Comments on: MaxRoam, a low-cost alternative for mobile international calls

By: You’ve Got Ismail! » Maxroam Totally Rocks (a review)

You’ve Got Ismail! » Maxroam Totally Rocks (a review) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:58:18 +0000

[...] a very interesting way of attacking it. I wish I could invest (Pat?, nudge wink?). More coverage on VentureBeat and [...]

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:56:10 +0000

Ref Mr Miller.

GeoSIM was not “cut Off” in October 2007. A lot of “global” SIM uppliers were seriously affected by the temporary collapse of a service provider. GeoSIM users can still use their SIM and no call credit was lost on any customer account.

All systems are operating as normal.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:03:39 +0000

Hi – just wanted to say good design and blog – cu

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:28:37 +0000

Maxroam seems rather dubious, their much touted Pirelli phone is still not up and running and their terms and conditions are outrageous. Moreover they are woefully undercapitalised. Lots of good publicity for them but I doubt whether they will deliver. Journalists really should do a better job of checking up on these sorts of companies rather than uncritically regurgitating their PR.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:52:34 +0000

WARNING:
I have a Geosim; Just got back from 3 weeks (9/18-10/11/07) trip to Greece, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. Took my GeoSim and Razr phone. Surprise: WOULD NOT CONNECT WITH ANY LOCAL SERVICE; Happily we had our AT&T Sim, which worked fine. On return, found out that GeoSim service distributer had cut them off as of Oct. 1 and still is out as of Oct. 14.
You lose your prepaid reserve and sim is useless.
Probably could happen to any of these discount European sellers, but that is a danger for any of these shoestring operations, so consider if savings are worth it.
At least you know AT&T or Sprint will be there.

By: Startup Signal - Today’s Top Blog Posts on Entrepreneurship - Powered by SocialRank

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:02:45 +0000

[...] MaxRoam, a low-cost alternative for mobile international calls [...]

By: andy

andy — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:09:05 +0000

“Yuri: Matt didn’t write this post; I did. Regarding travel SIM cards, those I’ve seen have highly variable rates that can go well over $1 a minute in some countries. Asserting that they’re easier to use seems odd, unless you’ve had a chance to use the MaxRoam SIM. £”
_

But Maxroam also goes over $1. And in Europe, it is broadly similar rates to the new Eurotariff, not nearly 50% cheaper as suggested by Mr Phelan.

And not all the tariffs are there: no specification of tariff variation for different destinations, such that another blog suggests that 214 countries’ landline and mobiles will all cost the same – surely wrong.

Although the forwarding from a landline, effectively switching from caller pays to receiver, will attract some, people with other global or local SIMs at least have a choice to arrange their own call forwarding, and quite probably for lower tariffs.

I wonder if Cubic have switched to this deal from the one previously resold because of higher margins, not for the chance to market lower rates.

By: SMS

SMS — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:45:08 +0000

Well the in-country rates are up at “http://www.maxroam.com/how-much-does-it-cost.asp” and as expected it’s no great deal.

Examples:

Within the U.S.:
GeoSim: $1.45/$1.45
MaxRoam: $1.55 receive/$1.66 make

Within Italy:
GeoSim: $0.00 receive /$0.51 make
MaxRoam: $0.30 receive/$0.44 make

Australia-U.S.
GeoSim: $0.00 receive /$0.50 make
MaxRoam: ? receive/$0.71 make

I think they’ll be marketing this service based on the WiFi capable handsets, the availability of U.S. phone numbers, and the in-country rates for making calls, but certainly not on their per minute rates.

Whoever’s writing these articles about MaxRoam probably doesn’t realize that there have been international prepaid SIM cards available for a long time, and didn’t bother to do any research, instead just quoting press releases.

By: SMS

SMS — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:31:38 +0000

At “http://www.cubictelecom.com/faq/#q18″ they do have a rate example for a 12 minute call from Australia to the U.S.

“Total cost: US ($0.29 + $0.42 * 12) = US $9.23″

Two problems:

First, their math is wrong, as that equation works out to U.S. $8.52, not $9.23. Where did the extra 71¢ come from? I think they multiplied the per minute rate by 13, not 12.

Second, assuming they actually do mean $0.71 cents per minute, this is much higher than a company such as GeoSim which charges $0.50 for the same call. MaxRoam is 42% more expensive.

If I want a U.S. number, I can use a service such as VoiceStick and forward the number to the international GeoSim number in the UK, and since the incoming calls are free on GeoSim, pay only the Voicestick charge to call the mobile number in the UK. So if you have to contact someone from your mobile, you call them, pay for one minute, and have them call you back.

The complete rates haven’t been published yet, but it may be that the real attraction of MaxRoam is for making calls within a particular country. The WiFi/GSM phone, assuming it’s a quad-band phone, is also an attraction, though I don’t know if free WiFi is as pervasive worldwide as it is in some parts of the U.S..

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 02:22:10 +0000

We will see soon. I have to say that I am getting weary of what the pricing will actually look like. This is since the best pricing deals in telecom are nearly always promoted(the actual prices) at the time of product anoncement. It seems that MAXroam is holding back untill actual release. This only makes sense if they are concerned there might be a suprise when prices are a bit higher than expected. Myself I am going to be looking at the GSM prices since I already talk free via SIP service on WiFi hot spots. The only actual example price that has been released is 74 cents from australia to US. Not 20 to 30 cents in some ‘press releases.’ By far the best deal in GSM is from a some of the asian operaroters that charge only a normal long distance charge(often under .25 US) to the countries you are roaming in for incoming calls. You can pair that up with a callback service for inexpensive outbound calls.

The MAXroam and cubic sites are supposed to be ip on tuesday; untill than we can wait.

By: Chris Morrison

Chris Morrison — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:22:19 +0000

Yuri: Matt didn’t write this post; I did. Regarding travel SIM cards, those I’ve seen have highly variable rates that can go well over $1 a minute in some countries. Asserting that they’re easier to use seems odd, unless you’ve had a chance to use the MaxRoam SIM.

Regarding their being a clone — no, having a global SIM isn’t a new idea. Trying to do it with your own branded handset that can make free WiFi calls is, as well as the plans he’s got for the future. I’m also curious as to whether they’ll get squeezed by telcos.

By: Yuri Ammosov

Yuri Ammosov — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:43:16 +0000

Matt: I cannot believe you have not done competition analysis on this sector! Travel SIM card have been around for years, most are easier to use, and the rates this one charges qualifies in this sector as a rip off! Not to mention that all these roaming-optimization companies operate in fact in a grey market and are generally tolerated by large telcos only because they let them optimize otherwise unsold minutes, but the moment they start getting into their roaming revenues they get squeezed real hard. Quite a difficult business model – and pretty much a clone.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:57:23 +0000

Where does this 20 to 30 cent per minute number come from. The only example I could find on the website is 74 cents per minute from austraila to the US.

By: VentureBeat » New companies launch: Yap, Cognitive Code, Viewdle, Faroo & more

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:07:53 +0000

[...] plans. Their service, MaxRoam, is clearly well planned-out. For a more in-depth analysis, check out VentureBeat’s separate post today on the company. Competing mobile VoIP services are cheap or even free, but are unreliable. Its offering you a [...]

By: Calling Cards » Calling Cards September 17, 2007 3:51 pm

Calling Cards » Calling Cards September 17, 2007 3:51 pm — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:54:28 +0000

[...] MaxRoam, a low-cost alternative for mobile international calls Traveling extensively often requires buying special SIM calling cards in each country visited or renting cell phones, in order to keep costs down. While the service is undergoing its launch today, Phelan is already in talks with the US … [...]