The tech I'm taking/testing to Mashup Camp Dublin (MaxRoam seems cool)
I'm packing my bags right now for Mashup Camp Dublin, figuring out how to keep my load as light as possible. One thing is for sure -- I won't be needing my Motorola Q over there. It's a CDMA machine and Europe as most people know is on GSM. That's one of the penalties you pay for going with one of three non-GSM flavored networks in the US (Verizon Wireless, Sprint or Nextel -- I'm on Verizon Wireless) unless, when going with one of those networks, you use the BlackBerry 8830 which is a hybrid CDMA/GSM phone. However, you'd still have to get a SIM card while you're over in Europe to put into the phone.
So, with no connectivity, Cubic Telecom Group CEO Pat Phelan (based in Ireland) is outfitting me with GSM/WiFi phone that includes one of his MaxROAM SIMs. What are the advantages of MaxROAM. I'm still figuring them out, but essentially, it works like this. One MaxROAM SIM can have as many as 50 phone numbers associated with it. Cubic Telecom takes care of the messiness of forwarding and routing for you. But the cool thing about it is that those 50 numbers could be from the USA, the UK, France, Ireland or any of the countries listed here. Extra "local" phone numbers cost 2 Euros per month. So, for starters, by going with MaxROAM, the people who might be calling me from one of those countries might only need to dial a number that's "local" to them. In other words, I could issue a US-based number to my friends in the US, an Ireland-based number to the developers attending Mashup Camp in Dublin and a Netherlands-based number to my family in Holland. I save them money.
In addition, according to Phelan, I'll be saving myself money as well. That's because Cubic Telecom has somehow managed to offer per minute charges that are in the neighborhood of 30 percent of how much you'd normally pay if you took an AT&T or T-Mobile phone to Europe. The MaxROAM Web site offers an online calculator to give you an idea of what sort of per minute charges to expect when sending or receiving calls or text messages between countries. For example, for me to call the US from Ireland would be 36 cents per minute. For Mass Events Labs co-founder Doug Gold who is roaming with his phone, it's $1.05. That's a big difference. To call Ireland would be 31 cents per minute. If my wife calls me, the charge would be .24 cents per minute. The service is very much for people who travel the world and you'd probably substitute it for your native service (by swapping SIMs) when going on the road (you might stay with your native service when at home). It does require your GSM phone to be unlocked. It only costs €29.99 to get started, €5 of which is applied as a calling credit. After that, you can keep the service active even if you don't use the SIM for €1 per month.
But wait, it gets better. Since the phone does WiFi and I can connect to a WiFi network from Mashup Camp, inbound calls from the USA cost me nothing and outbound calls cost 1 cent per minute. Cool.
So, I'll definitely be giving MaxROAM a try while in Ireland. Phelan has already issued me two US numbers: one for the SIM card and one for the WiFi.
What will I be using to listen to it? My Bose Quiet Comfort 3 headphones that my wife gave to me for the holidays last year. I just finished charging the battery on that puppy and I'm hoping they'll keep the airplane noise out while I try to relax to some music on the red-eye and even get some sleep!