Israel GPRS rates - Page 5

wolfbln · 02-05-2015, 22:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperial

The wiki needs an update. The Hot prepaid plan, as well as the improved Pelephone plan are new, marketed for less than a week. Other companies also have better offers than the basic rates those shown this site's "national operators" page.

Faking an Israeli ID is not like faking an Italian tax ID, it is unique, and an ID card (or passport, or Israeli driver licence) have to be presented to the sales representative when signing a contract. Internet registration of a postpaid line is possible only with a credit card, and the credit and ID details are checked against a central data base.

On the other hand, SIM cards can be bought anonymously and paid cash.

All I want to stress is that with HOT Mobile like on GOLAN, you'll be on a recurring contract (which is prepaid and can be terminated at any time), not a regular prepaid or PAYG SIM as it is known in the rest of the world. Both of them simply don't sell genuine prepaid SIM cards like in most other European nations.

GOLAN is the only of the new providers who lets foreigners (= people without an Israeli ID) officially to make a contract. HOT Mobile doesn't do this according to user reports. But some users were successful online when they gave instead of the Israeli ID another "fictional" number.

So what are you trying to say?
- HOT is a good offer. that's right. But only to Israel citizens - so of very limited use for 99% in the forum.
- You can't fake an Israeli ID, well some did it obviously - and you don't need to present it to anybody because HOT is an online operator after all.
- And the "anonymously bought SIM cards paid in cash" obviously don't refer to the contracts of HOT. HOT links to a credit card.
= I only wanted to stress that your HOT offer has some strings attached if you not happen to live in Israel and have an Israeli ID/credit card.

What Pelephone is concerned, they only have their website in Hebrew (as the only of the big MNOs) which is spoken by 0.1% of the world population (9 millions out of 9 billions). Obviously, they are not so interested in the rest 99.9%. So may be you can update the WIKI on their part???

The problem with Israel and the phone market there is similar to France: In both countries there are contracts which can be terminated anytime by free will. This makes real prepaid quite expensive. So many "new offers" like Walla Mobile (Pelephone) or 012 Smile (Orange/Partner) pose two problems to visitors:
- they are sold online only and sent to an Israeli address
- they need to be linked to an Israeli ID and credit card, which closes the door for all Non-Israelis.
-> that's why they are not on the WIKI. "Real" prepaid cards (not recurring contracts) are still pretty expensive in Israel.

sperial · 03-05-2015, 03:05

wolfbln, I live in Israel, Hebrew is my mother tongue and I follow the local market.
Most MVNO's and all MMO's, except Golan (which is actually an MVNO), offer TRUE PREPAID, NON-CONTRACT lines. Just go to their shop, get a SIM card and a top up, drop the SIM into your phone and use it. It is already activated. No contract, no ID required, just some cash. AFAIK prepaid is about 30% of the lines.
As to the internet sites - you are right, most of them have very rudimentary foreign language pages if at all. Again, Golan is the exception, maybe because it is owned and run by the owner and former manager of french Free network. BTW, I have the same problem when surfing the sites of many European mobile operators. Yhank yoy, Google Translate.

sperial · 16-02-2016, 15:52

After a high profile political dispute with France Telecom/Orange the Israel Orange today started rebranding as Partner. No change in service for existing customers is expected, but as Israel became a low cost postpaid cellular market no prepaid plans are advertised on the new web site.

wolfbln · 18-02-2016, 08:38

Well, the change from Orange to Partner was expected. One can argue, if their new logo is such a major coup and eyecatcher. Is turquoise now the new orange in Israel?

I can hardly imagine that they will not offer a prepaid SIM card as one of the three historical providers in the country. Are Orange's Big Talk SIMs not sold anymore? May be recolored?

I mean does everyone (without any credit check or verified residency) get at postpaid contract in Israel in these days? Except of visitors, there are migrant workers and lot of other people who may be interested in having cellular coverage in the country. Not to mention some neighbors who still don't have 3G in their territories and are using Israeli providers instead. I can't hardly imagine that they mean no business for the providers.

sperial · 18-02-2016, 16:45

The Israeli cellphone is changing very rapidly.

Hot continues with it's standard postpaid plans. They joined Patner and build a joint network of base stations, although other infrastructure remains separate.

Golan tried to merge with Cellcom, but did not get the regulator's approval. They dismantled most of their base stations and market extremely cheap packages. Many expect them to go bankrupt in the near future.

Partner changed their brand - and the new logo gets a lot of criticism. However it appears that mobile phone brands lost most of their value. On their new site Partner advertise only two postpaid packages ("unlimited" talk and text an 15 or 25 GB data). They also sell smaller and cheaper packages are marketed under the "012mobile" brand. They do not advertise prepaid cards, but that does not mean that you can not find them.

Most MVNO's disappeared, the only two who remain viable are Rami Levi and 019 Telzar (a small brand catering mostly to foreign workers). All other MVNO's were very small and consolidated with their parent companies.

sperial · 11-04-2018, 12:57

Israel/s cellular ladscape has changed markedly, and it's time to update this site:

Orange has rebranded as "Partner"" Their prepaid brand ramains "BigTalk"

"Home Cellular" and "YouPhone" were merged into Cellcom and Pelephone, respectively. Rami Levi remains the only MVNO in the country.

A new MNO - WE4G - started operating yesterday, sharing the network with Cellcom. No prepaid plans yet, postpaid starts at NIS 19.90 (EUR 4.60) for virtually unlimited voice and texts and 10GB data/month.

	(#2)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	03-05-2015, 03:05 wolfbln, I live in Israel, Hebrew is my mother tongue and I follow the local market. Most MVNO's and all MMO's, except Golan (which is actually an MVNO), offer TRUE PREPAID, NON-CONTRACT lines. Just go to their shop, get a SIM card and a top up, drop the SIM into your phone and use it. It is already activated. No contract, no ID required, just some cash. AFAIK prepaid is about 30% of the lines. As to the internet sites - you are right, most of them have very rudimentary foreign language pages if at all. Again, Golan is the exception, maybe because it is owned and run by the owner and former manager of french Free network. BTW, I have the same problem when surfing the sites of many European mobile operators. Yhank yoy, Google Translate.

	(#3)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	16-02-2016, 15:52 After a high profile political dispute with France Telecom/Orange the Israel Orange today started rebranding as Partner. No change in service for existing customers is expected, but as Israel became a low cost postpaid cellular market no prepaid plans are advertised on the new web site.

	(#4)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	18-02-2016, 08:38 Well, the change from Orange to Partner was expected. One can argue, if their new logo is such a major coup and eyecatcher. Is turquoise now the new orange in Israel? I can hardly imagine that they will not offer a prepaid SIM card as one of the three historical providers in the country. Are Orange's Big Talk SIMs not sold anymore? May be recolored? I mean does everyone (without any credit check or verified residency) get at postpaid contract in Israel in these days? Except of visitors, there are migrant workers and lot of other people who may be interested in having cellular coverage in the country. Not to mention some neighbors who still don't have 3G in their territories and are using Israeli providers instead. I can't hardly imagine that they mean no business for the providers.

	(#5)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	18-02-2016, 16:45 The Israeli cellphone is changing very rapidly. Hot continues with it's standard postpaid plans. They joined Patner and build a joint network of base stations, although other infrastructure remains separate. Golan tried to merge with Cellcom, but did not get the regulator's approval. They dismantled most of their base stations and market extremely cheap packages. Many expect them to go bankrupt in the near future. Partner changed their brand - and the new logo gets a lot of criticism. However it appears that mobile phone brands lost most of their value. On their new site Partner advertise only two postpaid packages ("unlimited" talk and text an 15 or 25 GB data). They also sell smaller and cheaper packages are marketed under the "012mobile" brand. They do not advertise prepaid cards, but that does not mean that you can not find them. Most MVNO's disappeared, the only two who remain viable are Rami Levi and 019 Telzar (a small brand catering mostly to foreign workers). All other MVNO's were very small and consolidated with their parent companies.

	(#6)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	11-04-2018, 12:57 Israel/s cellular ladscape has changed markedly, and it's time to update this site: Orange has rebranded as "Partner"" Their prepaid brand ramains "BigTalk" "Home Cellular" and "YouPhone" were merged into Cellcom and Pelephone, respectively. Rami Levi remains the only MVNO in the country. A new MNO - WE4G - started operating yesterday, sharing the network with Cellcom. No prepaid plans yet, postpaid starts at NIS 19.90 (EUR 4.60) for virtually unlimited voice and texts and 10GB data/month.