Hungary

[hkr]

Originally Posted by Frank_Costello

Does anyone know a websites where you can top up Vodafone-HU by credit card online?

Vodafone - Elektronikus egyenlegfeltöltés

But you'd better speak Hungarian. Enter phone number twice, choose the amount you wanna topup, and click its icon. Amounts over HUF 3000 extend validity with a year. You also are eligible for free minutes or free SMS, you can choose which bonus you want by sending an SMS.

Once you are okay, click on "Feltoltes" and then you can proceed to the payment page.

[90180360]

Thanks for your help, hkr!

I don't know yet if my flat has internet, as I don't have any yet.
I'll soon be on flat hunt though for three days. During those three days it would be perfect to have a sim for calls and a sim for the dongle, so that I don't have to rely on WiFi.

T-Mobile prepaid doesn't look very flexible to me.

Originally Posted by hkr

But you'd better speak Hungarian.

You can also use Google chrome which has Google translate integrated.

[hkr]

Hi,

T-Mobile is not renowned for being the most flexible or cheapest... However, their 'Domino Web' package is sort of copying a similar package of Vodafone. It is for people who need to have a stick ready for emergency, and use it a few times, but cannot/don1t want to commit themselves to paying a monthly fee for something they do not use that heavily. I have the similar package from Vodafone in a backup modem, should my CATV and ADSL connections fail at home, the router automatically uses the 3G. I do not pay a penny apart from topping it up once every year. If I use it, it certainly costs more than it would, but it is still cheaper than paying for X Gbyte each month if I only use it once a year... Another similar card I put in my stick, once every week or so, when I am out with my netbook, I check my e-mail on the road. Only once have I used up more than the free allowance of 50MB/month...


Certainly, if you know you are to use your 3G heavily, you can buy a normal voice SIM and activate a data package. I believe such packages are available with all three providers.


T-Mobile offers the following bolt-ons for voice packages:
Mobile broadband

Vodafone has the following bolt-ons:

Vodafone - Mobil Internet - dij_vitamax


Telenor's offers are around here:
Mobile Online 5 GB - Telenor
Mobile Online 10 GB - Telenor



Telenor has the Djuice brand aimed at young people, their Reload Net package might also be interesting: djuice



Mobile internet is not cheap, and there are no real "unlimited" offers. But if you only use the net moderately (ie. surfing, some emails) a few gigabytes must be enough. For applications like FTP, videos etc, you can be better off by finding a neighbour who can share his internet access with you

Another point to consider is coverage, a lot depends on which carrier has best signal and bandwidth in your area. It is perhaps worth checking before purchase.

[hkr]

Two things I forgot to mention.

a) Vodafone has two APNs. One of them works with compression, ie. they compress pictures, text and everything they can. This means you get less good looking pictures, but a lot less data. If you do not need full resolution of ads and all, you can save a lot by this.

b) It is also worth noting that while Telenor and T-Mobile offer EDGE for the most of the country, Vodafone only has GPRS in areas where their 3G is unavailable. If you travel a lot to rural areas, this can be a factor. But as a matter of fact I have found that EDGE can sometimes actually feel slower than GPRS...

[90180360]

I went with Vodafone and was not disappointed. Didn't do any tests, but speed seemed very fast. Also apparently latency is low, made several flawless calls through VOIP.

[90180360]

Originally Posted by hkr

T-Mobile is not renowned for being the most flexible or cheapest... However, their 'Domino Web' package is sort of copying a similar package of Vodafone.

Ok, maybe I understand now what you're talking about.
I think on their website, there is only information about Domino Net and not Domino Web.
Finally I found information about Domino Web in the Domino Tariff Guide... (page 15, 2.2.12.2.)
I don't like it though as you're paying 490 HUF even if you don't use it and for most usages it's more expensive than Vodafone.

[90180360]

Let's compare:





So for <1.5GB, Vodafone is generally better.
Above 1GB, you might want to get a fixed data plan from T-Mobile (Domino Net M or L), as you high premiums for the flexibility.

[90180360]

Just to illustrate the point I made above:





As you can see, Domino Net 40 MB, Domino Net 100 MB and Domino Net 500 MB are useless.

Domino Net M is ideal between 1GB and about 3GB, while Domino Net L is ideal between about 3GB and about 8 GB.

[90180360]

Originally Posted by hkr

Telenor's offers are around here:
Mobile Online 5 GB - Telenor
Mobile Online 10 GB - Telenor

Telenor has the Djuice brand aimed at young people, their Reload Net package might also be interesting: djuice

Reload Net is indeed interesting!
Do you know if Mobile Online 5 GB and Mobile Online 10 GB are available with prepaid?

Djuce Reload Net offers internet for 5 HUF / MB.
Additionally a 500 MB (1990 HUF), a 1GB (2990 HUF) and a 5 GB (5990 HUF) package are available.
These packages are valid for 45 days. The great thing is that you can renew them anytime you want. So if you have used up the data before the 45 days are over, you can activate a new package. This is not possible with T-Mobile.

Let's add Djuce:





So if you need between 50MB and 1GB, it's quite interesting!
Also from 8 GB and above...

[hkr]

Hi,

thanks for all the interesting comparison and charts.

I am not 100% sure about DominoWeb, I think that they only take the HUF 490 when you start using the internet, so if you dont use it at all, you dont have to pay either. But I will double check.

The main thing to consider beside price is speed and coverage. I mainly use a 3 MB T-Mobile subscription, but also use Vodafone and Telenor SIMs. I find that T-Mobile is usually the fastest of the three, and they also offer EDGE when 3G is unavailable. Telenor/Djuice also offers EDGE. Vodafone does not, so if there is no UMTS coverage, only GPRS is available. It is useful to remember, especially if you are to use stick in a rural area. But generally speaking all three are usable. With some white spots on the map.

As I need internet on the go, but have modest traffic, I keep three SIMs with me, and if one fails, I might use another.