Doug Johnson

We offer next business day shipping anywhere in North America, so if you place an order by 3:00 p.m. we can deliver before 10:30 a.m. next day. (And if you place an order between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. we can't guaranty we'll get it to you in time, but our Customer Service team works very hard and almost always satisfies last minute requests. In fact, I've seen them running down the hall at 5:15 pm with freshly activated SIMS as the courier is trying to leave.)

A few people stop by our office on the way to the airport, but that only works during the week and obviously if you're in the same city as us.

Sounds like you're flying out on a Sunday. Sorry I couldn't help more. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip.

(I should mention we also offer some cool business solutions. We can provide a pool of active SIMs so employees can grab one any time they are called away on a last minute flight. If you're traveling on business, that could help you next time. )

mnscout

Hey Doug.

I noticed on your website, the minimum airtime package is $45. I'm going to Cancun in December for just 4 days and won't possibly be able to use up all that time. Do you sell them in lower denominations or do you know if I'll be able to refill locally from Moviestar? Other than that I'd be happy to take you up on your kind offer if it's still available. Thanks.

Doug Johnson

Thanks for your question. Our cards are post paid. You only pay for what you use. Our rate for phoning the US is 39 cent a minute. So if you make one phone call for ten minutes, the cost is only $3.90.

(The air time credits allow you to save an additional amount if you pay in advance. So the initial package allows you to save $5 on 128 minutes of calls. Your 129th minute - and every one over that - is still .39.)

One of the things I'm wondering is if the air time credits are confusing and maybe we should stop offering them. I'd appreciate your opinion. (And anyone else's.) Would it be simpler if we didn't offer them. Or do you like the idea of extra saving, but just think that I should I rewrite the website to explain the option more clearly.

Hope that helps MN. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. If you do try the card, please let everyone know what you think.

mnscout

Oh, OK, so one is billed after the call is made! How exactly does it work? Does one link it to a credit card or is there another way? I guess it is a little confusing, even though your website clearly states that it's postpaid. Maybe that's because I have an attention span of a 5-yr old, but so do many other consumers from what I hear. Thanks for your quick response.

Doug Johnson

Billing is pretty straight forward and most people seem to like the system. When you sign up for the SIM card, you enter your credit card. We store it secured and encrypted. Once a month we bill your card for what you used. You can log in and see all your calls, texts, any data usage, line item charges and total charges.

mnscout

Doug, if you still visit this thread I tried to place the 2-day order yesterday, but received the email requesting a photocopy of my ID. Now, that request made me scratch my head because in all my years of placing internet orders I have never been asked to do anything like that. What does that all mean? Thanks.

Doug Johnson

I'm still here. As long as I'm with Brightroam.com I'll be here. (I've already learned a lot from everyone who has reached out. The forum is learning a lot about post paid SIMs.)

With post paid, you never need to "top up." You can phone America as much as you like for .39 a minute. Because of that, we intervene any time we see unexpectedly high usage and we are extremely security conscious of credit cards. Much more security conscious than an etailer who is sending you - for example - a $20 item. I can't publicly comment on any individuals account, but if - for example - even one letter in an address is accidentally mistyped we won't activate the SIM and will confirm the identity of the individual. (I'm sure everyone can understand why a company in the Mexican SIM card business needs to be more concerned about identity theft than the average online company.)

I looked at the automated email we sent you. The wording isn't as friendly as it should be. It's not crystal clear that problem is almost certainly relatively minor and that we should be able to clear it up quickly. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I'm going to rewrite the email. I will also take a look at all the automated emails we send out and see if they can be improved.

Hopefully, the real-life human being who contacted you did a better job of explaining the issue and resolving things to your satisfaction. If not, please let me know.

Doug

mnscout

Doug, thanks for your response. I've already cleared this matter with Kellie S. (who by the way is wonderful!). I believe what caused the confusion in the first place was that I accidentally put the name of my business in my home address. So it was probably my mistake after all--nothing to worry about on your end.

I'm looking forward to using your product, and I will make sure to report how it's worked out for me in Mexico. Thanks again.

Doug Johnson

Thanks. Kellie is wonderful. I let her know you said so. Have a great trip.

Michel1957

Doug

I'm Canadian and what I'm really interested in is micro-sim card for my IPhone 4 with a good data and txt plan. I don't need to make phone call nor receive any. When/if you guys offer this let me know. I'm sure lots of IPhone owners would love something similar.

Doug Johnson

Hi Michel:

I just put a little info on the site about Rogers roaming rates in Mexico that might be of interest to Canadians. Interesting thing about MicroSIMs is that almost any SIM can be turned into an iPhone/iPad ready SIM. But it is very hard to do yourself. We have a little machine that cuts our SIMs. The machine is not expensive so just about everyone who sells SIMs should be able to provide a microSIM.

Your note couldn't have come at a better time. We were just discussing today whether or not we should offer a text package. (In most countries, including Mexico, incoming text are free.) How many outgoing text would you like to have in a package: 10, 25, 50, 100, more?

Also, we're trying to get data plans in all countries but some are harder than others. At the moment, our best data plans are in Mexico. (Or they will be when the holidays are over. One of the first things I'm going to do in the New Year is put the Mexican data plans on line.)

We offer a gigabyte, 3 gigs and a 10 gig plan.(Which is an enormous amount of data.On my next trip to Mexico I think I'm going to try an experiment and see how long it takes to actually use 10 gigs. I'm going to upload a bunch of photos to Facebook and try watching some ESPN highlights on the beach.)

If you send me a private message I'll send you pricing info. Also let me know when you're leaving. If I have a little too much Christmas turkey and am a little slow updating the website, I can still manually add a data plan for you.

Sherifftruman

Doug,

Sent a PM. I would also be interested in seeing your data costs for a SIM for my iPad. I'll be traveling to the Cancun area in about 16 days for a week.

Doug Johnson

Thanks for your PM Lee. (Sorry I'm a little slow responding. I was at the dentist when it came in, but I'm happy to help now.) I'll address the timing of your trip in a PM, but since I've received a couple of pricing questions, I'll share the answers with the community. (This is pricing for Jan, 2011, taken from the websites of different companies. Of course, it may change.)

The largest US cell company - at their standard roaming rate - charges $15, 669.64 for 3Gs of data in Mexico. (For Michel and other Canadians, the largest Canuck carrier would charge $94,371.84.)

The largest US carrier carrier does offer three Mexican data plans:

$30.00 Monthly Access: 50MB ($.005/KB or $5.12/MB after allowance)
$75.00 Monthly Access: 150MB ($.005/KB or $5.12/MB after allowance)
$125.00 Monthly Access: 300MB


We offer 3 GBS (or 3,000 MBs to make the comparison a little easier) for $59 a month.

Also, I've noticed there are a few companies out there charging extra for a Microsim for iPhones and iPad. I expect those charges will disappear, because there is no signifigant extra cost for providing a microsim, but until they do, in my opinion, there is no reason that you should be paying extra for one.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

- Doug

JDiver

In Mexico, Telcel has the broadest coverage - typical GSM SIM chips, worldwide standard. See more about Telcel here - it is a monopoly, and the owner is the richest man in the world (Carlos Slim), so it does work.

My family in Mexico tell me to not expect Sterling customer service, but expect the ubiquitous Telcel to work in most of Mexico.

drudell

My wife and I are from Canada and planning an extended driving trip down the eastern US coast, across and down through Texas (about 2 weeks), then into Mexico. Mexico for about a month, then back into US at Las Vegas, then follow Route 66 to Chicago (another 2 weeks), then back to Canada. 2 months in all.
I would like to be able to use my phone on the trip, for phone, text, AND data. It is a HTC Sensation, currently with VirginMobile (Canada). Looking into getting it unlocked.
Can you please offer advice as to what would be the most economical way to accomplish this.
PS Doug - I tried to PM you, but I don't know if it went through or not.