Free sim card offer for united mobile customers

[ronwi]

Easyroam-

And, I edit mine. I wasn't suggesting there was anything wrong in editing your post.

I think it is very good that you don't hide the ball on your signup/order page. You state very clearly that not keeping the proper ratio of incoming/outgoing calls is required, and that not doing so is considered abuse.

However, I wanted to highlight that point, and thought that the fact that you were required to start charging for incoming UAE calls would be interesting to those on this board. I think that that a majority of people, even those on this board, are not aware that a large percentage of incoming calls can be considered abuse. For example, I have read discussions of callback services on this site, and don't recall any discussion that callback was frowned upon by the service provider.

Until I saw the caveat on your site, I had always assumed that the cost of delivering the incoming calls to the customer was covered by the amount paid to the mobile service provider by the carrier that delivered the incoming call. I suspect that most on this site had the same assumption.

I assume that it is competitive forces that cause you to have the free incoming calls. A more transparent pricing model would be to charge a reasonable fee for the incoming calls, which might then allow you to lower the price of the outgoing calls, which presumably are now subsidizing the free incoming calls.

Originally Posted by easyroam-

Ronwi.
I edit most of my new posts all the time.

U.A.E was removed due to very heavy abuse and yes it was due to all inbound call traffic, with no or very little outbound usage. We are not talking about 30 minutes a day, more like 6 hours+ a day.

Any of our customers who abuse the system now get blocked and disconnected. Genuine customers are not affected.

This is why most operators have started charging a daily fee or connection charge and removing countries as free roaming.

[adam917]

Originally Posted by ronwi

Easyroam-

And, I edit mine. I wasn't suggesting there was anything wrong in editing your post.

I think it is very good that you don't hide the ball on your signup/order page. You state very clearly that not keeping the proper ratio of incoming/outgoing calls is required, and that not doing so is considered abuse.

However, I wanted to highlight that point, and thought that the fact that you were required to start charging for incoming UAE calls would be interesting to those on this board. I think that that a majority of people, even those on this board, are not aware that a large percentage of incoming calls can be considered abuse. For example, I have read discussions of callback services on this site, and don't recall any discussion that callback was frowned upon by the service provider.

Until I saw the caveat on your site, I had always assumed that the cost of delivering the incoming calls to the customer was covered by the amount paid to the mobile service provider by the carrier that delivered the incoming call. I suspect that most on this site had the same assumption.

I assume that it is competitive forces that cause you to have the free incoming calls. A more transparent pricing model would be to charge a reasonable fee for the incoming calls, which might then allow you to lower the price of the outgoing calls, which presumably are now subsidizing the free incoming calls.

This is exactly what I wondered about when it comes to these global SIMs. They come with a number that costs more than standard numbers to call (though, the numbers they come with are from countries/regions that use the Calling Party Pays model, right?), plus it often costs more to place calls even locally with them, data costs are something I at times find even higher than roaming with my US SIM in plenty of places, so I would expect that _something_ would end up better than at least getting several SIMs and roaming within a few general regions (like a European SIM for roaming within Europe, etc.). Otherwise, wouldn't there be no incentive to buy a global SIM?

[Bossman]

I do not see too many of these global sims offering data any longer. They just cannot compete with most of the local sims. Most of the localk sims have better rates for data even while roaming than the rates for the global sims I checked. The UK sims for example, have reasonable data roaming rates, so I do not see anyone in the EU buying these global sims for data. For us on the US side, the data roaming rates, while expensive, are even better than what some of these global sims are charging.

Again, I just do not see how all these global sim companies in this market that continues to dwindle.

Originally Posted by adam917

This is exactly what I wondered about when it comes to these global SIMs. They come with a number that costs more than standard numbers to call (though, the numbers they come with are from countries/regions that use the Calling Party Pays model, right?), plus it often costs more to place calls even locally with them, data costs are something I at times find even higher than roaming with my US SIM in plenty of places, so I would expect that _something_ would end up better than at least getting several SIMs and roaming within a few general regions (like a European SIM for roaming within Europe, etc.). Otherwise, wouldn't there be no incentive to buy a global SIM?

[adam917]

Originally Posted by Bossman

I do not see too many of these global sims offering data any longer. They just cannot compete with most of the local sims. Most of the localk sims have better rates for data even while roaming than the rates for the global sims I checked. The UK sims for example, have reasonable data roaming rates, so I do not see anyone in the EU buying these global sims for data. For us on the US side, the data roaming rates, while expensive, are even better than what some of these global sims are charging.

Again, I just do not see how all these global sim companies in this market that continues to dwindle.

I actually wonder about this. What is it that causes such high fluctuations with data roaming prices? Why for instance a UK user could pay as little as £3/MB when roaming outside the EU while a US user pays $10--$20/MB anywhere outside the US & a Canadian about $30/MB? Are users really paying what the operators are being charged by the foreign operator or are they perhaps paying an order or two of magnitude higher? I find it hard to believe for instance that T-Mobile USA charges exactly the same rates when roaming on a T-Mobile sister operator as they do competitors when abroad.

[easyroam-]

Data rates are not regulated or capped, So the main operators can charge what ever they like.

All this price capping for calls and sms are well and good, If your not in a E.U country calling an other E.U country, Then you will still pay higher charges.

If the likes of Vodafone and other main operators are having there profits cut, They could then add a little more to the cost of data or other roaming services. If your outside of the E.U, then your going to pay more as they can charge what ever they like.

Local sims are always a better option. If you visit a county on a regular basis, then buy a local sim.
If your only going there for short time, You then have to look at the price of the sim card, The cost of call credit and if you don't use your credit, Does the credit expire.

[Bossman]

Via this offer, I got a sim in the April, and I used it quite a lot in June when I traveled. Now, I tried to check my balance and it's reporting back with callkey.callcontroller.Inactive sim. Also, I can no longer log into the account. I believe the topup policy is once a year or so. So, it should still be valid. Heck, I have not even had the thing for 5 months.

Anyone else having issues? I have emailed easyroam and will report back with their response.


EDIT: Here is the travel life blurb.
Service life
The travel sim card has a fixed service life of 365 days. However to keep your travel sim card working for the following year.
You will need to Top-up / Add credit on to your account. This will keep your number working for the next 365 days.
There is no expiry of call credit.

[Bossman]

Here is the response: It was a very quick one too...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sim cards that are not used for 30 days go in to standby mode. Just give us a call or send a email to reactivate your card.

Call credit no longer expire. You will need to top-up/Add credit at least once a year.

Your sim card is now working.


UK Customer Services

easyroam - 100% Free roaming - No Daily Fee - No connetion charge !

Originally Posted by Bossman

Via this offer, I got a sim in the April, and I used it quite a lot in June when I traveled. Now, I tried to check my balance and it's reporting back with callkey.callcontroller.Inactive sim. Also, I can no longer log into the account. I believe the topup policy is once a year or so. So, it should still be valid. Heck, I have not even had the thing for 5 months.

Anyone else having issues? I have emailed easyroam and will report back with their response.


EDIT: Here is the travel life blurb.
Service life
The travel sim card has a fixed service life of 365 days. However to keep your travel sim card working for the following year.
You will need to Top-up / Add credit on to your account. This will keep your number working for the next 365 days.
There is no expiry of call credit.

[easyroam-]

Bossman.
Are you happy with our customer service response?

Call credit do not expire anymore. You will need to top-up/Add credit at least once a year.

[Bossman]

Absolutely!

Originally Posted by easyroam-

Bossman.
Are you happy with our customer service response?

[bbob]

good to know I have one of their sim, not long ago.

But it really sucks that the card has to be reactivated and you have to take action to do this. Lot of customers don't read this forum and if they not use their sim and want to use they find themselfs somewhere in europe and the sim is not working. How should they know it has to be reactivated.

Why is this not mentioned on your website, I could not find it or is it hidden in some small print ?

Might the reason be saving cost and deactivation means you will not have to pay charges to keep the sim active ?

Why don't you announce these new rules so customers that do check the website will know.
I had the same problem with your new terms that all of a sudden uses fair use, also hidden in the terms but fair use does make a lot of difference.

Knowing this 1 month limitation, fair use and not mentioning this does give me the impression that what used to be a great service is now going down the drain by limiting it's use.


just checked your website and I read this:

No expiry time for the sim card & call credit.
We do not charge a $20 yearly network fee
unlike other operators.

above you are saying Call credit do not expire anymore. You will need to top-up/Add credit at least once a year.

your above answer and text on the website do not match. On the website you do not mention a top up once a year.

Please change your website to reflect what the costs really are, that you disable the sim after 1 month non use and that it need reactivation that is free. Don't you think that this should be part of the information you give to customers ?