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11:34 pm
March 9, 2009
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I recently purchased both a USA SIM card and a China SIM card from Roam Simple. The USA SIM card was only $9 and best of all no monthly fees and no exp date - i use it everytime I cross the border and its cheap....We Canadians need this cheap - no strings attached USA SIM card - I have yet to use the China SIM but I will let you all know how it goes. So far I am very impressed with their customer service and product offering - full recommendation for http://www.roamsimple.com
11:58 pm
March 31, 2007
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Do they also give you an @roamsimple.com e-mail address? The fact that you have one makes me wary as to whether you are a Roam Simple employee -- I don't want to have to ban all Roam Simple discussion on this site.
8:40 am
March 15, 2008
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The USA SIM card was only $9 and best of all no monthly fees and no exp date
According to the Roam Simple website, the $9 SIM incurs a $15 shipping charge. So it's really $25. (Surely it doesn't cost $15 to mail a SIM.)
Next, while the SIM may not "expire" according to the website, "All SIM cards have a valid service period of 12 months from the purchase order date after which a $29 annual renewal fee"
On top of that it's 29¢/min to make/receive calls, 25¢ per SMS, 29¢/min to get voicemail, 59¢/min to call Canada from the US and 10¢/5kB for data.
I haven't looked at the other country "deals" like China, but based on the US one, no thanks.
P.S. I did just look at their UK "deal." They want $29 (+$15 shipping) for a T-Mobile SIM. You can get one for free from T-Mobile's UK website (I've done it, shipped to Canada for free too) or you can get one in the UK for £5 at most. Airtime is also more expensive then if you deal with T-Mobile directly.
11:51 am
October 22, 2008
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Maybe it's best NOT to ban RoamSimple discussion?
That way anytime someone mentions it, an informed person like Bylo can bring up alternatives.
So the more RoamSimple tries to advertise here, the more they will actually be helping out their competitors.
4:32 pm
March 15, 2008
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Maybe it's best NOT to ban RoamSimple discussion?
I agree. As long as the posts aren't obvious spam or otherwise annoying let the alternatives be known.
an informed person like Bylo
All I did was spend a few minutes on their website and report back what I found. I suppose if you need a US SIM and want a number that never expires and you don't visit the US at least annually then spending $29/year to keep your number alive is worth it. I don't see any other situations where buying a US SO phone/SIM or a SIM rom T-Mobile wouldn't be a better deal.
1:31 pm
As far as international SIMs go, the best I've found so far for Europe seems to be:
You order it while you're still in North America and then put the France or UK sim card into any tri or quad band unlocked GSM phone. They also sell phones with sims.
Check it out. I haven't used it personally but after taking my Rogers cell phone to Europe 2.5 years ago I vowed never again to get ripped off by the exorbitant roaming fees they charge, and have done a fair bit of investigation of European cell service providers.
It's cheaper to have a separate sim card for Canada, separate sim card for USA, and separate sim card for European travel, by far. I have a USA t-mobile pay as you go phone and a Canadian Petro-Canada mobility phone, both of which are Nokia 1208s, each topped up with a $100 airtime card once a year. Next time I go to Europe I'll get one of these callineurope.com sim cards for my old quad-band Motorola RAZR V3 phone that's left over from my 3 year contract with Rogers wireless.
On another note, it kills me how much cheaper pay as you go cell phone service is in the USA. It's over 50% cheaper! t-mobile seems like the best bet in the USA.
Also, with Europe you're probably still better off buying an international phone card and calling home that way if you know people over there whose home phones you can use, and just using your cell for emergencies, if possible, or only for texting or receiving incoming calls (incoming is often free).
In the USA, 7-11 has a nice International phone card with plenty of local access numbers in the USA which served me well during my last trip for calling back home on my t-mobile cell to Canada. I haven't investigated Europe's cards much yet but heard of one called EastWest. As for Canadian long distance phone cards I've yet to find one any better than CiCi.
7:40 pm
Just to add my 2 cents, you'll need to make sure the quad-band GSM phone you're using is unlocked.
7:07 pm
How did you get the T-Mobile UK SIM card?
That's very useful.
I went to their web site, no way to type a Canadian address.
bylo said:
The USA SIM card was only $9 and best of all no monthly fees and no exp date
According to the Roam Simple website, the $9 SIM incurs a $15 shipping charge. So it's really $25. (Surely it doesn't cost $15 to mail a SIM.)
Next, while the SIM may not "expire" according to the website, "All SIM cards have a valid service period of 12 months from the purchase order date after which a $29 annual renewal fee"
On top of that it's 29¢/min to make/receive calls, 25¢ per SMS, 29¢/min to get voicemail, 59¢/min to call Canada from the US and 10¢/5kB for data.
I haven't looked at the other country "deals" like China, but based on the US one, no thanks.
P.S. I did just look at their UK "deal." They want $29 (+$15 shipping) for a T-Mobile SIM. You can get one for free from T-Mobile's UK website (I've done it, shipped to Canada for free too) or you can get one in the UK for £5 at most. Airtime is also more expensive then if you deal with T-Mobile directly.
10:02 pm
March 15, 2008
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How did you get the T-Mobile UK SIM card?
That's very useful.
I went to their web site, no way to type a Canadian address.
It worked for me a couple of years ago. They've since changed the web page to tighten things up but it still looks hackable.
Start here. Use post code A9 9AA. You'll get a list of possible addresses. Scroll to the bottom and select "None of above." Now fill in the form. Make sure that your full address, including Canadian postal code and "Canada" appears somewhere. Now submit, perhaps fiddle around any error messages, and hope for the best.
11:23 pm
Mike said:
How did you get the T-Mobile UK SIM card?
You can buy them off e-bay too.
3:02 pm
I checked out the callineurope.com site and while the rates are very attractive, you have to spend $20 every 3 months in order to keep your number alive. So if you let it expire, are there charges for getting it reactivated? I couldn't find that info. It's still a good solution for people who yak a lot.
I use a different method for foreign travel. I don't do much talking, but I need to be able to keep in touch with home because of a family member's health problems.
I use a Mobal sim card. This is a post-paid system where you only pay when you use it and it's billed to your credit card. Otherwise, there are no carrying costs. You keep your number (it's a UK number) forever. You need an unlocked quad-band phone and it will work in almost every country in the world.
Costs per minute are high, around $1.75/min depending on the country, but if you don't yak too much your final costs are better than other systems.
Incoming text messages are free. So I use this for my alert system. I have set up my Hotmail account to send a text message alert to my cell phone if there is trouble at home. Like this, I can relax on the beach in Mexico and never worry about staying in touch.
Mobal sells phones with their SIM, but you can also purchase the SIM by itself.
3:39 pm
October 23, 2009
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I normally just buy the SIM when I arrive in the country I'm visiting. It's easy to find a phone store and get a prepaid account. If you want, you can research the rates of the various competitors on the net before you travel. I've done this in the US, India, Cambodia, France and Thailand.
The only downside is you don't have working phone when you arrive at the airport.
4:08 pm
March 15, 2008
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The only downside is you don't have working phone when you arrive at the airport.
There are several other downsides, including e.g.
- you need to do this in every country
- you have a different phone number in each country making it difficult for others to reach you
- each SIM expires so you may need to get a new one with new phone number each time you visit
- when your SIM expires you lose any unused airtime
- voicemail and customer service may not be available in English
- etc.
For these reasons international SIMs, and especially Mobal, while they do charge more for airtime, again especially Mobal, may be worth it, especially for light or emergency usage.
8:03 pm
October 23, 2009
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Yes, I see that there is a convenience with Mobal. But at $1.75/min, any call is gets expensive fast. In most countries, a local call is < $0.10 (India is under $0.03) a minute and even calling back to Canada is between $0.20 and $0.50 a minute.
So the decision is how and when you plan to make calls. For emergencies, Mobal is perfect and convenient. If you plan to make calls in the country you are visiting (like to book the next hotel - or get directions to it), a local SIM is handy.
10:10 pm
March 15, 2008
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So the decision is how and when you plan to make calls.
Exactly.
In some countries a SIM plus minimum airtime costs $20+. If you don't plan to need more than ~10 minutes of airtime then Mobal turns out to be cheaper and more convenient. There are also other international SIMs that are less expensive but have their own unique drawbacks.
Mobal is by far the most convenient, universal and reliable SIM card available. I don't leave home (or at least North America) without it. And yes, I use it only for emergencies.
