I think Tak tak to UK was equiv to 40p/min. My calling card rate would have been 33p/min from callbox - it does have some better rates! I didn't try 00800 from SIM

That was in 2003. As you say, Heyah would be cheaper now, or Riiing. I drove across Poland just before last Xmas expecting the car to break down (noisy gearbox) and I'd buy a Heyah SIM ... but it made it to Magdeburg before all the oil came out, so Vodafone got my money instead.

Yes, the prices in PLN have dropped since 2003. But PLN is stronger against foreign currencies than in 2003, so from your point of view it isn't much cheaper. As of today, 1 GBP = 5.7 PLN so Heyah with its 1.70 PLN/min rate is about 30p/min anyway.

I don't know if 00800 "works" in Tak Tak - in Heyah it doesn't.

Thanks to Mr P for his excellent breakdown of calling cards :)

I can confirm that, whilst Polish Telecom 0800 numbers are free from Nowy Pop/Orange SIMs, 00800 numbers are charged at standard 0.80 Zloty rates.

My conclusion is that Sami Swoi is the way to go, even for occasional visitors to Poland (like me - 2/3 times a year) as the cards are so cheap you simply let them die in the drawer or sell them on eBay when you are finished.

I'll be over in Poland again in Feb, so will grab a couple of Sami Swoi cards when I get there. In the meantime, I have an Orange Poland card on standby.

And a Riiing card

And a whole heap of other cards.

Thanks to everyone for the heap of information.

Steve :)
:beer:

Andy - hope you had a decent breakdown policy - we have a great Direct Line international policy on two vehicles - ?150 a year for the works, including repatriation.

This is straying off topic though, so I'll shut up now...

Steve :whistle:

You 're welcome :D

Yes, but the debiting for 00800 is 60/60, not 1/1 as in case of national calls :(.

Yes, we have had an "explosion" a lot of cheap (<= 10 PLN) SIMs recently. The first one was POP 10 PLN/8 PLN credit, later Sami Swoi 9,99 PLN/9 PLN credit, Tak Tak 9 PLN/ 8 PLN credit, and limited Xmas offer for Orange Go 9 PLN/9 PLN credit :).

Thanks once again for the info!

The Telebonus seems to give good rates - are these available from pretty much anywhere? Are they easy to use (English!!!)?

Ta.

All cards I mentioned here are (or at least) should be available from post offices ("Poczta Polska"). They are also often available from newsagents, filling stations, groceries etc.

However, in my subjective opinion the most widely available are Telegrosik cards. Telegrosik PIN codes are sold as printouts in some point of sales with GSM top-up terminals.

As to English, that's a problem with Telebonus card. It seems it doesn't have non-Polish voice commands/messages or instructions printed on the card.

If you need, I can tell you how to use this card (but you won't be able to check the remaining credit anyway). Or I can check other cards as to their English capabilities.
Now I can say I'm sure that Telepin has English voice prompts (I used it in the summer).

Just checked. Among the cards mentioned above only Telepin and Dzwoneczek have English voice prompts :(. In Telepin you must dial 2 in the beginning to select English, in Dzwoneczek prompts are bilingual.

OK. so another one:

Card name: Karta Świat Tele 2

Debiting 30/6

Access numbers:
A: +48 22 70 150 20 (from any phone)
B: 0 800 88 33 33 (from landlines, they claim it works from payphones, must check)


Fees:

+44 landlines
0,39

+44 mobiles
1,50

Fees above for using 800 access number, not stated if they give any discounts for using regular + 48 22 number.

Card nominals: 12, 25, 50, 100 PLN.

Voice prompts in English (dial 2), Russian (dial 3) and German (dial 4).

:clap: www.608608.com for all your needs :)