MaxRoam MVNE Number 2 Bagged

Having provided the SIM platform for Dopplr last month, MaxRoam have now enabled a new travel SIM play in Australia : Roaming SIM.

Platforms are the powerplay right now. What MaxRoam have realised is the basic principle of being an enabler - they have a technology, but that on it's own is just one part of a bigger picture. The marketing, especially in different countries, requires local expertise, knowledge and channels. That's really expensive to do yourself (and time consuming). So open up your platform to white-labellers who don't want to bother with the technology and just want to market to those channels. The sales guys. The people that take technology and turn it into money.

The competition will eventually be on their heels, but that's the best place for them to be from MaxRoams point of view (and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery at the end of the day).

MaxRoam clearly want to be always chased but never caught (the classic innovator strategy), and they're building up a lead right now in order to achieve that.

Reply from ianplain on Feb 21, 2009 - 05:22 PM

Is the market for Roaming Sims really there ?

Lets be honest, 99% of business users just use the normal sim or sign up to a roaming rate from their supplier. In Business its just seen as a normal expense and not even a big one at that.

This may explain why Maxroam sims are languishing in the bargain bins with the out of date batteries in the last 2 Maplin stores I went in.

Ian

Reply from ralphrmartin on Feb 23, 2009 - 11:49 AM

I just use a different SIM for any country I am visiting. That's what's really needed - a little doodah that figures out "if I am connected to this network, use this SIM", and a way of stuffing it, and multiple SIMS, all into the phone...

Reply from andyk on Apr 08, 2009 - 10:04 AM

I don't agree that this market is dead as said above, though all the global SIMs will be finding it trickier against for example the Eurotariff and the British networks undercutting even that.

And there is still innovation to come. Some global SIM providers are about to launch dual-IMSI SIMs with very cheap (even free) roaming in USA.

Meanwhile, Maxroam have switched to a different platform, using different SIM cards, and perhaps new call forwarding DID arrangements.

Reply from martyndavies on Apr 08, 2009 - 11:15 AM

Quote:

I just use a different SIM for any country I am visiting. That's what's really needed - a little doodah that figures out "if I am connected to this network, use this SIM", and a way of stuffing it, and multiple SIMS, all into the phone...

I've used this approach too, although changing SIMs is a pain in the butt. Often the handsets are designed to make SIM changing hard, e.g. you have to take the battery out too, or the SIM is wedged under a little panel so that it's hard to grab the SIM. I remember my Palm Treo just had a little lift-out drawer at the top of the handset, but most recent handsets I've seen need you at least to pull the back off.

As for dual-SIM phones, that's a very convenient route for the user, which is probably why most networks don't support the idea. Dean Bubley recently wrote about dual SIM devices, effectively posing the question: "if there are 200 million made each year, where are they all?".

Reply from andyk on Apr 28, 2009 - 11:10 AM

Quote:

Meanwhile, Maxroam have switched to a different platform, using different SIM cards, and perhaps new call forwarding DID arrangements.

The SIM itself has a Belgian mobile number

I understand that 2 months into the upgrade process, there are no DIDs available (though a handful of +1567 Toledo Ohio numbers appeared briefly last week), whether the first free number of the user's own country, or any optional additional ones, and that Maxroam are unable to forecast availability

This is a pity, as it has been one of the strong selling points of Maxroam in the past.

Call forwarding does not work from logged in to the account. I don't know if the SIM itself supports forwarding, but a risk of this is that forwarding would constitute incoming plus outgoing roaming call. I don't know if anyone has checked this

The call records are incomplete for some customers; the credit balance does not appear in the online account details, but can be obtained by sending an sms from the SIM.

The online sms service does not seem to work


Maxroam has announced a tie-up with another provider, Qik which seems to specialise in video calling, and will promote the SIMs to their customers.

I don't know how good Qik codecs are, but with 100 KB charging steps and roaming data rates of €3.50 to €19.20 per megabyte, more than many main networks in some places, their customers might be well advised to use some caution

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