My review of Spot Mobile

[Conan Edogawa]

Thanks for the followup.

[LuuDucPhu]

Yes, thanks for the follow up.

It is good to know that spot mobile is capable of using AT&T when there is no T-mobile tower near by.

boomerang86: After you force spot mobile to AT&T network, did you try a test call?
If you did, did you get charge 10c per min. or 20c per min. ?

Spot mobile said you can roam for 20c per min., but they never state what network you can roam on.

[KCF827]

Hello Everyone :

Very complicated issue.

[boomerang86]

Just successfully registered to AT&T from T-Mobile and placed an outgoing voice call; it hasn't posted to my online account yet so we now know that doesn't update in real time.

Also, confirmed no data access on either carrier (at least WAP).

FWIW my Spot Mobile number is from Level 3 (same as my Tru number in area code 347)... kind of strange, had the Spot phone call my Page Plus phone and had both up to each ear. There's a one second delay in the voice, must be the digital translation on each side.

EDIT: One voice minute on AT&T billed @ $0.10, no roaming charge... nice. Handset did switch to T-Mobile on its own sometime within the past couple of hours.

[Bob859]

I have done some more experimenting, this time with call forwarding on my Spot Mobile phone. I successfully made forwarded calls with both conditional and unconditional settings. I have found that I am not charged anything. There has been no charge on my account when I initiate the call forwarding and there has been no airtime charge for calls made that are forwarded.

[double0jimb0]

Hello, anyone know what the Send/Receive SMS rates are on Spot Mobile? - Answered my own question $0.05 for both send/receive.

Boomerang86, did you try GPRS for data?

Also, are you charged for incoming call if not answered?

[Pabster]

So, Spot Mobile allows you to use EITHER AT&T or T-Mobile? Can you register manually on either network? And have you seen the $0.20 per minute rate when using a different network?

[boomerang86]

To answer the last couple of posts:

I am able to MANUALLY select a network... only AT&T and T-Mobile are available here. Each time I manually select AT&T I register successfully. What keeps happening is the phone eventually switches back to T-Mobile after a while, usually a few hours. Back in my house where T-Mobile service is poor, phone registers on AT&T automatically and will return to TMo when it's available again. No roaming charges so far, all calls have been $0.10 per minute. NO GPRS or EDGE service, unfortunately BUT I have a Tru SIM for that.

When time permits I'll set up voicemail and test incoming calls that roll over to VM for charges.

[fonezfonz]

$20 a year for a phone service that allows unlimited gsm byod and covers both Tmobile and Att. Not bad.

[rfranzq]

NO GPRS or EDGE service, unfortunately BUT I have a Tru SIM for that.

Could you start a new thread and tell us your experience with Tru data?

[Pabster]

To answer the last couple of posts:

I am able to MANUALLY select a network... only AT&T and T-Mobile are available here. Each time I manually select AT&T I register successfully. What keeps happening is the phone eventually switches back to T-Mobile after a while, usually a few hours. Back in my house where T-Mobile service is poor, phone registers on AT&T automatically and will return to TMo when it's available again. No roaming charges so far, all calls have been $0.10 per minute. NO GPRS or EDGE service, unfortunately BUT I have a Tru SIM for that.

When time permits I'll set up voicemail and test incoming calls that roll over to VM for charges.

Hmm, seems like a decent deal. Too bad no data access but still seems a decent choice given the ability to use multiple carriers. Would be interested in a review of your Tru SIM as well, not all that thrilled with their rates, but would still like to find out more.

[boomerang86]

It's been a few hours sine I placed an incoming call to my Spot phone; it rang a few times then rolled over to voicemail. No airtime was charged.

So far I'm only using Tru for data, just test voice and SMS to make sure they do (working just fine TYVM). My Ming2 doesn't support 3G, only EDGE but it works very well. I'm not planning to start a thread just for that SIM since there's a limit to what I can test.

[mframe]

Does the SIM card have its number printed on it? If you let us know the first 8 digits or so, we could look up the network provider code (such as 410 for AT&T, or 260 for TMO). Since it doesn't work with locked phones from either of them, it is probably an entirely different provider, maybe it is IMMIX.

[Bob859]

Does the SIM card have its number printed on it? If you let us know the first 8 digits or so, we could look up the network provider code (such as 410 for AT&T, or 260 for TMO). Since it doesn't work with locked phones from either of them, it is probably an entirely different provider, maybe it is IMMIX.

My SIM has ten digits. The first six are: 422015

[dmarkson]

Since I have had Spot Mobile for a few days and have dealt with their customer service it seemed like a good add to this thread.

Incoming text messaging was not working after a day so I e-mailed them to please investigate, late on a Saturday evening (long after they were closed). I got an automated message that my request was received. On Sunday afternoon a Spot Mobile rep phoned me and said the problem was resolved. He said they would send me a test message and to respond if I got it so they would know it was working and would credit me for two texts. I got the message, responded, and was credited the next day. That's good customer service, they work problems quickly, give you feedback, and follow through with what they said they would do. Good customer service.

I have called a couple other times for various questions, the phone was picked up in a few seconds, and the reps were friendly and knowledgeable.