[seasonedtraveller]

Fed up of being fleeced for data every time I traveled, I recently purchased a ‘WorldSim’ from the same named company.

A warning to others, it has simply not worked for me in several countries (the phone has worked, the data not) and their so called ‘customer service’ is beyond a joke.

1 – Spent an hour chatting on-line to their help desk without result. They had to email me from their tech team.
2 – The advice I received from the tech team was exactly what I had already told them I had done in the first place.
3 – Emails go unanswered.
4 – Called the ’24 hour help line’ (chargeable) and gave up after waiting for 35 mins the first time and 43 mins the second time to talk with somebody.

Based on my experience, I can not recommend WorldSim to anyone.
It’s been a waste of money, time & resource.
ST

[SimonS1]

Sad that these shabby operators carry on like this.

I haven’t really found a suitable solution to the data issue beyond a bag of local SIM cards.

[FDOS_UK]

Thanks for the heads up and sorry you had such a lousy experience.

[MartynSinclair]

Not sure if this was the same company, but I listened to a presentation by a “world sim” company who promised me the world (literally), but came up with ‘jack sh*t’ – as they forget to tell me they would only do business with a Limited Company.

I am now finding though, the availability of free data when overseas increases with every trip.

In Europe – I have a data/call allowance within my contract
USA – calls included within my allowance – free data available sufficiently
Far East – many hotels in the region provide free mobiles for local calls and data – hotspots and free wifi available in most restaurants and cafes

I tend to buy data, when I am sitting on an aircraft before take off, realising I have missed one email / WhatsApp message, or when in a taxi / car for longer than an hour and I have nothing better to do than check mail/messages. More and more taxis now have free wifi..

The other option which always available is if I am with a local colleague or friend with a large data allowance, ask them to create a hotspot for me from there phone..

The only local sim I now have is for Thailand and that’s only for voice…

[FaroFlyer]

I sympathise. I dropped WorldSIM a couple of years ago and now use Truphone.com, who I found to be responsive when I had a problem. You can have your UK number transferred and can also have a US number, or Oz, if you want.

I do not use it for data, relying instead on hotels, lounges or service stations. Even McDonalds in Paris! For phone I find it very cost effective in Europe, USA and China / HK. A friend of mine in HK saved USD2,500 a year!

Hope this helps

[ASEANTraveller]

I have also been using Truphone for the last 3 years or so. Have both my HKG and UK numbers on the same SIM which removes the hassle of swapping over SIMs or carrying multiple phones. So far it has worked very well and with something like 60 “on-net” countries (US, essentially the whole of Europe, Oz and the main Asian countries), I rarely incur charges beyond my monthly allowance despite using it for both voice and data.

Couple of things to bear in mind though:
– it is not cheap (approx GBP 70 for 1,000 mins and 1GB of data)
– it may only be available to companies and not individuals (but this may have changed and/or be dependent on country of subscription)
– the company continues to post losses, and despite Abramovich being a major shareholder, I wonder whether one day soon it will close shop

For the moment though I am overall a happy customer.

[FaroFlyer]

Truphone is available to individuals, either contract or PAYG. I am PAYG as I use Skype for most of my telephony.

The only Country where I have found it to be expensive is South Africa, but that may change.

[LuganoPirate]

These high data charges bug me tremendously. I keep am old phone and put in a locally bought SIM card and just give myself a hotspot. This way I can carry on with my own phone for What’sApp/Skype etc. If I need to make a call not using those means then I just use the locally bought SIM and my old phone. Works perfectly and for a fraction of the cost.

[seasonedtraveller]

Problem is that in India and China I’ve not been able to buy a local sim because (apparently) it’s not allowed.
I’ve been able to buy local in Sri Lanka, Thai, Philippines and Cambodia however.
My main issues are India and China.

[FaroFlyer]

Hi seasoned traveller. You can certainly buy China SIM cards online. If you buy through Amazon it is a little more expensive than buying elsewhere online, but through Amazon the seller will activate the SIM remotely, so you know the number before you leave.

For other online you must wait until you land, but it is easy to then activate. The company that I used last time, November, had a China & a HK number on one SIM, which was useful for me.

[Offshore_Chef]

My UK phone is on 3 network which allows you to use your phone as normal in lots of countries without roaming charges.

[seasonedtraveller]

[quote quote=794753]My UK phone is on 3 network which allows you to use your phone as normal in lots of countries without roaming charges.

[/quote]

Yes, I’m also with ‘3’ – there is no allowance for Asia Countries however.

[Charles-P]

The reputation of WorldSim does seem to be very poor. There is a Dutch language business site here in Belgium which did an article on them last year which basically boiled down to, “don’t use them”. when I retired I transferred from the company plan to a private plan via Orange Belgium that lists data prices for every country, that has been quite fair so far including some trips to Singapore, India and Sri Lanka I have taken.

[seasonedtraveller]

[quote quote=794751]Hi seasoned traveller. You can certainly buy China SIM cards online. If you buy through Amazon it is a little more expensive than buying elsewhere online, but through Amazon the seller will activate the SIM remotely, so you know the number before you leave.

For other online you must wait until you land, but it is easy to then activate. The company that I used last time, November, had a China & a HK number on one SIM, which was useful for me.

[/quote]

Very useful to know FF – thank you for this info – I will look into it.

For the record, Once my credit with WorldSim runs out, I will not be spending any more with them.

[seasonedtraveller]

90mins online chat with a technician who finally decided to inform me that my SIM card had “the wrong profile” and that’s why it didn’t work!
But then he was gone, lost somewhere in cyberspace and no amount of trying could fetch him back..,,

Well I’m done with WorldSim, no use to me.

[Author]

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