So, the only data solution for a foreigner is still iPlus simdata, right? I will possibly be in Poland by New Year and really wonder what I'll be able to buy since 29th till 31st. Will be the dealer shops open in Warszawa and Krakow on that time? :)

And what's about SMS? You wrote here 'national SMS'. Is it common practice to add some extra price for outgoing international SMS in Poland?

[quote="Asick"]So, the only data solution for a foreigner is still iPlus simdata, right?

If you care much about prices, the answer is "yes". Otherwise, any SIM will be OK :P.

29th (Friday) is a regular working day - dealers are open until 18:00 or 19:00, in shopping malls until 20:00-22:00.
30th (Saturday) - dealers are open 10:00-14:00 or 15:00, in shopping malls until 20:00-22:00.
31st (Sunday) - "standalone" delares are closed, in shopping malls until 15:00-16:00 (at most 18:00).

Unfortunately, yes. I haven't sent the recent update to Effendi yet, but rates were rates also in Plus. Now international SMSes cost 0.61 PLN from any SIM prepaid or postpaid :-(. The only exception is POP from Orange - still 0.20 PLN but nobody knows how long. OTOH, any MMS incl. international from Plus/Sami Swoi is only 0.40 PLN - strange but true
:?

Sure I care about prices. I'll take my laptop and will write many E-Mail greetings with pictures attached. :lol: Actually I do not care about voice (I'll use TravelSim) but SMS and data are quite important for me. The problem is that using roaming I will spend about 1 Euro per each 100 kb with MegaFon, which is crazy.

Well, it's not that bad except for 31st, hope I'll be able to arrive earlier.

It's still better than roaming but it's not what I'm used to. :) I'd use SmsBug instead but it does not allow Cyrillic (and any unicode), so it's still a problem for me. :( Does someone know a similar service that works with Unicode?

You mean it's cheaper to send an MMS than an SMS? :eek: Anyway, I bet it's impossible to send an MMS from a Polish network to a Russian network (any), so SMS is the only solution.

10 EUR/MB - well, in such case any Polish SIM will be much better - even Simplus and Sami Swoi is 6.10 PLN/MB.


If you don't want to write Russian in the Latin alphabet there's a problem. :wink:


You mean it's cheaper to send an MMS than an SMS? :eek: Anyway, I bet it's impossible to send an MMS from a Polish network to a Russian network (any), so SMS is the only solution.[/quote]
Yes, it's cheaper. There used to be a similar offer in Era Tak Tak - international MMS and MMS in roaming for 0.40 PLN (whereas SMS 0.61 and 1.95, respectively). You're right about sending MMSes from Plus to Russia - it's impossible :(

Yes, sure, so I'll buy any local SIM if I have no choice (arriving too late etc.). Is GPRS always preactivated on Polish SIMs or do I have to activate it manually? It would be no problem to do that if there's some info in the Polish manual attached to the SIM, but it would be a problem if I have to call the support. :) Do they write APNs and other settings in the manuals attached?

SMS in Russian with the Latin alphabet used were popular 5-6 years ago when many phones did not support Cyrillic and when long SMSes were not supported either (you can get only 70 chars/SMS using Unicode instead of 160 using Latin). Now... well, I can send SMS this way, but it would be a sort of bad style, especially when you write to a girl. :lol:

How many networks does Plus support to send international MMS into?

GPRS is preactivated on Orange, iPlus and Tak Tak. It can be turned on easily (via USSD) on Simplus and Sami Swoi. The worst problem is with Heyah because it requires activation either via www or via customer care (1 PLN/min :ranting: ). GPRS configuration detailes are not listed in manuals (perhaps besides iPlus, but not sure at the moment). Anyway, I can prepare you details (anyway I should do this for PPGSM) but please tell me the deadline - I'm rather busy before Christmas :). You may call the support of course, but AFAIK there's no English support in Heyah and Sami Swoi and no Russian (or any language other than Polish and English) in any network. Even if the employee knows other language, he/she is probably prohibited of using it by corporate regulations :P.

I see :).

Three :lol: : Voda Germany, O2 Czech and T-Mo Slovakia.

Yes, I understand how you are busy, I'm busy too, even though the deadline at work happens here a week later. :) I'm leaving on 28th or may be on 29th, so if you are able to prepare the details by that time it would be perfect. Anyway, I'm going to read the Polish operators' sites too, there are many things that I can understand. :)

Yeah, it's most likely. Anyway, I don't like calling supports itself, and I especially don't like to call them in foreign languages some of them that I do not know. :lol:

Well, half of the neighbours are covered, well done! :lol:

Heyah GPRS is not that difficult to activate via WWW. Besides, anyone who is going to use Heyah has to fiddle with it at the beginning to join the Heyahklub (to get 10 percent extra on topups), which is a no-brainer. It's possible that if you get your SIM at a Heyah Island (small sales booth in a shopping mall) they might activate GPRS for you, but I wouldn't count on it.

Heyah is presently an excellent value for GPRS, for several reasons:

1) 2x promotion. Until 31.1.2007, new users who top up for the first time get their credit doubled. (Note: Join the Heyahklub FIRST, you'll still get 10 percent extra as well.) Existing users must first top up with 20 PLN or more, and then the second topup within 5 days is doubled (up to 400 PLN).
2) Megapaczka (Megapack) - GPRS packet and discount in one. Monthly fee 5 PLN for 5 MB, and, after using the packet, 0.10 PLN/50 kB (50% off the regular rate). One of the cheapest data rates anywhere.
3) Heyahklub, as mentioned. Everyone should join, it takes two SMS to do so. Amount of credit increases by 10 percent each time you top up.
4) UMTS. Heyah now works with it, even though they don't tell you this. UMTS is not available everywhere, but should work in most major cities.

So putting all of this together, if you get a 5 zloty SIM (with 4 zloty credit), join the Heyahklub, and then top up with (for example) 50 zloty (wait until after you get the Heyahklub confirmation), you'll have 4 + 50 + 5 (10% bonus) + 50 (2x bonus) = 109 zloty credit for 55 Zl. Then activate the Megapaczka with *110*1*1# - it costs 5 Zl, and includes 5 MB traffic; that's 10 zloty for December and January. After that, you'll still have 99 zloty to spend on calls and data; at the Megapaczka rate of 0.10 Zl/50 kB, or just under 25 MB of data if you don't call anyone. In total, 35 MB of data transfer for 55 zloty (about 15 euro).

It makes the annoyance of logging onto the Heyah Selfcare website to enable GPRS worthwhile.

This arguments about Heyah seem to be reasonable, but it's web activation is generally a problem for a foreigner. Just imagine, I arrive in Poland and buy a Heyah SIM. Then, I'm supposed to activate it's GPRS via WWW, right? HOW? Yes, I may use my laptop and my home SIM with GPRS roaming, but... how much the hell would it cost? Heyah's site is full with Macromedia Flash, which makes the activation to be very expensive from this point of view, also there's a problem with activation from mobile phones supporting WWW browsing (WWW but not Flash). So, I guess Heyah would be MUCH more interesting if they allow USSD activation. Yes, you may say just go to an Internet club and activate it there, well, it's not a good idea to be looking for such a place while you have no such a problem with a SIM from another operator.

Meanwhile, I'm reading the operators' sites and I still have some things that I'm not perfectly sure about (the rest is generally easy to understand).

1. What's the ERA APN? I've found it to be erainternettt for Internet/GPRS and Tak Tak tariff while it's different for other tariffs. Is it normal for ERA to have a separate APN for each tariff?

2. How to check the balance with ERA? It seems it's *101# but I'm not sure.

3. How to check the balance with Sami Swoi? *125# or *110# via their menu? I don't perfectly understand what *110# does and what for the menu is used. Also, where *105*20# does set English language, I mean in which place?

4. How to activate GPRS on iPlus Simdata? Isn't it preactivated in fact?

5. How should a foreigner buy a SIM in Poland? What is needed? Is it necessary to fill up a registration form, to show them your passport etc.?

You may use Heyah CSD 0.60 PLN/min - I know that is expensive anyway :(.

You can bookmark the link to the login page http://heyah.pl/34e501b4db3c97d6952361c00c343604
in order load it directly and turn Flash off - the settings page is in HTML.


Yes I agree it's pretty stupid :?

That's right - Tak Tak has a separate APN.

Yes, *101# is for checking the balance of the main credit
and *102# is for checking the balance of EraUnits subcredit (cheap minutes to Era, Heyah and landlines convertible to SMS to Era and Heyah)

All what I say below is about both Sami Swoi and Simplus.
Well, *125# is check for expiration date only.
With balance the matter is a little bit more complicated.
"Out-of-the-box" SIMs are preactivated on the "old platform" what means that they use AoC and the balance is hidden down in the menu and sometimes on the display (permamently or during/after the call only). Not all phones are compatible. It's better to switch to the "new platform" at once via *101*11*99#. On the "new platform" you check the balance via *100#. *110# is an interactive USSD menu which gathers together all the USSD functions. However, there may be some problem with interactivity on some phone :(. *105*20# is a setting of English in messages returned via USSD commands (but some of them may not be translated). To set English in the voicemail prompts, you must call the voicemail number and wait for something like "For English press 2".

AFAIK it is - but I must ask my brother who uses it every day.

Happily nothing - you ask, you pay, you take :D

My thought is that if you care most about data and not about voice calls, then Tak Tak would be OK (if you won't be able to iPlus of course).
GPRS is preactivated (even it weren't, status check is *132*2# and activation is *132*2*1#). Then you have two options: default pricing 1.44 PLN/MB (not bad but in 500kB increments :() or Omnix Max option (activation *132*7*1#) 5 MB in a month for 5 PLN and later 2 PLN/MB in 50kB increments.
Until 31st Jan your first top up >=20 PLN will be doubled (just like in Heyah). The downsides of Tak Tak vs Heyah are non-free voicemail and voice calls to Russia for 2.81 PLN vs 1.70 PLN (a little less than Travelsim).

The problem is that CSD is slow (especially when it's not HSCSD), but it should be cheaper than GPRS roaming, I agree. Thanks for the direct activation link, this might be useful.

Ask him, please. This is the most preferrable SIM for my needs, so it's important.

Oh, this is great! :) Short validity times and no registration is perfectly the opposition to what is used here.

Yes, I've compared the prices and I guess the most preferrable solution is iPlus simdata and the second is Tak Tak. 1.44zl/1Mb is rather cheap. Although here at home with MegaFon I pay about 0.20 Euro/1Mb, 1.44zl per the same is still normal and 5Mb per 5zl is incredible. 500kb tariffication units are not a problem too when you use GPRS from a laptop, I mean you hardly download/upload less during a session when you just check your E-mail and visit a few webpages. Andd I don't really care about the voice prices, I hope E-mail and ICQ will be enough. :)

So, thanks a lot for your help, I will store this topic on my laptop locally, and will read it as an instruction for setting up a new SIM. :)

One more thing, most SIM starter kits in Poland are really cheap (Heyah and Orange are 5 Zl, and they were giving away Simplus with a magazine recently), so you can always try them all out. Since there's no registration, it's not time-consuming to buy them all and decide which one you like best later...

I've just ask my brother - he told that all the stuff in iPlus simdata is active "out of the box".

Please tell me more precisely your route in Poland (airports, railways stations, hotels etc.) so that I could locate the most easily accessible Plus salons/dealers which sell simdata.

Go to the internet cafe in the shopping center where you buy the SIM and give them 2 zloty.

Go to selfcare.heyah.pl. Enter your telephone number where it says "Numer telefonu:" (I told you this would be easy) and the last four digits of your PUK code (printed on the credit-card-sized SIM holder - don't throw this away) where it asks for your "Heyah kod:".

It will then send you an SMS with a code. On the next page enter this where it says "Wpisz jednorazowe hasło dla numeru tela". After that you will end up on the selfcare page. It should be obvious from here. (One of the options is GPRS, and you check a box to enable it.)

You're right about activating GPRS in Heyah but doubled top-up and 10% more may not be to so attractive to Asick if he wants to stay in Poland a few days only. Yesterday I topped my wife's Heyah account by 150 PLN at 13:29. Doubled top-up and 10% (i.e. 165 PLN together) arrived only today at 21:40 - 32 hours and 11 minutes of waiting :P. I don't say that this premium isn't worth waiting because it really is, but not necessarily a big deal for short time visitors however...

Good point. Last time they did this it arrived after a couple of hours, but if they're that slow at the moment, you're right, it might be a pain if it's just a few days.

(Me, I'm still trying to decide how much to top up with but I'm leaving it as late as possible, probably January 30-31, because I've already got 10 months' validity, and experience shows it really won't go over 1 year.)

That's right - it simply works just after activating. You just plug the card into a mobile phone, configure the Plus APN in the phone's menu, then configure the proper connection in your notebook - and that's all.
I'm using the Simdata daily as my internet connection after the working hours.

Honestly, I'm still not sure, since the tour program is still being prepared. Anyway, I've seen the list of iPlus dealers (Punkty Sprzedaży) here - http://www.iplus.pl/punktysprzedazy.html , is it possible to buy iPlus simdata in all the places listed there? I hope it's being sold in 'Autoryzowani Przedstawiciele Handlowi Plus' as well as in 'Salony firmowe Plus', is it correct?

What's about GPRS quality? Is it fast enough? I mean you may expect many delays and timeouts when you use GPRS with the cheapest offer.

In theory - yes, it is :). Practically, 'Salony firmowe Plus' are the most reliable as to availability of products. E.g. my brother bought his iPlus SIM in the beginning of October - he found it only in "Salon firmowy" (in Wrocław, a city with 500000 inhabitants!). However, I think that it won't be that bad after all.

"Pure" GPRS (at max. 38,4 kb/sec) should be available without any problem. However, EDGE coverage may be poor even in large cities.

Oh, I hope some dealers will sell it in Krakow too. I see there are only 2 "Salony firmowe", so if this is too far from my hotel it would be impossible to get such the SIM so I'd buy Tak Tak instead. Anyway, this is similar to what we have here (5-10 "operators' offices" here and lots of dealer shops), but dealers sell anything an operator can offer.

No, you didn't get what I meant. Look, more subscribers use GPRS at the same time less free channels are remaining, so it produces some delays and might even collapse during peak hours. So, I was asking if the Plus network was built and organized well enough to support that extra GPRS usage or not. Here, for example, we had 10$/month unlimited traffic offer from Beeline 2 years ago, and by the end of this offer their GPRS almost got dead. :)

I'm almost sure that you won't have to go necessarily to "Salon firmowy" :). Just print the list of points of sales and when you arrive just select the closest location. BTW, this list is not very up to date. E.g. about 3 weeks ago I saw a lot of iPlus SIMs in Media Markt in Lublin, but Media Markts are not listed on http://www.iplus.pl/punktysprzedazy.html.

OK, you mean exceeding the network capacity. It shouldn't happen in any network because currently there are no really unlimited data/voice offers here. There are "unlimited" data plans in postpaid tariffs but they have built-in "fuses" - after exceeding 100 MB, 500 MB, 1 GB or so within a month the transfers falls to "impressive" 8kb/sec. Of course, it doesn't apply to New Year's night when mobile networks are overloaded in all types of services: voice, data and even SMS.
BTW, there's another easy alternative for internet access in Poland - old good dialup. It requires just a modem and a landline. You set username and password to ppp and dial 0202122 and you're connected to the internet - the access fee is included in the connection fee. The price of the service depends on the landline tariff plan - usually it's about 0.36 PLN/3 min peak hours 8-22 and 0.36 PLN/6 min off-peak 22-8. Of course, hotel surcharges will make those rates higher but by no more than 100%. From the hotel you should dial 0,0202122 (where the "leading 0" is the "exit code" to city lines).
The connection speed may be up to 57.6 kb/s (V.90 standard).

Yes, I understand the list might be a bit outdated, however I believe most of the info is still correct there, so it will help.

Oh, yes, I know it and I do not plan to GPRS during the New Year night. :) It's interesting that here we used to have complete network collapses during such the nights in 2001 or 2002, while it was generally OK in 2005 or 2006 (were able to call from 2nd or 3rd attempt and so on), I guess that's because they had to expand the number of BTSes and channels due to the number of users raised in times, so it helps during peak usage too.

Well, this might be useful, especially for downloading some huge amounts of data. I plan to use the Internet mostly with low traffic (ICQ, short E-mails), but dialup would be good for sending some photos, greeting cards or even may be Skype or SIP. That's where it gets cheaper than GPRS and more preferrable from the technical point of view (lower ping and no delays). The only problem that it's still unclear how much money the hotel would take for it. I hope it would not be 2-3 initial rates... You say it's less than 100% surcharge, is it what you actually know or just guessing? :)

Addresses in my area seem to be OK, so I think they are moreless OK for the rest of the country :).

I think that the situation is getting slowly better also here. However, landlines are much more reliable in this psecific time :).

In hotels (low/medium class) in which I stayed in 2005 and 2006 the surcharge was about 33-40% It might be expressed as the cost of a "billing impulse" (which is enough for 3 min local call/dialup) is let's say 0.50 PLN whereas the same "impulse" from a home line would cost 0.36 PLN. I recalled that there may be another problem - the phone cable may be permamently (i.e not via plugs) attached both to the wall and the phone itself :(. OTOH there may be Internet access in the hotel via the internet or WiFi, but it's still not very likely.

Here I can't say landlines are reliable since overload is quite common during the New Year night at many landline local switches, especially old mechanical ones that still exist here. So, it depends. ;)

WiFi might be very useful but I agree it's not very likely in my case. I'm not planning to stay at 4-5 star hotels, and I don't think it's common to have WiFi spots at 3 stars in Poland, right? And the locked cable... well, a phone might have a plug of the same type for a handset or something similar, so there might be a trick etc., but I do not plan to destroy the hotel equipment with a screwdriver and a soldering iron. :) Hope the plugs will be where they should.

Well, as to WiFi, it might laso be possible so that you could catch a public hotspot through the window:).
My brother who lives and works in Wrocław told me recently that they were waiting for a cable internet connection in their office and, until the cable would be connected, they catch the signal from a public hotspot and share it in the office network :D.
Destroying a hotel phone is really not a good idea :). Moreover, if the hotel surcharge were about 100% or more (but I doubt it) and you have a HSCSD capable phone, you might consider using Sami Swoi HSCSD at 0.24 PLN/min (speed up to 43.2 kb/sec).

What a nice situation! :D Don't they often allow any connections from aside? This is strange for me, here are some home or office WiFi nets too (I see at least one except of my own at home, for example), but it's usually WEP encrypted and/or MAC address filter blocked.

I have at least one HSCSD compatible phone :) , so this might be useful too. Anyway, dialup is more easy to set up etc., you just plug in your notebook and dial. Also, it's a bit more speedy if your phone line is clean enough.

By the way, it seems I'll arrive on 29th at Warszawa Centralna railway station and will have some free time there. As I can see, there's a Plus Salon Firmowy at Al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, which is in fact right opposite of the railway station. However, I see the huge Mariott/LOT skyscraper is located at this address too. Is this information correct? Have you ever been at this Salon? Where is it actually?

:By the way, it seems I'll arrive on 29th at Warszawa Centralna railway station and will have some free time there.

Don't, the station is horrible and will hopefully be demolished in the next few years (although it has some fun shops in the basement). If you really have time on your hands, go to the old town (15 minutes walk) or go up the PKiN and enjoy the view.

:As I can see, there's a Plus Salon Firmowy at Al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, which is in fact right opposite of the railway station. However, I see the huge Mariott/LOT skyscraper is located at this address too.

It's in the shopping center underneath the tower. Go through the underpass from the station to get there. Should be easy.

In fact, there are worse one :( but, at least in theory, it's the "country's main station" and should be better.

Old Town is more than 15 minutes walk, especially with luggage.
PKiN is Warsaw's tallest skyscraper built 1952-1955 as a "gift of the USSR for Poland". It's similar to its "brothers" in Moscow (like Lomonosov University) - I don't think it's a big attraction for a Russian :). And the ticket costs 20 PLN (over 5 euro, http://www.pkin.pl/taras_widokowy/) - I think it's not worth the price unless the weather is perfect. Moreover, the day is short now...


Yes, a few minute walk. And they surely accept Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard and Maestro cards (just in case if you didn't have Polish cash yet).

It's just a free public hotspot for tourists so that they could use their laptops, palmtops ot wifi phones :)

Why don't you like it so much? It has tracks hidden under the ground, which is not that bad itself, while other railway stations occupy much space around because of the tracks. Honestly, I almost don't remember Warszawa Centralna, but it didn't look THAT horrible for me. :)

Well, how do you call it? Let me recollect... Przechowanie bagazy? :) I believe it should be at the station. Anyway, I visited Warszawa 4 or 5 times in 90s so I actually know how to go to the Old Town and for how long. I guess Old Town is a good idea waiting for a connection to the Krakow express, I'll have 4-5 free hours there.

Yeah, it's that old 'Stalinist' architecture that I'm used to. We have no such buildings in St.Petersburg (just some lower and 'normal' Stalinist buildings), but Moscow has enough. :) Have Poles ever considered the idea of demolishing this building?

Oh, VISA/MC is a great idea, I prefer it over cash. Nevertheless, I believe a KANTOR will be near too. :)

It's not about the station itself but rather about the people you can meet there: thefts, beggars, homeless, drug-addicts etc. :-P. And the station has too few tickets offices open during peak hours.

Almost correct - "Przechowalnia bagażu" :). It's possible that it's also "labeled" in English, Russian and some other languages... AFAIK it's located in the northern corridor parallel to the tracks, one level over the platforms. This corridor has exits to the fancy-shaped "Złote Tarasy" building (under construction), it's just the opposite side of the station than that facing the Marriott Hotel. Left-luggage rooms are both coin-paid self-service lockers and "human-powered" facility :).

Hmm, what time do you arrive so that you have to wait so long? Between 6:05 and 20:05 express/Intercity trains to Kraków leave every hour (or every two hours at worst)...

Of course, but not seriously, I think :). It would be not only the (very high) cost of demolishing itself, but also of transferring really non-stalinist institutions and businnesses located there.

Sure, no problem, as well as many ATMs ("Bankomat").

True, but you can lock away the luggage as described (instructions in Russian as well). While the Old Town is itself more than 15 minutes away, the "interesting bit" of Warsaw surrounding the Old Town is less than 15 min away (Marszalkowska, Nowy Swiat, Krakowskie Przedmiescie, etc.). Anyway, if we said "Go to the Old Town, it's only a 25 minute walk" he might stay in the station after all...

And, as often said, it's got a great view, because it's the one place in Warsaw where you can't see PKiN! But you're right about the price being too high. :-(

But back to mobile phones and Wa-wa Centralna. There are several little shops in the lower level, particularly on the north-east side of the station, that sell SIM cards and the like. I don't think there's really anything there that Asick might need after the visit to the Plus store, but if anyone wants to collect all the prepaid SIMs in a hurry, that would be a place to start...

This price is so high also because it usually includes entrance to some exhibitions in PKiN.

Basically you're right but I'm not sure whether such shops sell just iPlus simdata SIMs. Those SIMs are very specific after all :)

Some other addresses of Plus dealers close to the station:

Vobis Digital
Al. Jerozolimskie/Al. Jana Pawła II paw. nr 61
I don't know the exact location but it must somewhere near the station.
Al. Jana Pawła II is a wide street with the viaduct over Al. Jerozolimskie near Warszawa Centralna and Marriott.

Vobis Digital Sienna 39, near the chracteric Intercontinental Hotel
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterContinental_Warszawa

Inter Consult S.A. al. Jana Pawła II 11 (corner of Sienna).
Go towards the group of skyscrapers.

mPunkt Polska S.A. al. Jerozolimskie 11/19 (opposite Smyk department store, go east towards this palm on the de Gaulle roundabout :) http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sztuczn...7a_w_Warszawie)

Hello, guys! I don't have enough time to answer all your messages completely :) but I can just tell my story. Well, I arrived at Warszawa Centralna about 6:30 in the morning, and I was at the very opening of the Plus store at 8:00 (it's really near to the railway station, from the same side of the skyscraper foundation). I bought there iPlus simdata (by the way, all the dealer shops in the underground passages was closed so early) and I use it without problems here in Krakow. Really cheap GPRS and fast enough, although I see some delays in the evenings (it's a bit more speedy in the morning here). There is no free WiFi in the hotel, I just see some Orange WiFi nets, which could be connected without authorization but show just the Orange site with their pay internet access offer. I don't think it's a good idea, it seems it should be paid via an Orange SIM by SMS or something similar, which is useless for me. I have not made experiments with the hotel phone yet, I'm afraid it's a digital one, it has to many functions to be a 'normal' analog phone. I don't want to harm anything connecting an analog modem to a digital phone line. :)

Well, happy new year from Krakow, which is really nice city, a bit snowy and cold (-2..0) with a great New Year spirit! :)

It's great you did it :).

http://www.hotspot.orange.pl/index.php?lngver=en
Well, this solution in the prepaid version is pretty stupid because you can pay either via Orange premium rate SMS (what requires having an Orange SIM, I suppose) or special scratch cards, completely different from "regular" cards used to top-up POP or Orange SIM. Those cards should be available in hotspot locations but are they? I doin't know.


If it's an ISDN line you really shouldn't try if don't have an ISDN modem :).


Nice to hear that - enjoy your stay!

Yes, I did it! :) Honestly, it was much easier than I expected, thanks a lot for your help that made it so easy.

Yeah, this was what I understood too. The problem is that these cards provide just some short time access (such as 2 hours) while I need it for long time basis. I'd like to pay some money for a week access but it seems it's impossible. So I think it's useless for me unless I need Skype to talk for an hour or something similar. GPRS is quite OK to send messages etc. so I keep using it. One more question is how to recharge. Can I use any Plus scratch cards to top up iPlus Simdata?

I know :), so I'd better not try this.

So, I'm enjoying. :) HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)

Yes, any Simplus top-up (scratch card, printout from a terminal, top-up via ATM - "bankomat") will be OK (but not Sami Swoi!).
Top-ups are sold from ATM's of the following banks (Visa, MC, Maestro cards):
Euronet
PKO BP
BZ WBK
INVEST - BANK
Spółdzielcza Grupa Bankowa (SGB)
Bank Ochrony Środowiska (BOŚ)
Nordea Bank
Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej (BGŻ)
Bank BPH
Bank Polskiej Spółdzielczosci (BPS)
Eurobank (Visa cards only)
Mazowiecki Bank Regionalny (MBR)

If you make top-up via ATM, you have to specify the SIM number in the 9-digit format and the balance will be increased immediately. The only exception are PKO BP ATM's which just print 14-digit top-up codes (equivalent to those of the scratch cards).
Pekao SA ATM's may also be labeled with GSM prepaid logos, but this functionality is available only for cards issued by this bank.

Thanks a lot for this info. However, I tried to top it up before I read this, it was yesterday on 31st. I thought I could use an ATM to top up, but I just found an opened KODAK shop, where a salesman just took money and printed me a check with a recharge code. I used it with *123... and had no problem. However, I believe today an ATM would be the only solution since any GSM/photo shops are closed now.

Happy New Year again, now from the New Year itself. I'll write my impressions about the New Year night here and Russian<->Polish differences in this celebration that I've found a bit later, I guess it would be quite interesting to discuss it. :)

Probably some petrol stations with recharge terminals are open but they may be located far away from where you currently are....

Good idea but I think you should start a new thread in Off topic :).

Oh, yeah, I agree they are far from me. I'm almost at the old town here in Krakow, so I don't see any petrol stations here close. Anyway, it seems I will not need further recharges since iPlus simdata seems to be a cheaper tariff for my needs than I initially counted. :)

No doubts it should be there. :)