new UM card with +1/+44 dual number soon

[bbob]

19 cents inbound for the usa is expensive. I have a at&t prepaid which cost me 10 cent incoming. also when receiving calls from antoher at&t cellphone there is no incoming charge.

you can choose your of area number in the usa and most us people like that as calls withoin the same area code are mostly free.

We will have to see what the rates are when they are going to market this but UM has not done any good buy charging for incoming calls.

[Stu]

19 cents a minute for a foreign SIM card roaming in the US is great. Yes, you can beat it with a cheap domestic SIM, but this is a good foreign travel SIM. UM should allow you to have both numbers active at once and charge a surcharge to forward the US number to the +44 when it is out of the country. SMS forwarding would also be great.

I don't think anyone who lives in the US will want this, but want about American ex pats or frequent business travelers to the US. I'm also curious what they will do with Canada. Can they get better rates through the US provider.

Lastly, I'm curious whether the SIM will direct dial in the US.

[MATHA531]

...I re-read the translation...it says something to the effect subscribers will be available simultaneously at the +1 and +44 number...now let's see...my landline provider, Verizon, is one of the few in the USA that allows remote call forwwarding to international numbers...so if I'm on a trip say to Poland, I can use the call forwarding to the +44 sim card (I would probably use other than UM+ because of the 0,19€ fee (parenthetically I can across e-kit passport on ebay selling sim cards for US$20 with US$10 credit...a bit expensive to call out at $0.49 but free incoming throughout Europe including Belgium with, well as of now, no incoming fee)...but, now here might be an advantage. Normally I forward, while in the US, incoming calls to my mobile (which has a local number)...now about 5 or so years ago, T Mobile USA began disallowing call forwarding to international numbers (as well as raising the price without their international plan which is a recent development)....follow me on this...the question is can I now forward calls to the USA +1 number and have it ring to the +44 number while in Europe??? That would be a bit cheaper than forwarding to a UK number via my call forwarding (currently 27¢ US especially if the euro continues its slide down?).....and of course for those without remote call forwarding on their US landlines, well now it would be available.....interesting.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by Stu

UM should allow you to have both numbers active at once and charge a surcharge to forward the US number to the +44 when it is out of the country. SMS forwarding would also be great.

With 44/1 you are definitely available on both numbers simultaneously no matter where you are. So there's no need for forwarding, as that's a basic feature of the service.
However there's a difference in pricing: When you are being called at the US number, you'll always pay a call setup-fee of € 0.19 + at least € 0.19/min, no matter where you are, while calls to your British number are free in many (especially European) countries (except for the call setup-fee of € 0.19).
So it's still 63% cheaper to get a (free) US DID-number from some VoIP-provider and forward incoming calls through poivy.com for € 0.07/min to your Britsh UM-number, than using UM's US number, for which € 0.19/min are charged when receiving calls.
For those, who are able of setting up such VoIP-forwarding, UM' 44/1 doesn't bring any advantage, except for being able of receiving SMS at a US number.
In my eyes 44/1 is rather interesting for non-Americans, who regularly travel to the US and want exceptional coverage (in the US 44/1 roams on T-Mobile and AT&T) while keeping a US-number for the long term.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

...the question is can I now forward calls to the USA +1 number and have it ring to the +44 number while in Europe??? That would be a bit cheaper than forwarding to a UK number via my call forwarding (currently 27¢ US especially if the euro continues its slide down?).....and of course for those without remote call forwarding on their US landlines, well now it would be available.....interesting.

Yes, you can forward calls to your 44/1-US-number and the 44/1 SIM will ring wherever you are, but as I mentioned above calls to the US number are billed with € 0.19/min while calls to the UK number are free in many countries. So 44/1 is only cheaper for you if a direct forwarding to the British mobile number is more expensive than € 0.19/min.

To make it visual:

US number (US provider) ===[forwarding A: $ ???/min]===> US number (UM 44/1) ===[forwarding B: € 0,19/min]===> your 44/1 SIM
US number (US provider) ===[forwarding C: $ ???/min]============================================> your 44/1 SIM by UK number

the costs of forwarding A+B must be cheaper than forwading C in order UM 44/1 to make sense for you.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

With 44/1 you are definitely available on both numbers simultaneously no matter where you are. So there's no need for forwarding, as that's a basic feature of the service.
However there's a difference in pricing: When you are being called at the US number, you'll always pay a call setup-fee of € 0.19 + at least € 0.19/min, no matter where you are, while calls to your British number are free in many (especially European) countries (except for the call setup-fee of € 0.19).
So it's still 63% cheaper to get a (free) US DID-number from some VoIP-provider and forward incoming calls through poivy.com for € 0.07/min to your Britsh UM-number, than using UM's US number, for which € 0.19/min are charged when receiving calls.
For those, who are able of setting up such VoIP-forwarding, UM' 44/1 doesn't bring any advantage, except for being able of receiving SMS at a US number.
In my eyes 44/1 is rather interesting for non-Americans, who regularly travel to the US and want exceptional coverage (in the US 44/1 roams on T-Mobile and AT&T) while keeping a US-number for the long term.

Just one quick note to the last comment.....you will get the "exceptional coverage" only if you have a quad band phone or a made for USA tri band as most of the AT&T system operates on 850 mhz.

[PhotoJim]

Will it roam on other providers' GSM networks such as Alltel?

Otherwise, in states like Montana and North Dakota there will be precious little coverage indeed.

T-Mobile roams on Alltel, which helps immensely in using it there.

[inquisitor]

I've no idea, whether UM 44/1 SIMs may roam on further networks, but US coverage and those US numbers are realized by a cooperation with an American MVNO.
Basicly the UM 44/1 SIM is two SIM cards in one: a regular UM+ SIM with Jersey identity and an American one from that MVNO. Subscribers will be able to switch between those two SIM identities by SIM toolkit (that's the menu, where you can request callbacks and check your credit with current UM+ SIMs).
So maybe you guys can identify that MVNO, who offers service in Pennsylvania and has roaming agreements with T-Mobile and AT&T. The US roaming capabilities of 44/1 should be the very same like of that MVNO.

[Stu]

I have a Voicetrading account which is pretty cheap to call UK Mobiles (including Jersey Mobiles). I have a number of friends who don't want to mess with all that and I don't want to become the "telephone company." For these folks an easy out of the box solution that just works is great.

United Mobile also works great for the corporate traveller with a conscious, e.g. the one who is a little concerned about gouging his company, but doesn't want to reconcile thirty statements to get reimbursed on his/her phone bills.

Additionally, US prepaids generally have a short shelf life. If this goes for a year between recharges, it would be great.

PS: Is poivy.com a Betamax brand?

[prion]

Originally Posted by Stu

PS: Is poivy.com a Betamax brand?

Yes it is....