The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged truphone
SIM4travel offers United Mobile Customers a Way Forward
Apr 30th
SIM4travel, a Truphone company and the leading supplier of global travel SIM cards, is offering United Mobile customers affected by the termination of the United Mobile service a free SIM4travel SIM with free £5 credit when they top-up £10.
United Mobile customers have been left without service just as many are preparing to go away for Bank Holiday weekends or as they prepare for their summer holidays.
SIM4travel is able to offer a continuation of service for those customers affected by what has happened recently with United Mobile to ensure that, as much as possible, they are not left out of pocket and out of service. Customers interested in the offer should visit www.sim4travel.com/replace for more information.
SIM4travel and Truphone are committed to helping consumers manage the costs of using their mobiles abroad – by offering great call rates back home and the ability to receive calls for free in most countries. SIM4travel prides itself on the call quality, reliability of service and the value for money its SIM card offers, and is committed to maintaining its position as the premier global network.
SIM4travel guarantees:
• Customers will receive calls for FREE in 36 countries
• Great rates in 100+ countries
• Customers get a UK number starting +44 7509
• No tie-ins or lengthy contracts, just pay as you go
• 24/7 customer support from anywhere in the world, 365 days of the year
“It’s never a nice thing to see a business struggle, particularly in these tough economic times, but we’re keen to ensure that as many customers as possible continue to make great savings on their roaming charges – and with SIM4travel quality offering that’s what they’ll get”, said Geraldine Wilson, CEO of Truphone.
United Mobile – is the end nigh for travel SIMs?
Apr 21st
It’s been an interesting few weeks in the world of travel SIM providers. If rumours are to be believed, United Mobile – one of the biggest (and longest established) providers of travel SIMs is in the throws of death – and already some of it’s competitors are trying to pick at the bones.
On Tuesday 7th April, Truphone-owned Sim4Travel registered unlted-mobile.com – a typo suspiciously close to the official United Mobile website of united-mobile.com. At the time of writing this entry, it was offering customers of ‘other’ travel SIM providers a free Sim4Travel SIM card: “Having problems with your travel SIM provider? You can’t make calls? You’re experiencing a poor service? Or simply, you just want peace of mind that you won’t be let down when you travel.”
Even more damning was a page found at www.sim4travel.com/um/ – which has since been taken down (but still available in Google’s cache) that went as far as to name United Mobile, by saying “Having problems with your Umited Mobile SIM? You can’t make calls? You’re experiencing a poor service? Or simply, you just want peace of mind that you won’t be let down when you travel.”
Meanwhile on Thursday 10th April Truphone issued a press release – which appears to have been swiftly withdrawn – trumpeting the same offer. A quick search of Google reveals that the largest German telecoms magazine Teltarif picked up on the story – which is translated into English via Google here.
Do Truphone know something we don’t? Perhaps. But their actions didn’t go unnoticed by United Mobile. An article in today’s print edition of Mobile News says that UM are to sue Truphone and Sim4travel for fraud. Both sides are quoted in the article. Firstly Sim4Travel’s Matt Rowntree:
“We have recently heard that global SIM provider United Mobile is having trouble supporting its customers. SIM4Travel would like to reassure all United Mobile customers that we can provide them with a continuation of service and would be happy to send them a replacement SIM card for free by first class post. Their remaining credit will be valid on our network.
“If the situation with United Mobile becomes more serious we will be more proactive in contacting their customers although we don’t want to be seen as vultures stealing their customers.”
United Mobile CEO Sven Donhuysen said: “It seems that SIM4Travel is really desperate. Otherwise I cannot explain their actions. What they are doing is fraud. We have our lawyers involved now.”
Meanwhile, United Mobile customers at various Internet forums are complaining that their SIM cards are no longer working. One poster at Flyertalk said: “I’m trying to use my United Mobile SIM card in Singapore and it isn’t working. I’ve used it in many other countries with no problems. This is the first time in several weeks though. I also notice big chunks of the United Mobile website are also down. You can’t access your account for a example. It’s a worrisome coincidence.” whilst another in a thread on Crunchbase posted: Just heard that United Mobile has gone out of business. Their assets have been frozen awaiting liquidation, there is no way the service will restart.”.
Meanwhile German-based Sunsim announced yesterday an offer for UM subscribers who can no longer use their SIM cards. The starter pack gives customers a new SIM card plus €15 of call credit for €14.95.
Both United Mobile and Sim4Travel rely on platforms hosted by and network connectivity provided by Channel Islands-based mobile operator Jersey Telecom.
Skype vs Truphone – the simple iPhone test
Apr 5th
Both Truphone and Skype have iPhone clients now. Both claim to have ‘unlimited’ packages. So who should you go with? Putting narrowband-versus-wideband, open-versus-closed codecs, shiny websites and PR spin aside for a minute, let’s look at pricing and terms and conditions. For comparison, prices are in British Pounds and include VAT where applicable.
|
Service |
Truphone Unlimited |
Skype Unlimited World |
|
Monthly Subscription: |
£9.99 |
£7.99 |
|
Landline calls: |
38 countries |
36 countries |
|
Mobile calls: |
9 countries |
4 countries |
|
Limits: |
60 minutes/call 3,000 minutes/month |
6 hours/day 50 numbers/day 10,000 minutes/month |
Skype are clearly the winner when it comes to limits – Truphone’s lock-down at 3,000 minutes a month is pitiful compared to Skype’s 10,000 minutes. In addition, there is no call length limit at 60 minutes. They’re also the winner on price by a whole two quid. Admittedly Truphone beat them by two countries on the places you can call landlines, and five on mobile, but if you take into account the extra cost and much lower limits, it’s negligible.
I won’t do my usual rant about the word ‘unlimited’ and it’s use to describe something with limits – apart from it being a contradiction in terms I believe telecoms and Internet companies (the guiltiest parties in this dictionary redefining debacle) have been allowed to pull the wool over consumers eyes for too long.
Update/disclaimer: I haven’t tried either service on an iPhone as I don’t have one – although I’m a self-confessed Mac fanboi I’m still happy with my E71 thanks. Oh, and I have previously worked with Truphone on non-iPhone-related projects.
Skype for BlackBerry isn’t actually VOIP
Apr 3rd
When is a Skype VOIP client not a VOIP client? When it’s running on the BlackBerry.
Amongst all the fuss about the new Skype software for the BlackBerry (and of course the iPhone), BlackBerry guru Hayden at PinStack has discovered that the software is merely a front for call-through service. When you place a call to a Skype contact the application will dial into a local access number (billed from your minutes bundle or charged to your existing mobile operator account) and connect over the Skype network.
This is similar to Truphone’s Truphone Anywhere offering launched recently, and is also currently used by Skype’s application for Nokia handsets on the 3 network.
Via Skype For BlackBerry Will Not Be True VOIP… Surprised? | BerryReview.com ».
Truphone unveil flat rate calling plans
Mar 30th
Mobile VOIP provider Truphone have today unveiled new flat rate unlimited calling plan tariffs. A tenner a month gets you unlimited calls to landlines in 38 countries, and £25 a month allows you to call both mobiles and landlines in 64 countries.
Rather confusingly, the £10/month landline tariff also includes calls to mobiles in the USA, Canada, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Whilst I appreciate price isn’t everything, Skype have been offering a similar package to the landline tariff for a while now (unlimited calls to landlines in 36 countries), at the cheaper price of £7.99/month (including VAT, the headline price on their website is £6.95 but excludes VAT) – with what appears to be a very similar list of countries.
Geraldine Wilson, Truphone’s CEO, soundbited: “Many of our customers have asked us to help simplify their lives by providing the peace of mind that comes with the ability to make unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles and not have to worry about checking balances or fearing bill shock when they receive their statement.”
The cynic in me would say this is a bit ‘too little, too late’ – although it could be timed to hijack some of the glory that Skype will inevitably get tomorrow when they launch their iPhone client (Truphone demonstrated the world’s first iPhone VOIP client at DemoFALL 07 way back in September 2007).
via Sevendotzero: TruUnlimited flat rate calling plans from Truphone.
Official Skype iPhone client could be here within days
Mar 27th
Skype for iPhone to Be Released as Early as Next Week.
Om Malik claims he has information from ‘a tipster – a reliable one’ that Skype are about to announce an official client for the iPhone. It could come as early as next week – perhaps at CTIA in Las Vegas, that starts on Wednesday.
My old friends at Truphone already support Skype, amongst other IM services – and Fring has had Skype support for what seems like ages.
Of course there’s many questions: Will Skype push out the third party players? Will the carriers try to block it? The only true ‘Skype-friendly’ carrier in the UK at the moment seems to be 3 – although they don’t offer the iPhone as O2 already has that gig (and will do for a while to come – exclusivity and all that). Also, will they wait until iPhone software v3.0 to support incoming calls (via the new push functionality) or dip a toe in the water with outgoing only?
It’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
“It’s been a long time..
Mar 25th
.. I shouldn’t have left you, without a strong rhyme to step to”
So said rapper Rakim on his collaboration with Eric B on 1987′s Hip-Hop anthem ‘I Know You Got Soul’*. And indeed, it has been a long time since I regularly wrote a blog. So where have you been, I hear you ask?
Back in April 2007 I started contributing to the then SMS Text News (now Mobile Industry Review, and imminently to be no longer), providing regularly updated mobile news, reviews, and features. After nearly five months, and 571 articles later, the workload got a little bit much to manage (I was writing 20-30 articles a day and working 12-14 hours a day with Truphone on their converged operator/MVNO project) so something had to give – and I stepped down.
Ewan – the big man (literally – he’s taller than me, and I’m 6ft 1) behind Mobile Industry Review recently announced the site will be closing in it’s current incarnation, so I asked him very nicely for a copy of all my old posts, and archived them here for your reading pleasure.
Anyway, I figured it was time to start blogging again. It’s quite therapeutic really, and helps me – as well as you – keep abreast of all that’s happening in the mobile arena. I can’t promise it’ll be your one-and-only destination for all things mobile-related, but I’ll post snippets of things I’ve read, along with longer features on the state of the industry, my opinions, thoughts, and other general random mobile (and non-mobile) related things.
So there you have it. Full speed ahead..
(* Footnote: yes I know Timbaland said something similar on the late Aaliyah’s 2000 hit ‘Try Again’ but I’m old skool, me…)
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