2017 Piranha Mobile Sim Card 2017 thread

[GadgetKen]

My Piranha Mobile sim card on my dual sim BlackView BV8000 Pro went out of service a couple of days ago. It's the KR/Telna Mobile based sim card.

When I went to the Piranha Mobile website, they are now urging people to get a new sim card free of charge. Explanation on their website is rather long but basically that after Telna sold out to Know Roaming in late 2017, the quality of service went way down and roaming rates to resellers went drastically up. Supposedly if you file a trouble ticket asking for a new sim card they will provide one and transfer the existing balance. Good question is will the old phone number carry over? And will rates still be competitive since no rate chart can be found on the general (non-login) website any more.

I put in a trouble ticket asking for a new sim card and will see what happens. Actually will have to also put in a second ticket for a second sim I got for an emergency phone for my father.

Will give them a week or two to provide replacements from the UK to the US.

The Piranha sim is used primarily for foreign travel and next likely travel would be last week of June.

My primary sim is a US only H2O prepaid sim that works on AT&T.

I'm hoping the new Piranha sim card (if and when it comes) will have T-Mobile US roaming capability (the old sim card used to roam on both AT&T and T-Mobile and then worked only on AT&T).

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

My Piranha Mobile sim card on my dual sim BlackView BV8000 Pro went out of service a couple of days ago. It's the KR/Telna Mobile based sim card.

When I went to the Piranha Mobile website, they are now urging people to get a new sim card free of charge. Explanation on their website is rather long but basically that after Telna sold out to Know Roaming in late 2017, the quality of service went way down and roaming rates to resellers went drastically up. Supposedly if you file a trouble ticket asking for a new sim card they will provide one and transfer the existing balance. Good question is will the old phone number carry over? And will rates still be competitive since no rate chart can be found on the general (non-login) website any more.

I put in a trouble ticket asking for a new sim card and will see what happens. Actually will have to also put in a second ticket for a second sim I got for an emergency phone for my father.

Will give them a week or two to provide replacements from the UK to the US.

The Piranha sim is used primarily for foreign travel and next likely travel would be last week of June.

My primary sim is a US only H2O prepaid sim that works on AT&T.

I'm hoping the new Piranha sim card (if and when it comes) will have T-Mobile US roaming capability (the old sim card used to roam on both AT&T and T-Mobile and then worked only on AT&T).

Good luck. I loved this card or the idea behind at least but then I ended up hating it. Like you in fact I kept it into a dual sim phone and it seemed to work well. Then all of a sudden the card was registered on the network only apparently (not really registering) or not finding the net itself. I sent the sim to Uk for a check but to no avail. The problems worsened until they began to day that it was my dual sim phone and replying on this forum in a harsh way to my comments. It was a lost occasion, I loved the idea to have two numbers (US and UK), plus voip and so on but reliability is of utmost importance if you go abroad so...

[GadgetKen]

Agree with you it's nice having a roaming sim for the second slot of a dual sim phone. I filed a second trouble ticket for the second Piranha chip I got for my father's emergency phone.

I'm cutting and pasting the (rather long) explanation on the Piranha website:

"Important Announcement For Account Number xxx
PIRANHA TELECOMS ANNOUNCES NEW SIM CARDS
Piranha Mobile would like to announce a new SIM Card. If you have an old Piranha Card that has stopped working? Simply use the Support Ticket and select “Please provide me one of your new replacement SIM cards” along with your existing SIM details and Customer Account Number found above. Please make sure your account current address is up to date for delivery of your new SIM. We shall transfer your existing balance across to the new SIM.
Background to the change

Since Know Roaming (KR) took over the operations of the carrier Telna, we have become increasingly aware of a reduction in the quality of the service being provided, causing us major concerns about the commercial viability of operations long-term and causing us to deeply regret the sale of Telna by the original founders.
Over the past year, we have repeatedly raised tickets which have not been answered and some of the support tickets that we have raised remain unanswered even after 18 months!
In addition to the problems over technical support tickets, we and other providers using the KR/Telna platform have identified the severe lack of technical knowledge in the KR/Telna staff we have contacted.
We have also complained that KR customers are able to purchase call rates at below wholesale pricing, forcing us into providing a subsidy to our customers and causing us unsustainable losses in the long term.
KR/Telna announced a new platform around July 2017 but refused to provide us with details of the platform and under our data-protection (GDPR) obligations, we were unable to transfer to the new platform as we could not verify the security of your data.
Users may be aware that certain roaming agreements were not maintained by Telna’s new owners, causing changes in connectivity and rates, and loss of certain countries.
We have the write to advise you that KR/Telna have, by force majeure, removed the rate bands from the KR/Telna databases and increased the termination rates by up to 800%, effectively crashing the connectivity systems of KR/Telna resellers. These amount to a force majeure event within your contract, for which Piranha Telecoms has no liability. Any liability arises solely with KR/Telna under their licence conditions.
In light of the above, some weeks ago Piranha Telecoms commenced contingency planning for just such an event, whether a wholesale removal of resellers or KR/Telna ceasing trading. It turns out that this was time well spent.
Piranha Telecoms is now able to offer replacement SIM Cards of a higher quality, just follow the instructions and we will post out new SIM. One immediate advantage is that we can ditch call-back and give you direct dial and superior connectivity.
Although Piranha Telecoms has no liability due to force majeure, we will still guarantee your balance. This means that any Piranha Telecoms consumer customer who moves over to Piranha Telecoms new platform will have a new card sent out, the new card will show the same balance that your old card showed at the point that KR/Telna cut off its resellers. When you receive your new card and if you want to retain your US number you will need to contact KR/Telna directly for porting information."


Interesting that they are going to a direct dial rather than callback sim card(direct dial is much easier to use). And also that they aren't proactively emailing all Piranha sim card customers that have an older style sim card informing them of this change. While I can understand that this would be a force majeure event, they should notify people by alternate means like the email address on file if they know most if not all Telna based cards are down right now.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

""When you receive your new card and if you want to retain your US number you will need to contact KR/Telna directly for porting information.""

Sounds like keeping a number is more trouble than it is worth.
Hope you did not like your number.
I requested a new SIM yesterday also.

[GadgetKen]

One number was New Jersey (mine) and the other was Missouri(my fathers). I live in Connecticut but wasn't a big deal on a non-local incoming number since 99% of calls were outgoing. Given the fine print on having to port numbers from Telna if you want to keep them, I'll just take whatever number they give me.

Let's see how long it takes for Piranha to ship replacements and what their new rates are....

[bourbonkiller]

I've requested a new simcard yesterday. Has anyone heard back from them after the request?

I am quite curious to know about the new platform they are changing to with direct dial. Any rumors or thoughts about that?

BK

PS: I've played around and tested a koko-mobile simcard for the last weeks. That is also a very pleasing service with data-packages worldwide...

[Bossman]

I requested a new SIM on Saturday. No, there is no response from them yet.

Originally Posted by bourbonkiller

I've requested a new simcard yesterday. Has anyone heard back from them after the request?

[GadgetKen]

Originally Posted by bourbonkiller

I've requested a new simcard yesterday. Has anyone heard back from them after the request?

I am quite curious to know about the new platform they are changing to with direct dial. Any rumors or thoughts about that?

BK

PS: I've played around and tested a koko-mobile simcard for the last weeks. That is also a very pleasing service with data-packages worldwide...

I'm getting suspicious about Piranha. It has been a week since I ordered and there was no response other than an auto-response email they received my request. Nor is there any sim order pending on their website. Also they do not allow new customers to buy a sim card (error on click through). And no rates are posted for the new card. Plus a trouble ticket I posted 2 weeks earlier was never responded to (I managed to get the sim working again by toggling the roaming profile back and forth, but that only worked a few days until it went totally dead).

I have an upcoming trip to Bermuda in June, so I think I may order the KoKo Mobile card that you suggested. Rates are good in the US (I'm hoping it will work on T-Mobile as an alternate to my local H2O sim card that works on AT&T), plus the rates are reasonable in Canada and Bermuda(I'm coming back to the US via Toronto). Plus the CHF to USD exchange rate is reasonable so refills should not be a problem. Since KoKo is working for you, it's obviously not using Telna as the back-end. Have other options including VOIP, mifi data devices, and a satphone, but I want like a low-tech callback sim in the second sim slot of my phone for reliable voice and text messaging.

On the possibility of Piranha using direct dial, that would be a plus rather than having a callback and sometimes having to use a USSD dialing string. But there's the question of coverage and rates when they move to the new platform. But since no one is hearing anything from Piranha right now, I think I'll order the KoKo sim....

[Bossman]

Same here...just the auto response. At least they are offering new sim cards. so it seems like they have something going. However, I will not be surprised one bit, if they do not come back from this. Once that VOIP feature stopped working, and the indication from them was that, that's the end of that feature, I started thinking the same myself. It's no news that the elimination of roaming within the EU affected them (and all other similar offerings) to a large extent. Most major US carriers are offering some kind of roaming package. Probably the same in other countries. So, the need for these international sim cards is just NOT there any longer.

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

I'm getting suspicious about Piranha. It has been a week since I ordered and there was no response other than an auto-response email they received my request.

[GadgetKen]

Originally Posted by Bossman

Same here...just the auto response. At least they are offering new sim cards. so it seems like they have something going. However, I will not be surprised one bit, if they do not come back from this. Once that VOIP feature stopped working, and the indication from them was that, that's the end of that feature, I started thinking the same myself. It's no news that the elimination of roaming within the EU affected them (and all other similar offerings) to a large extent. Most major US carriers are offering some kind of roaming package. Probably the same in other countries. So, the need for these international sim cards is just NOT there any longer.

Yeah, wouldn't be surprised if Piranha just vanishes on us...of course they are most welcome to comment on this forum to dispute that and elaborate on what is going on with Piranha. Fortunately had only a minimal balance on each of the two sim cards we have (10 pounds on mine and 15 pounds on my fathers), so if they disappear it's not a big loss.

International sim cards still have some value to some people like myself who need coverage when traveling. For day to day light domestic talk/text usage I use prepaid AT&T H2O at a nickel a minute or text message. Data is via one of 3 mifi devices. Postpaid is used for one of the 3 mifi devices that has a $20/month AT&T unlimited data plan on it. Thought of going to something like Mint Sim but T-Mobile doesn't have coverage everywhere I need it and pay as you go suits me better than a monthly prepaid or postpaid plan (but Mint Sim does have some decent international/domestic rates and they have some $5 starter kits now...I seriously considered that as a Piranha replacement). But yes, I'm seeing a recurring theme here on international sim cards that go into existence and then vanish a few months or years later (I'm developing a collection of them).