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Birdie still ok?

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  1. #31

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Hong Kong
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    Quote Originally Posted by blueagles:
    @HK_Katherine did you have to enable Roaming Voice Services to just receive SMS? Or enable anything else? I don't really need the voice services but just receiving SMS for verification purposes. Thanks
    I did have both voice and data roaming enabled. So I don't know if it would have worked without. Actually - I do. They disabled my voice roaming when I didn't pay a roaming bill (it was extortioate, I was disputing it) but my texts kept coming through.

    So I would disable voice roaming if I were you. The charges to answer those spam calls are ludicrous. Just one or two second call to identify it's spam and hang up - 10-20HKD. Disgusting. I will be checking alternatives to Birdie at some point because of this.
    blueagles likes this.

  2. #32

    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    4,040

    I signed up for Birdie recently for overseas banking purposes and the need to register my new HK mobile number.

    Worked great the first time as it requires the e-Sim.

    Last week I tried to download the mobile security key and needed the verification code.

    The 5 codes (as I hit Send Again) didn't start arriving until 4 hours later when 3 hit my phone and 7 hours later when the next 2 codes (all expired arrived).

    My iPhone XR is compatible for dual sims and I have the settings correct for notifications from Birdie.

    Before I give it a second shot am I missing something as to why there'd be a delay like that?


  3. #33

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    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    I tried to use a Birdie day pass in Macau recently. Absolutely USELESS. Did not work at all. And their voice roaming charges are astronomical. I have now turned off roaming and it forces people to send me an email or whatsapp and I call them back on skype. If anyone has any suggestions for SIM with low cost in HK and decent roaming, let me know. I currently use my Thai AIS SIM for data roaming outside of HK. Cheaper and better than Birdie.


  4. #34

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    7,930
    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    I tried to use a Birdie day pass in Macau recently. Absolutely USELESS. Did not work at all. And their voice roaming charges are astronomical. I have now turned off roaming and it forces people to send me an email or whatsapp and I call them back on skype. If anyone has any suggestions for SIM with low cost in HK and decent roaming, let me know. I currently use my Thai AIS SIM for data roaming outside of HK. Cheaper and better than Birdie.
    Sorry to ask the obvious, but you did purchase a day pass for Macau beforehand right? Otherwise not sure what your issue was. I was in Japan recently and Birdie worked fine. HK$12/day and I even stuck the SIM in a 10000mah portable wifi router so that my family of 4 could all share the sim when out and about in Japan for the price of only one.
    emx, Football16 and Ekim201 like this.

  5. #35

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    Sorry to ask the obvious, but you did purchase a day pass for Macau beforehand right? Otherwise not sure what your issue was. I was in Japan recently and Birdie worked fine. HK$12/day and I even stuck the SIM in a 10000mah portable wifi router so that my family of 4 could all share the sim when out and about in Japan for the price of only one.
    Yep. Had a day pass available and it was used for the 100kb or so of data that snuck through. Not enough to open a web page but enough to get charged. I complained to them and they said I should have rebooted my phone (which I did try actually). My AIS operates without rebooting flawlessly (so far) but only has 10 day packages.... not single day ones.

  6. #36

    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    I tried to use a Birdie day pass in Macau recently. Absolutely USELESS. Did not work at all. And their voice roaming charges are astronomical. I have now turned off roaming and it forces people to send me an email or whatsapp and I call them back on skype. If anyone has any suggestions for SIM with low cost in HK and decent roaming, let me know. I currently use my Thai AIS SIM for data roaming outside of HK. Cheaper and better than Birdie.
    I use SoSim these days. Their roaming packages are kinda cheap, at least until I find a proper local sim if I'm going to stay for longer than a weekend. HK$12 per day for most Asian countries, but only gives you 500MB. Plenty for traveling and finding your way around things if not using video.

  7. #37

    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    4,040
    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    I tried to use a Birdie day pass in Macau recently. Absolutely USELESS. Did not work at all. And their voice roaming charges are astronomical. I have now turned off roaming and it forces people to send me an email or whatsapp and I call them back on skype. If anyone has any suggestions for SIM with low cost in HK and decent roaming, let me know. I currently use my Thai AIS SIM for data roaming outside of HK. Cheaper and better than Birdie.

    If you can do it the Whatsapp and Skype way, great.

    As I took a new HK mobile number, I'm not getting spams and calls I don't want/need.

    I fixed the SMS delay as my phone which I thought was configured right, wasn't. To be sure it works, I had been pulling out my SIM but now no longer need to do that.

    Had to activate roaming for calls and put up HKD $500 to get it and my bill in Canada via Telus was HKD$1344 with multiple calls. Paid that out and reactivated again as I need to take one more call from HK that they'll only place to my registered HK mobile.

    Now waiting for the final call then I can go back to normal.

    My sense is that the long calls drove it way up as I'm sure Telus is ripping off its visitors.

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