Best Vodafone passport option
 

I have been trying to figure out which Vodafone country gives the best prepaid deal with Vodafone passport. I'd like to use this in conjunction with a calling card for occasional roaming. In the past I have used 2 such SIM's from UK and Spain, and noticed huge differences, both in the per-minute rate but also for the time allowed per passport "setup" charge.

The UK deal gives up to an hour of outgoing calls back to the UK (or within the country you are roaming in) for a setup of £0.75 and then the normal national rates which are £0.30 peak or £0.10 off peak. Incoming calls are for an hour at the same setup cost. I was also charged this full fee for incoming calls to my voicemail when my phone was switched off (even when people didn't leave a message)

The Spanish deal is €1 for only 20 mins of calls, though I noticed for some countries such as whilst I was in NZ it was actually €2. This is excluding the per-minute fees for outgoing calls back to Spain (or within country) which are also much higher than the UK deal.

Can anyone tell me what the deal is like for other countries? I think for most countries the setup is €1 but I think the time varies. What countries give favourable per-minute rates on prepaid tarrifs?

Vodafone Germany calls the Passport-Option "Reiseversprechen" (TravelPromise).

It has 75ct flat fee for the first 60 minutes of a incoming call, then additional 20ct/min from the 61st minute.

Outgoing calls are 75ct flat fee + german rate
(Various tariffs, 9ct - 59ct/min inside germany depending on the tariff and network you are calling to).
This rate also applies for in-country calls

Calls to all other countries are charged 1,99 Eur/min + 75ct flat fee

countries:
UK
Albania
Australia
Belgium
Czech Republic
Egypt
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Malta
Netherlands
New Zealand
Portugal
Romania
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Thanks for that. That looks quite good! I presume the prepaid deals with Vodafone Germany are the ones that can be found on: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/germania/voda.html

Are these largely up to date? It will probably be best to have a deal to call German landlines to allow for calling card access. I presume the "OpenEnd Option" will not be possible with Vodafone Reiseversprechen oder?

Yes, they are up to date.
The tariffs are slightly different when using the Reiseversprechen.
See here (in german, but very good readable) http://www.vodafone.de/privat/mobil_...and/78569.html

The Open End and other options do not apply when you are abroad (That'd be too good to be true... hehe)

Chris

Thanks Chris: The "CallYa-Special" is good value for calling landlines (Ins "deutsche Festnetz" ) on weekends. That combined with a German calling card for international calling (such as "go bananas etc.") could be quite interesting for occasional roaming on weekends.

I don't think CallYa Special is available to new entrants

I'm wondering if I got charged the 75c connect fee for unanswered calls as the balance has dropped by quite a bit (1.99 or 2.09 for two of those and a roaming text message to Germany)

Iwas lining myself up to get a Vodafone Sweden one last year, as there was a very good off-peak tariff. Then Telenor took it over, and I assumed Passport would end. It's still on their website though, and detailed on the PPGSM page - 10 Kr connect, 2 Kr per minute (about 14p)

If you have or can find an older Vodafone UK SIM (or chane tariff?), the off-peak rate is 5p for Vodafone and landlines.

And when you use your calling card, if you can plan consecutive calls, many cards (and the UK's call18185 etc) will let you press # to follow-on the next destination, still connected to the callthrough number, thus saving connect fees.

Also, note that you need to call via an access number in either the home or roamed country, so careful if you use a third-country SIM

Currently the only available Callya offer that includes the Reiseversprechen is the Comfort tariff. The cheaper call rates do not apply while abroad, so while roaming you always pay 0,29€/min. for calls back to Germany (landlines and own network) as well as all calls within the country you are visiting (in both cases plus 0,75€ per call).

But it can be added on others, free of charge, as I did online in December

Not according to that Link sent by Chris earlier on, however if "Special" is no longer available... these will only be applicable to old customers.

Does anyone have experiences of countries other than Germany or UK?

In Italy the setup fee is 1€ on Zone 1 countries, 2€ for Zone 2 and so on. And it's valid for 30 mins for incoming calls, while outgoing calls have the normal national fee you have on your plan (plus the setup, of course). This works only on calls to Italy, not for the same-nation calls, if I'm not wrong.

Vodafone Greece

1 EUR (+19% VAT) setup fee for up to 60 minutes incoming roaming.

After those 60 minutes prepaid users are charged according to the normal roaming tarrif for additional minutes (About 0.84 EUR/min for "Zone 1" countries) and contract users are charged for the WHOLE call including the first 60 minutes.

For outgoing calls the same 1 EUR (+19% VAT) fee applies, then contract users get charged their standard rate or from exclusive minutes. Prepaid users pay depending on their package (0.3927/EUR min for a la carte, 0.29-0.58/EUR min for CU).

Special packages (such as the call time packages with a la carte) cannot be combined with passport.

Ouch! That seems a bit unfair! Best not go have a 61 minute call then!

Vodafone Greece just reduced the per call charge from 1.19 EUR to 1.00 EUR.

There are news about the German D2 Reiseversprechen: starting April the option shall be valid in 33 countries (instead of the current 20), according to the following report.
Details (especially about the countries) are to be announced at the CeBIT.

It seems the list is already out, here's a complete list with the additions marked in red:

EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slowakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, UK

Non-EU: Albania, Australia, Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Turkey

Upon closer look: basicly speaking the entire EU is covered now. Of course German will probably be most happy that the Reiseversprechen works in Austria too now.

What would be interesting now is the list of networks, these are my guesses:
Austria: A1 (Mobilkom)
Bulgaria: Mobiltel (Mobilkom)
Cyprus: Cyta
Denmark: TDC
Estonia: Elisa
Finland: Elisa
Latvia: Bite
Lithuania: Bite
Luxemburg: LuxGSM (P&T)
Poland: Plus
Slovakia: ?
Slovenia: SI.Mobil (Mobilkom)
Turkey: Telsim

Si.Mobile is in Slovenia, and it's "half-branded" Vodafone anyway...
I don't know where they can roam in Slovakia since O2, Orange and T-Mobile are all "enemies"... or at least they should be...

Thanks, I corrected the error.

The official list is now out:
http://www.vodafone.de/privat/tarife...34_102574.html

The partner network in Slovakia is Orange.

that's pretty odd, as Vodafone UK has T-mobile Slovakia

http://www.abroad.vodafone.co.uk/ind...u=1&le=1&sn=s7

Hello
The vodafone passport works with A la Carte? Or it is better to use an A la Carte system in order to call and receives calls all around Europe? Because I don´t understand how it works.
Besides If I buy a passport or simply use an A la Carte when I will be outside Greece in other country ¿They charge you for the incoming sms?

In Europe you NEVER pay for incoming sms

I'm surprised that Vodafone has limited the time you can use pasport in most countries. In the Netherlands there is no limit. Although I think that they have a fair use policy somewhere.
With the Dutch vodafone card you will pay 79 cent for an incoming call on a vodafone network and 99 cent on a non vodafone network in a country that is a passport country.
Outgoing calls are 79 or 99 cent plus your normal tarif, which is for normal prepiad 25 cent/minute for calls to the Nethlands and the country you are in.

Ties

I have just noticed that Vodafone Spain are now also extending Vodafone passort for roaming in USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Russia and China... although it is at a higher supplement of €2.49 per call rather than €0.99. Interesting as some of these countries are not "caller-pays" countries. (e.g. USA)
See: http://www.vodafone.es/particulares/...port/index.jsp
I presume it applies equally to prepaid as well as contract.

Is this available on other countries Vodafone tariffs? There is still no mention of this on the UK Vodafone website.

Just seen Greece has it too... though they have slightly different countries including USA, UAE, China and South Africa:

http://www.vodafone.gr/portal/client...on?pageId=1335

Vodafone Hungary charges the cca. 299 HUF (now a bit more than 1 EUR) connection fee each 10 minutes started...

When in 2007 they changed from the once-per-call to this once-every-10-minutes plan, I unsubscribed from this "saver". It might still be an option outside the EU though.