Travel report, Baltics and Central Europe

[markus]

As a frequent traveler and mobile enthusiast I decided to write down some personal experiences of using prepaid cards in certain Eastern and Central European countries.

Estonia

Availability of prepaid starter kits (“stardikas” in Estonian) is awesome. I guess it's impossible to find a gas station or kiosk that doesn't have all major brands. No registration is needed. There are three networks (EMT, Elisa and Tele2) and all of them have different offers. I have been using mostly Zen (from Elisa). It gives bonus for incoming calls and call tariffs are acceptable. If you recharge for 150 EEK (about 10 euros) you will get 300 free minutes to other Zens – without a call setup fee. If you need more than those 5 hours, Smart from Tele2 might be better choice. Minutes are unlimited but there is a small call setup fee (0,48eek). Both discounts are good for 30 days. Sadly, none of the prepaid products have good GPRS/3G offers at the moment. Zen has delivered all my messages to those foreign networks I have tried. What's more, both national and international SMSes are dirty cheap, 0,75eek (0,05e). Credit check costs money (same with Smart).

Zen prefix are 563 and 567. Tele2, different prefixes, 559 is common, also 557, 558 and some starting with 58, at least 582. EMT's Simpel is usually 519.

Latvia

Availability is not as good as in Estonia, some gas stations doesn't have starters (not even all kiosks in the centrum) but still quite acceptable. I have only tried Tele2's Zelta Zivtina. No coverage problems but SMSes doesn't go through to many foreign networks (at least Estonian Tele2 works) so I am going to try other offers in the future. One positive thing is a free credit check.

My number is +371 22344xxx, don't know about prefixes in Latvia.

Lithuania

Availability as in Latvia, have only used Tele2's Pildyk. It's the only prepaid offer AFAIK in the Baltics which have their website partly in English. Great! SMSes are dirty cheap (even international is less cheap than national) and works to those destinations I have tried. GPRS/3G is also available for reasonable price (0,30eur per MB). I have used it while driving towards Polish border without any problems (laptop was connected through Nokia E65), MSN Messenger and Skype were able to maintain active connection all the time.

My number is +370 670 36xxx, don't know how the prefixes go.

Poland

Compared to small Baltic markets, Poland's prepaid scene is very active. Lot's of different products and many products have also different plans. I have used Play for calls/SMSes and iPlus Simdata for GPRS/3G. Both work well and talking time is easily available almost everywhere. Simdata is hard to find except official dealer (major shopping centers and city centers). English is not widely spoken in Poland so don't be surprised if nobody speaks English at the dealers. I used Simdata with great success while driving in Poland, I used it often for 3 hours in moving car without getting disconnected. International SMSes worked with Play to those networks I tried except one UK network, must check which one it was. Play offers bonus for incoming calls. Sad thing with Poland is expensive international SMSes. Play numbers seems to start with either 790 or 791 (+ 6 numbers).

Slovakia

Encountered some problems here. Starters are not available “everywhere”, I found mine from O2 (Telefonica) dealer. Lots of paperwork with registration and all, took almost 30 minutes with some queuing. Not fun at all. Product itself works well, did not try GPRS/3G. My number starts with 949 (+6 numbers).

Austria

Visited one electronics store in the Vienna's centre, bought tele.ring's Mücke. Calls are cheap, but found out that other offers have bit cheaper SMSes. Had no problems with it. Number is really long, prefix 650 + 7 numbers.

Czech

Availability wasn't great here too, finally found one Vodafone starter from one gas station. Card itself worked well. My number starts with 773 (+6 numbers).

Germany

Got a chance to visit Germany briefly during one Sunday. Sadly, was not able to buy any starter for testing purposes. Asked from few gas stations, but they didn't have any.

Finland

There are many interesting prepaid offers available in Finland, maybe the best for short trip is Tele Helppo (Helppo means “easy” in Finnish). There is minimum usage of 2,90 euros per month, but if you're just staying for few days/weeks and don't want to keep the number, it doesn't matter. Can be bought and recharged at R-Kioski (biggest kiosk chain in Finland). Helppo doesn't work abroad, if you need that, dna Prepaid is the only possibility (calls are cost more than twice compared to Helppo). Dna has also some newer prepaid offer that also roams, but it involves some kind of registration, so maybe difficult for a short visit. New dna Prepaids seems to have numbers starting with 044 9 (where 044 is prefix for dna).

Roaming

Even the first GSM call was made in Finland, prepaid products were long expensive and limited by features. Roaming was only available for postpaid users. I have been bit surprised to notice that every prepaid I have bought from other countries lately have had roaming function activated, at least incoming calls and SMSes have worked. It's also nice to notice that many prepaids in Baltic states offer free incoming calls in all of those 3 countries.

Some SMS testing

While traveling, I sometimes run into SMS delivery problems. All combinations between Finnish and Estonian networks seems to work. While staying in Estonia, I tried sending messages from every Estonian operator (Elisa, EMT and Tele2) to my prepaid numbers from other countries (roaming in Estonia). Elisa and EMT delivered every message, but with Tele2 messages didn't go through to O2 Slovakia, tele.ring Austria, Vodafone Czech Republic. I also sent messages from Betamax's voip client (used Poivy) and it worked fine with every card. It is of course possible that the fact that cards were roaming in Estonia made some difference. Will do further testing later in their native networks.

However, I got curious about this SMS delivery issue. It seems difficult to guess if messages work or not (for example, Tele2 Estonia has roaming deal with tele.ring / T-mobile Austria, but SMS didn't go through). I would be willing to send SMS messages to other forum users to test different combinations (currently I am staying in Estonia with possibility to use Elisa, EMT and Tele2).

Notes on Poivy (Betamax)

Generally I have been sceptical about most “free voip/sms” services, but found courage to try Poivy.com (a Betamax service). I have been happy. Charged 10 euros with credit card and been calling for free to many landlines. Calls to mobiles are cheap too, but not as cheap as some other Betamax sites offer. There are also 15 free SMSes every week. The most interesting feature however is not the price, but the fully working caller ID selection for both calls and SMS. I can now call and SMS from everywhere and show any of my numbers – and get answers to SMSes directly back to my prepaid that is roaming with me. Very handy. This in fact takes away (in most cases, at least) the need to buy local prepaids. You can use your own to receive SMS and just use Betamax service to call/SMS. Only problem is incoming calls, but you can always call back (which is a lot cheaper than answering to incoming call while roaming).

Notes on mobile phones, 3G cards

Earlier I have used Option's GT Max PCMCIA card for GPRS/3G connection for my laptop. It usually works well, also in moving car, but has one disadvantage. Checking /recharging credit requires removing the SIM and using it on another phone. Later I used Nokia E65 with data cable. Credit check (probably also recharging) was possible while connected to Internet, very convenient. Nokia's PC Suite also has settings for most operators, so no need to hassle with connection settings (at least so far, Option's card shows blank settings after inserting new SIM). E65 seems to get WAP/GPRS settings either from SIM card or networks sends them automatically, in any case, have had no problems while using internet with mobile phone alone.

I also used Google Maps and email on E65 (Gmail using build-in client). Both use only little bit of data so on most prepaids, using these services is dirty cheap. Google Maps is a great help for navigation, especially when used together with external GPS. GPRS/3G is usually quite expensive while roaming, and is billed in 100KB chucks, that makes prepaids even cheaper option. For talking/SMSing I used Nokia 9300i. It seems it can only “remember” 6 SMSCs, so run into problems when it was not able to get the right settings from 7th card, had to update SMSC's number manually (by first using the card on another mobile which got the settings straight).

[fedeprovenza]

Good, interesting and very rich report

[dg7feq]

Thanks for the very informative report
One remark: In germany you will usually not find SIM-cards in gas stations. More in supermarkets (most have their own brands) and departement stores/electronic stores.

Chris

[PhotoJim]

Good report.

I got my German T-Mobile SIM at a T-Mobile store in Konstanz (right on the Swiss border with Kreuzlingen). Rates seem fair, but I haven't compared them to other carriers. Very very long phone number though (+49 160 9587 xxxx). Works fully in Canada. You need a passport to get one, apparently.

I got the tele.ring Austria Mucke SIM too. It seems pretty good. Inbound calls and SMS only in Canada. I got mine in Bregenz, near the German and Swiss borders.

I also got Swisscom in Amriswil, Switzerland at a Swisscom shop. A passport is mandatory for foreigners to get a SIM.

[limpwaster]

Again, good report.
One thing I would say is that I brought a sim from czech no problem. I went to the center of prague and there were o2, vodafone, and t-mobile stores on most streets. I ended up buying t-mobile sim for very cheap, all payg sims were about £3-£5 with credit.

I think I only saw the sims in the specific shops though, I didnt see any in gas stations / supermarkets, etc

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by markus

As a frequent traveler and mobile enthusiast I decided to write down some personal experiences of using prepaid cards in certain Eastern and Central European countries.



Poland

Compared to small Baltic markets, Poland's prepaid scene is very active. Lot's of different products and many products have also different plans. I have used Play for calls/SMSes and iPlus Simdata for GPRS/3G. Both work well and talking time is easily available almost everywhere. Simdata is hard to find except official dealer (major shopping centers and city centers). English is not widely spoken in Poland so don't be surprised if nobody speaks English at the dealers. I used Simdata with great success while driving in Poland, I used it often for 3 hours in moving car without getting disconnected. International SMSes worked with Play to those networks I tried except one UK network, must check which one it was. Play offers bonus for incoming calls. Sad thing with Poland is expensive international SMSes. Play numbers seems to start with either 790 or 791 (+ 6 numbers).

Simdata is quite a nice product, however, as you noticed, not so easy to buy. Some kind of alternative is similar "data SIM" Orange Free with the same data rates. In fact, any Orange prepaid SIM can be converted into Orange Free but it may last up to 24 hrs whereas Simplus can't become Simdata and vice versa .

As to English not-speaking people - English is not a mandatory foreign language in Polish schools (as Russian was until 1989/90) though it's the most popular one, of course. However, many people simply forget what they learnt in school - no matter what language or any other subject .

Play has relatively very few roaming agreements that's why it has many proble with international SMS interchange.

Play bonus for incoming calls is possible because they are allowed to get a much higher termination rate than the "Big Three" and it's usually more expesinve to call Play than other +48 mobiles.

The rate for international SMS are horrible here - and MVNOs set them even higher than "Big Three"

Originally Posted by markus

Roaming

Even the first GSM call was made in Finland, prepaid products were long expensive and limited by features. Roaming was only available for postpaid users. I have been bit surprised to notice that every prepaid I have bought from other countries lately have had roaming function activated, at least incoming calls and SMSes have worked. It's also nice to notice that many prepaids in Baltic states offer free incoming calls in all of those 3 countries.

Prepaid roaming isn't that simple after all because of necessity of "watching" the balance in the home country.

BTW, Polish iPlus simdata doesn't have roaming - if it worked for you, it's was malfunction .

[markus]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

BTW, Polish iPlus simdata doesn't have roaming - if it worked for you, it's was malfunction .

OK, was not thinking about it at all

Cheap calls to mobiles inside Estonia

There's one Estonian prepaid offer which is not covered at all on this site. www.diil.ee

With 119eek recharge card, they offer quite competitive price for calls to mobile networks, 0,79eek (about 5 eurocents). However, there's call setup fee in same amount on top of it.

Tele2's Smart also offers similar pricing structure, Hinnaliider, where the cost is just 0,75eek. Diil works on EMT's network so it probably works better outside major cities.

Diil's pricing is good for 6 months, while Hinnaliider pricing lasts only 30 days after 125eek recharge.

[markus]

Small update, 2 new countries and success in Germany.

Slovenia

Had the pleasure of visiting Slovenia for the first time in my life this summer, two times in fact. Bought Tusmobil from one kiosk in Ljubljana. As far as I understood, Tus "group" includes many supermarkets and gas stations, which also sells Tusmobil products. Most other gas stations also sold talking time for Tusmobil, so no problems there. Card was easy to buy and required no ID or activation. Data connection worked fine and price wasn't bad either. Only problem is 90day activation period, no idea when I will go there again.. So don't charge too much.

Germany

Visited Germany again in June and bought Aldi Talk from Aldi supermarket in Berlin. Got the starter envelope from cashier and didn't have to show ID. Registered card online (used hotel's address and landline number) and card was activated after few hours. Have been using it later on too, prices are not bad and everything works fine like most things (if not all) in Germany.

Italy

First visit to Italy was really horrible. Came from Slovenia and decided to visit Trieste first. Asked some police officers if they knew where nearest Wind shop is. Of course they "knew" and showed me the location of one department store on the map. Got there and found all the other providers, but not Wind. Asked if they had ever had Wind shop, no. Didn't spend more time looking for one, headed to Venice. Asked hotel staff there if they know where Wind shop is, and got location on map. It was on the other end of the island. Luckily got there in time, bought 2 cards. I had generated local "social security code" before hand at home (help on this forum is much appreciated). Helpful guy told that he tries to get the card activated early next morning (he said he must FAX the "agreement" to Wind). Well, it didn't work out and as I had to leave to Austria following evening, I couldn't use the card I bought! The whole purpose of prepaid card is to be easy and fast activation, clear that Italians doesn't think that way.

Card was anyway activated before my next trip, and I had working Italian number when I crossed the Italian border, huh! I had written down the exact activation procedure for "flat rate data packet", but I didn't get reply saying it has been activated. Instead I got message in Italian saying it will take up to 48 hours! It wasn't exactly the reply I wanted to get, as I had planned only one night stay in Italy in hotel which didn't have wifi (most hotels in other countries have wifi, but not Italian ones.. ones I have tried. As most things have taken more time than promised in Italy, I didn't hope for any miracles to happen, but data packet was in fact activated after few hours. And when it finally was activated, it worked well. In fact, really well. Had a plan to visit Italy again this month, but didn't, so must deactivate it now..

Phone update

I have used E90 lately. Except poor battery life and size, it's perfect. Has good keyboard and big screen. What is of course most important, MSN, email, web and Google Maps all work fine (Google Maps really well with build-in GPS). I also like mini-USB port, because now I can use same cable for both my phone and camera. And if I ever lose or forget the cable, new can be bought almost anywhere for few euros (and many have spare cables anyway). Only bad thing is that it's not possible to charge either camera or E90 via USB.