carriers like ATT or T-Mobile who tend to market roaming in Europe for $1/min incoming but it's sort of downer that they are increasing prices without notifying costumers. Anyone else noticed this?

	(#2 (permalink))
Bossman (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,117 Join Date: 22 Apr 2005 Location: Chicago Country:	21-10-2010, 02:26 You are correct. With the exception of their rates in the member countries of UK and US, their rates are insanely high! They certainly are not after Europeans roaming in the EU. Their voice rates are not even competitive with those of most international sims. Phones: Iphone4, HTC Inspire, Nokia E63, BB Curve 8310 Sim cards: AT&T (Contract), Tmobile USA, Virgin UK, TelnaMobile, Ekit

	(#3 (permalink))
teleroam (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 9 Join Date: 01 Jul 2010 Country:	21-10-2010, 07:55 It's hard to see what market is left for Truphone Local Anywhere. Nine months after launch, countries other than the UK and USA are still "coming soon", and as you say roaming in countries other than the UK and USA isn't really competitive. Many countries are 70c/min in/out, some are $2.64/min outbound (New Zealand, Albania, UAE etc) but some (Russia, Mexico etc) are even a spectacular $5.28/min outbound! Most standard home-country sims would roam for less than this. I got a free sim from them on launch, given their (unannounced) increases and the lack of the "coming soon" countries I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

	(#4 (permalink))
Truphone (Offline) DEALER Newbie Posts: 9 Join Date: 14 Apr 2010 Country:	21-10-2010, 09:45 Hi All It's been a while since we posted on here, but I have read this thread with interest. As you say, at present I would agree our offering is most relevant to those travelling between the US and UK, and most of our marketing thus far has reflected this. In terms of bringing other countries on board, we have a number of agreements signed with operators in new countries, however we also have to ensure that the product works correctly in these countries before launching - ie when you land, the connections is made to Truphone rather than a different roaming partner, the relevant IMSI works etc... We want our users to be confident in our product before they travel and the experience to be nothing short of seamless. There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes currently to make using Truphone the best possible experience and to bring new countries on board quickly and efficiently. We also recognise the need to have packages and pricing not only for voice but also data, and we hope to have some exciting news on pricing very soon. In answer to the final point, is there a market left for Truphone? A product which offers the best value in communications no matter where in the world you are? Absolutely there is. The product is by no means the finished article, and as we bring on more countries and our pricing gets more competitive, our market gets bigger. Last edited by Truphone; 21-10-2010 at 09:59..

	(#5 (permalink))
123456 (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 93 Join Date: 14 Feb 2005 Country:	Testing 123 ... - 21-10-2010, 10:30 If you need testers in The Netherlands please let me know. Last edited by 123456; 21-10-2010 at 10:53..

	(#8 (permalink))
Truphone (Offline) DEALER Newbie Posts: 9 Join Date: 14 Apr 2010 Country:	25-10-2010, 09:56 One important point I overlooked in my post last week - the reference to pricing. To clarify, the price for a US customer to receive a call in Europe remains 26cents - it has not increased. Huge apologies for the confusion, I've discovered that our online rate checker is posting incorrectly. Thank you for flagging this and we are looking to correct asap.

	(#10 (permalink))
masr4779 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 4 Join Date: 04 Nov 2010 Country:	04-11-2010, 19:19 I have been trying to purchase a truphone sim card now for two weeks. I seem to be having some extreme difficulty with the website, and the truphone customer service. First, when I tried to add a credit card to the account that I created, the card is not authorized. I emailed and then spoke on the phone with the help desk. The first person I spoke with told me that it seems like they are having some problems, so what he was going to do was just mail me a sim card and then I could try adding a card when I activate the account. 10 days later no card. I call again, they tell me that they show no record of sending me a sim card, and that they would not send me a sim card. They said to try again to purchase one online, and if it does not work the problem is with my bank. I tried several different cards (with several different banks) none of them work. I call each bank and the banks all verify authorized charges by truphone that never post (so the charge was accepted). I try to explain this over email and phone calls with truphone. They insist that it is my banks error, not theirs. I try again and again to buy a sim card, each time verifying with my bank that a charge from truphone has been authorized. I explain that to truphone. No response. I even create an account with truphone voip, and add $5 to that account. Truphone ignores the email when I ask them to verify that there is a card added to that account. As of this morning, I have now sent three emails that have not been answered. The whole process began over two weeks ago and I still have not been able to get a sim. I would like to purchase this sim, and I really like the "local anywhere" concept. I travel to Spain and the UK enough to where this would work (even before Spain becomes a "member" country). It seems difficult to believe that this company will actually succeed if they cannot even satisfy a costumer that is happy to give it business. Regardless of what the problem is, you would think that within two weeks they would find a way to accept my money for their product.