My Abroadband SIM arrived yesterday — finally. DHL tried to deliver it just a few days after I placed the order but there was no one home hence the delay.
I’m delighted to say that it’s everything I expected: Clear packaging, simple instructions, evidently the output of a team of smart people who’ve really thought about it. Everything you need to go live is right there in the little package including all the APN details you need.
I filmed an ‘unboxing’ — that is, opening up the little package and having a nose about. I hope this is useful for anyone considering getting one. Just a quick reminder — the SIM offers mobile data roaming in 50 countries (including the US) for a unified simple fee of €0.59 per megabyte. Now, that will soon add up if you plan on a significant amount of use, but at least the pricing is clear, reasonable and you can immediately re-load it whenever you want. I think that’s probably the *best* feature, not having to arse about going into ‘foreign’ shops to get it charged up. You can either use PayPal or your credit card to top it up.
Most other operators will charge you at least €1 or £1 per megabyte, if not a lot more.
Abroadband do a MicroSIM for your iPad/iPhone and a pre-configured USB dongle. I went for the normal SIM as I’m intending using it in my MiFi unit.
I recognise that this doesn’t necessarily compare to a €15 all-you-can-eat deal that you get if you go shopping locally, but if you are in-and-out of the 50 countries covered — and you just need to check email and do a bit of twittering, Abroadband could be for you.
Now, I haven’t actually tried the SIM yet. I’m going to get a screen recorder installed and I’ll detail that soon so we can see precisely how it works — especially in terms of re-loading credit.
Abroadband is the brainchild of the team at Telekom Austria. I wrote about their launch late last month here.
Here’s the vid:
