From german cellphones using "Eplus" you pay 20ct/min for 00800 calls.
Other operators seem to let them trough for free.
0800 is always free of charge - but many numbers are locked from cellphones and public phones because the owners of these numbers dont want to pay the high transaction costs from these destinations.

Chris

It's simple ;). "Historically", 00800's were charged as one billing unit ("impulse") per call. Now most landlines have 60/60 or 1/1 debiting (charging per fixed interval of time, not - "impulses" - fixed amount of money). The current 00800's fee is "inhereted" from times of "impluse" billing. It's usually 0.35 PLN (or 0.71 PLN in some plans with the cheapest monthly fees) per call from landlines,
Polish Telecom payphones still use "impluse" billing. Chip cards for payphones contain 15, 30 or 60 "impulses" and the single "impulse" costs 0.60, 0.50, 0.40 PLN (the "larger" card, the cheaper "impulse"). And the above values are of course fees for 00800's calls. Payphone chip cards are sometimes sold im promotions with some extra "free" "impulses" which decreases the price of a single "impulse" even down to 0.30 PLN. OTOH some dealers add some "commission" to payphone cards so a single "impluse" may cost even 0.65-0.70 PLN.
There are very few "coin-fed" payphones of local landline operators where 00800's cost 0.50 PLN/call (one 50 groszy coin). As of those payphones, I know one 00800 which is really free. It's 00800 321 13 19, free from Netia payphones. It's some access number for a calling card/credit card charged service but I don't know any details.

As to mobile phones, 00800's are available at "national rate with international debiting" :) (ie. 60/60) in Orange (both prepaid and postpaid). It's 0.80 PLN/min in the current prepaid plans and 0.75 PLN/min is most postpaid plans. However, those rates aren't anywhere in the pricelist and the service works "half-officially" :D.
In Plus 00800's are available in postpaid only at national rates (off-net mobile rate).
AFAIK, In Era 00800's are not available at the moment.

As to 0800's from payphones and Orange, I copied a piece of txt from
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/polonia/orange.html

Free calls to the Polish Telecom 0800 freephones (range 08001-08006) are available. However, some numbers from that range (usually local taxi corporations, but not only) are excluded. Calling 0800 lines is possible with zero credit too. Numbers possibly the most interesting for the foreign visitors are access numbers for calling cards: Telecard - 0800.125425 (http://www.telecard.cc, 0.25 PLN/min surcharge for 0800) and TelePIN (http://www.telepin.pl, 1.12PLN/min for 0800). Those access numbers are also available for free from Polish Telecom payphones (other calling card use non-PT 0800's which are available only from landlines or non-PT payphones).

I add here: basically all the Polish Telecom 0800 freephones (range 08001-08006) (also those excluded in Orange) are available for free from the Polish Telecom payphones. Other 0800 numbers (08000,08007-08009) are not available from PT payphones even non-free.
There are very few (and in some regions even none) non-PT payphones which allow all the 0800's.

0800's from Plus and Era mobiles are not available even-non free.

1 PLN is moreless 0.25-0.26 EUR at the moment...

Thanks for your very usefull and complete info! :)

I e-mailed them in English from their web site as I remember (figured out enough Germany to be able to send customer service an e mail) and they responded to me in English...they wanted the pin number off the sim card carrier and voila it was done.

Also let me note that I cannot remove the pin number protection from the phone..I was able to change the pin but no matter how hard I try, they won't let me drop this "protection"...I wonder if this is a vodafone DE thing or general German practice.

One would suppose all vodafone phones can be set to English voice prompts but am willing to bet SFR doesn't allow it...I know I was able to set Vodafone NL and Vodafone IE (ha ha) to English with a little help and also I got my TIM to be set to English but it took some doing and some help on this forum.

I know and understand that having the ability to set voice menus to English should not be required of local sims but there is so much travelling around in this day and age and English is the closest thing to a world wide language (I just read that the referees in the World Cup are required to be able to communicate in English) that it should be almost universal.

I have removed the PIN protection from the 2 D1 and SIMYO cards, so it is NOT a German thing. Just used the feature on my phone to change it.

Sold an ECO Global SIM and the new owner said the SIM card did NOT ask for the PIN when inserted into his phone.

Just two personal experience with LOCAL SIM cards. One good and one bad.

1. Good. German D1 (T-Mobile) cards. Bought 2 cards at a low price off German Ebay several years ago and we have used them in 3 or 4 visits to Germany. Refill cards purchased and have been used. Apart from various family members not understanding the ins and outs -- (don't use to call international #s directly and don't call during a weekday in the daytime. Cards were in XtraOne tarif with economical weekend calling but high weekday daytime costs), they have served their purpose.

2. Very bad. Bought 2 Malta cards about 2 years ago. Purchase price was low, but yearly refills cost approx $55 per year. I invested approx $220 to keep these cards going for two years. Wife & son went in 2005 and 4 of us went in 2006. We did use the cards, but not to the tune of $220. Son did use up most of balance on international calls to his girl friend in US - all but $40. The other card had about $63 balance when we left Malta. Not sure when or even if we would be returning. Rather than throwing another $110 or $220 into these accounts, I thought it best to sell them. My own fault (I was not feeling well at all), but I lost the card with the $40 balance in Munich airport. I just sold the other card for $10 to the only bidder on Ebay.

BOTTOM LINE:

If you decide to buy a local or other SIM for your travels, consider ALL the costs over WHOLE the time of holding the cards. It may simply be best to use up your balance during your current trip and let the card expire with a low balance. You can always by another SIM on your next trip.

Stan

If one has appropriate internet access (probably WIFI or broadband) AND one has a VOIP arrangement, calls can cost nothing. You need a desktop, laptop, of phone which will work with VOIP.

Stan thanks to Andy

Buying in the USA isn't always the best strategy
 

A few weeks ago someone posted an interesting account of his trip to Norway on one of the GSM-related Usenet newsgroups. He has bought a prepaid SIM card in the US from Telestial, only to find on arriving in Norway that the carrier demanded by SMS a local address to register. He was unable to make things work and finally ended up going to a company store owned by that carrier and bought a new prepaid package for which he registered in-store. Telestial is still selling this product with no warnings or disclaimers at their web site.

I've seen some comments on rec.travel.europe that in this age of terrorism, many countries are ending the free ride that lets visitors anonymously activate prepaid cellular accounts. Unless you're sure of the situation you'll face upon arrival, one should be careful about paying the huge premium for the convenience of buying a European SIM card while in the US, since it might not work when you arrive.

That's too bad. It's yet another thing we seem to be losing to the terrorists (either that, or it's a convenient excuse to force us into ridiculous roaming charges, particularly on data). Anyway, did your friend run into any problems registering in person? New EU roaming rules will come into effect soon, so perhaps the thing to do is get a SIM card from a country where private buying by non-residents is still easy (e.g. the UK) while we can, and keep the cards active.

I'm not sure I understand how restricting sales of prepaid SIMs to residents helps prevent terrorism, though. Why not just require registration with a passport or other secure form of ID that can be traced? That seems to bring most of the benefits of identify verification while not denying the tourist the ability to use a local phone.

Isn't that what most of these countries are doing? Switzerland, for example, won't let you get a SIM without providing identification, but a foreigner presenting a passport can get a SIM. It simply has to be done in person. In fact, if you get the package shipped to you while you are in Switzerland, the postal worker will get your passport information from you when he delivers the package with your SIM in it.