Telecom Roaming help desk and Telecom SIM cards

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freitasm

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# 21564 30-Apr-2008 19:59

I just had a bit of a hard time trying to activate a Telecom SIM card for my mother-in-law.

The idea is that she would use one of my unlocked GSM handsets while overseas, and use a Telecom SIM card to keep receiving calls.

So she got one from the local store, after much talk - the local store didn't want to part with a SIM card without selling a phone.

Once here, I called the Telecom Roaming Help Desk to activate it - associate with her account.

The lady was really nice but she kept asking what was the number on the phone where the Telecom SIM card was to be used - and I kept saying there isn't any number on the phone since it's a GSM handset and there's no SIM card in it...

She insisted that I had to supply the old number and I kept saying no, there isn't an old number. After about ten minutes she talked to someone else, and activated the card.

By the way, the booklet accompanying the SIM card says on the last page:

"Your Telecom SIM card can be used exclusivelt in your WorldMode phone or in other SIM-enabled handsets as long as you have a Telecom post paid account.

Telecom SIM cards cannot be used in SIM-locked GSM handsets."

A bit more training on "GSM" please...

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cokemaster

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# 127398 30-Apr-2008 21:22

I had no issues here activating the SIM cards (both were pre-activated though), but when I arrived in China things started going wrong.

My blackberry was working fine - made outbound calls and sms. Blackberry data worked as expected.
My loan phone was able to make outbound calls and sms. Standard data worked fine.
My CDMA roamer phone didn't work at all.

I found that the first two devices weren't getting inbound calls or sms. Was quite frustrating because I didn't know till someone emailed me and then I tried calling each others devices and got put through to voicemail. I sent a few messages to people asking if they were ignoring me.... but the reality was that the sms weren't being delivered.

The IRhelpdesk were very helpful at fixing this fault and it was a great touch having the IR helpdesk number on the SIM card, both in the address book and printed on the card. A nice touch was that they weren't going to charge me for the calls to the IR helpdesk.

The CDMA roamer unfortunately is still not working despite a fault being logged. Calls to it still go to voicemail and I'm unable to make calls from it. My parents who use the device are heading back to New Zealand this Friday so even if it is fixed, its really too late.

Overall a positive experience, except for the issue occuring in the first place for the GSM/Worldmode devices... a poor one for the CDMA roamer device.

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nzbnw

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# 127410 30-Apr-2008 22:11

Usually you need to have a Telecom Mobile Number that is on account before you can activate a Telecom SIM Card, so not sure exactly how you managed that one.

Also, stores do not as a rule give out SIM Cards; they only come pre packaged with Worldmode devices. However the IRHD can however arrange delivery of a SIM Card to a customer with a CDMA device and an unlocked GSM Handset.

Cokemaster, did you dial *22800 before you left NZ on your CDMA device?

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# 127422 30-Apr-2008 22:48

nzbnw: Usually you need to have a Telecom Mobile Number that is on account before you can activate a Telecom SIM Card, so not sure exactly how you managed that one.

Why did you assume I was trying to activate a Telecom SIM card without a Telecom account? My mother-in-law has an on account Telecom mobile number. That's how I "managed that one".

I called the Roaming Help Desk. Quoted my mother-in-law's Telecom mobile number and the SIM Card number. Asked to have it activated so she could use it on a GSM handset while overseas.

The CSR, although helpful, insisted for ten minutes that she needed to know what number the GSM handset had before - and I told her for then minutes the handset had no number since there was no SIM card in it.

After explaining three times that a GSM handset does not have a number, but the SIM does, she talked to someone, came back and activated it.

I was always under the impression, reinforced by the words in the booklet, that I can use the Telecom SIM cards with any unlocked GSM handset. Some people don't know about that.

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nzbnw

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# 127425 30-Apr-2008 22:57

It was your choice of wording for this that threw me

I kept saying there isn't any number on the phone since it's a GSM handset and there's no SIM card in it...

I think it's just a case of a misunderstanding, but you got there in the end! What I believe the IRHD wanted was the post-paid mobile number, although I’m sure you told them that.

You are correct through, you can use any unlocked GSM device with a Telecom SIM.

nzbnw

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# 127426 30-Apr-2008 23:00

nzbnw:
Cokemaster, did you dial *22800 before you left NZ on your CDMA device?
nzbnw

Yes, the IR helpdesk confirmed it was the right version. They had made a case but never got back to me.

Edit: this is going off topic.

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freitasm

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# 127454 1-May-2008 08:27

nzbnw: What I believe the IRHD wanted was the post-paid mobile number, although I’m sure you told them that.
nzbnw

She was asking for what number was in my GSM handset before - like you would ask on a ESN swap. The call was like this:

- Hi I want to activate a TNZ SIM card
- Ok, what mobile number and SIM card number?
- [mobile phone number] [very long SIM card number]
- What's the old number on the phone?

She kept going back to that question. I kept saying there wasn't an old phone number on that handset because the handset had no SIM card. She kept saying the handset had to have a phone number.

She was always nice though and after a while asked for some time to ask someone else. Then she came back and activated it.

So I am not saying anything bad about her work skills or how the call went. She did well. Just missed a bit of information on how GSM phones work - hence my suggestion for a bit more training for th Roaming Help Desk.

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