{"id":123620,"date":"2015-04-15T21:55:02","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T19:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=123620"},"modified":"2015-04-15T21:56:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T19:56:26","slug":"whatsapp-free-data-sim-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/123620-whatsapp-free-data-sim-tested.html","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp free data SIM tested"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roaming-focused operator Zeromobile recently launched a product it called \u201cWhatSIM<\/strong><\/a>\u201d, which was set to offer unlimited WhatsApp messaging anywhere in the world for a flat annual fee of \u20ac10.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband ordered a number of the SIMs from Zeromobile when it launched, and after weeks of waiting received them and put the product through its paces.<\/p>\n

Between the launch and receiving the\u00a0SIMs at the beginning of March, WhatSIM was renamed to ChatSim and received improvements to its feature-set.<\/p>\n

No longer limited to WhatsApp, ChatSim offered free messages across all instant messaging services, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Skype, Viber, Line, Google Hangouts, iMessage, and QQ.<\/p>\n

ChatSim\u2019s usefulness, though, must be based on the\u00a0quality of the roaming service it provides.<\/p>\n

In terms of coverage in South Africa, ChatSim is off to a promising start as it roams on the Vodacom network.<\/p>\n

However, it soon emerged the performance of the ChatSim data roaming service does not compare favourably to\u00a0Vodacom’s mobile data network.<\/p>\n

Initial set-up<\/h3>\n
\"ChatSim<\/a>

ChatSim activation via the web portal<\/p><\/div>\n

The first step in testing ChatSim was to get it working.<\/p>\n

Before you start using ChatSim you have to\u00a0login to the service\u2019s web portal<\/a><\/strong> and activate the SIM.<\/p>\n

Your phone must also\u00a0be configured to connect to the correct access point name (APN) and allow data roaming. ChatSim provides easy instructions to do this.<\/p>\n

Once we registered, activated, and configured the SIM, however, it was hardly smooth sailing.<\/p>\n

We wanted to know: if all you have is a ChatSim, would it be possible to switch out your SIM and reconfigure WhatsApp without access to Wi-Fi?<\/p>\n

To which the answer is: with great difficulty.<\/p>\n

Boxing with APN settings<\/h3>\n
\"ChatSim<\/a>

ChatSim tested on iPhone<\/p><\/div>\n

Our first tests were conducted on an iPhone. After retrying the SMS verification numerous times, killing WhatsApp and restarting it, and switching the phone into Airplane mode and back out again, it finally registered a new WhatsApp profile for the ChatSim number.<\/p>\n

After WhatsApp was configured, messaging worked without a hitch.<\/p>\n

We then decided to switch to an Android device to try a\u00a0WhatsApp voice call<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

We also wanted to conduct\u00a0the same messaging tests as on the iPhone.<\/p>\n

As the Android device we used for testing had not been switched on in a while, it received a number of push notifications and downloaded a few hundred kilobytes of Gmail messages, Facebook updates, and miscellaneous data categorised as \u201cAndroid OS\u201d and \u201cGoogle Service\u201d.<\/p>\n

In total, the Android device consumed around 2.5MB of non-IM data.<\/p>\n

Somewhere in the middle of using this 2.5MB, ChatSim sent a warning saying it had detected abnormal data traffic on the SIM and would block it if the usage continued.<\/p>\n

\"ChatSim<\/a>

ChatSim chat APN connectivity issues on Android<\/p><\/div>\n

From that point it simply refused to co-operate. WhatsApp would also not send the verification SMS needed to complete its setup.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that ChatSim offers three different APNs depending on the type of service you would like to use:<\/p>\n