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More distribution for a SIM which smashes roaming charges

Mike Butcher

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Mike Butcher is the European Editor for TechCrunch. A former grunge rock drummer, he became a long time journalist, and has since written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. Mike is also a co-founder and shareholder of TechHub, a co-working space/service/community with several locations... → Learn More

Friday, August 14th, 2009
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MAXRoam, the Cubic Telecom-owned property aimed at undermining punitive mobile roaming charges, has sealed a deal with HostelWorld. The new Travelnroam mobile roaming service will carry a branded mobile SIM powered by MAXRoam which will be marketed to the people who book into Hotelworld’s 20,000 hostels and budget hotels in 170 countries every year. It’s a pretty good deal for MAXRoam, which gets even more distribution for its service. Not bad work for two Ireland-based companies.

As with all MAXRoam products, the SIM card lets you make and receive calls, text messages and use data for a much lower cost compared to using a normal network operator abroad. The Cork-based Cubic makes this happens by letting users leverage either Wi-Fi or GSM. A user’s phone switches to the cheapest network depending on where they are.

Now, what we’d like is something which can break the iPhone’s tedious lock-in to network operators like O2. I’ve researched this and it basically comes down to getting an unlocked iPhone from Italy or a similar territory. Then it’s easier to use MAXRoam’s service because you can switch SIMs easily and a call can still reach you, and you can also use data. Maybe the solution is just to dump the iPhone?

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  • http://tom.morr.is Tom

    I had a look at how much it would cost to use 1gigabyte of data in the UK, it worked out to be around £3000.

    To be fair, this is probably more down to local mobile networks charging extortionate amounts, but I can’t wait until there is a solution that enables global data roaming at a reasonable amount.

  • http://www.patphelan.net pat phelan

    Thanks for the mention Mikw
    @tom, getting there, more news on data shortly
    its our most serious focus

  • RoryH

    I assume the reference to Italy is that they sell pre-pay sim free iPhone’s

    Unlocked iPhone’s can be bought in the UK via eBay, at a price though… see ebay item 200356436172

  • http://www.indiacallingcards.in/more-distribution-for-a-sim-which-smashes-roaming-charges-08-calling-cards/ More distribution for a SIM which smashes roaming charges « India Calling Cards

    [...] more: More distribution for a SIM which smashes roaming charges Comments [...]

  • Alex

    I head to Italy in a week and had assumed I’d be able to find a SIM that that could provide data at something approaching a ‘sensible’ price when used in an unlocked dongle…. it turns out there just isn’t anyone focusing on data.

    This is where someone like MAXroam could really shine if they can get the deals in place. In the mean time I’m hoping I’ll be able to pick up a local SIM on a pre-pay tariff.

  • http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/08/17/hey-julie-we-wont-get-great-startups-by-always-being-nice/ Hey Julie, we won’t get great startups by always being nice

    [...] often than not we give new startups a fair fearing. Let’s see now: here’s some good news from MaxRoam, here’s something from iDesktop.tv, here’s a nice write-up about a new [...]

  • http://www.newsjacker.co.uk/media/hey-julie-we-won%e2%80%99t-get-great-startups-by-always-being-nice/ Hey Julie, we won’t get great startups by always being nice 

    [...] often than not we give new startups a fair fearing. Let’s see now: here’s some good news from MaxRoam, here’s something from iDesktop.tv, here’s a nice write-up about a new [...]

  • http://www.mobilitypass.com/ Wolfgang muller

    I somewhere totally agree with what Alex has to say on the matter. This only is the thing where MAXroam can really be bought out in the market at a comparativley higher place.

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