Cubic Telecom, the TechCrunch40 company behind the traveler-friendly SIM card MAXroam, has partnered with Dopplr to sell the card through its online store. The Dopplr-branded SIM card will be available for a reduced rate of €45 (down five euro from its normal price).
Both companies have a strong travel focus: Cubic Telecom’s MAXroam allows users to use their unlocked cell phones in over 180 countries, saving around 60-80% on roaming charges. Dopplr offers a social network for travelers looking to meet up with their friends. The site will use your travel schedule to determine when you’ll be in the same area as a friend, and then help you set up a get-together.
While the new partnership may not sound like much, this is actually a big win for MAXroam, which likely has a hard time connecting with business travelers (try doing a Google search for ‘cheap SIM travel’ – there are countless competitors, though most of them work differently). Dopplr’s userbase consists largely of frequent travelers who are likely to show interest in the special SIM cards. They still might be turned off by the specifics of MAXroam’s program (the site offers video tutorials, but it can be a little confusing), but the prospect of saving big bucks is a strong motivator.
We should note that Offbeat Guides, which we covered last night, also has a partnership with Dopplr and is available on the Dopplr store.
Congrats to both!
“allows users to use their unlocked cell phones in over 180 countries” – very cool. I wish they had that when I traveled a lot. Nothing worse then coming back from a trip and getting slammed by roaming charges. Congratulations on the deal.
rates for international roaming in European Union are too expensive, for example, a four-minute peak rate call from Malta to the UK can cost €3.45 if the caller’s home network is O2, roaming on GO Mobisle, whereas the same call could cost €7.34 with Vodafone, also roaming on GO Mobisle.
I thought that Cubic Telecom were acquired by Global Roaming in a share deal?
Crunchbase link: http://www.crun.../global-roaming
@MIKE
Cubic Telecom is 100% Irish owned and operated
Nice piece Jason
thank you, appreciate it
Sorry Pat, I thought that you were connected to Global Roaming in a share deal last year?
http://sec.edga.../Section31.aspx
Did not notice that you recently resigned as a Director of Global Roaming on the 16th of January 2009: http://biz.yaho...grdb.ob8-k.html – so good to be back 100% Irish owned!
thanks Mike
it sure is
In fairness, this is a great deal for both parties. Dopplr had their choice of partners and MAXRoam are the perfect match.
Nice one. Take a look at another of these global sim deals. we use a geosim because the rates were a bit cheaper than the maxroam and the geosim doesn’t charge for calls that dont connect like maxroam does.
WAYN has a similar product for sometime now.
It’s free to VIP members and £19.90 to regular members. Check it out http://www.wayn.com/sim
go-sim has a nice product as well