vB Easy Archive - MobileWorld (UK) opinions?

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MobileWorld (UK) opinions?
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Posted by: awebber

I think MobileWorld uses T-Mobile UK so I hope this is close enough.

Does anyone have experience with MW? It promises 5p/min to North America and GPRS/MMS is actually available (their website is contradictory on this).

I'm sure my phone has a WAP browser, so it should work with this? Is there any way to use it with my notebook (phone and notebook both do Bluetooth)?

Thanks!
=andrew

Posted by: andy962

I haven't used it. I believe that it has only 60 days life if unused.

This may interest you as well, which I discovered only 2 days ago.
In the middle of the page, call bundle to USA at 4p per minute
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatche...ca_payg&pt=payg

Alternatively, you might consider O2, their int'l option, and a calling card with an Irish access number.

Or Vodafone's Stop-the-clock off-peak promotion, also in conjunction with a calling card

Posted by: awebber

I saw the T-Mobile one as well, but I got conflicting information from T-Mo -- they said the 4p/min was only available on monthly plans, the corrected themselves, but in the mean time I'd already made arrangements to get a MW SIM.

The T-Mo bundles are good for 90 days, whether you use them or not.

I got a pretty good deal on the MW SIM with bundled minutes so I'm not complaining. They confirmed that MMS and GPRS are actually working now, and that I can use the GPRS as a modem (how, I don't know).

Thanks for your comments!

=aw

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

Mobile World does deliver as advertised...I think they recently raised the rates of some calls to North America during specific time periods to 7.5p per minute; at least I think somebody mentioned that or I read that or something like that.

I think they use O2 towers not T mobile towers which might affect the frequencies of your phone if you don't have both 900 and 1800 in various parts of the UK.

The 60 day shelf life means that if not used after 60 days the card expires and there is a charge to reinstate it with the same number....if used it can extend indefinitely....it actually took them about 4 months to pull the plug on mine...I only had about £1 left on it anyway but I had hoped that if I called the phone number and tried to get into voice mail it would count as a call and a 15p charge but somehow I must have set up vm incorrectly and when I was out of the UK not able to access voice mail (message was phone is not on, please call back later during its lifetime)...too bad (sigh)....

One other point, calls are billed by the minute not by the second as with some of the other UK carriers (O2 bundle I think is also by the minute but don't hold me to that) but of course at 5p per minute, who cares!

Posted by: awebber

Thanks jeffjaguar, there's a 2.5p/min surcharge from 7pm-9pm (when I first saw that on their site, I thought it was 7am-9pm and I assumed the typical exaggeration about the 5p rate, but it's only the two hours).

My phone does 850/1800/1900 but I should be okay in Central London. When I first wrote MW, they only told me I needed 1800.

I'm a little concerned about the 60 day rule, but I only paid £12.50 for the SIM and £20 of airtime so I'm not worried. I'll probably hand off the SIM to a local friend who'll be going to England.

=aw

Posted by: awebber

My mobileworld SIM worked just fine (MW customer service were useless though, I called them because their automated service was insisting I had to pay something, and then the human had no record of the SIM at all -- I called the eBay seller directly and she told me the card was pre-loaded, which it was).

Anyway, I've got the SIM (somewhere) with a balance of some kind on it. If it's not used by about April 25th, it will expire!

Since I can't get back to England by then, is anyone travelling there, or living there, and want it? I've misplaced it temporarily but if you're interested please let me know ASAP! It no longer has any value to me but I'd rather someone benefit that the phone company.

=aw

Posted by: andy962

I think Jeff was on his way here the other day, so probably missed your offer.

I've just rung them, wondering if it would stay valid from an incoming call, but unfortunately not, otherwise i could have offered to ring your voicemail.

But they say it can be reactivated by calling them. If it's past 8 months or so then it may be a slight problem and you may get a different number. One person said this is free, and I thought they said the existing credit would stay on there.

I don't know if you can ring a UK freephone number from there to check this yourself, but try

+448000499000
+442002220700 pause 08000499000

menu options 0 then 0 to speak to someone

Posted by: awebber

Thanks Andy, I appreciate the offer. Not sure I'll be flying through the UK on my next trip (probably to Madrid, which means either connecting in Germany or elsewhere on the continent). I'm surprised that the credit would still be there, I understood I'd lose the credit but might be able to re-activate and not pay for another SIM.

My last call was made on Feb. 26 and I think it's supposed to be used every 60 days. Is there any point in mailing it to you or would they be pretty strict about the 60 days? Today (Sunday 23/4) seems to be 56 days, so I doubt it would get to the UK by Thursday. I've read that some of the US TDMA/CDMA plans are a bit liberal on the 60 days part.

=aw

Posted by: naz47

anybody who going to the uk & want to buy a mobile world sim get in contact

Posted by: voodoofish

or you could just get a SIM free when you top up £10 airtime here http://www.talktalkmobile.co.uk/?tt=ttworld they may well let you do this in a carphonewarehouse store aswell - think they'll give you a sim completely for free if you have a student ID. i'm also fairly sure mobile world uses T-Mobile, which is 1800Mhz only.

Posted by: vissionare

Quote:

Originally Posted by awebber

I think MobileWorld uses T-Mobile UK so I hope this is close enough.

Does anyone have experience with MW? It promises 5p/min to North America and GPRS/MMS is actually available (their website is contradictory on this).

I'm sure my phone has a WAP browser, so it should work with this? Is there any way to use it with my notebook (phone and notebook both do Bluetooth)?

Thanks!
=andrew

Mobile World works like a charm. Just pop the provided SIM card into a unlocked phone and its ready to make calls.

Between 7pm and 9pm the rates are different.

Posted by: awebber

Looks like MW is still 5p/min to North America, 7.5p/min between 7pm-9pm.

I may be back in England (Oxford) in September. Is MW still the best bet? I'll either do the free-SIM-for-£10 or check on eBay (actually I'll do the latter first).

A complicating question is that there may be two of us going. MW is 15p/min for calls to UK (including, I infer, to another MW). Is there a better option for mixed calling both to UK and to NA? I think one of us would be calling NA a lot, as well as the other traveller's UK mobile number, while the other person would likely only call UK.

Finally, has anyone tried a double-SIM adapter? I've seen them on eBay where you have to trim the SIM (yuck!) but also some that don't -- they seem to have a long neck and sit on top of the battery. Prices vary wildly (from about $10 to about $40!) for different versions. This might be good for the person who needs both to call UK and to call NA. http://cell-phones.search.ebay.com/...Qsacat Z146492

Thanks!
=aw

Posted by: awebber

I found Fresh Mobile (which looks like it's related) which boasts that it's the cheapest for calls to UK at 15p/min compared to a bunch of others. I'd only be interested in a PAYG plan and don't need GPRS, MMS, or really SMS. Is anything PAYG cheaper than MW's 15p/min to call a UK landline or mobile phone?

Why would anyone (except a very heavy text user) go with Fresh over MW!? The only differences I can see in the former are: (a) 2p cheaper for UK text messages (=SMS, right?); (b) inability to call overseas; (c) inability to use GPRS; (d) inability to send MMS. I realize if I didn't want any of those three things, and sent a lot of text, I might use Fresh. But am I missing some benefit?

Thanks!
=aw

Posted by: vissionare

The Mobile World SIM card is only designed to give cheap calls to USA and a few other places. However, the UK to UK rate is okay.
Fresh on the other hand has no marketing power.

Both has no other special network features outside of making and receiving phone calls.

Posted by: andy962

I'd suggest T-mobile itself, either with its add-on bundle of 50 minutes to USA for £2, so 4p/min, or to use the callthrough numbers of Yourcallworld, 3p/min to USA and loads of other places. T-mobile rates to UK mobiles and ordinary landlines are 12p/min, but going up to 15p/min sometime

Posted by: awebber

vissionare, I guess Fresh is just dying on its feet. Good to know I wasn't overlooking anything. MW does claim MMS and GRPS features.

andy692, thanks for the suggestions. I did stumble on the T-Mobile overseas pack when I went through this in 2006 (see post #3) and wondered about it. I hadn't heard of YourCallWorld and it looks like a bargain. I guess downside is having to dial an access code, but I'm used to that here with Yak and OneSuite. Is there any other reason to use TMo's 4p/min over YCW's 3p/min?

If I'm reading it correctly, using YCW with a T-Mobile PAYG SIM, the total cost to call Canada is 3p/min (TMo doesn't charge for the call to 07755 number)? That's a good deal, especially if it comes off the TMo prepaid balance, vs the OneSuite or Yak approach of billing directly. Do I need to register my mobile in advance to use it (like Yak)?

For calling within the UK, reading the TMo chart, I have the choice of 12p/min [going to 15p, you said] to everyone (mobile and land) or 5p/min to TMo, 40p to other mobile, and 20p to land? I'm thinking for the two of us, to get MatesRates (5p) for one phone and EveryOne (12p) for the other. Then if we need to call each other, the one with MatesRates makes the call (the other might call and hang up, or pay for 1min to say "call me back"). Sounds like an opportunity? There's also a MatesRates pass for £5 which appears to give unlimited in-network calls for 5 days. That could be ideal for a 5-day trip to the UK.

YCW doesn't care which of 3 TMo PAYG plans I get? If I buy a TMo PAYG SIM on eBay, how do I specify a plan? Can I change plans at any point?

TMo's UK website wants 50p for a SIM, free shipping in the UK, it looks like they don't ship outside uK. eBay sellers are typically 99p plus shipping. Neither comes with airtime. Can I buy airtime before arriving? And could I get the MatesRates pass for £5 paying from my balance? I'm thinking £10 of airtime on each phone, spend half on a pass (for one phone anyway) and the other half on YCW. I assume (with the intelligent way mobiles are billed in the rest of the world, i.e. free incoming) we wouldn't both need the pass.

Is the unlimited web access from the phone for £1 require registering, or you just use it and it comes off your balance?

Thanks, and sorry for so many questions. This looks like a great opportunity!

=aw