Swiss International SIM

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
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I recently purchased Swiss (airlines) international SIM. This is a badged Naka SIM ( https://www.nakamobile.com/ ) with its own tariffs.

It seems pretty sweet, you get UK number, but roaming inwards calls are free in many countries, with callers paying call to UK mobile. Local calls and calls back to Switzerland are pretty cheap to. For South Africa I was paying 0.14c a minute. The data roaming is pretty reasonable too it seems.

However, the Swiss rate card doesnt seem the cheapest Naka tariff (you dont seem to be able to buy direct from them) plus Naka do cards with US numbers, that would likely be generally cheaper for people to call me on. It also doesnt seems to have the VOIP and apps that seem available.

I asked them and they guided me towards www.pilot-com.com but it all looks a bit clunky there. Does anyone know of other, maybe better Naka based offerings?

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I bought one the first day it was offered. . It's a great deal when travelling.

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https://004.chilisim.com/store Vecto

https://005.chilisim.com/store Pilot Call

https://007.chilisim.com/store easySIMcard

https://008.chilisim.com/store hopMobility

https://009.chilisim.com/store ?vyyre.com?

possibly more. I would go with Pilot Call. Just ordered a sim there and will let you know how it went.

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The Swiss card is a white label Chili SIM too, so I guess the service is identical just perhaps the call rates and the account page interface.

5
You're right! The difference is in the call rates and account page interface.

To compare the two nakamobile/chilisim offers:

swissmobile has only one number (+447509... jersey) attached to it. Secondary numbers have been disabled (and fair enough, they are really confusing, which makes customer care more expensive). Outgoing calls are around 0.14 CHF/min. 1Gb data roaming in the EU for 30 days cost 19.90 CHF.

pilot-call also has a jersey number attached as primary number, but an additional number for free ( choice from US, german, spanish or polish number). More than one secondary number costs €1/month. If a secondary number is not used for 30 days it is deactivated. In comparison to Toggle mobile there is an important difference: any secondary number can be set as caller id . The call rates for pilot-call are a bit lower: 0.10 €/min. 1Gb data is more expensive with pilot-call at 27.90 €.

Other than the rates and packages there is really not much difference between the two offers. Even the interface is very very similar. I've tested both extensively and found them quite reliable, good voice quality, no serious problems encountered. I've never tried the swissmobile customer service, so can only say that from my experience pilot-call has a very fast and competent service that took time to answer my questions about the service in detail.

Maybe one more interesting fact: Pilot-call and swissmobile (this feature is not advertised for swissmobile, but it still works!) both come with a SIP account that can be used to make voip calls to mobiles and landlines from your smartphone (using for example sessionchat, zoiper, or any of countless other apps). The login details are your number without the + prefix and the password is your account password. As server you put sip.chilisim.com (both swissmobile and pilot-call and probably all other nakamobile/chilisim offers). Here too is a small difference in call rate: landlines can be called for 0.016 €/min and mobiles for 0.029 €/min. The swissmobile SIP rates are the same, except in chf/min. (The swissmobile SIP rates can be found on their website: they are the same as the forwarding call rates, as forwarding is also done over SIP)

Fazit: if you would like to forward a swiss number to your roaming sim, pilot-call is the better option, as calls to a US mobile are way cheaper than to a Jersey number (with the new SALT prepay it's 3rp/min to forward to US number). If cheaper data roaming is more important to you than swiss mobile is the better option (and don't forget: you can make cheap voip calls over 3G!)

The only thing that's really missing for all nakamobile sims is the swiss number option. Unfortunately this will probably not come very soon either as I was told by customer service, but I don't know the reason.

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Just seeing this, too late to Thank button, but thanks.

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Any idea which one has best roaming data for India?

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why not just get a local SIM with data-package. Once you have the data package ist all good. I use WhatsApp and email for friends - so all good. the number doesnt really matter and you can call locally just fine no?

I just did this for Australia, just got a local SIM..good to go.

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Buy sim in India itself. Normally at international airports you will see telecom operator shops at the exit. It would be better if you carry photocopies of passport/visa and 2-3 photographs. I would recommend telecom operator named "Airtel".

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi..._of_Delhi.html

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If I stay somewhere for >10 days, I buy a local SIM. I need mostly access to Internet and be able to make the odd local call (if that); international calls I could still make via Skype or WhatsApp, though I hardly ever have to.

Have done that in 10+ countries and other than the ridiculously complicated set-up I had to go through in Brazil, it was easy, straightforward, and of course dirt cheap.

If I stay somewhere for less than 10 days, I buy a roaming package on my Swisscom number. Costs 60.- for 1GB pretty much everywhere in the world and I usually don't need more. Many places have semi-solid WiFi these days anyway, though not everywhere of course (come to think of it, South Asia was a bit difficult)

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One problem in India could be that lot of European phones don't have support for frequencies which are used in India to deploy 4G but 2G/3G should not be a problem.

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I have a coop mobile prepaid, works quiet well, and the price drops slightly

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It's a pain in India to get one with bureaucracy and lots of scammers around. I also arrive at the airport at 2 in the night and not sure if anything is going to be open.

I got the Swiss mobile SIM, it's a bit expensive but a lot cheaper than others. I'll just manage data carefully.

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I can use the one SIM card in any country I visit without the hassle of getting yet another SIM card. Plus some countries have annoying identification procedures where you have to prove residence etc (eg like South Africa).

Of course the real solution would be the Swiss MNO dropping their outrageous roaming tariffs.

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The probem with the Swiss Sim is that you have to set it to 3G - It tried to pick up 4G and in Hungary where I tried it it was a pain, wouldn't connect until I set 3G only, afterwards it was fine. Was getting 5 meg download on 3G which was fine.

Since there are no phone charges for incoming calls when roaming I transfer my Swisscom calls to this UK number.

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I'm still getting roaming charges with my UK phone even with Data roaming off.. I think its to do with the 02 contracts.

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Looks like Indian government is addressing sim card problem for foreign tourists. Look at this article from Indian embassy Bern http://indembassybern.ch/eoi.php?id=SIM