Any US users of Mobal international cell phone?

Hi all

We are thinking of getting one of these phones for when we cruise outside the US. They seem pretty good but I would like to hear experiences of US users who have these phones.

I know the per minute rates are sort of high but we would only use it as an emergency number for people back home and maybe to call shore ex vendors if there are any issues, so we are fine with that part. It would still be cheaper to do this than buy another phone and pay for it all the time (I use a tracfone at home). And I also know they need a credit card number to charge calls. I already do this for DHs old flip phone (!), so that doesn't bother me.

Anyway, if anyone has one of these phones can you answer a few questions: are they easy to set up? Do they really work as well as they claim? Have you had any problems with it? I am a bit concerned that we won't know for sure if the phone works until we take it outside the US and actually use it.

Thanks for any help

ML

I just ordered one and it is due to arrive on Tuesday.

I ordered the cheapie one ... $29 plus $10 shipping ... and plan on using it exactly like you are. Even though we are getting on in age and I don't know how much more traveling we will do, we are getting more confident using local vendors for shore ex so want to have a way to contact them and for them to contact us.

Before I purchased I sent a few emails with questions and I was always answered within 24 hrs ... most of the time the same day, so I can't complain about customer service.

Plus if you look at the web site, the Mobal phone has been recommended by everybody from (if my memory serves me correctly) Frommers to the Wall Street Journal.

Since I purchased I got a link to download Quick Start instructions which were very clear.

You get two phone numbers: a U.S. number and a U.K. number. The U.S. number is so friends/relatives in the U.S. can call without running up a huge international phone bill. The U.K. number is for out of U.S. calls and callers.

So, after I get mine charged and set up, I will call my daughter and then have my daughter call me. Yes, it will be a few $$ but will at least give me a feel for how it works and sounds.

And we'll be using actually using it internationally in a few months.

I just ordered one and it is due to arrive on Tuesday.

 

I ordered the cheapie one ... $29 plus $10 shipping ... and plan on using it exactly like you are. Even though we are getting on in age and I don't know how much more traveling we will do, we are getting more confident using local vendors for shore ex so want to have a way to contact them and for them to contact us.

 

Before I purchased I sent a few emails with questions and I was always answered within 24 hrs ... most of the time the same day, so I can't complain about customer service.

 

Plus if you look at the web site, the Mobal phone has been recommended by everybody from (if my memory serves me correctly) Frommers to the Wall Street Journal.

 

Since I purchased I got a link to download Quick Start instructions which were very clear.

 

You get two phone numbers: a U.S. number and a U.K. number. The U.S. number is so friends/relatives in the U.S. can call without running up a huge international phone bill. The U.K. number is for out of U.S. calls and callers.

 

So, after I get mine charged and set up, I will call my daughter and then have my daughter call me. Yes, it will be a few $$ but will at least give me a feel for how it works and sounds.

 

And we'll be using actually using it internationally in a few months.

Hi Diane

Thanks for this. Do you think after you receive it and do the calls with your daughter you could come back and post. Or email me? no-whiners at msn dot com (substitute the symbols for the words!)

Thanks

ML

Hi Diane

 

Thanks for this. Do you think after you receive it and do the calls with your daughter you could come back and post. Or email me? no-whiners at msn dot com (substitute the symbols for the words!)

 

Thanks

ML

Sure. I'll get in touch.

BTW, we are Verizon users and when we went to Costa Rica a few years ago I rented an international phone. Wasn't expensive but I had to be careful about timing the receipt because it actually uses my regular cell phone number which got switched over to the int'l phone... and then I had to be careful about getting it returned in time. Rental was for 30 day period and that incl from when it got sent to when they received it back.

I didn't even check to see if it was still offered. Just didn't want the hassle.

Sure. I'll get in touch.

 

BTW, we are Verizon users and when we went to Costa Rica a few years ago I rented an international phone. Wasn't expensive but I had to be careful about timing the receipt because it actually uses my regular cell phone number which got switched over to the int'l phone... and then I had to be careful about getting it returned in time. Rental was for 30 day period and that incl from when it got sent to when they received it back.

 

I didn't even check to see if it was still offered. Just didn't want the hassle.

Thank you so much, I hope it all goes well and you can make a positive report :)

That does sound complicated. I like the idea of just having 1 phone to keep track of and put away until we leave the country.

Good luck,

ML

PS: If you send an email, could you put Mobal phone something in the subject line so it will trigger my brain to not delete as spam? thx

 

PS: If you send an email, could you put Mobal phone something in the subject line so it will trigger my brain to not delete as spam? thx

Sure :D

Diane,

Could you please report back here? I am also interested in Mobal.

Thanks.

Diane,

 

Could you please report back here? I am also interested in Mobal.

 

Thanks.

No problem. I was thinking that I would because there might be others, such as yourself, with interest in the phone

I've got a couple of busy days ahead so don't know how quickly I'll have a chance to study the phone and make my test calls but I'll report back right after I've done that.

No problem. I was thinking that I would because there might be others, such as yourself, with interest in the phone

 

I've got a couple of busy days ahead so don't know how quickly I'll have a chance to study the phone and make my test calls but I'll report back right after I've done that.

Thank you.

BTW, there are already a few threads on this forum about this phone.

Just use the Search feature and type in Mobal

My phone was just delivered. Actually, it looks like FedEx tried to deliver it Friday and left a notice on my front door and since we don't use the front door ..............

Have a busy day today so will take a thorough look at it tonight or tomorrow.

Also, they have a referral program. If anyone I refer orders a phone I get a $10 credit and they get a $5 credit. For that I would need first name and an email address. Thanks!

OK ... so I couldn't wait :D

The phone came with the sim card inserted and a note to that effect.

I followed the instructions, which are very clear, on how to open the back and insert the battery. The entire back comes off and it is made of very thin plastic. I think if not done carefully, it could be easy to break. When snapping it back on I heard it click in three places so it is attached firmly and I shouldn't expect it to fall off if dropped.

The phone with battery is extremely lightweight. It came packaged with very clear information about my new US number and my UK number. When I start using it I'm going to load both numbers into my contact list because I don't really expect to be able to remember them.

The power cord is a USB cord with an adapter that plugs into an outlet. It is now charging and suggested is to allow first charge to go overnight. So more on the phone tomorrow.

The power adapter kit is comes with is a very nice kit, lightweight and enclosed in a plastic case that has information on the side about which adapter to use in which country. The name of the country is color coded to match color coding on the display of the adapters on the top of the box.

OK ... so I couldn't wait :D

 

The phone came with the sim card inserted and a note to that effect.

 

I followed the instructions, which are very clear, on how to open the back and insert the battery. The entire back comes off and it is made of very thin plastic. I think if not done carefully, it could be easy to break. When snapping it back on I heard it click in three places so it is attached firmly and I shouldn't expect it to fall off if dropped.

 

The phone with battery is extremely lightweight. It came packaged with very clear information about my new US number and my UK number. When I start using it I'm going to load both numbers into my contact list because I don't really expect to be able to remember them.

 

The power cord is a USB cord with an adapter that plugs into an outlet. It is now charging and suggested is to allow first charge to go overnight. So more on the phone tomorrow.

 

The power adapter kit is comes with is a very nice kit, lightweight and enclosed in a plastic case that has information on the side about which adapter to use in which country. The name of the country is color coded to match color coding on the display of the adapters on the top of the box.

Hi Diane

Thanks for coming back and posting, sounds pretty good. I emailed them a bunch of questions and they responded this morning.What you described is what they said, so I am starting to think this is a good idea! Adapters sound good too.

One question--do you think you will be able to find a case for the phone? I'm thinking that would be a good idea.

Also, if I decide to get one, I'll be happy to let you refer me! I'll post back here, unless you feel comfortable letting me know your email. You have mine!

Can't wait to hear what happens, so exciting!

ML

PS: I bet a bunch of those threads were mine! And the mods, in their infinite wisdom, moved the thread I started on the Princess board to here, where I already had started a thread. I was trying to contact people who had these phones and I knew I had read about it on either HAL or Princess. Sometimes you get more help than you need.

ML

One question--do you think you will be able to find a case for the phone? I'm thinking that would be a good idea.

Hadn't thought about a case. I figured I'd just throw it in my purse. But I did find this case on Amazon when I searched using Zoey

Also, if I decide to get one, I'll be happy to let you refer me! I'll post back here, unless you feel comfortable letting me know your email. You have mine!

My email is my user name at gmail

Can't wait to hear what happens, so exciting!

Me too :D

Hi all

 

We are thinking of getting one of these phones for when we cruise outside the US. They seem pretty good but I would like to hear experiences of US users who have these phones.

 

I know the per minute rates are sort of high but we would only use it as an emergency number for people back home and maybe to call shore ex vendors if there are any issues, so we are fine with that part. It would still be cheaper to do this than buy another phone and pay for it all the time (I use a tracfone at home). And I also know they need a credit card number to charge calls. I already do this for DHs old flip phone (!), so that doesn't bother me.

 

Anyway, if anyone has one of these phones can you answer a few questions: are they easy to set up? Do they really work as well as they claim? Have you had any problems with it? I am a bit concerned that we won't know for sure if the phone works until we take it outside the US and actually use it.

 

Thanks for any help

ML

I remember a discussion about mobal in the Ports of Call Europe forum so I did a search there and found it:

Read posts #9, #12, and #15 in the thread at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2274656&highlight=mobal

Those are people who have used the phone and like it.

One question--do you think you will be able to find a case for the phone? I'm thinking that would be a good idea.

 

Hadn't thought about a case. I figured I'd just throw it in my purse. But I did find this case on Amazon when I searched using Zoey

 

Also, if I decide to get one, I'll be happy to let you refer me! I'll post back here, unless you feel comfortable letting me know your email. You have mine!

 

My email is my user name at gmail

 

Can't wait to hear what happens, so exciting!

 

Me too :D

Great, I'll take a look at that. But right now, DH thinks we should get the smartphone version just because it is more capable during an emergency.

email--with the dots in your name or without?

LOL--something to look forward to!

ML

I remember a discussion about mobal in the Ports of Call Europe forum so I did a search there and found it:

 

Read posts #9, #12, and #15 in the thread at

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2274656&highlight=mobal

 

Those are people who have used the phone and like it.

Thanks NMLady. I did a search and read a bunch of these but I will check what you posted. A bunch of the searches were roll calls and I wasn't going to go thru tons of pages to find the one that mentioned phones. (Yes, I know I should have searched for posts not threads but I didn't think it would matter!).

Thx

ML

First update on the phone

When I turned it on, the date and time was wrong as it searched for a network.

Once it found the network (in my area it connected to T-Mobile) the date and time corrected. Date was in European DD/MM format which caught me a bit off guard at first but then was easily set to MM/DD in a Settings option

Spent some time loading contacts. Couldn't understand why they didn't show up until I figured out that pressing Done was not enough ... had to press the upper left key again and then press Save.

Under phone settings there is a place to put Owner's Phone number and Other Numbers (or something like that ... don't have phone nearby) and I entered both my US and UK numbers to have them handy

Sent myself a text since receiving texts are free. That worked perfectly.

Have yet to do anything that will have a fee like send a text, receive a call or make a call.

Suggested to same contacts to SIM. Can save up to 250 contacts on SIM and 100 on phone.

Easy to lock and unlock the keypad to prevent accidental dialing.

More later :)

First update on the phone

 

When I turned it on, the date and time was wrong as it searched for a network.

 

Once it found the network (in my area it connected to T-Mobile) the date and time corrected. Date was in European DD/MM format which caught me a bit off guard at first but then was easily set to MM/DD in a Settings option

 

Spent some time loading contacts. Couldn't understand why they didn't show up until I figured out that pressing Done was not enough ... had to press the upper left key again and then press Save.

 

Under phone settings there is a place to put Owner's Phone number and Other Numbers (or something like that ... don't have phone nearby) and I entered both my US and UK numbers to have them handy

 

Sent myself a text since receiving texts are free. That worked perfectly.

 

Have yet to do anything that will have a fee like send a text, receive a call or make a call.

 

Suggested to same contacts to SIM. Can save up to 250 contacts on SIM and 100 on phone.

 

Easy to lock and unlock the keypad to prevent accidental dialing.

 

More later :)

this is great, keep the updates coming. i think I am going to order one of these. Probably tomorrow morning. I got a Mobal email and it provides the link, so I hope we both get a discount! here's what it said:

"Don’t miss out on this international cell phone offer from Mobal.

Diane xxxx ordered one for their next trip abroad and they thought you should get your hands on one too.

It comes with a money-back guarantee, free international travel adapter set and free call credit. Making it ideal for your next trip.

Ordering is simple – just use the link below. You must use this link when you order to take advantage of this offer."

Meant to ask--where in NY are you? I was born in the Bronx, moved up to Rockland County when I was 11, then went to school in upstate NY (Oswego).

I think we will get the phone in time to take on our Caribbean cruise at the end of the month and I can give it a try. I will report back here on our expereince.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post

ML

NoWhiners - thanks for asking this question. I travel alone and sometimes feel "Cut off from the world" when I am in a country where I didn't have a phone in case of an emergency (the reason I got my first Tracphone about 15 years ago). I kept hearing about different SIM cards which sounded like way too much trouble to have to find when you are cruising and often in a different country every day.

Diane - thank you for your first hand experience with the company and how the set up works. I will be interested to hear your experiences using the phone.

Provided you can get service (I had a lot of problems with dead spots where my Tracphone would not work), $29 + s&h sounds like a great deal since you don't have any fees unless you use the phone.

this is great, keep the updates coming. i think I am going to order one of these. Probably tomorrow morning. I got a Mobal email and it provides the link, so I hope we both get a discount!

Me too

here's what it said:

"Don’t miss out on this international cell phone offer from Mobal.

Diane xxxx ordered one for their next trip abroad and they thought you should get your hands on one too.

It comes with a money-back guarantee, free international travel adapter set and free call credit. Making it ideal for your next trip.

Ordering is simple – just use the link below. You must use this link when you order to take advantage of this offer."

I got an email thanking me for the referral. Interesting that your email says you get the int'l adapter set. When I go to the website now the adapter set is no longer offered. Maybe because I've gone there so often and haven't cleared my cookies? :confused:

Meant to ask--where in NY are you? I was born in the Bronx, moved up to Rockland County when I was 11, then went to school in upstate NY (Oswego).

Near Rochester. I grew up in the Bronx (near Parkchester) and my sister now lives in Nanuet so familiar with the area

I think we will get the phone in time to take on our Caribbean cruise at the end of the month and I can give it a try. I will report back here on our experience.

And I hope to get my act together later today and break down and try some of the stuff that will cost a few bucks :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to post

NoWhiners - thanks for asking this question. I travel alone and sometimes feel "Cut off from the world" when I am in a country where I didn't have a phone in case of an emergency (the reason I got my first Tracphone about 15 years ago). I kept hearing about different SIM cards which sounded like way too much trouble to have to find when you are cruising and often in a different country every day.

Agreed. We are getting older and my husband is not in the best of health and I worry about not being able to make emergency calls.

Diane - thank you for your first hand experience with the company and how the set up works.

No problem

Provided you can get service (I had a lot of problems with dead spots where my Tracphone would not work), $29 + s&h sounds like a great deal since you don't have any fees unless you use the phone

Which is exactly what I thought, especially when you consider the cost of traveling.

And if you don't mind, if you give me your email address so I can sent you a referral link, you'll get a $5 credit to your account when you purchase. (Although honestly don't know if that is $5 credit towards purchase or $5 credit against use.)

OK ... here's the final scoop on the phone.

Definitely bite the bullet and try all aspects of the phone, even though there will be some expense involved.

So ...

The folded paper that includes your new phone numbers has, inside, a phone number to call which is a free test call. I didn't see this at first. What got me looking for some additional information was the fact I tried to send a text to my Verizon cell phone and it didn't work.

Anyway, made the test call and it too didn't work. Got a msg about this phone not being able to make this type of call.

Called Mobal and got immediately though to tech support (8 to 5 Eastern time). I was asked to shut my phone off, then the guy did 'something' and when I turned my phone back on again it went through the same searching as when I first turned it on. He asked me to call the test number, I did and it worked fine.

OK, on to the next step.

Called my house phone (yes we still have a landline :D) I had to dial the +1 and it worked fine although the call did sound a bit like I was in a tunnel but words were clear and no problem hearing on either end.

Then I resent the text message. Took a while to come in but it came in fine.

Then I asked my husband to call me from his cell phone and nothing worked.

Called Mobal again and tech support called me and there was no problem. She was really puzzled and said I would need to call Verizon to find out why I couldn't call a US long distance number (without the +). Anyway, I tried from MY cell phone and it worked fine. Then my husband tried again and it worked fine too. Although we both noticed a delay in the voice coming through. I could hear him speaking from the other room in the house before I actually heard it on the phone.

I have no idea if I got 'found' because of the call tech support made to me or what.

Some other stuff. You can only adjust the volume when on a call. Need to press the bar on the left side and then can set the volume. It seems to me that the new setting held for future calls. Either way, don't expect to have a private conversation on this phone ... I may have to lower the volume more because it comes through very loud and clear, even with the phone away from my ear. There is a speaker phone option.

The part I wrote about being able to save your own numbers under Owners number etc. I tried to find that and had a heck of a time remembering where it was. Took me a bit of forever but finally found it under Names, Options, Phone Book Settings.

Final decision. Definitely going to keep the phone. I bought it for emergency use and think it will be fine for just that. I now have the phone, power cord and all the paperwork that came with the phone in a Ziploc bag and will put with my travel stuff.

I know some people remove the battery between trips. I'm not planning on doing that for two reasons. One is that I don't remove my regular cell phone battery if going away and not using it for a while so not sure the point. Plus, I'm wondering if I'd have to go through all this set up stuff again if I remove the battery. So just tucking everything away.

And, if you do plan on buying the phone, would be most appreciative for your email address to be able to send you a referral link. If you don't want to post it here, my email is my user name at gmail. As mentioned before, you will get a $5 credit to your account.

Any questions?

I guess that the previous note wasn't the final one as I thought it would be.

I decided to try to call the phone using a 1 before the area code and without the 1. Wanted to know if it made a difference. And nothing worked. Couldn't call in and couldn't call out. Not even to the free number.

Called support again. They walked me through manual selection of network to force it to use A T & T instead of T-Mobile. That 'failed to register.' So they did some stuff on their end and said to expect it to take a few minutes for the connection to go through and then give it a few minutes before dialing the free call number.

Anyway, now on AT&T phone appears to work fine. I called free number and I used my US cell phone to call Mobal phone .... just didn't answer it. Of course I'll check it out again in a few days and definitely before we leave.

What I forgot to ask is if I have to set network selection back to automatic once I'm out of the US

I called back and YES, must put Network Setting back to Automatic once I leave the country.

So, all and all some frustration but customer service very nice and very helpful. Had to put me on hold a couple of times but not for very long. Have no complaints about the tech support.

And will put the phone away for a few days unless someone has a question about any of the Settings, etc.

I've had a Mobal since 2012 - used it in Italy and England - on annual trips since. Yes, the per minute charges are high, but with no ongoing fee, they work out to be the cheapest way of having mobile phone capability for the two or three calls per trip actually needing to be made - say: confirm arrival at Heathrow, or line up taxis. I use free wifi-based email for any regular keeping in touch.