Callkey Latest/Is there hope? [merged threads]

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by bbob

... doesn't really matter anymore.

That really does sum it up - after all this time, users have moved on. Global sims had their window of opportunity - and blew it.

The global sims were always a niche market. But their unreliability and problems like callkey have reduced the early adopter market. The reduction in roaming costs generally is reducing the future mass market. Anything successful can be stomped on by increasing the call costs to the number range they use (e.g. Liectenstein mobile). VOIP/SIP technology is making it easy for anybody to set up cost-effective redirects and inbound numbers, callbacks, etc.

Falling price advantage, poor reputation, shrinking market - doesn't look like the sort of business that has much future. The tiny niche left travels a lot, needs a single number, doesn't want to deal with setting up their own redirects, doesn't care about quality, and is very price sensitive (so not a loyal customer). Good luck to whoever has brought callkey, they'll need it.

[andy]

As well as the people have bought part of this operation, clearly the other new entrants don't share this pessimism

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

That really does sum it up - after all this time, users have moved on. Global sims had their window of opportunity - and blew it.

The global sims were always a niche market. But their unreliability and problems like callkey have reduced the early adopter market. The reduction in roaming costs generally is reducing the future mass market. Anything successful can be stomped on by increasing the call costs to the number range they use (e.g. Liectenstein mobile). VOIP/SIP technology is making it easy for anybody to set up cost-effective redirects and inbound numbers, callbacks, etc.

Falling price advantage, poor reputation, shrinking market - doesn't look like the sort of business that has much future. The tiny niche left travels a lot, needs a single number, doesn't want to deal with setting up their own redirects, doesn't care about quality, and is very price sensitive (so not a loyal customer). Good luck to whoever has brought callkey, they'll need it.

Actually, I might disagree a bit with some of the things that are said although not violently so.

Yes callkey has been unreliable...then we had a few years ago the situation with Ryan Air....but the Estonian cards have been fairly reliable, the Icelandic card has been fairly reliable (although how they have failed to deal with the situation in not having a roaming partner in Switzerland remains mind boggling and beyond my poor power to comprehend), United Mobile from the start has been very reliable....the only problem with these cards, and it has been a problem, has been the higher termination fees that somehow have been applied to them (being the cynic I have always been, I can see the hand of the major telcoms in this who didn't like the competition)...ever since UM+ has gotten rolling, I have found their service reliable.

Now some of us, such as myself, are not technologically gifted...I don't know from betamax or setting up my own network or whatever...I have to rely on the only thing I can do....punch a sim card from its holder, open up the back of the phone, figure out how to remove the battery and find the sim card holder and figure out how to remove one and replace it...that's the extent of my technical ability....I have used the international cards coupled with the ability to use cbw and enlinea to be able to make cheap calls during my frequent visits to Europe...perhaps if the eu really has its way, the cost of roaming in Europe will be reduced to what the Commissioner wanted namely 0 to receive calls and that will essentially be it for the need for international cards.

But as I said, I agree a blank statement that all the carriers have been unreliable is quite accurate.

[bbob]

pessimism or realism.

Roaming prices for nomral carries are dropping within the EU, that's a fact and to give you an example the dutch, belgium and luxembourgh politics are allready talking about making the benelux 1 zone for cellphone traffic, so no roaming anymore. It's a begin and it's just waiting till it's happens to the rest of europe. This is besides normal carriers of mvno allready reducing roaming prices.

The callkey thing has shown that reliability is a key because when business users have a phone number they want to keep it and be sure that it continues to work. We all know not only about callkey but some other problems, yackie and more in the past.

And sure the new entrants will see it different but what has changed with callkey that now all of a sudden it would make money in future.

Go aks investors that invest their money in different companies, 1 or 2 good investments will give cover the loss of the 6-8 bad investments they made. Personally I don't see callkey as of of those 1 or 2 good investements. also because there is more and more competition in this field now making it more difficult. And what RT said, users have moved on not willing to wait 3 month for a solution, they found there own solution, so yes they could use callkey as a backup.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by bbob

pessimism or realism.

Roaming prices for nomral carries are dropping within the EU, that's a fact and to give you an example the dutch, belgium and luxembourgh politics are allready talking about making the benelux 1 zone for cellphone traffic, so no roaming anymore. It's a begin and it's just waiting till it's happens to the rest of europe. This is besides normal carriers of mvno allready reducing roaming prices.

The callkey thing has shown that reliability is a key because when business users have a phone number they want to keep it and be sure that it continues to work. We all know not only about callkey but some other problems, yackie and more in the past.

And sure the new entrants will see it different but what has changed with callkey that now all of a sudden it would make money in future.

Go aks investors that invest their money in different companies, 1 or 2 good investments will give cover the loss of the 6-8 bad investments they made. Personally I don't see callkey as of of those 1 or 2 good investements. also because there is more and more competition in this field now making it more difficult. And what RT said, users have moved on not willing to wait 3 month for a solution, they found there own solution, so yes they could use callkey as a backup.

Ah...but we all want a bargain and as cheap as possible as easy as possible....up till about a year and a half ago, my own ld carrier had a charge of 10¢/minute to Liechtenstein with a termination fee of 1¢/minute (US currency)....so I merrily was able to have calls forwarded from my home number to me anywhere in Europe and it cost me 11¢/minute...along with using cbw and enlinea, I was paying pennies a minute to call....what could be better......(I know, by doing this I am contributing to the problem as the comapny is not making very much off me, but there were others around paying the full amount)...and when things began to change, especially the fees for calls to Liechtenstein mobiles, it went from 11¢ to 55¢ literally overnight as did enlinea and cbw, well I was most upset to put it mildly. You know you get used to a good thing.

Right now, even when in the UK using their ridiculously low priced T Mobile UK on yourcallworld (who can complain about 3p/minute to call from the UK to the USA)...to receive calls forwarded off my ld carrier I am still paying about 28¢/minute (I never was happy with voicestick and then they began charging a monthly fee)....and although the eu roaming rates are very good, I still have to factor in what I use it for the most namely the forwarding of calls so even though I might pay only 19p/minute to use T Mobile UK in France, I have to add to that the 28¢/minute the ld carrier charges me to forward from my home number to the UK number (ouoch)...total much too high at 66¢/minute...perhaps when roaming rates are totally eliminated in the eu, it will be reasonably priced.

Until then, sigh, I long for the good old days of a year or two ago (O9, BTW with enlinea which provides a US toll free number is okay but the quality of the calls is awful and we all know the Swiss problem).

[andy]

To clarify: it isn't the whole callkey operation that has been bought, but parts of it. And the company in question already has other services that would seem interesting when integrated together.

[just_neo_chetan]

Why do I get calls from this number...??...my girlfriend calls me from the middle east and i get this number...is this some kind of a internet server number...??...someone please help me...

[flipper9]

Hoy Necro-Thread Batman!