Good morning wanttoretire and andy.
I resisted the temptation to post about andy's alleged connections with O2 yesterday, as I realised that he was well able to answer for himself, which he has now done.
I have interacted with andy for a long time now, and my own guess would be that he favours O2 because it has allowed him to call various number ranges which are useful to him for using his roaming SIM's, and for using callback services from abroad. O2 currently have a 'special promotion' running up to the 30th September which allows several number prefixes to be called inclusively, and I am told that details of these may be see on its
website. Under "
Inclusive Minutes and Call Charges" you will see the following statement:
3. As a promotional offer, calls made to "special" 07 numbers (other than 07744, 07755 and 070) will be included in your inclusive minutes allowance until 30th September 2008. If you use these numbers you will be reminded that the promotional period is coming to an end before charges commence.
andy is free to correct me if I am wrong about his reason for having an O2 contract.
The main UK networks' roaming rates are not all exactly aligned with the Eurotariff started about a year ago. 3 has cheaper incoming (10p/min) and outgoing (25p/min) calls on most networks, but on other 3 networks (Like Home) you get your home rate or inclusive minutes. Vodafone's Passport is an option (free), and I think needs to be asked for in preference to the Eurotariff. And, errm, another network's options.
I know about the '3' roaming charges andy, but am unsure about to which other network options you were referring ?
There are plenty of global SIMs with free incoming calls. There are 4 (and their resellers, such as this one) based on the Isle of Man, though 3 of those look fairly similar, a couple with Jersey numbers, and some with Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein numbers. Then there are some other SIMs with a choice of landline DID forwarded to them, which don't have free incoming, but are useful for the chance of cheaper calls to people calling you. But I don't suppose I can name them without some ignorant troll saying I'm selling one
I can well understand how this defensive attitude has sprung up - in view of niftylists / telecomforum's past habit of springing on anything that someone deemed to be 'spam'. However, this would be a good opportunity for me to make our own position quite clear.
I have spelled out the forum rules here in
this introduction. Mikael has very kindly allowed us the freedom, both to discuss ANY telephone service, and even to compare them with his own. Contrary to Oron's expectations, I have not had the need to delete posts about competitors' products, new services discovered by members, or indeed any other constructive subject.
Just as I never thought that andy was an employee of O2, neither will I allow him to be falsely accused of selling roaming SIM's - just because he kindly shares his knowledge of them with us.
Indeed I will go further - and request that he now does so.
I have often been frustrated by his opaque references and hints elsewhere, and can see little value in being restricted to such contributions lacking both substance and detail.
So andy, please will you kindly post about what SIM's you do use and recommend, as I suspect that there are several members here who will benefit from your detailed knowledge in this field.
Thank you.