United Mobile+ (new service with +44 Jersey number)

[meir]

Well I have already talked to CS. Their real start should be on Monday. You could even choose your own number for fee, but I was warned there will be only limited range of 50000 numbers available.

BTW God bless JustVOIP for their 5Ect/ minute rate.
I can call this number also from normal telecom line. So it should be possible to reach these numbers from any number now.

[prion]

Bbob, I think the problem begun, because they have not activated the Cs number and because this was the only number we had to test if it was accessible. At present things seem to work.

[Bossman]

Just received a newsfalsh from UM. They current holders of the +423 sim to replace it with the new one and they will transfer the credit over too. This option is available up until 07/31 I will jump on it right now. It will almost make no sense not to. I will not be surprised if they eventually do away with the +423 number

Here is a cut/paste....
-------------------------------------------------------


Replace your existing SIM card with the NEW United Mobile+ SIM

The advantage of the United Mobile+ SIM card:

From 0,29 EUR/minute calling worldwide
and save up to 25%
Incoming calls in over 80 countries for free
Attractive prefix +44 (UK)
Globale Coverage
Data Service in Q4 2007 avaliable
Replace today your SIM card on your personal MyAcccount.

Full transfer of your balance to the new SIM card
Automatic recharge parameters can be transferred with one click
Replacement and shipping FREE of Charge
until 31st of July 2007! REPLACE NOW

Yours truly,
United Mobile Team

[tivoboy]

well, I got the same email here, seems one does pay the 29.99 fee though for the card.

But, i'm not sure how to figure the cost savings or increases? Anyone have a general concensus?

What is the complete full prefix and number pattern to plug into CBW and Enline and such.

[Steverino3006]

[QUOTE=Bossman;16258]Just received a newsfalsh from UM. They current holders of the +423 sim to replace it with the new one and they will transfer the credit over too. This option is available up until 07/31 I will jump on it right now. It will almost make no sense not to. I will not be surprised if they eventually do away with the +423 number

I just received this notice as well (pretty short notice, though!). Any reason NOT to change to UM+?

[tivoboy]

Well, there seems to be one nice LARGE hole in this for me, China is no longer a free roaming country. Bummer. Wonder why that would be carved out.

But, what is the prefix. Obviously, it cannot be just +44, that would be too cheap to route to. Is it going to be the +44 spc, or +44 mobile, meaning about .40$ to hit it with CBW and others?

[Bossman]

I did not see anywhere what it says you pay the 29 euro for the card. BTW, I just did my replacement. My account is now showing as upgraded. I will do the tranfer of credit after I receive the sim, and then as mentioned on their site, they will then deactivate the +423 sim.

From my email above....

Replacement and shipping FREE of Charge
until 31st of July 2007! REPLACE NOW


After 07/31, yes you will definitely pay for card and shipping.

[MATHA531]

Well, not to knock a good thing as it is better in some senses with the absurd termination fees to Liechtenstein mobiles...however

On both the receiving end and the making call end, it is nowhere near as good as we had it last year.

Last year at this time, I could use my AT&T and verizon callforwarding accounts to forward calls from my landline to the +423 account for $0.11/minute...that has been raised to $0.43/minute...calls to UK mobiles via this method are $0.28/minute which is obviously better than current Liechtenstein rates but nowhere near as good as last year. But it's not terrible (that is provided the calls to the new number are billed as UK mobile calls!)

However, to make calls...well last year with cbw I could make calls from anywhere in Europe back to the USA for the abovementioned $0.14/minute with the 6 second timing intervals...it is interesting to note, as I have said before, that calling via cbw (and enlinea) is now well over $0.40/minutes to the US from UK mobiles which is much more than German and French mobiles...as I said I wonder if part of this is the Isle of Man mobiles. As I said also, I never really cared that callbackworld and enlinea rates were very high on UK mobiles as there are enough cheap alternatives to call home from the UK for as little as 4p/minute without worrying about other services (actually right now I have sprung for the Orange Abroad at 5p/minute)...I am in the UK frequently so that is a partial solution.

My friend has been in Europe and has been using O9 along with enlinea and that is still working very well...calls from Europe to the USA are running about 16¢/minute (US) with the 6 second interval....he is also using an enlinea US toll free number at the same rate to the Icelandic sim at the same rate and of course that can be forwarded off his US mobile or if need be off the US landline. The only problem a major hole in O9 coverage is Switzerland. Here's hoping the Icelandic number does not suffer the same fate as Liechtenstein.

Even kall8 rates to UK mobiles are very high. Voicestick is somewhat lower at 31¢/minute for the higher priced UK mobiles (at 13¢ for Orange UK mobiles as well as T Mobile UK mobiles as I remember)......but of course we all know the big problem with voicestick is your credit quickly becomes history if a call goes into voicemail as there is something dreadfully wrong with their system that they refuse to fix (even if you hang up, the clock keeps running).

Anybody know of any call through services preferably with US toll free numbers to UK mobiles that are pretty low that would help ease the financial strains this is putting on me and protect me if and when O9 rates go sky high or when I'm in Switzerland?

[GadgetKen]

The trade in offer sounds very good. Big thing for me is that they will offer data service in the 4th quarter plus I can save 10 eurocents a minute for calls home to the US when I go for an aviation museum trip to the UK in mid-September. I usually just do United Mobile direct dial rather than using CBW because just a few calls home when on vacation and I still save a bundle over the roaming costs T-Mobile or AT&T would charge if I were on a postpaid plan.

Only negative I can see for me is some, but not all(some are Zone 1), Caribbean countries are more expensive. I am likely getting a Digicel card in advance of travel to Grand Cayman, Grenada, and Union Island, St. Vincent, so this will take care of that problem (Digicel prepaid sims do allow roaming on other islands with Digicel coverage).

Will still use local sims for US (an AT&T MVNO called Beyond Wireless GSM) and Canada (Fido) because these beat both the new and old United Mobile cards on price plus I get needed local numbers for Hartford and Toronto.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by GadgetKen

The trade in offer sounds very good. Big thing for me is that they will offer data service in the 4th quarter plus I can save 10 eurocents a minute for calls home to the US when I go for an aviation museum trip to the UK in mid-September. I usually just do United Mobile direct dial rather than using CBW because just a few calls home when on vacation and I still save a bundle over the roaming costs T-Mobile or AT&T would charge if I were on a postpaid plan.

Only negative I can see for me is some, but not all(some are Zone 1), Caribbean countries are more expensive. I am likely getting a Digicel card in advance of travel to Grand Cayman, Grenada, and Union Island, St. Vincent, so this will take care of that problem (Digicel prepaid sims do allow roaming on other islands with Digicel coverage).

Will still use local sims for US (an AT&T MVNO called Beyond Wireless GSM) and Canada (Fido) because these beat both the new and old United Mobile cards on price plus I get needed local numbers for Hartford and Toronto.

The only point I might make to you is that at this point in time, on Orange Call Abroad, T Mobile UK bundle or Mobile World, calls to the US are 5p/minute and they are literally giving away the sim cards (all you pay for is time)...why would you want to use UM (or O9 or Travelsim) for calls from the UK to the USA? (maybe I am missing something; not meaning to be nasty to you or anything like that)....

Just wondering.