User talk:Wolfbln

Jobs to be done in December:

- completion of Latin America: Brazil (better order), Mexico, Peru  (update),

- updates of some African countries: South Africa, Namibia, new: The Seychelles

- check for updates and check updates

- in Winter: Australia is outdated, lots of Asia countries too, bad structure, few logos, no frequencies... will have to wait for winter, as the bulk of info is still ok. new countries to be added : Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos....

Hope and thanks for your cooperation

Wolfbln (talk) 16:48, November 26, 2014 (UTC)

TR
It is really hard to understand the insistence about advertisement with same standard words on Turkey's page. I appreciate your efforts to warn him but as an employee, it is probably the most that he can do on editing his words. Glad to have this wiki about the world but sad to see that we always abuse something for a countable amount of money without respecting community's sensibility who managed to put this valuable information all together.94.122.109.18 21:08, November 24, 2014 (UTC)E

Thanks. But I believe to treat everybody equally. So I finally checked their website and their advertisment edit and took out the facts and put in in words like alldaywifi. It's a very similar product after all. Hope everybody is now satisfied. Wolfbln (talk) 16:48, November 26, 2014 (UTC)

PrimeTel is the cheapest and most convenient internet provider, it should be the first of the list, not the last.

Kenilchattiero (talk) 15:21, December 25, 2014 (UTC)

@ Kenilchattiero: I give you the reasons, why I put it in 3rd position on your Talk Page. In short: First (physical) operators, then MVNOs. This is no price ranking and you can argue if PrimeTel is really the cheapest.

Wolfbln (talk) 16:46, December 25, 2014 (UTC)

yah, you are right, actually PrimeTel is not so cheap, I mixed up the price for the abonement option with the prepaid...

But in general I think would be better to keep at the top the most convenient operator, (for price, coverage, speed and amount of data) instead of using other criteria, otherwise we just support the monopoly and cartel of mobile data.

62.228.51.157 18:27, December 25, 2014 (UTC)

Yeah. I agree. But what is "convenient"? Why is PrimeTel more convenient then Cyta? That is still unclear. Normally we put the biggest network of the country on top, the "market leader". That is because people want to have the best coverage, speed, availability a.s.o. first. This "market leader" has the most customers but often not the best price. Its competitors are mostly cheaper. MVNOs are sometimes much cheaper.

But there is no single country where the MVNO is mentioned before the network provider on which it is operating. This gives the possibility to characterise the network first and show later its MVNOs.

I think in (South) Cyprus, its undisputed that Cyta/Vodafone is market leader. PrimeTel a MVNO on its network. In some countries like Switzerland with many MVNOs we sort the operators according to network, but always the physical operator first. But in Cyprus PrimeTel is the only (mentioned) MVNO.

Last but not least: Tell me: Why is it "more convenient" than Cyta? As a MVNO it has the same coverage and speeds, let's say at similar rates. Does it have more sales points for the start-up SIM, does it have more recharge points than Cyta? I doubt that. So: What makes PrimeTel more "convenient" than Cyta?

I think for many travellers, the tourist SIM of Cyta may the more "convenient" solution. But again, this list IS NO RANKING and people are confused when there is an introduction in a complicated (as divided) country like Cyprus. There the 2 (physical) operators are named for the Greek part and then we start with an MVNO, it still does not make sense to me.

I have to say, I looked at PrimeTel more closely now and found this article: http://www.mvnodynamics.com/2014/02/10/mvno-mno-primetel-wins-3rd-mobile-licence-cyprus/

So PrimeTel will be a (physical) operator in Cyprus soon as they acquired a license. But only on 4G as far as I understand the article. On 2G and 3G it will keep on using Cyta. According to some other statistics MTN has more customers than Cyta, so it should be mentioned first in the country....

Do you agree that we charactise PrimeTel as MVNO as long it has no own network operating? As soon as it starts, it will be a physical (3rd) operator on 4G roaming on Cyta for 2G/3G. So when it starts on 4G, PrimeTel may be a "monopolist" in Cyprus for 4G....

So put PrimeTel wherever you like in the country, but please not into the Turkish part :-)

Wolfbln (talk) 20:40, December 25, 2014 (UTC)

Design redo
Heya Wolfbin :)

I'm from Wikia's Community Development team, and I specialise in making wikias look a little bit better than when I found them :) I stumbled across your site today, and I thought it was great! See, i like wikias that push the envelope of what wikias can be. Don't get me wrong, as an admin at w:c:tardis, I like "traditional" fan sites. But I also really like wikias about subjects that matter to everyday life.

Back in September, I contacted the site's founder, User:Joskarsson, but he or she appear to be well and truly done with this place.

So, since you're the wikia's most active user, and, I suppose, effective admin, let me put the question to you now.

I was wondering if you would mind me giving your front page and general colour scheme a makeover? If you're okay with this, please let me know! Also, if you haveany ideas about the colour scheme you'd like to use, I'd love to hear them! Finally, I was wondering if we could maybe do something about the name of this wiki. It's very long and unwieldy. What do you think about just simcards.wikia.com or maybe prepaidsimcards.wikia.com. I think a simpler name would do wonders for your SEO by making it easier to find you. — CzechOut 05:45, January 8, 2015 (UTC)
 * Hey again, Wolfbin :) So I've got some of the design elements in place, and I wanted to get your opinion on them. Please go to w:c:czechit and tell me what you think of the wordmark (logo in the upper left corner), colors and background. Everything's really based off the color of a SIM card itself, so hopefully you'll find that appropriate.


 * To make things simple, I created a logo that will allow us to name the wikia whatever we want later, but still work as a logo. At the end of the day, there are only two things of relevance to the identity of the wikia: a SIM chip itself and the acronym SIM. Everything else is just fat, in my opinion. What do you think?


 * The front page itself needs to have its content refactored. I've got some ideas which I've been playing around with. I'll try to get those in place tomorrow or over the weekend. Please let me know if you have any thoughts about that! — CzechOut 09:07, January 8, 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi CzechOut.
 * Good work. Please read my comments on your Talk Page. Can you give me an address where i can get in touch with your directly?
 * Wolfbln (talk) 11:37, January 8, 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your response! There's a lot of detail to read through there and I think I've got an idea of what points you want to stress on the main page. I'll be taking a crack at that today, and will hopefully have something to show you soon. What I'm not seeing in your front page proposals, however, is any sort of inclusion for the dominant material that's currently on the main page. Namely, you've made no reference at all to having easy access to per-country information on the front page. Is this not something you feel would be valuable for your wikia?


 * Additionally, I just wanna be clear about what you mean by "Good work". Are you basically happy with the wordmark, background and general color scheme that I've got over at w:c:czechit? If so, I can move that over to this wiki now and we can then focus our energies on refactoring the actual content of the main page.


 * Finally, I'd prefer that communications happened in normal talk spaces or forums, just so that we can refer back to them here in future. Because I communicate with a number of wikias at any one time, it helps me stay less confused if the conversations occur where they are relevant. — CzechOut 21:06, January 8, 2015 (UTC)

Name
On the name thing, it's possible you don't know that you can have multiple names. So there's no reason you couldn't have a whole list of alternatives, so that people can find you whatever they locally call it. This helps tremendously in cases like yours where the colloquial varies in British and American English.

Still, you can have only one name which displays as the URL, and I wanna make sure that we fully explore the issue to find the best possible name. This site got 35k page views over the last week, which is pretty good — but I really feel that the number could be greatly increased if the name were even slightly more discoverable. There is no reason in the world that this wiki couldn't become a 100k+ wiki in 2015.

What worries me about the term prepaidwithdata is that the acronym sim isn't even present. There's no noun at all in the main URL. This makes it ambiguous. To my ears, prepaidwithdata begs the question, "Prepaid what?"

While it's true that changing the name would temporarily affect your SEO, the long term benefits of a name that actually included the main name of the topic — SIMs — would improve things. Plus, Wikia's excellent SEO optimisation means the downside won't last very long.

One of the key goals of SEO optimisation on the front page of our wikias is to go simple. The whole prepaid/pay as you go debate is simply not worth having in the site name and on the front page. What I think the site's founder was trying to do with the difference between the URL and sitename was to go American on the URL and British on the sitename, in the hopes that he'd catch both audiences.

Instead, a better strategy would probably be to avoid that fight altogether, and go for sim-cards-with-data.wikia.com and SIM Cards with Data Wiki for your sitename. Why a hyphenated name? Google sees each word when you insert hyphens and thus the wikia will be more discoverable. Indeed, that's why I'm recommending "SIM Cards" and not just "SIM", so that we avoid confusion with "sim" as in simulation.

Yes, I realise that it's vital to your operation of the wikia that you emphasise "prepaid-ness", but I think it's worth considering whether it's a higher priority to get people here first. We can then stress in the body of the text that we're talking about prepaid cards. In fact, if we link to articles called prepaid and pay as you go, in which we briefly define those terms, that'll actually help your SEO when people search for "prepaid sim cards/pay as you go sim cards".

Besides, people looking for SIM Cards pretty much always mean prepaid, don't they? You don't call going into AT&T and signing up for a plan "getting a SIM Card" — even though you in fact do get a SIM card. You call that "subscribing", or "going under contract", don't you?

Please lemme know what you think about all this. I actually think it's the most important step we can take in our redesign, and I wanna get it right. If we're going to take the time to rebuild, let's make sure people have a good chance of finding us. — CzechOut 21:50, January 8, 2015 (UTC)


 * Well I only can tell from my experience of editing. You have to limit the amount of infomation: to


 * prepaid (or pay-as-you-go) SIM cards


 * mostly data rates


 * In fact there are other limitations too: like to GSM-based systems or cards which are publicly available, but this is secondary.


 * The reason to limit 1.) to prepaid: data on contracts is mostly cheaper. But then we address a totally different audience. Contracts are not for travellers or visitors. Contracts need to be linked to bank accounts or credit cards a.s.o. There is always a pressure to include contracts (check in France for instance the "rolling contracts") but this is a totally different cup of tea. If somebody wants to inform himself about options in his own country for contracts, he can find other sources.


 * The reason to limit 2.) to data: This is where the biggest rip-off internationally is taken place. Roaming data rates are still horrendous. Local SIM cards don't differ so much for domestic voice or text. But data gets more and more important. SMS is replaced by Whatsapp. MMS by Facebook. So it's mostly about data today.


 * Still I think prepaid or pay-as-you-go should be part of the name as well as data. SIM card, is a keyword or catchword, I agree. But the catch on Google is not the "card" part, but the SIM. SIM stands for subscriber idendity module. It does not necessarely require "card" to follow: What do think about Prepaid SIM with data ???Wolfbln (talk) 22:17, January 8, 2015 (UTC)


 * Well, my issue with just going with SIM without the word "card" is just simple deference to the colloquial. I get that it's not even right, really, to say "SIM card", since it's actually a module and the word module is inherent in the acronym. But that's what everyone calls it. The average person is going to enter "sim card" into Google. They just are. Because the average person has no idea what "sim" means.


 * The other problem I see in not including the word "card" is that "sim", by itself, has multiple meanings. A simple experiment:
 * Google results for "sim"
 * Google results for "sim card"


 * By adding the "card", you get only results that are pertinent to this wikia's topic.


 * This additionally concerns me:
 * Google results for "prepaid sim card" doesn't have this wiki on the first page of results, meaning we're not visible using the most standard American way of phrasing the wiki's topic
 * Google results for "prepaid sim" does have this wiki on the first page of results
 * Google for "pay as you go sim" gives this wiki a (slightly) lower ranking than "pay as you go sim card"


 * I think the impact of using the word "card" is demonstrable, even though it's technically an unnecessary word. Our goal, I think, should be that we get the highest possible rank out of the terms "pay as you go sim card" and "prepaid sim card" — neither of which we're doing at the moment.


 * As for "prepaid" in the URL, well, I'm still not getting it, but maybe this is just my lack of knowledge about SIMs. Is there some middle road between prepaid and not prepaid? My experience with phones is that I decided to go with a plan instead of prepaid cards. And when I shopped between Verizon and AT&T, I didn't consider shopping the SIM itself, but rather the plan to which the SIM gave me access.


 * So at this juncture, my thought is that if someone is on this site, they're naturally looking for a prepaid SIM, so the word prepaid isn't necessary. Is there a kind of SIM that you could buy that wouldn't be a prepaid SIM, but that would require some kind of comparison shopping? I'm not opposed to it, but I don't really get it. Your greater knowledge here would be helpful to me on this point. :) In theory, prepaid-sim-cards-with-data would be okay with me, but I just want to understand — more for my own personal edification than anything — why prepaid is important to the URL. — CzechOut 23:31, January 8, 2015 (UTC)


 * Well you may be not so familiar the cell phone industry. Generally, at least in Europe but on other continents too, the providers like to talk you into a "contract", which you call "plan". I try to avoid the word as "plan" can be prepaid or postpaid. When they see a chance to lock you for a while to a contract, they will do, as they get more provision for postpaid customers. They subsidize your smartphone and so on. This can only happen in the most countries if you have a good credit rating or have a bank account in the country or a credit card. But: this is not an accessible way for a tourist or visitor - so it's not an option.


 * Now the point is: data on contracts is mostly cheaper than on prepaid. So many people hear about tariffs giving out bargain data. Then somebody from this country add this offer .... and I have to delete it, because you can't get it without a local ID or local bank account or local credit card.


 * To give you an example: Vodafone gives out 1 GB per month on a 2-year contract almost free in Europe. On prepaid they charge you according to country 8-20 EUR for that. I live in Germany, no problem of getting a contract here with my local ID, address, credit card and bank account. But in the UK, France or the US I can't. There I'm only confined to prepaid "plans".


 * Lot of local people are not aware of that. Check: Israel - Golan Mobile. There we describe to fake a local ID to get a (non-binding) contract. Check France - SFR or Joe Mobile: There a long chapter about "rolling contracts" is added because data on these (non-binding) contracts is so much cheaper than on real prepaid. And of course, there countries where there are hybrid pre-/postpaid "plans".


 * I only like to point out that we must draw a line here. Anything which can be considered prepaid (or pay as you go) is included as long it has a good data rate. So much better rates, which are only accessible by contract are off-limits, as normally only residents can get it.


 * Right now on top left it now says Pay as you go SIM with data. 
 * If you are so keen on the word "card" what about Prepaid SIM card with data (its shorter, but not much).
 * As "data SIM" is a acknowledged term too: Prepaid data SIM card (if it is with voice or without, is secondary and described in the offers).

Wolfbln (talk) 00:36, January 9, 2015 (UTC)
 * Cool. :) Thanks for that explanation. I think the last suggestion is probably the best solution because it gets rid of the SEO-useless preposition. So are you okay with the primary URL being prepaid-data-SIM-card.wikia.com? Again, the dashes help SEO. (Sorry to respond a day late, but I don't get alerts about activity on your user talk page, only mine.) — CzechOut 22:19, January 10, 2015 (UTC)

Colors
As you rightly point out, color contrast is important, so I always try to take that into consideration when I design. Anything over a 7:1 ratio is the standard for body text, according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium.

The proposed background is HEX #31250E. The text is white, which leads to an excellent 14:98 : 1 ratio. (For reference, black on white has the highest contrast of all, at 21:1.)

The link color is #DFC592, which works out to a contrast ratio of 8.94:1, well above the W3 recs.

Now, of course, if you simply don't like the colors, that's one thing and we can certainly address that. I'm not married to these colors or anything. But they are in fact highly legible and well within current contrast ratio standards.

Finally, these colors apply to the entire site and not just the main page. So we are indeed making a sitewide decision here. — CzechOut 22:26, January 8, 2015 (UTC)

So let the users decide
You have probably seen that I put it on the front page for others to read. Please wait until we get some more feedback. Wolfbln (talk) 22:50, January 8, 2015 (UTC)

I understand that it will apply to all pages of the WIKI. But I just checked the mobile version on a smartphone or tablet of your proposal. There your proposal is still black letters on white background, only the top banner has become brown. So it only applies to the non-mobile version??? Then obviously it's not a big deal, as most people access this site from mobile devices. It's after all about mobile devices.... The changes in the mobile version are really minimal to the previous site.

Wolfbln (talk) 22:59, January 8, 2015 (UTC)
 * Yep, as far as the colour scheme is concerned, this is purely a proposal for desktop redesign. (However, you should still be seeing the "desktop" version on tablets and devices > 700px wide.)


 * Thing is, you only have two editors who've been active since Christmas. It's probably more efficient to simply to change over the design and then leave a note on their user talk page. Do you have an objection to me making the change and then soliciting comment directly from people? — CzechOut 23:46, January 8, 2015 (UTC)


 * OK. Make the change. But link user comments to your Talk page please. I don't want to get bashed :-)


 * And change the text in the present brown box on top to something appropriate. BTW have you checked the contrast of letters and background in the first box ("Here's what this WIKI is about") too?


 * I will think about the redesign of the first page. New colors may make it more appealing, but 1st page is still text only and therefore boring. It's like an exhibiton where your always have to read. I will try to implement a page with small graphics to click to open a subpage in the near future.  But I think it's easier to adapt, when there is a basic set of colors given.


 * For title i give you following choices: Pay-as-you-go SIM with Data (as it is right now), Prepaid SIM Card with Data, Prepaid SIM with data or Prepaid Data SIM Card (not 100% right, but the most condensed way IMHO with all the important words - that they may have voice or text too, is secondary) but leave the browser address as it is.
 * Wolfbln (talk) 00:33, January 9, 2015 (UTC)


 * And sure: your are right: People are looking for a "plan" (= tariff) for data. But this is too abstract as a search. With GSM-devices (in the US AT&T or T-Mobile) people look for SIMs or SIM cards instead. Because these SIMs incorporate the plan. You are right that this is only a concrete objectification of something abstract like a plan (whether post- or prepaid). In most of the world plan => SIM. It's a bit different on Verizon and Sprint, because they don't have SIM cards as a CDMA network (check US section). But "Prepaid Plan with data" sounds just not so good, I'm afraid. So in most of the world people look for SIM cards, but they mean plans. It's like looking for money but meaning happiness. Good night.
 * Wolfbln (talk) 01:03, January 9, 2015 (UTC)

Clarifying wiki renaming objections

 * Sorry, didn't see you had more about the name in the section above. From those comments, it appears I may not have adequately explained things. There are a lot of aspects to this redesign, so i apologise if I haven't communicated effectively.


 * The object here is to harmonise the visible URL with the wiki title by choosing an SEO-effective name from a series of options. At the end of the day both the title and the URL will be changed, if for no other reason than that it's more SEO-effective to separate the constituent words in the URL, and to rid it of SEO-meaningless words like "with".


 * The title of the wiki, or what you're calling "the words in the upper left corner" — will be replaced by the new wordmark — as can now be seen at w:c:czechit — at least as far as human eyes are concerned. We won't see the title of the wikia with great regularity, but Google will. That's because Google's going to drill down into the code, where the wikia title appears with frequency.


 * ==About the name==

Hi CzechOut.

I totally disagree to change the name of this WIKI what the name in the address (URL) line of the browser is concerned.

Reasons: the address line prepaidwithdata is a well known address quite often mentioned in specialized forums. To just add "SIm Card" and skip "with", I don't think we should risk it. We will start from scratch.

All links in other documents from Wikitravel to a lot of sites like Tripadvisor become useless with the new address because the links will become dead, I guess. These links are often years old, but still work because the address has not changed, even when the articles have been updated.

You said: "On the name thing, it's possible you don't know that you can have multiple names. So there's no reason you couldn't have a whole list of alternatives, so that people can find you whatever they locally call it."

So it's all right with me, if you change the name on top left of the WIKI site a bit to Prepaid SIM Card with data or similar, but NOT the name of the URL line.

I dont think that URL and name on top left need to coincide 100%. All - so I think - is negotiable, is the written name on top left, not the URL!

If there is a way to link all http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com sub-sites automatically to http.//prepaid-data-sim-card,wikia.com sub-sites, I might think about it. But if all links to prepaidwithdata on the net will die, no way!

BTW. all your proposals are about formalities: a different color setting or a different name. Without adding any contents or trying to make the present content more visually appealing, we wont get any further.

You see, I started to rebuild the main page a bit. It's only half done so far. But this I think is a way to get more attention: not any new color or new name. As a graphics man you could help me how to visualize the sometimes very abstract features of this site.

In short, don't touch the URL if all existing links to this WIKI on other sites become dead after that. Wolfbln (talk) 23:22, January 10, 2015 (UTC)


 * So, all that in mind, do you have an objection to re-chrisening the site entirely under the name Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki, which will then translate in the main visible URL to prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com? — CzechOut 22:37, January 10, 2015 (UTC)


 * A clear NO when all links from outside will become dead after this.


 * Is there a way  to automatically transfer or reroute a link like  e.g. prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Bulgaria  to prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Bulgaria  in all present links on other sites? Or will everybody have an error after clicking an old prepaidwithdata - link on another site?
 * Wolfbln (talk) 23:22, January 10, 2015 (UTC)
 * The only name change I'd agree (for the URL line) can be a gradual migration from prepaidwithdata to something like prepaid-data-SIM-card. Is it be possible to mirror the prepaidwithdata page on prepaid-data-SIM-card, keep both WIKIs on and check if we really get more hits on the new URL??? We will have 2 WIKIs for a limited time.
 * Wolfbln (talk) 23:32, January 10, 2015 (UTC)
 * Wolfbln (talk) 23:32, January 10, 2015 (UTC)


 * ==Reconsideration of CzechOut's proposals==

Hi CzechOut.

Today, I thought about your two proposals. The one of renaming the URL name and your new color layout. I've come to the conclusion that I reject both.

The reasons are: Most people come here for information. We are the only site on the net covering prepaid data plans for people travelling to other countries. I think it's really not so important what the colors are or the exact name of the WIKI.

I do really  think that this WIKI can improve a lot graphically, but not in simply changing white to brown background or black to white letters. Instead by trying to visually "translate" the often very abstract topics.

As you have seen, I'm in the process of visually enhance our main page. Even if I think, that most users come through links directly to national chapters. But the main page can be our billboard for Newbies to get attracted to the subject.

1.) new color layout: 

Generally, it's a matter of taste and I don't like brown so much. I don't know what the color has to do with SIM cards or the subject but this can be said to white too. I tried it out in a national chapter: http://czechit.wikia.com/wiki/Bulgaria and there is a fact I especially don't like. The logos of the listed providers become very dominant as they are mostly against a white background. They are only used as guidance for the reader to find the shops on the street, but now they dominate the whole article. It's better when they are not against a white background like the Orange logo, but I don't think that you want to mask the background of 200 jpg. pics from white into brown.

2.) new URL address

As I said before, prepaidsimwithdata is an established address within the community. I would not give this up. People don't only come through Google or Bing but linked by a lot of travel sites and bloggers as well. You don't give up this in the hope of a few clicks more when the URL contains "SIM" too. But you can mirror this WIKI with the new name prepaid-data-sim-card or whatever and start a new main page with this name and link it to the old prepaidsimwithdata. Count the clicks on both and we know more.

So, I'm sorry to say, that I reject both of your proposals. I'm not against change, but I don't see any advantages in renaming or recoloring. But what about my proposal to enhance the contents graphically, not only by giving it a new color or name but by visualizing the text?.What are your ideas for a good main page?

Wolfbln (talk) 01:41, January 12, 2015 (UTC)


 * Why do you want to change the whole WIKI totally without having added one single contribution yet? We can co-work on how to improve the main page or get some points more visually attractive. But all you are interested in is background color or name changes to get more hits.
 * Wolfbln (talk) 23:37, January 10, 2015 (UTC)


 * Let me try to answer your questions one by one, though perhaps not in the order you've asked them. :)


 * Why do I want to change the design of the wiki without having contributed to the content of the wiki? Easy: it's my job. This wiki was noticed by our very highest management and a request came forth for me to help redesign it. Most Wikia communities are thrilled to get professional help with their redesign. In fact, we've got so many requests that we've had to create a process by which to handle them. In essence, because this wikia was noticed by our highest management, you're being given the opportunity to skip the normal process and receive some special attention. Please don't feel threatened by me or my efforts. If we at Wikia didn't value your opinion, we would have just made changes without consulting you.


 * If you don't like the brown color scheme, we can easily try something else. The brown comes because it's complementary to the gold of the sim card in the logo. But it's not necessary. If you'd like it to be something else, we can certainly try other color combinations.


 * Why have I gone for the color scheme first? Because it's the essential building block of design. Refactoring the front page is not the hardest thing. What's difficult is making sure that we know what colors we're going to use. That knowledge then allows us to know how to build the front page and every other page. Starting with the content and then designing your color palette is literally like trying to run before walking.


 * So let's decide that first. Are you saying you'd prefer a white background?


 * As far as your company logos are concerned, it would generally be considered a better practice to make sure that they are transparent. If some have orange backgrounds, some white, and some yellow, that's going to naturally hinder attractive page design. Almost every company's logo can be found in transparent versions through Google image searches. And those that can't can be easily stripped of their backgrounds through a single step in Photoshop. I'd strongly suggest that we not design the wiki according to the backgrounds of logos currently uploaded here, but rather plan on switching out those logos, or at least putting them in thumbnails so that their backgrounds are de-emphasised by the border naturally created by adding  to a file call (i.e.  )


 * Finally, on the subject of renaming, I think you've gotten the wrong idea — and I apologise again if I've not been clear. We wouldn't at all be starting from ground zero. All of the places on the internet that now link to this wiki would still be linked here. http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com would still be a valid address. In fact, you'd get even more valid addresses, so it would be super simple for people to find this place, regardless of the variety of English they spoke. The point of moving the visible URL to your own suggestion of prepaid-data-SIM-card would only be to improve your position. See, we find through analytics that the vast, vast majority of visitors to Wikia actually do come through Google or other search engines. So whatever we can do to improve the search ranking directly translates to more visitors to the site.


 * But, again, please do not be fearful of the change. It would not in any way, shape or form put you back to "ground zero" or invalidate any existing links on other websites.


 * Finally, I'm quite interested in refactoring the actual content of the front page. That's in fact my main goal. I look forward to working with you on that, once we can agree on the building blocks of a color palette and background.

Reply to your statement of Jan/12
Hi CzechOut.

First, of all, I'm sorry for my inexperience: I have never moved a WIKI to a new address or anything else. That's why this leads to a lot of misunderstandings for which I am really sorry. I absolutely have NO objection if you move the visible URL line of this WIKI from prepaidwithdata to something different as long as all hits or requests on the net directed at prepaidwithdata will be automatically linked to the new address. So if anybody puts in "http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Finland" he ends up at http:// .wikia.com/wiki/Finland
 * 1) URL change

So if we link the old URL line to the new visible URL, it is all right with me. Then, it is kind of a mirror of the prepaidwithdata site on the new URL. You can even think of more names to get more hits or more keywords in.

Prepaid should be in (alternatively pay as you go, but this is even longer), data and as you think SIM as a keyword. You also told me that SIM card leads to more results than SIM alone. The shortest possible way to put these 4 words in a row which makes sense is '''Prepaid data SIM card. '''We both agree that "with" is dispensable as keyword.

Just one question: you made prepaid-data-SIM-card out of it. Words seperated by dashes. The old URL has skipped all dashes. It's not prepaid-with-data. You think the single words are better for search engines? We might as well go with prepaiddataSIMcard analog to prepaidwithdata.


 * 2. Color layout

First, I agree our WIKI lacks color. Color is always a matter of taste. I don't hesitate to say, that I think this dark brown looks awful. But is white so much better? I don't get any connection between dark brown and a SIM card. The "chip" undoubtly looks golden, which is not easy to display. Golden is often displayed as yellow or in yellowish colors (e.g. in the German flag). Anyway, I can think of many colors looking more like a SIM card than dark brown.

If we agree to leave the letters (outside of links) in either black or white, we need a bright or dark color for background to reach a certain contrast ratio. Right?

We should further agree that the transition from the old background color to the new one must not lead to a lot of extra work to adapt. The logos are a problem, because they are against a white background. Some logos of the major companies may be available without backround. But I can tell you a lot are NOT. In these the background must be adjusted by hand (Photoshop, masking the white). This is a lot of work. After one year, there are still countries (like Japan and Kores) without any logos, because I had no time to edit it up to now. And you tell me, you are going to adapt our logos to the new background? I don't want to spend my time painting logos. Take the logos i used here in Bulgaria: http://czechit.wikia.com/wiki/Bulgaria  Just Vodafone, Telenor, Viva and Orange. Orange is OK. I just took the time to mask the white background to dark brown on Vodafone, Telenor and Viva:

Sorry. But this just looks awful. Most of the logos are designed in front of a white background which can't be simply replaced by dark brown. You hardly recognize the logos. You have to acknowledge this,

My proposal What about black letters and color #FFFFB2 or something similar. I have used this for the country survey on the main page. Yellow or a beige color can also remind someone of a SIM card. By just slightly adjusting to a discreet background color means that there will be no extra work to adjust the pics or logos by masking and replacing backgrounds. So come up with a more restrained color proposal please.

Wolfbln (talk) 17:55, January 12, 2015 (UTC)


 * Please don't give up on this process; I know we're going to be able to create something special — together! — CzechOut 06:11, January 12, 2015 (UTC)

Name
Hey, thanks for reconsidering your rejection. According to the above discussion the visible URL of the wikia is now http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com.

Here are other aliases that work:

... and all of these work if you add "www" in front of the address, as with http://www.prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com. Lemme know if you think we've missed any obvious alternatives! — CzechOut 21:13, January 13, 2015 (UTC)

Hi CzechOut..

Thanks. Good names. You can may be one name with plan in it too. Because - as you have correctly realized - people are actually looking for plans. The SIM (card) is only the object of the plan. As we have payg-sim-with-data-card and without -card, you may change payg-sim-data-plan or something like this. But I really like your proposals. The main known address will be from now on: prepaid-data-sim-card. Shouldn't we adjust the name in the left top position of the WIKI to it as well?

And before you paint everything dark brown, we should really reconsider it. Any ideas for the main page? I have realized that the national link list can't be too much on top because advertisment will partly cover it otherwise. Text is adjusted to the ads, but not the columms of the links.As it is right now, that's how I think it may look like. I will link the rest of the gallery soon and think about a Q&A troubleshooting. I think there should be no more on it, not to overload it. What is your opinion?

Wolfbln (talk) 21:28, January 13, 2015 (UTC)
 * Additions to above aliases, per your request:
 * {|class=wikitable

!style="margin-bottom:1px solid black;width:33%"|Hyphenated form !style="margin-bottom:1px solid black;width:33%"|Unhyphenated form !style="margin-bottom:1px solid black"|Notes
 * -style="margin-bottom:1px solid black"
 * prepaid-data-plan
 * prepaiddataplan
 * pay-as-you-go-data-plan
 * payasyougodataplan
 * to ensure Britons not left out
 * payg-data-plan
 * paygdataplan
 * most common British abbreviation
 * }
 * paygdataplan
 * most common British abbreviation
 * }


 * On other naming matters, the actual sitename of the wikia is . Additionally the name of your project namespace was getting so long, most people would never have found it. It's been shortened to Data SIM:, as in Data SIM:About. — CzechOut 18:56, January 15, 2015 (UTC)

Adoption
Hi. I’ve given you admin and bureaucrat rights on this wikia as you requested. You now have the tools you need to clean up, customize and maintain the wikia.
 * Check out Wiki Features to see which features you can enable (or disable) on your wikia, including chat, forum, and many more. If you have adopted an older wikia with talk pages you can also enable message walls and article comments here.
 * Customize your wikia's look by visiting the Theme Designer, where you can add color and style to your background and wordmark.
 * Stop by Community Central to stay informed through our staff blog, ask questions on our community forum, or chat with fellow Wikians.
 * Lastly, visit our help pages to learn the ins and outs of using Wikia, including tips for managing your community, how to attract contributors, and how to add other admins.

Check out your Admin Dashboard, which can by found by clicking "Admin" on the bottom toolbar -- it has links to all your new tools. Please let me know if you have any questions, and good luck with your new (old) wikia! -- Wendy (talk ) 04:43, June 25, 2015 (UTC)

Great edits for Greece. Best wishes Mike GRTMan (talk) 09:48, July 5, 2015 (UTC)

Hi Wolfbln,

I am a frequent traveller and use SIM cards all over the world and start contributing now. I would like to see a designated "Check balance" heading, as it is quite crucial and often somewhere in the text. What do you think? Best, Tillmc

Hi Wolfbln,

thanks for your reply concerning the balance check.

Let me throw in another reason, why to have an own section. Actually once someone bought a SIM card, put it into the phone and started using it, the only command you regulary need is to check balance. I have written a lot of documentation for a lot of coutries stored in my iPhones as notes for myself. Most of the time I also created individual contacts for each SIM card and country. But I now search for an easier way to manage all that information. There I've started contributing to this wiki.

But the wiki can be more than just information only. I would like to come back myself once I have the SIM as a replacement to create contacts on my iPhone. So my idea is: Balance check should be an own section so that you simply could navigate back to the page (or even with an ancor) to tap on the specific USSD URL. We could provide it as a hyperlink.

I agree that the boxes with the USSD I created take to much space. But what do you think about a new section like this?

Recharge & Balance check
To check voice balance, dial [tel:*123# *123#]

To check data balance, dial [tel://*124# *124#]

We could start introducing this section once a entry is being touched or reworked? Let me know what you think.

Best, Tillmc

Hi Wolfbln, hm, actually I would still prefer a hot link instead of writing or copying. I could not get it working with Wikia. Wikia always adds http in the front of the "tel" URI entered. And the "tel" URI does work on my Nexus 5 when it is correct in the HTML source code.

Best,

Tillmc

Hi, May I know how to pre-install a map? ````

Hi, Wolfbin.

I appreciate your care and good hints about Russian page, but is it posible to leave that ebay link there? The price of their items can differ, but the cards are always in stock there, and the item page also bears some useful information. I had a trouble with Russian SIM card and asked them to help - the answer was great, so, I cannot say about delivery, but english-speaking support is a great advantage.

Or, another good idea, I can change the link to the "All seller's items" link, because there are many operators in stock - how about this?

http://www.ebay.com/usr/compy_2m?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

There are also some strange websites with online shops that sell SIM cards, but their prices are awful.

Will do my best to help the page. Thanks again.

Ipswitch (talk) 07:20, October 12, 2015 (UTC)

About Tele2 Russia
Hi!

Thanks for your feedback again.

About Tele2 in Moscow.

It is not an ideal, it is working not so good as we dreamed due to the several coverage issues (in the buildings, in the rural area outside of the city, in the subway) preventing many people in Moscow from using Tele2 as their only SIM card. But their Moscow prices are really good. But there is a rumor that this is short-time action to boost new subscribers, and later they will raise the prices to increase the income.

In St.Petersburg everything is different, the opposite - prices are worse than in Moscow, but quality is higher. It is good, stable, reliable solution in St.Petersburg, and lots of people choose it. It is in great demand there.

I think, at least now, we should save the St.Petersburg prices only for Tele2 and watch for Moscow prices. So, keep the eyes open.

Fixed packs for Moscow - they were for St.Petersburg. Now all packs are correct.

"Internet for Devices" is not very good option. This is not a separate plan, this is the bundle - voice plan without monthly fee like "Orange" but with worse price of 1 minute, plus already activated "Bag" Internet option (7 Gb for 299 RUR). It is better to add "Bag" or something else to "Orange". IMHO, completely obsolete (redundant) option.

Ipswitch (talk) 21:46, October 22, 2015 (UTC)

Hi Wolfbln,

I can't get Google captcha to work so i'm unable to fix my last edit on Euro4 page. The external link to Ortel's rates has some text before the http.

-- Thanks for the edit Wolfbln.

JohnKnox64 (talk) 20:40, November 19, 2015 (UTC)

Hi Wolf,

I have not added Lebara. Please check that in the history.

I have added the new information for Vodafone. I just replaced the 21 MBit in the text with 50. You really do a lot in this Wiki, and I appreciate your work. But dont accuse me of things I have not done. I have double checked all info for Vodafone and they are correct. I even did a speed check and it is 47 MBit/s.

Best. Tillmc

And by the way: The Vodafone info was still at 21 MBit/s. So it is wrong, that this has already been added before. I have added this info.

Tillmc.

Ok, I now understand why you are upset. When I click in the history, I see that you have added the Callya info on Jan 14th. When I checked the page today, the page still showed the 21 MBit info. Therefore I added this. So it seems that by editing, the page was falling back to an older state with the f*** Lebara stuff in it. I don't know why this went wrong. I just loaded the Germany page - not a revision of the Germany page - and pressed Edit.

And don't be upset with Vodafone. It this best LTE prepaid offer right now. I personally not into Vodafone, Im just looking for the best product offering. And: I just did another speedcheck in my appartment. Believe it or not, it is 52.48 down and 19.49 up.

I think I can really distinguish between useful info, specially for SIM cards. And I will continue to add stuff. So I hope you calm down. Best, Tillmc

Hi wolf, I just notice you left a message possibly for me on the talk page of Jamar0303 I had interrupted your conversation with him to add my suggestion of North America page. It seems we have chosen unintentional similar names on wikia, but we are no relation. Jams206 (talk) 08:31, January 28, 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, Also New Caledonia, Australia
Hi Wolfbln, Thanks for the comments on my IP address (http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:144.130.157.1) I have now signed in and created an account.

I am from Australia but as you can see have created the New Caledonia page, I also notice that you have said you want to update Australia which I may be able to help with.

Also can we add New Cal to the home page?

Mbbuser (talk) 08:59, January 31, 2016 (UTC)

'''Hi there! '''

What about Allin2015's recent edit of Ukraine page? Crimea section. No intention to move it, but why all this word digging? After the Referendum  it actually became the part of Russia. All people who didn't want to agree with that, moved away to the mainland and refused to get a Russian passport. Let the article remain intact, this edit has no any other value except politized voice of Ukrainian side.

Ipswitch (talk) 15:42, February 1, 2016 (UTC)

About Crimea

Hi! Very good solution, yeah. By the way, Crimean Telecom launched. Where to write an article about it?

They released rather good combo plan with free calls to local mobile and fixed numbers and unlimited data (speed throttled after 5 Gb).



Ipswitch (talk) 20:37, February 4, 2016 (UTC)

France - Prepaid data SIM
Hello Wolfbin, So glad for your France - Prepaid data SIM write-up. I only need data plan and so what SFR can offer on a Rolling Contract Starter Pack "SFR Connecté Partout forfait sans engagement” (5GB - Eur15.99) attracts me.

It was mentioned that : 'though some SFR shops are willing to mark your payment method as "other" to allow you to come in and pay by cash or credit card in person... And canceling is not easy'  So, I am wondering if I managed to find shop who allows me to pay cash up front for the 1st month, do I still have to call in to cancel the contract after I leave France?

I mean would I be penalised in anyway, or would they swimply cut my SIM account when the month is up?

All your advise is highly appreciated.

Dear Wolfbln

thanks for your message. Agreed with most points you raised apart from your remark on "inflated price":

- the SIM card is sold by Vodafone Ukraine for 50 UAH with 1 UAH balance but with one-month activated Red S tariff worth  30 UAH

- needless to say that posting the SIM recorded delivery costs twice the cost of the SIM card, Ukrainian postal service is not that cheap

- eBay charges 10% for each item sold, amazon charges much more

- paypal deducts up to 10% from each

- the person who posts the SIM needs to be paid and transport expenses covered

My friend who sold you his fist SIM last month for 8 USD made a loss on selling that item, although that was intentional - the first customer was to get the cheapest price. You did mention activation that in my friend's case includes calling the live operator to check everything has gone well. For a few weeks now he also encloses some printed info and provides support for the customers who have bought the product. I simply cannot see grounds for you to call the price inflated. Well, any customer who thinks so can always buy the item from a different seller. Purchasing from my friend is not obligatory, anyway :)

Looking forward to the featured site about this SIM and with all the best wishes

Soloristretto (talk) 09:31, February 15, 2016 (UTC)

Pre-paid Data Only SIM - France (SFR)
Hi Wolfbin,

thank you very much on your kind advise, I definitely would not want to run afoul of the French authority, therefore I am exploring the SFR 'Connecté Partout Starter 1 Go' at €7.99 for 1GB (valid for 30days) instead. I do have the following queries on this though:

1) Would you advise that I get the help of the SFR staff to recharge with another 1GB valid only for 7days (€10) “SFR Connecté Partout prepayée” vouchers right away? My worry is that they will not use up the short validity recharge data before acting on the 1GB that's valid for 30days.

2) If i were to buy the “SFR Connecté Partout prepayée” voucher 1st for later recharge, how can I recharge it from my iPad? Sorry for troubling you coz I speak & read no french at all, and all the google just point me to calling a number from a mobile but this Data-only SIM is for my iPad with not call function.

3) Just to confirm, I would be able to tether/hotspot my mobile phone on my iPad (with the SFR SIM) correct?

Thanks a mil!

Angelia

Hi Wolfbn,

I am not trying to advertise anything. I did find it weird why the others were above as there is exactly no rules stated when placing edits. I think you should add in rules or guidelines that pop when users make an edit. I will place eConnect below everybody else, as you have informed me. Thank you very much for directly sending me a message. I thought somebody was punking our section or something, and I'm glad there is someone who I can discuss to about this issue.

"A logo or a graphic of your product is OK, but no further graphics to pop it up. Everybody can imagine how a data check looks like on one's phones. very second operator on the market has an own app now. I don't understand why you hype this fact. It's pretty normal. We don't mention it here very often, as Google's Play store or the iStore are often geo-restricted. Your app seems not. That's fine. And you can mention it"

- I don't see any app made available by other providers or resellers. I think readers should be informed of that and how the App is convenient. Any wikipedia article would do the same, don't you think so as well? It's plain information. I will though delete the repetitive areas. If you can find b-mobile, u-mobile, and so-net building their own Apps and making it available for anyone else, maybe you should put it up on their sections. But I don't seem to be able to find any. "

The links behind Japan Prepaid SIM need to go. We don't do this for any other provider. Take a look on the article. It's enough when you give your email address at the bottom and perhaps for availability. Don't always repeat "Japan Prepaid SIM". This is not a market place. Talk about "the SIM card" or "this product"."   - Well, I see links everywhere on the other providers. Please see the paragraph below: Cards can be purchased online from the official website and delivered to hotels, post offices at select airports, or any set address in Japan. Cards can also be purchased at Xcom Global counters at Haneda, Narita, Kansai, and Chūbu Centrair airports as well as from a machine located inside the Narita Excel Hotel Tokyo or at Yodobashi camera chain: stores list

This was found on NTT Communications. So I don't see a reason why eConnect should not place links. I can delete links on repetitive ones, but I don't think I should be deleting all the links to eConnect's site when the others have  "

Why do you insist to replace "postal address" like it is done with all other products by "any Japanese address(Air B&B, apartments, etc.)" Why should we name a accomodation agency where it's all about postal delivery?"   -Don't you think it's best to be specific? Some people might find that delivery to apartments and b&b's are not allowed. Laws in Japan are really tight on B&B's, and we want people to know that the can get orders delivered to b&b's. We receive a lot of emails asking if we can do so as implied on our site that we can deliver to any address in the Japan. And we have to painstakingly tell them yes, we do. I think people here should know about it. I can add those specifics to the other selles here if you want to. Saying something too general might confuse a lot of people don't you think? Just saying any japanese address would be too ambiguous.   "how long is "a day": is it a calendar day or a real 24 hours day? if this is true: "If users cannot make a top-up within the 3 days, the SIM is automatically terminated." then the sentences before are at least misleading and ad talk: "The SIM card can be used at an indefinite amount of time depending on the number of top-ups(recharges) the users make. Users can even extend usage of the SIM to 1 year, depending on the top-ups the user makes."  Come on, you are talking about a year or more, but the SIM will be shut off after 3 days not being topped up. Are you crazy?""

- You can try it out. You can get a SIM and use it for 5 years so long as you keep extending. I will be more specific about the top-up time, but as long as you can make a top-up, the SIM can be used indefinitely. This is no lie, you can try it out yourself. As the sentence implies, as long as you make a top-up, the SIM can be used indefinitely. If you want to call up a lawyer or a logic experience, this is no ad talk. This the plain truth. If users make a top-up, they can use the SIM indefinitely. I will be specific on the hours and the top-up time on my next edit, but I do warn you, it will cost a lot of space. "Why do you imply a " no fair usage policy " when you are actually using one? A FUP throttles the speed after a certain allowance is used up. You are slowing down the plans to 128 kbps. This is considered a FUP in most parts of the world. How do you call this?" - What are you talking about? We do not have a fair usage policy. WE don't sell SIMs from b-mobile or elsewhere. 1 GB SIM card users can use the whole 1 GB in 1 day. Try it out, please. Amuse me once you use up all your data. You will not get slowed down. We only slow down to 128 Kbps for 100MB/Day SIMs, but that is because it is only 100MB/Day. Using 200MB/Day wouldn't be a 100/MB/Day now would it? But If you talk about the 1 GB, 3 GB, and 5 GB SIM cards, you can use as much data as you want with an average 2 Mbps actual speed. Sue me if this isn't true or sue eConnect if this isn't true. There is no fair usage policy.   " I'd suggest to name the product in the headline. Why don't you call it   Japan Prepaid SIM  (by eConnect Japan Inc.)? It's better when you show the SIM and not the company. But this is up to you."

-I appreciate your suggestion. Maybe it would be better to do so, but we are planning to launch another SIM line later on, so we will leave it there for now. We'll be sure to surprise you with a free SIM. And yes, we are crazy, but it's the crazy ones who change the world ;) "This SIM card does not support voice or SMS. And this needs to be said. Period. You have taken off this essential info. We show the advantages and disadvantages here. Again, it's not a marketing platform. It's supporting tethering and VoIP (for calls) should be mentioned though. Why did you take it off? I know than Japanese SIM cards for foreigners are not allowed to have voice (see Basics), then it's very important to say that VoIP calls are supported."

- I am really sorry about this. I assumed that "provides data only" was enough. I'll add that in.

"- now, we come to a point about honesty: I checked your website and you've accused me of giving wrong information. But either you are lying on your website or in this article here. Take your choice: It's about the network your SIM is operating. You added now to the article: "data plans that run on the high-speed LTE and 4G networks".  LTE is 4G and it's only 4G then, no word of 3G anymore in the article."

- I confirmed with our provider, and we are not on 3G. We are on the 4G and LTE network called Xi. We have to update our website, but we are currently developing our App and another SIM line right now.We don't really update the useless technical info real-time as customers would really care anyway. But we will update that soon. And we don't scam people into thinking that we can give them theoritical 150 Mbps download speeds and just add in the word "at best effort". We honestly inform everybody, to whoever inquires us, that actual tested speed is at 2 Mbps downlink. You can test the actual product out without any issue. We just have not updated it yet. Our previous SIM cards were on the FOMA network and were only the 3G and had fair usage policy. We only updated parts of our site, and we haven't really placed much attention to the technical specifics. We only place standard speed because we don't want to say 150 Mbps theoritical speeds or 225 Mbps theoritical speeds on our site because it is far more misleading when actual speeds don't even get half the speed written on the website.

"- another thing about honesty: You are launching this prepaid SIM card 08/03/2016. Yet your website is full of positive testimonials about this particular SIM. One cannot help feeling fooled by you."

- What are you talking about? We launched this SIM last year. When we say the SIM is available from 08/03/2016, that means it's available on March 8, 2016. We are using western dates, not Japanese dates. Otherwise it would be 2016/03/08.

"So I give you 3 days time to clear these problems and make the necessary edits. If they are not done in line with the other offers on this article, I will edit them once again. But next time, I'm going to protect the article and may block your profile. For "advertising" your product with its great abilities only, you'd better look somewhere else."

- Before I place edits, I will first clear things out with you here. I will add the disadvantages, but I would have to apologize for undoing your edit as you placed in incorrect information. Like us cutting plans down after usage or speeds of up to 2 Mbps. Sorry, but it is actual tested speed. We do not add theoritical information. If you wish to have us do so, we'll add only on the wiki, but we will absolutely not place any information on our site like that to mislead users.

"''"Data plans range from 1 GB/15 day SIM cards and 100/MB day 15 day SIM cards to 5 GB/30 day SIM cards. Prices start from 2,980 Yen to 7,480 Yen" . ''This is already mentioned in the table. Just mention it once. When trying to place an order, your website only accepts PayPal. this is another limitation that has to be said as people expect credit cards as well. - I will delete the redundancy, and I will add this information in. I am very sorry, but I did not notice that I should be placing that. No problem there, but please be informed that we will soon be accepting credit cards. We can also accept credit card payments through direct invoices. We have to yet integrate credit card payments to our system. " I checked your offer on Amazon as I'm still a bit clueless. Why do you sell it with a 30% discount there compared to your own website?"  We can even give SIMs out for free. Of course, this would be impractical for now, but we are planning to do so within the coming months. We sell 30% lesser on Amazon because we don't have to shoulder the shipping fee. Amazon also does the selling, and the tracking, and all the work. So it would be fair to make it cheaper. " On the 2nd pic finally all 3G and 4G networks of NTT Docomo are mentioned: 4G (XI) on Bands 1, 3, 19, 21 and 3G on Bands 1 and 19. I'm willing to believe that it's on 3G AND 4G. But why don't you say so? Look how your competitor is pushing 4G/LTE:   here. Frequencies are vital for Japan, as they often don't match foreign bands."   - We honestly don't care. They market products as if everybody can understand all those technical terms. We do however place the proper information at the back of the packets of our SIM cards packages. Please see this link:  http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/610-8KVfuGL._SL1000_.jpg Honestly though, nobody pays attention on the technical settings on our site. They just send us emails when they ask questions regarding the technical details, so we haven't prioritized it. We don't sell SIMs based on our theoritical speeds, technical aspects, but through our brand. A lot of people recommend us based on actual performance. This is one of the reasons why we don't place theoritical speeds on our site because we don't want to disappoint people into thinking that "Oh we're so excited to come to Japan, we're gonna have 50 Mbps internet speeds" and such. If there's anything else you want to add in, I'd be glad to do so. But I want to make sure correct information is placed in this Wiki, and I appreciate your work in trying to do the same thing as well. We just weren't on the same page in the first place. I will edit some points tonight, but I won't edit the areas I am arguing on right now. Let's get it clear before we change the info.

Warm Regards, Nikko

By the way, I don't know how to transfer our section. Can you help me with this? Additionally, before brastel launched their SIM, we were already in the market. I don't think it's fair to place us at the bottom. Just because you guys did not notice our SIM doesn't mean we have to follow rank and file. I would be agreeable if this was placed somewhere below b-mobile. Well, that is for you to decide though. I do agree this is not a market place, but I think it is unfair if you place us all the way to the bottom just because nobody noticed us and added our product to this wiki site dedicated for SIM cards.

Additionally, I want you to know that we can control internet speed through our server. We can speed it up or slow it down. The constant speed is at 2 Mbps, actual speed. We can reach faster speeds as we are on LTE, but we place it at 2 Mbps so everybody gets a constant speed. Please also be informed that users conduct random tests, and this speed is constantly the same or at around that level. We do not lower speeds as long as users still have Data remaining. If you want me to put this up, sure. If you want guarantees on this, you can ask people in Japan to buy our SIM, we can give them big discounts. You can then ask them to test it out. Our App also automatically installs the apn profile for the iOS users. We made sure to make it more convenient for users to setup. Almost everybody has to open a link on safari to install the APN profile. And they need internet connection for this. Users can pre-install our app before they come to Japan so they can just insert the SIM and set the apn up. We even made the setup easier.

I'll give you an example for b-mobile. You have to open a link they place on a manual to install an APN profile, this is very frustrating for a lot of users. WE made sure to solve this problem, and this is why I made sure to place a section for our App because this makes the usage of the SIM very easy. I didn't want to get into detail because I don't want the section to be too long compared to everyone else. But this is no fantasy here. If you think it's overpowered, yes it is. But we have to compensate for our lack of booths in airports or resellers in convenience stores. We want to sell based on performance. If you think this is some sort of Scam, go try it out or ask somebody who would try it out for you. If other countries are making Apps, based on my knowledge this is the first in Japan. People should be informed of the convenience our service brings to customers. No fair usage policy, no activiation, semi-automated setup, and even more. I can't seem to find that in NTT Communications, Brastel, B-mobile, Yokoso Japan, or elsewhere. They're selling and reselling SIM cards like crazy without even thinking about the user. It should be convenient for the user to use, and we solved that through software.

"
Hi Wolf,

Thank you very much for your prompt response. I am very sorry for not noticing the guidelines on this wiki, and with your advice, I will abide the rules of this page. When I mentioned about being too technical, I was referring to our site. We have not updated our side because we our clients never really notice the technicalities involved. We track their views per page, and nobody notices it.

I am very sorry for the confusion, We are both on Xi and FOMA. Not just Xi.

"   bet you are not unhappy when a foreign device is not working in Japan on your SIM card because of this, aren't you?"

-Even if we warn users of incompatibilities, they still make purchases. Some send us direct emails prior to purchase so what we do is we give out free pocket wifi devices for them to use(only shipping fee). That is why we haven't updated our site. However, our SIM is both on Xi and FOMA.

(1) Position: I have no problem there. I was only concerned that we have to be on the bottom just because nobody cared to add us in the first place.

(2) I will remove the FUP but I will add in details that we do not slow down speeds if a certain data cap is reached within a day for our other SIMs.

(3) App, I'm sorry about that. I was a bit concerned when you said that I am overhyping it.

(4) We are not really throttling the speed, this has been decided by SORACOM that constant speed for our standard speed be 2 Mbps. We can increase the speed if we request, but the risk of slowing other users' speeds would increase. We prefer to keep the speed stable rather than have users a speed of 4 Mbps at 13:00 and then 1 Mbps at 19:00. This is constant(more or less 1.9 to 2.2), but we do not change speeds unless users no longer have data.

(5) We are not trying to compensate technical incompatibilities through software. We making it easier for users to use a SIM in Japan using software. I agree with you on this statement:

" One is 2G and 3G only on internatl. roaming for incoming calls. The other is on 4G/LTE too for the local SIM on European frequencies (used in Brazil): 800, 1800, 2600 MHz. With my 2 devices I will have no coverage on one at all and in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka only with the other when I use your SIM. That's not your fault. but it is not telling the user. And this is our mission here."

But I am not sure why this is in connection with my previous statement. I am saying we are trying to solve the inconvenience with SIMs using our App as I thought you found it too concerning that we are hyping our SIM. We are not. But I will indeed correct the 4G/LTE area. I will add in 3G and 4G/LTE as we on both Xi and FOMA, and not Xi alone.

I will add in the corrections as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your understanding and your help.

Regards,

Nikkokun

Dear Mr. Wolfbln I'm poppn from Japan. I would like to make Japanese version of prepaid-data-sim-card Wikia website. Can I use information from your wikia? I hope your great answer. Sincerely, poppn

Hi Wolf

Ucell seems to quote everything in USD, also on their website check here http://ucell.uz/ru/subscribers/tariffs/affordable_internet

what to do.. take a rought rate of 2800 som per USD and then change the tariffs ?

Xavier1978 (talk) 16:16, March 16, 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wolfbln

I think the Uzbekistan page is good enough to publish.

A few suggestion for all pages in general, which could make the wikia more at a glance: Just let me know what you think.

1. Lets put basics in additional information like USS Codes or text to codes for balance, internet balance and my phone number. That way the reader does not have to search for them all the time in the text.

2. Avoiding use of USS codes and remembering everything could be handy if some providers have an app that is freely downloadable (usually due to region restriction not the case for some german providers, but many country's are freely downloadable even if your play or apple account is not in that country).

Hi wolf

Another country has been started, ANGOLA but I don't know where to find the frequency bands they are using apart from Wikipedia. Do you have other sources you check if the provider website is not mentioning anything ?

Hi wolfbln.. both providers in Angola mention that in their terms and conditions you need to bring a piece of ID for activation. The unicell website even is doing a registration campaign mentioning specifically an ID card for locals or a passport with valid visa for foreigners and that without registration existing SIMs will be blocked. Ill try to find out whether this is a new law there. For visitor it means bring an ID and use your hotels address..

Regarding Peru I checked movistars website and they clearly mention a DNI for locals or a CE for foreigners (residence permit). So you have to be a resident. I wonder whether some stores accept your passport and take fingerprints there. I looked at a few providers in neighboring countries whether they have a special data roaming rate for peru but negative so far...

Ill try adding more countries..my next ones are Suriname and then algeria. 176.7.54.130 06:00, April 7, 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wolf

I have add more info to Angola and I think we are complete for as far the information could be found. Registration is simple for Angola: bring passport with valid visa if you are foreigner or ID card if you are national. So I do not expect this to be another "Peru or Azerbaijan".

Uzbekistan the info came from Ucell website itself.. at these specific outlets they can give SIM cards. So maybe because there is a legal way and is bring passport plus hotel slip as proof of address we may be able to "ungrey" uzbekistan.

Hi Wolf..

Let's add Suriname as country nr 140.. Have a look..

Hi Wolf. I've gone ahead and added everything I know to a new article, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, which I hope is OK. It's not very complete. I don't know much of the 3rd carrier, or even if the information is still good for 2016 (I checked the websites where possible) and also aggravating is the many "unlimited" daily data plans with no clear FUP. However the telecoms on these islands are used to many short term visitors and these daily plans are targeted towards them and probably don't hit some limit unless you're streaming video constantly. But, I hope that there's enough information to be useful to someone else. As there's very little information elsewhere on the internet about Guam prepaid data. Jams206 (talk) 05:11, April 15, 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wolf. It looks great, thanks for adding so much information from yourself! I think it's fine to only call it "Guam" as most people will pass through Guam on their way to CNMI. An alternative sometimes used officially is "Guam-CNMI" for short. As the other islands technically aren't under the Guam government.

All the things in the article seem plausible, and ready for publish. The most unsure part for me, is the price of the starters, which is only from memory. But I expect them all to be in the $20 range with some free credits loaded. Jams206 (talk) 21:26, April 15, 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wolfbln. Why can nobody except you edit the European Union page? I have some additional information to add but it says it's protected. NFH (talk) 09:06, April 17, 2016 (UTC)

Why did you remove all my changes for Taiwan? I was just cleaning up some misspellings and formatting the usage-based data plans to match the others. It took me a while to do all that and makes the page more readable.

Tokyojimu (talk) 16:47, April 22, 2016 (UTC)

FYI, most of the changes you said were not appropriate in the Taiwan section were not done by me. Those were edits by someone else.

Tokyojimu (talk) 14:55, April 23, 2016 (UTC)

Open Signal
Do you know opensignal.com, where users collect reliability and speed data using the app? On the web page, you can see the best network in the selected map section. It is nearly always accurate and could be of assistance in countries where are no professional network tests. Unless you do a speed test, the app does not consume much data, but it helps to improve the coverage map for other users. For me it was always reliable and in several countries it agrees with professionel network tests or is extremly near to them. Thanks to that service, I knew last summer already, that Vodafone  has by far the best coverage in Italy. I think that it could help also in India with the extremely fragmented mobile market, without ever having been there. I think this service is worth mentioning, it even deserves an extra page.

Grünebanane (talk) 09:32, April 25, 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wolf

Indeed that is why I try to download an app first before I mention it. Even if I am not using an mexican IP. Those I mentioned I have on my phone. I google store you will see that an app is not compatible to your device if you are outside of the geo-restriction.

I used to be able to get german apps as soon as I use a german sim card, but that is also not possible anymore. Only after changing the billing adress I could...

Yes I will finish up Zambia. been quite busy with work

Re. the Taiwan page...

Huh? You just put back all the mistakes that I took the time to correct. For example, it's "Chunghwa Telecom", not "Chungwha".

I think it should be written as "FarEasTone". There is a little extra space before each capital so you could choose to write it as

"Far Eas Tone"

but I think the former looks (and reads) better.

I removed most references to "Ideal Card" because the card is no longer labeled or marketed with that name.

I reformatted the Data Feature Packs section to match the Airport Plans section.

The word is "convenience store", not "convenient store".

Your other changes are related to edits made by someone else, so I have no comment on those.

I donate my time to keep various pages here up to date for the benefit of all, but why should I bother if my (perfectly reasonable) changes are all undone?

Tokyojimu (talk) 17:14, May 1, 2016 (UTC)

/* about Taiwan edit */"
I agree that it's "MHz" and would never have made all those changes to "Mhz". Perhaps some (incorrect) autocorrect did it. I also would never have made changes to the frequency bands and such that you said I did, as I have no knowledge of those.

Yes, many of my changes are style related, but if they help make the article read better and add clarity, why bother to remove them? I've edited several pages on this Wiki, but maybe without logging in (or using an old username). I contributed a whole new carrier to the Jordan page for instance.

I don't understand what you mean by "So if you are so concerned about the Taiwan article, why didn't you change the infomation given and have update it. With the providers old and wrong information was given out. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:12px;">" I did update it. You reversed my update. What old and wrong information?

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:12px;">The reason I deleted the reference to "60 days" is because with some of the new data plans, you are given an additional 120 or 180 days, so it no longer made sense to mention a blanket 60-day extension. Please believe me that I am meticulous and would not make bad changes.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:12px;">" with T-Star you took off the 2600 MHz frequencies and the second name "Taiwan Star"

I did not. I know nothing about T-Star or their frequencies and absolutely would not have made any change like this. If the Wikia system says I did this, then their database is messed up.

Tokyojimu (talk) 17:23, May 3, 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for reaching out!

Great job!!!!

I am Termini3 who edited the article about 'prepaid SIM in Korea' without permission a few days ago.

I feel sorry about that, but when I found the 'edit' button in the article, I felt to be granted to do that.

Still I have a question, "Can I edit the article?"

There are still a lot to be corrected in the article.

For example, the article says that "KT's prepaid product is called "olleh simple" and can be loaded from 4,000 to 50,000 won at retailers like 7-Eleven, CU, GS25 or By the Way." but this is not the fact.

Olleh simple is the service name of prepaid service or KT, right!

But if in convenience store, it is only for native Koreans and aliens with residence visa, not for travelers.

And additional top up there? Absolutely impossible anywhere in CVS now. Check it out.

As you know, kt itself deny to sell it in their desks in Incheon Airport. They don't want to treat it to travelers.

Olleh SIMple for aliens seems available, I guess because you said that in the article, only in the global stores, 4 English and 4 Chinese in Seoul.

So, here are very few travelers who enjoy kt prepaid SIM service, now in Korea.

And...

Linkkorea, EG SIM, Neo Kosim and kt Mmobile...

I think the order must be reconsidered.

Linkkorea and Neo Kosim is very, very small company here in Korea.

The policy maker(Korean Government) doesn't know even the existence of such name.

I heard that Linkkorea or Neo Kosim manages just only 1~2 offline channel to meet consumer and records hundreds of sales a month at most.

But kt Mmobile and EG SIM, each has hundreds of various channel to sell the product  all around Korea   and records hundreds of sales "a day at least".

And EG SIM is experiencing sharp declining in sales now, because the GS25, the only CVS that sells EG SIM, made a decision to retreat from Incheon Airport, this March, 2016.

That's the story what's happening in Korean prepaid SIM market.

That's the reason why I think that kt Mmobile must rank first after kt.

(all 'kt' must expressed in small letter, because their slogan is that "Consumers first(capital letter), We second(small letter)")

15 days limitation was set by Korean Government Guideline who always worries register fraud.

All other companies are scheduled to be guided to follow soon, I heard.

I hope you feel free to comment to my replay.

I want there can be some detailed investigation about the situation, and the article revised.

Thank you very much...

about S. Korea edit
I am Termini3 who edited the article about 'prepaid SIM in Korea' without permission a few days ago.

I feel sorry about that, but when I found the 'edit' button in the article, I felt to be granted to do that.

Still I have a question, "Can I edit the article?"

There are still a lot to be corrected in the article.

For example, the article says that "KT's prepaid product is called "olleh simple" and can be loaded from 4,000 to 50,000 won at retailers like 7-Eleven, CU, GS25 or By the Way." but this is not the fact.

Olleh simple is the service name of prepaid service or KT, right!

But if in convenience store, it is only for native Koreans and aliens with residence visa, not for travelers.

And additional top up there? Absolutely impossible anywhere in CVS now. Check it out.

As you know, kt itself deny to sell it in their desks in Incheon Airport. They don't want to treat it to travelers.

Olleh SIMple for aliens seems available, I guess because you said that in the article, only in the global stores, 4 English and 4 Chinese in Seoul.

So, here are very few travelers who enjoy kt prepaid SIM service, now in Korea.

And...

Linkkorea, EG SIM, Neo Kosim and kt Mmobile...

I think the order must be reconsidered.

Linkkorea and Neo Kosim is very, very small company here in Korea.

The policy maker(Korean Government) doesn't know even the existence of such name.

I heard that Linkkorea or Neo Kosim manages just only 1~2 offline channel to meet consumer and records hundreds of sales a month at most.

But kt Mmobile and EG SIM, each has hundreds of various channel to sell the product  all around Korea   and records hundreds of sales "a day at least".

And EG SIM is experiencing sharp declining in sales now, because the GS25, the only CVS that sells EG SIM, made a decision to retreat from Incheon Airport, this March, 2016.

That's the story what's happening in Korean prepaid SIM market.

That's the reason why I think that kt Mmobile must rank first after kt.

(all 'kt' must expressed in small letter, because their slogan is that "Consumers first(capital letter), We second(small letter)")

15 days limitation was set by Korean Government Guideline who always worries register fraud.

All other companies are scheduled to be guided to follow soon, I heard.

I hope you feel free to comment to my replay.

I want there can be some detailed investigation about the situation, and the article revised.

Thank you very much...

Some reply to your comments (about Korea)
Thank you very much for your reply. I want to express my respect for your moderation. But very sorry for you to take my words as "conplaints". I am a Korean, and am not so good at English. So, I don't know what tone you feel delicately when you read my reply.

I want you check the message I left to Lidsim before reading this message. And here's my opinion to your reply. Thank you for your kind explaination. Welcome any reply.
 * value of airport : Koreans are not familiar with prepaid SIM and 95% of them use post paid phone. So, It is so hard to find that treat prepaid SIM even downtown. Actually, travelers may be able to buy prepaid SIM only in 8 olleh Global Stores in Seoul. So they are recommended to prepare it in airport in advance.
 * To say that "Have in mind for this extra service EG is more expensive than buying a SIM directly from KT Olleh" in EG section, or "but may be more expensive than other products sold downtown in the providers stores" in kt Mmobile section is so severe because of the few store. There are extremely rare who visit olleh global store and even kt did not want to advertise. You know that even the olleh desk in airport do not treat it.
 * There's no rank in order, OK... I am not going to tease you. You can feel the status change between EG SIM and kt Mmobile soon.
 * kt or KT? ok. I don't belong to any kt or kt Mmobile. ^^
 * 15 days limitation : I understand your meaning. As I wrote in the message to Lidsim, I hope you not to see me hide it on purpose. EG SIM has similar limitation now. They can not be extended the initial 30 days period of the SIM card by a top-up. But that was not introduced in the article. So, I was misleaded "It can be omitted". It was one of the reason.
 * Korean Government seriously takes account of tenure limitation policy in prepaid SIM from many aspects, now. Not yet implemented. But kt Mmobile is very conservative company for regulation, so it accepted the rull in advance. -.-

Mongolia and Turkmenistan
Hi!

Let's put Mongolia and Turkmenistan I've created to the list on main page (Prepaid providers with data by country (A-Z)) ?

Ipswitch (talk) 06:37, May 19, 2016 (UTC)

@Mongolia

I will try to finish Mongolia soon. There is a Mongol Rally 2016 coming soon, I have got lots of questions about mobile networks of Mongolia and decided to start this article.

MobiCom is a true leader here, I have some positive feedbacks about this operator from those who have used it.

About some flags - Crimean Peninsula has its own flag (recognized by both of countries, by the way). That's it!

And even Transnistria has its own flag, recognized by both countries including Moldova too. Like some historical flags of the German lands or Polish regions (Wojewodstva).

So, the flag just adds a bit more information. It can be removed in any time. Some people have an ability to quickly recognize the necessary country by the flag. You can see them at currency exchange points, at different postal and delivery services, website language or country selectors, etc. They all use flags. But this is only option. We won't lose much if delete them.

@Turkmenistan

'''Greylist, I think. It is harder than in Tajikistan, while Tajikistan is hard, but possible and real.'''

Both carriers are quite usable. I have a confirmation from one person who works there as invited foreign professional and has a long-term business visa with registration and work permit. He purchased a SIM card in Altyn Asyr central office in Asgabat (The Ministry of Communications) and uses it now. They asked about visa and registration in Turkmenistan (proof of address) when buying. So, if you have an invitation, a job offer, a long-term visa - you can do it officially.

MTS is very popular among russian-speaking people of Turkmenistan. After re-opening it become a good alternative. There is no active real reasons to shut it down just now - it was a conflict of former Serdar (Sapurmurat Niyzaov the Great Turkmenbashi) with MTS, now it has been settled down, some more foreign companies interested in working there.

I do not have any information about official router or SIM card rental or borrow services, but it is possible to find a local who agreed to register or bribe the sales klerk.

Having a short-term (normal visitor) or transit visa, it can be hard or impossible to buy it officially. As a normal visitor, you will have a registration card from the hotel or tourist office, but you won't have freedom even to enter their office! Thay watch for a tourists a lot. Guard and guide follows you like in Northern Korea organized tours.

Having a transit visa, you will have some time and freedom to cross the country and you can go and try to do it illegally, because with a transit visa you can't have a police registration! Sometimes a visa only can be enough, but all of this is debatable.

By the way, Internet access in Turkmenistan is really censored, but not too much. There is no systems like Chinese firewall or global Russian blacklist, but lots of well-known western (and even Chinese) websites and services blocked, including LiveJournal, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, WeChat, Line. The Internet access is very slow and expensive, yeah. WiFi can be rare.

But it is not like in Northern Korea. Since 2013, more than 15 public internet access points opened in Asgabat.

@Russia

SIM-SIM - a bit more time to test it is needed for me. I have some experience.

Hello.
Qunow (talk) 17:15, May 29, 2016 (UTC)``
 * 1) Could you please add link to North Korea to the main page? I have just created a page for it.
 * 2) I think you better clean up and protect your user page as it seems like someone mistakened your user page as user talk pgae and leave his message there...

THanks for your effort.Qunow (talk) 23:41, May 29, 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) I was not talking about your user talk page. I was talking about your user page.
 * 2) Can you link those rules and guidelines in the monobook skins' sidebar?