Ekit's US SIMple Calling Plus Service no longer does Canada

[rfranzq]

Ekit's US SIMple Calling Plus Service no longer does Canada. The service they sell no longer claims it works in Canada. In April, when I bought the SIM it said it worked in Canada on 3G only [Bell Mobility & Telus]. No more, apparently.

If anyone is in Canada with any of the ekit SIMple Calling SIMs, I would be curious if they still work there?

[fsotirop]

I never trusted ekit, most of their international simcards have very high rates.

[RTuesday]

Ekit US+Canada (one I've had for years) worked OK for an outbound call today in British Columbia, using Telus 3G. Call was billed and listed on the billing record as being made from the US, not Canada.

The online account still lists rates for Canada, so it doesn't seem to have been officially withdrawn (yet!).

It no longer registers on Rogers 3G (like it did 6 weeks ago), and as before no longer registers on anything on 2G. Clearly it's on the way out, so I'll be using up the balance when I can. T-Mobile US is the better option for a prepaid sim that covers both countries (plus others).

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

The online account still lists rates for Canada, so it doesn't seem to have been officially withdrawn (yet!).

Well, here goes, I have 6 ekit SIMple Calling SIMs of various vintages from both the US and UK ebay sellers.

I have one each of the original US/Canada only from US & UK.
They both still show the Canada information.

I have 3 [2 US & 1 UK] of their dual phone number SIM that do the whole world. These 3 no longer show Canadian rates with the US rates. The Canadian rates are still the same as before, though.

The last and most recent SIM is one I bought in April. It now shows as US only. When I bought it it showed it did Canada also on 3G--this was mentioned in more than one thread here.

[Stu]

What do people think is going on? This is strange.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by Stu

What do people think is going on? This is strange.

I would guess that they are tweaking the product offerings for whatever reason they think they need to.

The eBay listings for both the US and UK sellers still have [as of today 9/10/2012] Canada listed as in the past. Both Bell Mobility and Telus are listed as the 3G [& only 3G] networks for Canada. Perhaps I noticed this change before they got around to updating the eBay listings.

Other than the newest SIM, they all show Canadian rates. It would be interesting to know if the very oldest US phone number only SIMple Calling SIMs work only on 3G or not in Canada or work at all.

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

It would be interesting to know if the very oldest US phone number only SIMple Calling SIMs work only on 3G or not in Canada or work at all.

I've just checked and my SIM (US phone number only, in area code 323) dates from 6 Apr 2009. I thought it was older than that, seem like more years! That's the one that now works on Telus 3G only (in this area of BC). Was working on 2G in Canada at the start of the summer, not now.

[GadgetKen]

I will also be using up my ekit simple calling card. Have only about US$33 left. Canada roaming sounds less friendly with ekit now, although I haven't gone north of the border recently. Now that AT&T Gophone, T-Mobile Prepaid, and PagePlus/Verizon all have Canada and Mexico roaming, there are several alternatives for trips to Canada.

More important to me, the rates for many countries in the non-US Caribbean are up to $1.49/minute/zone 3 to call back to the US. I paid only 49 cents per minute back in Dec/Jan for an extended trip to the Cayman Islands. At the new rate, I might as well use my Digicel Bermuda sim chip (it roams at cheaper rates), my Iridium satphone or Skype. Also I invariably had to use the *126*number# dial around and callbacks occasionally failed.

[fsotirop]

at the moment, for Canada roaming piranhamobile is the best choice , offering US numbers as a standard too.
call back to US costs only $0.22
CALL RATES
roaming data to Canada only $0.40 per mb
receiving calls in Canada $0.13/min.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

I've just checked and my SIM (US phone number only, in area code 323) dates from 6 Apr 2009.

Thanks for the report. I also have an area code 323 one [received in October 2008]. The 323 is actually good for me because it is next to the area code I reside in---less than a mile away.