My Adventures with Toggle Mobile (Mostly Good)
 

I bought a Toggle Mobile SIM for a recent trip to Spain. My plan was to use it for voice only, as I had a different phone and SIM I was planning on using for data.

I tested it before I left the US. I was able to receive free incoming call in the US on either the UK or Spanish number.

Interestingly, when you go online to add the non-UK numbers, it tells you to have your phone on. The reason is that it adds an IMSI (not sure exactly what that is) that corresponds to your selected country. I received an SMS immediately telling me that my IMSI update had been successful.

When I arrived in Spain, I turned it on, and made a phone call to the US. The call went through - except, instead of being charged the advertised 3p per minutes, I was charged considerably more.

Then followed a number of emails and callbacks from their customer care people. First problem - they are very difficult to understand. They all had very heavy South Asian accents. The were also all wrong. They told me that all I needed to do was to go to the place in the menu where one selects the GSM network and select a Spanish network. The idea that since I was in Spain I had to be on a Spanish network already seemed to be a concept that they did not understand.

I finally figured out the problem myself by accident. I put the SIM into an Android phone from the dumb phone where it had been. There was a SIM menu that showed up among the Android apps. From that menu, I could change the IMSI to Spain. There was a setting called "automatic", but I switched to "manual" and selected Spain. The phone then billed correctly, at 3p for calls to the US, and 3p to European landlines and 9p to European mobiles.

When I took the SIM from the Android phone and put it back in the dumb phone the setting stuck and I could still make calls at the 3p rate.

Fast forwarding a bit, we had a connection in AMS on the way back. I went online and updated with a Netherlands phone number. I switched the menu back to automatic. When we landed in AMS I was able to make calls at the lower price, so the failure to automatically select the Spanish IMSI in Spain might have been a fluke.

After the original hiccup, things were great. Outgoing and incoming calls were fine, and you can't beat 3p per minute to call the US from a European mobile phone.

For incoming calls, I forwarded my Sprint/Google Voice number to a number I have at localphone.com, which then forwarded to the Spanish Toggle number, at 8.9 US cents per minute.

So, all in all, I can recommend the SIM for travelling in the countries where they have local service. The rates for voice calls will in many cases be lower than what you could obtain with a local SIM. When comparing rates, it is important to note that unlike many discount MVNOs in Europe (including Lycamobile, which owns Toggle) there is no per call connection charge in addition to the per minute charge - a one minute call to the US will cost 3p.

I believe that Toggle will ship to the US (I bought mine from an ebay seller due to time constraints). The pricing seems to be £ value + £5.

If you order, make sure that you are ordering the UK card. There is a Dutch version which has less favorable rates.

How were you able to register the SIM on their website, as when I tried to register using my home address I couldn't do so, since it only accepted a UK address. If not registered you get their global number, which would have cost me 48 pence per minute for UK calls while there, and not the 3 pence for getting the UK number when registered.

So far, and after lots of emailing back and forth (with a different person replying each time), it's been a hassle trying to set up their SIM prior to traveling so as to get the good rates. And while their website seems to be in the UK, their customer service is not, IMO.

bj-21.

Are you on the Toggle UK site (as opposed to the "nl" site)?

I don't recall having a problem registering with my US address. If I go the the website now and log in, my US address is listed under personal details. Under "Your Address" there is a drop down menu with one of those A to Z lists of countries beginning with Afghanistan and including the US.

They seem to fairly responsive to problems raised on their Facebook site so you might want to try that.

I used the UK website. Saw the country dropdown and clicked on it yet it still won't let me show my home address to complete the registration and set up a login and password. Since I won't use Facebook, that limits me to emails to try to find a solution that works. And they already have my home address on record, as they mailed a SIM to me. Still can't get their website to register my home address and not being able to do so stops me from getting the UK number I need for the lower rates.

Did you buy the topups from their website or from a retailer either at the airport or locally when you arrived?

bj-21.

Not quite sure where/how it is hanging up. There are fields on mine for entry of the address info where I can put in whatever address I want.


Perhaps you should just register with some address that works, even if it is of a hotel or fictitious. Probably doesn't matter what address you use. Also, it appears that I can change my address if I want, so you are not necessarily stuck with your first address registered.

I bought credit online. Don't know if you can buy credit at retail in the UK, certainly would not have been possible in Spain (not for sale anywhere that I saw.)

Tried first with my home address in Canada, then after no success tried using the hotel address in the UK where we'll be staying. Website didn't recognize the postal code for the UK address of the hotel (London), so got stymied there too. I'll try again later tonight to see if it works, but after many attempts I'm not encouraged so far.

Thanks for the quick replies.

bj-21.

Just went to the place o the Toggle site where I activated the Spanish and Dutch numbers. There is no UK option on the dropdown menu.

I suspect that there is no ability to choose a UK number because you get a UK number by default - and presumably the 3p per minute rate as well by default.

From their emailed replies to me, you have to first register in order to get a UK phone number (or other country's number from their list) as the number that comes up when you first put in the SIM is their "global number" which doesn't get the low rate on calls. I saw the UK listed in their dropdown list to register, as was Canada listed, but that's as far as I could go, as I couldn't get them to accept either a Canadian or UK address on the website so I could register and then choose which country (UK in this case) I'd use the phone. Fine if the UK is the default number after registering, but the global number that first comes up before registering isn't the one that gets the 3 pence per call. So one must register, which gets the default UK number, or then choose another country from their list. That's probably why the UK doesn't show up on the country list dropdown to choose from after registering, as it's the default number already once you've registered.

bj-21.

I've been unable to purchase the SIM card - have tried on two different days with two different US credit cards (four in all) and all have been rejected. Very annoying.

Same problem here. Just ordered one on eBay.

Are there any similar call forwarding like localphone.com or flynumber.com which has a free forwarding number?

I have been using localphone.com for several years. Not aware of any other one.

Callcentric gives away NY numbers which can be forwarded abroad. The per minute is higher than localphone.

Thanks - didn't realize they were available there.

They are standard SIM cards, and ebay seller is cutting it to Micro size for me.

I tried ordering a card last night for a friend - ran up against the same brick wall, wouldn't take any of my US cards.

I wrote their customer service an email, and they immediately offered to send me a card for free (presumably with no credit on the card.)

I would like this company to succeed, because they have a great service. While they are not there on data yet, their prices for voice in many cases are (much) cheaper than a local SIM card. So let's all be nice Flyertalkers and only write to their customer service if we've tried ordering online first and the order was rejected.

Thanks. Ill take a look into it.

They now have updated their website and it is now clear that you do not need to register for UK travel (as the global number is the UK number):

If travelling to any of the toggle mobile countries excluding the UK make sure you register for that country before you travel, to do so just login into your account and click “Register Local Number”, then follow the steps on the screen. You will automatically receive a local country number and benefit from the toggle countries local rates. (SIM must be inserted into the phone and have network signal)

Activating outside Europe?
 

Got my card today 11 days after ordering. Do I need to actually activate the SIM in Europe or can it be done in North America?

My understanding you need to register your sim card number online then you can choose a local number for 30 days of the country you are planning to visit.

It can be done in North America. It takes a couple of minutes for the SIM to figure out that it can actually roam on T-Mobile (and I presume AT&T).

Also, even though buying a new SIM can't use Paypal, reloading can use it just fine - I added 10 GBP to my account to make sure I could do it.

Just tried it. Won't work in Canada. So I assume it hasn't been activated which is good as I won't be in Europe for another few months. Would it be a problem if I first activate it in the NL (layover in AMS) before I use it in Austria, Italy and France?

I also plan on being in France for an extended period. Will the French number expire after 30 days and if so, do I just renew it or get a new one?

Note that although you can use the SIM in Austria and Italy, you cannot get local numbers there, and outgoing calls are 28p within the EU and £1.02 to North America.

You should be able to activate and use in NL.

Supposedly the French number will disappear after 30 days,I believe you can just get another one at that point. If it is important to you to keep the same number, you can pay £5 and keep the number for a year.

Note that your caller ID will always show the UK number.

Were you able to use a Canadian credit card to order the SIM?

Thanks for the heads up. Probably won't need to make calls the 1st 2 weeks but nice to be able to get incoming ones free.

Thanks again for that. So I just turn on the phone and let it do its usual thing and then get the phone number?

And again, one needs the local in-country number to get the in-country rates?

Yes, transaction went through with no problems.

I have seen reports that the SIM will not work at all in the TOGGLE countries if you don't first get a local number before entering that country. So, you should at least go online, register, and get yourself an NL number before leaving. If you could log into a mobile network in Canada, your SIM would get an IMSI update and you should be good to go in NL.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by activation, now that I think of it. I turned it on and added some money to it online and it worked. The one that I have had a phone number already assigned, both on the SIM card holder, as well as on the back of the package. Do you have a number already?

I would also suspect that if you work at it you will be able to get onto a network in Canada. You would need to go to the place where you select networks in your phone. First choose automatic selection and leave the phone for half an hour and see if it registers with a GSM/UMTS network. If that doesn't work, you can select each network manually - from what I read you may have to select a network 4 times on some occasions because of roaming steering (the home carrier trying to push you to a particular roaming carrier.)

Apparently the roaming IMSI is from Vodafone NL, which is how the Canadian networks will see the SIM.

I am thinking of getting a Toggle mobile number as I travel to the US a lot and having a local number there helps (I will likely pay the £5 per year to retain it).

A couple of questions:

1) I am mostly in CA and would prefer a 408 area code - is there a choice of area code?
2) If the caller id shows my UK number when I call them when I am in the US, and they then store it on their phone then it seems to me that unless they edit their contacts that they will be calling my UK number - is that correct? ie. they will not see my local US number unless I explicitly give it to them ?

Don't know the answers to your questions, but area codes are becoming less and less important. Virtually all mobile plans in the US incur no long distance fees, as do most landline plans.

If it shows your UK number when you call their latching system, once again, isn't working properly, and you are most likely being charged a ridiculous amount compared to what they advertise. Might wanna check your bill.

I haven't got it. It was one of my questions before I do.

I was not offered a choice of Area Code. Mine ended up as a New Jersey code, yuk. I agree with the comment upthread that AC doesn't matter much any more unless you are using a landline.

When I use the USA number in the USA I am on T Mobile and the receiving phone sees my USA number. To be safe I would txt your USA number to your friends and have them put that in their contacts.

Here is my post about my recent adventures with Toggle

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22001841-post153.html

Do you have to pay for incoming SMS/texts on your "local number" ? If it is on their site I cannot find it.

Incoming SMS are free to receive

Thanks, I think I shall go for a speculative £25 on them and see how they work out.

I have used Toggle mobile on several trips in the past 6 months. Love the ability to receive free phone calls in 20 countries on my UK, German or US local number.

Like others, I had no choice in area code when requesting a local number in the USA (or France). Off the top of my head, I don't even know what it is. I would have to get the phone to take a look or log into my account. And then, I would have to look up that area code to see where it is.

But I only registered for a USA number just so I could keep the phone going until I get back to the UK. I know it will expire in a little, but that's no big deal as it appears there are no issues requesting a USA number while in the USA. (that's how I did. I didn't request it prior to leaning London). I can just re-register for a new number so I can spend the least amount of money to keep my account alive.

Also, when I called my main work mobile number, the phone number DID come across as that USA number and not the UK number. Not sure why it works differently in the USA vs when I was in France (call made from there showed up as the main UK number like I was expecting it to based on everything I had read)

I have ordered one, will not be using it until Jan/Feb in the US, so will see what happens ad report back.

So, Toggle SIM arrived and it is in the phone, and I have registered for a local USA number using their website. US number is assigned. However, I am a bit disappointed with whatever the rate is likely to be as I have had 3 different variations:

From the website:
Landline/mobile 3p/min, SMS 7p/sms, data 15p/mb
On the Register local number page:
Landline/mobile 3p/min, SMS 9p/sms, data 15p/mb
On the Welcome text:
Landline/mobile 9p/min, SMS 7p/sms, data 15p/mb
On the pamphlet they send (and which I just bothered to read!):
Landline/mobile 3p/min, SMS 7p/sms, data 15p/mb

I don't like discrepancies like this as it just seems amateurish. Unless I am misunderstanding something of course.

Apart from that, the rest of the process is pretty good thus far.

Welcome to the challenging world of the Toggle customer, where communication is a dark art. You can find your actual rates on the My Toggle page. I just used my SIMs a couple of days ago to keep the accounts alive and verified that I was charged £0.03/min to call a US number.

Yup. Challenging is a good way to describe being a Toggle customer. I just spent the better part of 2 weeks attempting to get a US number and have the SIM latch to a US network to keep my Toggle SIM and credit alive. The entire process seemed like a black box, and I'm honestly still not sure what magical combination I finally used to get it to work!

Did you read the How to Use entry, "How do I latch SIM when I don't have signal?" I read every one of the FAQs but none of them answer the question "what does 'latch sim' mean?"