FAQ

What is EcoSIM Service?

It is a Prepaid SIM Card service that is specially designed for use by the international traveler. It offers the advantage of low-cost per minute rates for calling any fixed line or mobile number anywhere without the exorbitant roaming charges that are ordinarily imposed on calls made from a roaming handset. It is a service supported by best-of-class tier-1 GSM operators offering high-quality reliable services. With EcoSIM you have all the standard GSM services including SMS and GPRS. There is no significant delay or inconvenience in the use of EcoSIM to make a call. Receiving a call by the EcoSIM is exactly the same as with a regular GSM SIM card; the important difference is that with EcoSIM you achieve great savings.

How does the EcoSIM service work?

When you dial a telephone number from a roaming GSM handset equipped with EcoSIM and press SEND, the EcoSIM signals its home GSM operator (i.e. the operator that issues the EcoSIM) to do the following:

(a) to call back the roaming GSM handset to the telephone number that is assigned to the roaming GSM handset by the foreign (local) GSM operator of the GSM network servicing the GSM handset

(b) to call the destination number that you have dialed

and then bridge (or connect) the 2 calls (a) and (b) to enable you to have conversation with the party at the destination number.

The operation described in (a) and (b) above are transparent to the you, the user, and you do not experience any significant delay in making the call. As the call is dialed by your home GSM operator through its normal high-quality carrier network, you would experience the normal high-quality service.

Download the quick start guide.

Can I do SMS text messaging with the EcoSIM?

Yes. EcoSIM incorporates current advanced SIM technology and supports all standard features of a GSM service.

Is there a charge for receiving an incoming call to the handset equipped with EcoSIM?

There is small charge of US$0.45/minute or less for receiving an incoming call while roaming with EcoSIM in more than 80 of the more than 190 countries (this compares to the US$2.00/minute rate normally charged by your home country GSM operator for receiving a call while roaming); the per minute rates for receiving an incoming call while roaming in the remainder countries are lower by some 50%-65% compared to the normal rates imposed by the home country GSM operator on receiving incoming calls while roaming.

A per minute rate of US$0.45/minute or less applies to receiving calls while roaming with EcoSIM in the following countries:

Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Armenia Australia Azerbaijan Bahrain Barbados Benin Bolivia Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cayman Islands Chad Chile China Congo Democratic Republic Costa Rica Cyprus Denmark Dominica Equatorial Guinea Estonia Faeroe Islands Finland Gabon Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guinea Hong Kong Hungary Iraq Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Latvia Lebanon Liberia Lithuania Malawi Malta Moldova Mongolia Montserrat Mozambique Namibia Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Nigeria Norway Oman Paraguay Poland Portugal Réunion Romania Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and Grenadines Senegal Serbia and Montenegro South Africa Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tanzania Turks and Caicos Islands Uganda United Kingdom Uruguay Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

The per minute rates for receiving calls while roaming in the following countries represent savings of some 65% - 75% compared to the rates charged by your home country GSM operator for receiving calls while roaming:

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Argentina Austria Bahamas Bangladesh Belarus Belgium Belize Bermuda Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Brunei Bulgaria Cambodia Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Colombia Congo Cook Islands Croatia Cuba Czech Republic Djibouti Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji France French Polynesia Gambia Gibraltar Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea-Bissau Guyana Honduras Iceland India Indonesia Iran Israel Jordan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lesotho Libya Liechtenstein Luxembourg Macao Macedonia Madagascar Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritius Mexico Monaco Montenegro Morocco Nepal New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Peru Philippines Puerto Rico Qatar Russian Federation San Marino Satellite Saudi Arabia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Western Samoa

Where can I use the EcoSIM service?

EcoSIM service is designed primarily for use by the business traveler. You can use the EcoSIM service when you are in any of the following countries:

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Congo Congo Democratic Republic Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Réunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and Grenadines San Marino Satellite Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Western Samoa Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

What are the service features of EcoSIM service and the benefits it offers to the user?

Standard Features

• Easy and simple to use
• Receive roaming calls at less than US$0.45//minute in more than 80 countries
• Coverage and low-rates in  more than 190 countries
• Save up to 85% on your roaming calls
• Free incoming SMS
• Your personal Global GSM Number (+1-647-XXX-XXXX Toronto Canada)
• Caller to your Global GSM Number pays as little as US$0.05/minute or nothing (if the call originates in Toronto)
• No Line Rental, No Contract
• No initial set-up fees, no commitment
• No set-up charge per call
• Easy, any-time credit top up
• Works in most unlocked GSM phones
• Great facilities for managing roaming usage
  • To purchase additional credit for use with on-line payment through credit cards, Moneybookers and PayPal
  • Call Cost Calculator available on-line at www.EcoSIM.mobi for calculating the per minute rate for calling a certain dialcode for country/city
  • On-line user name & password protected access at www.EcoSIM.mobi to view Call History
  • Prepaid Credit Token of various amounts for charging up the credit balance to cover air-time usage

Optional Feature

Alias personal telephone numbers of your EcoSIM for you to receive calls as local calls in more than 50 countries such as Canada, USA, UAE, France, Singapore, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil etc. Please enquire with our sales representative for a complete list of countries. There are additional charges for the initial set-up, monthly service fee for the Alias and an additional per minute rate charge of US$0.41/minute for receiving calls in any country for this facility.

Benefits

EcoSIM service is high quality GSM service that is provided with GSM carrier services of a well-established GSM operator.

The user simply saves money without having to compromise on service quality expectation.

There are many spin-off benefits that result from the low-cost service. Consider the following:

• User traveling / roaming in the 80+ countries where receiving an incoming call costs less than US$0.45/minute: Business gets better productivity as business issues and problems can be dealt with in a timely fashion without the impediment due to high telephone service cost consideration; relationships are made current and improved with timely telephone communication - again without the impediment due to high telephone service cost consideratio
  
  Outbound calls can also be made at rates that are affordable as they are some 65%-85% lower than the roaming rates that are charged by the home-country GSM operator.
  
  
• The user can access www.EcoSIM.mobi at anytime to view  Call Details Records of his usage and account status with User Name (the EcoSIM Telephone Number) and Password protection.

In a corporation situation, the management can access the facility to view the telephone call activity of the traveling personnel.

In a family situation, the parents or the spouse can also monitor the telephone call activity of their loved ones by simply logging on to www.EcoSIM.mobi as user to view the Call Details Records in real time.

A complete history of telephone call activity is kept in the database of  www.superim.mobi and is available to the authorized user on demand.

• The advantage of the Alias feature

The Alias telephone number is usually a local telephone number of the local telephone exchange. Before the user travels abroad to a country where receiving an incoming call to the EcoSIM is US$0.41/minute or some low affordable rates, he will arrange to forward all calls dialed to his fixed line telephone number and his local mobile number to this Alias. This facility is useful in that it avoids having to require the caller to dial a different number and the call forwarding does not incur any additional per minute cost that is otherwise applicable when calling an international number.

Ecocarrier will hold a call dialed to the Alias number as it comes into Ecocarrier’s service platform (“Leg 1”) without answering the call and then dial out separately to your EcoSIM telephone number (“Leg 2”); when you answer the Leg 2 call,  Ecocarrier ‘s service platform then answers Leg 1 call and bridge Leg 1 and Leg 2 together to allow conversation to take place. Thus no charge is incurred if you are not there to answer the incoming call.

Where can I buy EcoSIM?

EcoSIM and the EcoSIM service are promoted and sold through distributors/resellers in many countries. Please send an email to resellerlisting@EcoSIM.mobi stating your country of residence and we shall have a representative in your country to contact you.

How do I use EcoSIM and EcoSIM service?

EcoSIM service is very easy to use. It takes 3 steps:

• Insert your EcoSIM into your mobile handset.
• Switch on your handset.
  
  Your handset will automatically connect to an available GSM network in the country and it is ready to make call or receive calls through the EcoSIM service.

Can EcoSIM work with any GSM handset?

No. There are a large variety of handsets available worldwide and some handsets do not support EcoSIM's application. Additionally, some approved handsets may have to be SIM unlocked in order to use a different GSM operators' SIM.

Often the best way to determine if the EcoSIM works is to insert the EcoSIM into the handset and see if you receive a call back or alternatively, contact your Sales Agent for advice.

What happens when you make a call?

When you key in the number you wish to call in the dialing format

+<country-code><area-code><local telephone number>

EcoSIM performs its special call routing operation. This operation may cause your handset to display messages such as "number not allowed", "blocked call", "invalid number" perhaps followed by "sending message". These messages are the GSM handset's response to EcoSIM's call routing requests and are normal, and you should disregard these displayed messages.

If you are using an approved GSM handset, you will get a callback call from the home GSM operator, and your GSM handset will ring. You should then press the "Send/Yes" key to answer the incoming call and hear a voice message that tells you to wait for the call to be connected to the party at the destination number.

Does the EcoSIM have an expiration date?

Your EcoSIM will not expire, and the EcoSIM Number will remain active as long as you recharge your card at least once within a 12-month period.

What would cause my approved GSM handset equipped with EcoSIM not be able to automatically connect to an available GSM network?

An approved GSM handset equipped with a EcoSIM will automatically connect to an available GSM network. In some countries where there are more than one available GSM operator that can support the EcoSIM, you may manually select a supporting GSM operator if automatic connection to the default GSM operator is not successful. This can happen if you are in a country where there is more than one roaming agreement with various GSM operators. When you are unable to receive or do not receive a callback call after you have initiated the calling operation, you may manually select another available GSM operator to initiate the calling operation again.

Will I lose the credit in EcoSIM account if I do not use my EcoSIM for an extended period of time?

You will not lose your credit as long as your number is active. You card will remain active for 12 months from the date of the last credit charge-up. If there is no credit charge-up made to your EcoSIM account for a 12-month period, your EcoSIM account will expire, and all your credit balance will then be lost also. 

Each time you do a recharge of credit to your EcoSIM account, the charge-up credit amount is added to the credit balance in your EcoSIM account.

What are the amounts of credit charge up I can make to my EcoSIM account?

The charge-up amount may be US$20, US$50, US$100 or any amount greater than US$100.

Do you offer tokens for charging up the credit for use with EcoSIM?

Yes. We do. You may purchase token of various credit amounts. A token is simply a certain code number relative to a certain credit amount. When you enter the digits of the token ( code number ) into the GSM handset equipped with EcoSIM, the credit amount in the account with EcoSIM service is automatically charged up by the amount of credit of the token and the credit is immediately available for use.

What do I have to do to get to use EcoSIM service?

You have to do the following:

• sign up with your local reseller of EcoSIM service to become a subscriber for EcoSIM service or register on-line at www.EcoSIM.mobi to open a EcoSIM account
• purchase a EcoSIM from the local distributor/reseller
• prepay a credit amount (US$20, US$50, US$100 or more)

Note that EcoSIM is a prepaid service. When there is no credit remaining in your EcoSIM account, you will not be able to make calls using the EcoSIM service. The maximum duration to be allowed for a call, that you want to dial, is calculated, based on the per-minute rate according to the dialed destination number dialed and the available credit in your EcoSIM account, by the EcoSIM system before the call begins.

How can I test out your service quality?

An authorized reseller of EcoSIM service in your local area can give you a demo to show you how the service work and let you experience the high voice quality of the service.

How can I become a reseller of EcoSIM service, and what qualification do I need to have?

To apply to become a reseller of EcoSIM service, write to resellerservices@EcoSIM.mobi and one of our representatives will contact you within the next business day to speak to you about the EcoSIM Reseller Program.

The basic essential qualifications are that 

(a) you have to be able to articulate the concept and the benefits of the EcoSIM service and be able to demonstrate the use of the service and
(b) you have a good business networking in your market

Do you offer private-labelling of the EcoSIM service?

The software that supports the user interface for the EcoSIM service is designed to support private-labelling if required. The decision to offer private-label production of EcoSIM service will depend on the business proposition of the proposing party. EcoSIM supports a 4-level hierarchy or food chain arrangement including 2 levels of resellers. For further details please enquire with a EcoSIM service sales manager.

How does mobile roaming work?

Roaming is defined as the ability for a cellular customer to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services when travelling outside the geographical coverage area of the home network, by means of using a network in the area visited.

Roaming is technically supported by mobility management, authentication and billing procedures. Establishing roaming between network operators is based on - and the commercial terms are contained in - Roaming Agreements. If the network visited is outside the home country, this is known as International Roaming.

GSM Roaming, which involves roaming between GSM networks, offers the convenience of a single number, a single bill and a single phone with worldwide access to over 190 countries. The convenience of GSM Roaming has been a key driver behind the global success of the GSM Platform.

When abroad and "Calling Home"

What actually happens when you "Call Home", and what are you paying for?

1. When abroad and "Calling Home" to a friend, your call is managed by the host operator.
2. The host operator passes the call via 'international transit' to your home operator.
3. Your home operator connects you to your friend's operator and establishes your call.



Who pays for what?

Steps 1 and 2. The host operator charges your home operator a wholesale rate which includes the interconnection costs ("International Transit" and costs for terminating the call) and its own network costs.

What you pay?

Your next bill will include the above charges, plus other costs sustained by your operator (i.e. commercial costs, overhead costs, IT costs), plus a "profit margin" applied by your operator.

When abroad and being called from home

When a friend calls you from your home country, you are charged an international roaming price.

1. A friend calls you on your mobile phone while you're roaming
2. His operator routes the call initially to your home operator (which may or may not be the same)
3. Your home operator forwards the call to the host operator you are currently roaming on in the destination country, via 'international transit'
4. The host operator receives the forwarded call, connects you using its network and establishes your friend's originated call



Who pays for what?

Step 1. Your friend will be charged a normal call by his home operator for calling you.
Steps 2 and 3. Your home operator will charge you a tariff which includes inter alia the international transit fees to forward the call to you in the destination country and the cost for terminating the call on the host network.

Your friend pays the standard national rate (step 1).
You as a roamer pay the above charges (steps 2/3), plus other costs (i.e. commercial costs, overhead costs, IT costs), plus any additional charge to provide a reasonable return on investment by your home operator.