Split - data SIM in Poland

[Asick]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

Please tell me more precisely your route in Poland (airports, railways stations, hotels etc.) so that I could locate the most easily accessible Plus salons/dealers which sell simdata.

Honestly, I'm still not sure, since the tour program is still being prepared. Anyway, I've seen the list of iPlus dealers (Punkty Sprzedaży) here - http://www.iplus.pl/punktysprzedazy.html , is it possible to buy iPlus simdata in all the places listed there? I hope it's being sold in 'Autoryzowani Przedstawiciele Handlowi Plus' as well as in 'Salony firmowe Plus', is it correct?

Originally Posted by sakr

I'm using the Simdata daily as my internet connection after the working hours.

What's about GPRS quality? Is it fast enough? I mean you may expect many delays and timeouts when you use GPRS with the cheapest offer.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Asick

Honestly, I'm still not sure, since the tour program is still being prepared. Anyway, I've seen the list of iPlus dealers (Punkty Sprzedaży) here - http://www.iplus.pl/punktysprzedazy.html , is it possible to buy iPlus simdata in all the places listed there? I hope it's being sold in 'Autoryzowani Przedstawiciele Handlowi Plus' as well as in 'Salony firmowe Plus', is it correct?

In theory - yes, it is . Practically, 'Salony firmowe Plus' are the most reliable as to availability of products. E.g. my brother bought his iPlus SIM in the beginning of October - he found it only in "Salon firmowy" (in Wrocław, a city with 500000 inhabitants!). However, I think that it won't be that bad after all.

Originally Posted by Asick

What's about GPRS quality? Is it fast enough? I mean you may expect many delays and timeouts when you use GPRS with the cheapest offer.

"Pure" GPRS (at max. 38,4 kb/sec) should be available without any problem. However, EDGE coverage may be poor even in large cities.

[Asick]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

my brother bought his iPlus SIM in the beginning of October - he found it only in "Salon firmowy" (in Wrocław, a city with 500000 inhabitants!). However, I think that it won't be that bad after all.

Oh, I hope some dealers will sell it in Krakow too. I see there are only 2 "Salony firmowe", so if this is too far from my hotel it would be impossible to get such the SIM so I'd buy Tak Tak instead. Anyway, this is similar to what we have here (5-10 "operators' offices" here and lots of dealer shops), but dealers sell anything an operator can offer.

Originally Posted by Przemolog

"Pure" GPRS (at max. 38,4 kb/sec) should be available without any problem. However, EDGE coverage may be poor even in large cities.

No, you didn't get what I meant. Look, more subscribers use GPRS at the same time less free channels are remaining, so it produces some delays and might even collapse during peak hours. So, I was asking if the Plus network was built and organized well enough to support that extra GPRS usage or not. Here, for example, we had 10$/month unlimited traffic offer from Beeline 2 years ago, and by the end of this offer their GPRS almost got dead.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Asick

Oh, I hope some dealers will sell it in Krakow too. I see there are only 2 "Salony firmowe", so if this is too far from my hotel it would be impossible to get such the SIM so I'd buy Tak Tak instead. Anyway, this is similar to what we have here (5-10 "operators' offices" here and lots of dealer shops), but dealers sell anything an operator can offer.

I'm almost sure that you won't have to go necessarily to "Salon firmowy" . Just print the list of points of sales and when you arrive just select the closest location. BTW, this list is not very up to date. E.g. about 3 weeks ago I saw a lot of iPlus SIMs in Media Markt in Lublin, but Media Markts are not listed on http://www.iplus.pl/punktysprzedazy.html.

Originally Posted by Asick

No, you didn't get what I meant. Look, more subscribers use GPRS at the same time less free channels are remaining, so it produces some delays and might even collapse during peak hours. So, I was asking if the Plus network was built and organized well enough to support that extra GPRS usage or not. Here, for example, we had 10$/month unlimited traffic offer from Beeline 2 years ago, and by the end of this offer their GPRS almost got dead.

OK, you mean exceeding the network capacity. It shouldn't happen in any network because currently there are no really unlimited data/voice offers here. There are "unlimited" data plans in postpaid tariffs but they have built-in "fuses" - after exceeding 100 MB, 500 MB, 1 GB or so within a month the transfers falls to "impressive" 8kb/sec. Of course, it doesn't apply to New Year's night when mobile networks are overloaded in all types of services: voice, data and even SMS.
BTW, there's another easy alternative for internet access in Poland - old good dialup. It requires just a modem and a landline. You set username and password to ppp and dial 0202122 and you're connected to the internet - the access fee is included in the connection fee. The price of the service depends on the landline tariff plan - usually it's about 0.36 PLN/3 min peak hours 8-22 and 0.36 PLN/6 min off-peak 22-8. Of course, hotel surcharges will make those rates higher but by no more than 100%. From the hotel you should dial 0,0202122 (where the "leading 0" is the "exit code" to city lines).
The connection speed may be up to 57.6 kb/s (V.90 standard).

[Asick]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

BTW, this list is not very up to date. E.g. about 3 weeks ago I saw a lot of iPlus SIMs in Media Markt in Lublin, but Media Markts are not listed on http://www.iplus.pl/punktysprzedazy.html.

Yes, I understand the list might be a bit outdated, however I believe most of the info is still correct there, so it will help.

Originally Posted by Przemolog

Of course, it doesn't apply to New Year's night when mobile networks are overloaded in all types of services: voice, data and even SMS.

Oh, yes, I know it and I do not plan to GPRS during the New Year night. It's interesting that here we used to have complete network collapses during such the nights in 2001 or 2002, while it was generally OK in 2005 or 2006 (were able to call from 2nd or 3rd attempt and so on), I guess that's because they had to expand the number of BTSes and channels due to the number of users raised in times, so it helps during peak usage too.

Originally Posted by Przemolog

BTW, there's another easy alternative for internet access in Poland - old good dialup.

Well, this might be useful, especially for downloading some huge amounts of data. I plan to use the Internet mostly with low traffic (ICQ, short E-mails), but dialup would be good for sending some photos, greeting cards or even may be Skype or SIP. That's where it gets cheaper than GPRS and more preferrable from the technical point of view (lower ping and no delays). The only problem that it's still unclear how much money the hotel would take for it. I hope it would not be 2-3 initial rates... You say it's less than 100% surcharge, is it what you actually know or just guessing?

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Asick

Yes, I understand the list might be a bit outdated, however I believe most of the info is still correct there, so it will help.

Addresses in my area seem to be OK, so I think they are moreless OK for the rest of the country .

Originally Posted by Asick

Oh, yes, I know it and I do not plan to GPRS during the New Year night. It's interesting that here we used to have complete network collapses during such the nights in 2001 or 2002, while it was generally OK in 2005 or 2006 (were able to call from 2nd or 3rd attempt and so on), I guess that's because they had to expand the number of BTSes and channels due to the number of users raised in times, so it helps during peak usage too.

I think that the situation is getting slowly better also here. However, landlines are much more reliable in this psecific time .

Originally Posted by Asick

The only problem that it's still unclear how much money the hotel would take for it. I hope it would not be 2-3 initial rates... You say it's less than 100% surcharge, is it what you actually know or just guessing?

In hotels (low/medium class) in which I stayed in 2005 and 2006 the surcharge was about 33-40% It might be expressed as the cost of a "billing impulse" (which is enough for 3 min local call/dialup) is let's say 0.50 PLN whereas the same "impulse" from a home line would cost 0.36 PLN. I recalled that there may be another problem - the phone cable may be permamently (i.e not via plugs) attached both to the wall and the phone itself . OTOH there may be Internet access in the hotel via the internet or WiFi, but it's still not very likely.

[Asick]

Originally Posted by Przemolog

I think that the situation is getting slowly better also here. However, landlines are much more reliable in this psecific time .

Here I can't say landlines are reliable since overload is quite common during the New Year night at many landline local switches, especially old mechanical ones that still exist here. So, it depends.

Originally Posted by Przemolog

I recalled that there may be another problem - the phone cable may be permamently (i.e not via plugs) attached both to the wall and the phone itself . OTOH there may be Internet access in the hotel via the internet or WiFi, but it's still not very likely.

WiFi might be very useful but I agree it's not very likely in my case. I'm not planning to stay at 4-5 star hotels, and I don't think it's common to have WiFi spots at 3 stars in Poland, right? And the locked cable... well, a phone might have a plug of the same type for a handset or something similar, so there might be a trick etc., but I do not plan to destroy the hotel equipment with a screwdriver and a soldering iron. Hope the plugs will be where they should.