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Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

bbc.com

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Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#11

Post by cr1895 »

PMan74 wrote: post #7
akerro wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe worth looking into how Amazon Kindle solved it years ago? They offered free GSM/3G? access to the internet, something like 150MB/monthly, unlimited access to Wikipedia, in so many countries, basically everywhere.

And car companies presumably have global agreements e.g. I can drive my car across Europe and have all the navigation related stuff continue to work. But easier for Amazon or big car company to broker such an agreement. I think the question is how would Joe Public get something like this.

>I can drive my car across Europe and have all the navigation related stuff continue to work.

Well, since a year or two EU-wide free roaming is a thing.

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#12

Post by Symbiote »

"EcoLogic told the Super Express newspaper that somebody found the tracker in Sudan, removed the sim card and put it in their own phone, where they then racked up 20 hours' worth of phone calls"

So they actually got a huge bill because they didn't set a SIM lock (if that's possible), and didn't block voice calls and so on.

Presumably, they had a good contract for sending tiny packets of data, but not for roaming calls in Sudan.

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#13

Post by lozenge »

reubenmorais wrote: post #2

Only tangentially related to the article, but where/how do researchers get global coverage SIM cards that you can just put on a stork and expect to get data/calling wherever it flies? I've looked for this before but only found what seemed like tourist scams with very high prices per MB/minute.

You can get emergency beacon devices for hiking and sailing that also work globally.

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#14

Post by fyfy18 »

krn wrote: post #8
reubenmorais wrote: post #2

Only tangentially related to the article, but where/how do researchers get global coverage SIM cards that you can just put on a stork and expect to get data/calling wherever it flies? I've looked for this before but only found what seemed like tourist scams with very high prices per MB/minute.

At least in the EU, AldiTalk offers 4G LTE with plans of up to 5.5 GB for 12.99€ / month[1]. I am not sure, though, what is the price per MB when a stork leaves the EU. [1] https://www.alditalk.de/internet-flat-xl

Most, if not all, EU carriers (I assume including this one, but don’t speak German) have a limit of how long you can actually be outside your home country. After that period they either terminate your contract or withdraw the free EU roaming (which is perfectly legal per the regulations).

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#15

Post by xori »

timewarrior wrote: post #6
reubenmorais wrote: post #2

Only tangentially related to the article, but where/how do researchers get global coverage SIM cards that you can just put on a stork and expect to get data/calling wherever it flies? I've looked for this before but only found what seemed like tourist scams with very high prices per MB/minute.

Get GoogleFI - $10/GB worldwide

Only if you live in the US

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#16

Post by estsauver »

reubenmorais wrote: post #2

Only tangentially related to the article, but where/how do researchers get global coverage SIM cards that you can just put on a stork and expect to get data/calling wherever it flies? I've looked for this before but only found what seemed like tourist scams with very high prices per MB/minute.

I believe twilio has a SIM product now. https://www.twilio.com/wireless

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#17

Post by pjc50 »

reubenmorais wrote: post #2

Only tangentially related to the article, but where/how do researchers get global coverage SIM cards that you can just put on a stork and expect to get data/calling wherever it flies? I've looked for this before but only found what seemed like tourist scams with very high prices per MB/minute.

Ideally you'd get a dedicated M2M MVNO operator who'll sell you a whole stack of them. If you just want one, you'll have to do a lot of price comparison; Three UK have some nice deals where you can use inclusive minutes/data in some non-EU countries as well as the standard EU free roaming.

Re: Polish charity gets huge phone bill thanks to stork

#19

Post by owenversteeg »

estsauver wrote: post #16
reubenmorais wrote: post #2

Only tangentially related to the article, but where/how do researchers get global coverage SIM cards that you can just put on a stork and expect to get data/calling wherever it flies? I've looked for this before but only found what seemed like tourist scams with very high prices per MB/minute.

I believe twilio has a SIM product now. https://www.twilio.com/wireless

Huh, that seems pretty decent. $2/mo/sim is a bit expensive though. Almost competitive with Worldsim for small amounts of data.
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