Mobile Internet in Croatia?

[Effendi]

From google translate:

"The amount of 394 kn at Tele2 account is distributed in the following manner: 100 kn immediately after activation, 50 kn following 5 months, and last month, 44 kn, with the monthly payment voucher of at least 50 kn."

[dilijasi]

To reply to hkr questions:

Vipme related:
- topups are available in 35, 100 and 200 Kuna value. No topup fee (like once in Italy 5 Euro) is charged, total amount is used to buy you airtime.
- there are two data packs available for Vipme users: Mobile surf 20 (20Mb charged 15 Kuna) and Mobile surf 100 (100Mb charged 30 Kuna). Data packs could be activated by a simple text message, the amount will be deducted off your current Vipme balance) More info find here: VIPonline

Tele2 related:
- 394 Kuna of bonus balance (of the 395 Kuna data package bundle) is NOT available immediately. As google translated in previous post by Effendi, Tele2 has setup an awkward scheme: for 6 moths you need to topup at least 50 Kuna a month in order to get the 100 Kuna balance at start and then 50 more for 5 months.

Hope all is clear now, regards.

[hkr]

dilijasi,

Thanks for the reply. It looks VIP has changed a few options since I last checked

If I understand what they (you) say, I can buy data packages as an option for my existing VIPME SIM, and they add up.

"It is possible to activate more Mobile surf data packages (20 at most) within the 30-day period, and the amount of the newly activated data package will be added up to the remaining amount of the already activated package(s). New Mobile surf data package is activated automatically upon expiry of the 30-day period."

So if I buy 5 x 100 MB = 500 MB, I pay 5 x 30 kn = 150 kn.

If I buy a VIPME Broadband SIM and an 500 MB data packet, I pay 20 kn for SIM + 200 kn for 500 MB.

So theoretically it is cheaper and easier (no need to find a VIP store) to just use my existing VIPME SIM with the SURF options. Am I right? Does it offer the same internet as VIPME Broadband, or is it only WAP?

(This would be great as I have more than 150 kn balance now, which I will most probably not use for phone calls...)

[dilijasi]

hkr, you got me confused for a sec

VIPMe is a regular prepaid voice + data service. You can add data packs to it, and you calculated right, for 150 Kuna you can use up to 500Mb of data. Which made me curious because it's much cheaper than my regular VIPMe Broadband (please note that is a pure data service SIM, no voice) tariff where 500Mb cost 200 kuna.

However, you've got a VIPMe SIM and you can use data packs for it but to use VIPMe Broadband service you need to buy another, data SIM, and topup. VIPNet site is not clear about data transfer speeds when using data packs for VIPMe, apart from stating you need to have a GPRS service activated in order to use data packs. Which in other, less marketing-friendly, words could mean litimed choice of protocols where nothing else than GPRS/Edge is available while high speed protocols remain reserved for VIPMe Broadband service. Which honestly adds up, otherwise clients would go for cheaper solution (VIPMe + data packs).

I doubt mailing or calling VIPNet customer service will provide any clear answer but I plan to go down to Croatia next week and could ask some of their tech-savvy advisers to clarify things.

[hkr]

Hello dilijasi,

At the URL VIPonline I read the following:

"When using data services, the time spent on the network is not charged, only the quantity of data transferred. Price does not depend on the technology of transfer used (GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA). The calculation unit is always 10kB."

However, it speaks a lot about how to use these data packs with your phone's browser.

I do not think it is restricted to GPRS/EDGE, but I do hope that these data packs are not using a different (WAP-only) APN ...

I will call and ask them.

[hkr]

So I asked VIP. I got the following reply:


Dear Sir,

thank you for your query.

Mobile surf data packages are available for activation to each Vipme customer.

You can use the same phone as modem and for making phone calls with data packages. If you are Vipme user APN is gprs0.vipnet.hr . During the connection you are using the same GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA network.

To activate Mobile surf data package it is enough to send an SMS message containing the keyword SURF100 to the free number 792.

For any additional information feel free to contact us again.

Best regards

Vipnet d.o.o.

[dilijasi]

respect hkr,

seems to me you discovered a potential loophole in pricing policy of VIPNet that is allowing for cheaper broadband internet on a simple prepaid voice SIM card armed with data packs than on a dedicated usb data card+data SIM combo...strange but true, congrats! Mind the APN for VIPMe Broadband, that is data.vip.hr.

Keep us informed however of actual speeds and VIPNet coverage if you're about to go for some weeks to Croatia this summer.

[hkr]

Hello dilijasi,


I have contacted VIP again and asked them to clarify if this APN provides techically the same service as data.vip.hr. Here is their response:


APN gprs0.vipnet.hr does allow full internet access. If You use phone as modem with
a VIPme SIM and SURF packages activated, You have full access to the internet.
Difference between using phone as modem with a VIPme SIM and VIPme Broadband SIM is
only in pricing. If you're looking for more informations about Mobile surf data
packages for Vipme customers, please visit
VIPonline


I will be in Croatia between 18 and 24 June, will of course report back.

[hkr]

I am still in Hungary, starting off to Croatia tonight. I sent an SMS from my VIPme card to 792, but there was no reply. I thought it was not possible to active a 100 MB packet from outside of Croatia. But today I realized that my balance was exactly 30kn lower than yesterday. So I sent another SMS to 792, now with the "?" command in it, and got a Croatian language message saying that I have 100 MB to use until the end of July. So all is great so far, the card is now in my E71, it looks I will be able to keep connected

[hkr]

Greetings from Croatia!

I have started using my normal voice VIPme SIM for data. All is fine, I put the card in my Huawei B970 router, and voila, I have wifi in our hotel room Works fine.

Just a few things of my experience.

When I first put the card in my phone, it automatically configured an APN "start" and connected the internet using the APN automatically... It took me 3-4 kn before I realized it happened. Then I deleted that APN and set my phone to use gprs0.vipnet.hr and not anything else.

The second thing. I wanted to top-up so I went to a VIP shop. I was told I cannot top up using my credit card there, only cash. So I went to the other side of the road and bought a voucher from an ATM. The instructions in English are printed on the ATM voucher, but still, it was a blind-ride as the system I had to call to topup only spoke Croatian

You can buy the SURF20 and SURF100 packages by sending SMS to the free number 792. I sent the first such SMS, and was replied immediately by SMS that the package will be activated within 24 hours... Well, in fact it was active immediately, but... Immediately I sent another SURF100 message to 792 (I wanted to add multiple packages ), but got an SMS that it was unsuccessful. About 10 minutes later I got an SMS that a 100MB had been activated. This confirmed the first purchase.... After this SMS I sent the purchase request again, and got a new SMS saying it will be activated within 24 hours

So, if you need several times 100MB, it is not the most convenient way, but it does work if you are patient and do not necessarily want to buy the whole lot of data package all at once.

HSDPA coverage at our hotel in Porec is acceptable even indoors, but I have an external directional antenna with gain, so I have excellent signal strength. I do not want to waste bytes on speedtests, but when I tried it once it was about 1.1 Mbps down and 320 kbps up. Good enough for anything I need it for, even VoIP works fine with my Nokia phone and asterisk server at home