Uk Global Sim

[Ukap]

I would like a Global Sim card but with a UK number - not Lichtenstein. Can you advise me of the best place to get one? United Mobile have fabulous rates but they use Lichtenstein numbers.
Reason for the UK number - it is cheaper for my friends & family in the USA to call me on a UK cell phone than a Lichtenstein cell phone number.

[BBB]

Originally Posted by Ukap

I would like a Global Sim card but with a UK number - not Lichtenstein. Can you advise me of the best place to get one? United Mobile have fabulous rates but they use Lichtenstein numbers.
Reason for the UK number - it is cheaper for my friends & family in the USA to call me on a UK cell phone than a Lichtenstein cell phone number.

You can order one from 0044 Ltd - that will give you a UK number
More specifically an Isle of Man number. Yes it is part of the UK but
most of the UK mobile operators charge it as an international destination.

At the moment I guess USA carriers still bundle the IoM number
at the same rate as UK mobiles - but this could change in the same
way as Lichtenstein mobile numbers used to be be cheap - and then overnight the cost to (reliably) call them from the UK went from 8p (UKP 0.0 to 32p (UKP 0.32).

The only problem I have found with 0044 is that they seem to have the habit of
changing rates for outgoing calls. The charges part of the website changed a few days ago and several rates have gone up a lot eg calling a UK landline from UK was 9p now 28p. There seems to be some confusion as to whether this is to new customers or all customers. There was also promise of being able to get account details - balance etc online or by text msg but that hasn't happened.

I would use mine a lot more for outgoing if at the very least I could get a balance automatically rather than having to ring customer services - and the rates were more obvious

Oh and the other one which might be a show stopper is the minimum topup is UKP 28.69 (ouch) - not far off the cost of a new card.

Having said that their customer services is good. If you email them you usually get a reply back quickly even today 1 May which is a public holiday!


There are of course other providers offering +44 762 numbers but I've not used them so cannot comment.


Hope that helps

Ian

[meir]

Ther are a quite of a few 0044 cards around, just take your pick. Check out this link http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=957 I have personally bought from Geodesa. http://www.globalsimcard.co.uk/ The reason for this was that I can directly deal with owner of the company, so no excuses on seller side that someone didn't hand him my message if something goes wrong etc.

[DRNewcomb]

I was just looking at Geodesa and noticed that it listed Thuraya as a free incoming carrier. Has anyone tested this. It would be very interesting if true.

[andy]

Originally Posted by BBB

... most of the UK mobile operators charge it as an international destination.

... Lichtenstein mobile numbers used to be be cheap - and then overnight the cost to (reliably) call them from the UK went from 8p (UKP 0.0 to 32p (UKP 0.32).

... There seems to be some confusion as to whether this is to new customers or all customers. There was also promise of being able to get account details - balance etc online or by text msg but that hasn't happened.

I would use mine a lot more for outgoing if at the very least I could get a balance automatically rather than having to ring customer services - and the rates were more obvious

Sorry, but may I correct a few items please?

UK mobile networks do not all count IoM as an international destination.

It is still possible to call Liechtenstein mobiles from UK for rather less than 32p, though the 4p and 7p routes no longer work; 10p is possible from landlines and 17p or 20p from O2 and Orange. I haven't checked what BT's rate is now, but it was 19p or so [their mistake].

Account detail information, including tariffs and billing, is available online by logging in to the account, almost as in accordance with the instructions supplied with the SIM, but now via www.callkey.com rather than the callkeyone domain.

A text message is received after every call, giving cost of that call and remaining balance. If that doesn't satisfy you, then call 187 and you get a text reply of the balance, free of charge.

And 0044 have clarified that unless CallKey give notice of it, rates will remain the same on the older SIMs.
_

It is possible to use the account with other mobiles, and landlines, but only webform trigger or sms callback to the mobile sending. It could do with a wap version to set up landlines.

Like all the other global SIMs, it's possible to use a separate callback service for cheaper calls. Try Voipfone, for 9.5p = 17c, as ticex and I discussed at some length on another thread.

Depending on the OP's rate for UK mobiles, Voipfone also may be worth looking at, forwarding to it for 15c per minute. Get a free US number from IPkall or FreeDigits, and point this at the SIP address - so I'm told; I haven't tested it yet. Maybe this is better for calls/diversion from US mobiles than landlines, as you'd still have long distance charges from landline to Washington State or Idaho, though you can rent another area code from FreeDigits.

I would check the policy of all the CallKey dealers on future charges, but it would appear to me that 0044's now fewer countries with free incoming calls would take people towards other suppliers if they do not also do this.

[MATHA531]

Actually it's not completely true that calls from USA to Liechtenstein mobiles are more expensive than calls to UK mobiles...

Example AT&T ld, if that's your ld carrier, has an international calling plan for $1/month (don't know if you can go in and out) that only charges 11?/minute to Liechtenstein mobiles against 30?/minute to UK mobiles.

And callbackworld 800 pin2dest costs only 14?/minute to Liechtestein mobiles vs. something in the vicinity of 40?/minute to UK mobiles.

[andy]

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb

I was just looking at Geodesa and noticed that it listed Thuraya as a free incoming carrier. Has anyone tested this. It would be very interesting if true.

Well spotted.

There might be handset compatibility issues for outgoing calls, but if it doesn't work then use separate callback, as it receives calls in unlisted phones (like Nokia 3210 and 3510i) - in satellite-only areas this separate method would need a callback triggered by sms (29c), as caller ID is off for now and no data

I wonder where I could borrow or single day hire a phone ...

edit - I've just found one dealer that sells the phones with Thuraya SIM, or O2 or Vodafone postpaid deals. The latter tarifffs are ok for GSM roaming, but rather higher for satellite use, so I suspect the same arrangement may be true of other networks partnered with Thuraya

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by andy

Well spotted.

I've also noticed that, but since I couldn't even find a full tariff calculator or table on the Geodesa site, I didn't considered this Thuraya roaming seriously

Originally Posted by andy

edit - I've just found one dealer that sells the phones with Thuraya SIM, or O2 or Vodafone postpaid deals. The latter tarifffs are ok for GSM roaming, but rather higher for satellite use, so I suspect the same arrangement may be true of other networks partnered with Thuraya

What tariffs do you mean?

[andy]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

What tariffs do you mean?

The O2 one has ?17 a month, 12p a minute GSM, ?1.70 outgoing sat, ?1.41 incoming sat. Vodafone one is around ?1 a minute

- not very interesting really

[meir]

Andy: I can rent here Thuraya handset from Eurotel for Euro 14 for 3 days plus deposit Euro 470. You should ask your oprataor for rental. :construction: