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wolfbln · 10-10-2017, 22:00

Well, I only partly agree on your verdict to stay away from 3rd party sellers. They often take a national product with roaming and sell it as a xxx roaming SIM with a high surcharge.

But staying away from these sellers completely, limits your choice considerably. Only worldwide marketed SIM cards like those of TravelSIM and its many clones at very high prices or any purchase within the (home or destination) country remain an option excluding 3rd-party offers.

There are many countries without a registration scheme in place where national SIM cards are marketed only within the country by the providers. This leaves a gap for SIM card re-sellers through eBay and other online platforms selling local SIM cards abroad.

For example, it's not possible for many users to travel to the UK to get a local SIM with roaming from Three, but instead they buy one from eBay. In the US T-Mobile charges $25 for the SIM alone in one of their stores. Why shouldn't a user buy an "activation kit" for $1-5 on the internet before travel?

In some countries like Spain and Germany these sellers have even found legal ways to bypass the rather rigid registration laws and sell SIM cards through the internet. They do the registration for you which comes at a price. How did you get your "Ortel SIM" mentioned in the list without going to Germany and do a very complicated registration? The only other choice remaining are 3rd party offers.

These re-sellers are often people in independent mobile phone stores. Sure, some of them are reliable and some of them are not. And for some problems, they can't be accounted for. For instance a delivery of Ukrainian SIM cards to Germany was held for 3 months in the customs - I can't blame the seller for this.

So I think these vendors remain a valid option for certain products. Always check their ratings/feedback and conditions and how much they charge additionally to the local price for activation and delivery and make up your mind if this surcharge is worth it for you. But without them, your choice will be even more restricted than the list you have mentioned.

	(#9)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	10-10-2017, 22:00 Well, I only partly agree on your verdict to stay away from 3rd party sellers. They often take a national product with roaming and sell it as a xxx roaming SIM with a high surcharge. But staying away from these sellers completely, limits your choice considerably. Only worldwide marketed SIM cards like those of TravelSIM and its many clones at very high prices or any purchase within the (home or destination) country remain an option excluding 3rd-party offers. There are many countries without a registration scheme in place where national SIM cards are marketed only within the country by the providers. This leaves a gap for SIM card re-sellers through eBay and other online platforms selling local SIM cards abroad. For example, it's not possible for many users to travel to the UK to get a local SIM with roaming from Three, but instead they buy one from eBay. In the US T-Mobile charges $25 for the SIM alone in one of their stores. Why shouldn't a user buy an "activation kit" for $1-5 on the internet before travel? In some countries like Spain and Germany these sellers have even found legal ways to bypass the rather rigid registration laws and sell SIM cards through the internet. They do the registration for you which comes at a price. How did you get your "Ortel SIM" mentioned in the list without going to Germany and do a very complicated registration? The only other choice remaining are 3rd party offers. These re-sellers are often people in independent mobile phone stores. Sure, some of them are reliable and some of them are not. And for some problems, they can't be accounted for. For instance a delivery of Ukrainian SIM cards to Germany was held for 3 months in the customs - I can't blame the seller for this. So I think these vendors remain a valid option for certain products. Always check their ratings/feedback and conditions and how much they charge additionally to the local price for activation and delivery and make up your mind if this surcharge is worth it for you. But without them, your choice will be even more restricted than the list you have mentioned. Last edited by wolfbln; 10-10-2017 at 22:06..