Israel GPRS rates

sperial · 16-01-2013, 14:34

A new player recently joined the Israeli Prepaid scene: Home Cellular, an MVNO marketed by the Home Center hardware stores.
A prepaid SIM card (called Home Cellular Card) costs NIS 29 (about EUR 6.00). The basic rate is NIS 0.39/min, and the cedit is valid for 12 months. Text messages are charged NIS 0.39 (EUR 0.08 ) and data surfing NIS 0.50 (EUR 0.10)/MB.
Customer service can be reached by dialling *111, and the language can be selected ( Hebrew, English, Arabic or Russian).
The MVNO uses Cellcom's GSM 1800 and HSPA 2100 networks, and it's number format is (0)55-22xxxxx
This leaves one MVNO, YouPhone without a prepaid plan. Such a plan is posted as "coming soon" on their web site (called YouTalk).

The really good news for visitors is that tho two new mobile carriers - Golan Telecom and Hot Mobile, added very cheap international calling rates from every Israely phone. Golan is the cheapest to most countries at NIS 0.08 (EUR 0.016)/min to landlines in most european countrieas and to all numbers in Continental USA and Canada, and calls to most West European mobile numbers are NIS 0.49 (EUR 0.20)/min. Access is by dialling the international access code 016 followed by the country code. The corresponding rates fot Hot are NIS 0.15 (EUR 0.03) and NIS 0.50 (EUR 0.10)/min, and the access code is 017. Note that these rate include air time, so calls to the USA, Canada and most European landlines are actually cheaper than calls inside Israel.

davidtheprof · 18-01-2013, 15:06

I was just in Israel 10 days, and the Orange sim worked perfectly,
I used the 130NIS bonus pack (about $33) = 500 sheqel in Israel (about 400 mins) + 80 sheqel to call local or abroad + 500MB bundle
There are cheaper packs if you don't need as much.
I found a sim on ebay, and the vendor added the bonus pack just before I got there, very convenient! (not sure if OK to mention him here)

FF99 · 05-02-2013, 22:24

A few quick questions.

Is the Orange shop at the airport reasonably user friendly (reasonably quick service and helpful staff) ? My first stop will be the King David in Jerusalem - is there a shop nearby if I can't sort things out at the airport ?

Does Orange allow access to all VOIP services (inc Skype) ? Some mobile operators seems to block such services.

Finally, is tethering allowed (or whether allowed or not, does it actually work) ? Could I use the SIM in a dongle if required ?

	(#1)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	16-01-2013, 14:34 A new player recently joined the Israeli Prepaid scene: Home Cellular, an MVNO marketed by the Home Center hardware stores. A prepaid SIM card (called Home Cellular Card) costs NIS 29 (about EUR 6.00). The basic rate is NIS 0.39/min, and the cedit is valid for 12 months. Text messages are charged NIS 0.39 (EUR 0.08 ) and data surfing NIS 0.50 (EUR 0.10)/MB. Customer service can be reached by dialling 111, and the language can be selected ( Hebrew, English, Arabic or Russian). The MVNO uses Cellcom's GSM 1800 and HSPA 2100 networks, and it's number format is (0)55-22xxxxx This leaves one MVNO, YouPhone without a prepaid plan. Such a plan is posted as "coming soon" on their web site (called YouTalk). The really good news for visitors is that tho two new mobile carriers - Golan Telecom and Hot Mobile, added very cheap international calling rates from every Israely phone. Golan is the cheapest to most countries at NIS 0.08 (EUR 0.016)/min to landlines in most european countrieas and to all numbers in Continental USA and Canada, and calls to most West European mobile numbers are NIS 0.49 (EUR 0.20)/min. Access is by dialling the international access code 016 followed by the country code. The corresponding rates fot Hot are NIS 0.15 (EUR 0.03) and NIS 0.50 (EUR 0.10)/min, and the access code is 017. Note that these rate include* air time, so calls to the USA, Canada and most European landlines are actually cheaper than calls inside Israel. Last edited by sperial; 16-01-2013 at 15:29..

	(#2)
davidtheprof (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 159 Join Date: 05 Jun 2011 Country:	18-01-2013, 15:06 I was just in Israel 10 days, and the Orange sim worked perfectly, I used the 130NIS bonus pack (about $33) = 500 sheqel in Israel (about 400 mins) + 80 sheqel to call local or abroad + 500MB bundle There are cheaper packs if you don't need as much. I found a sim on ebay, and the vendor added the bonus pack just before I got there, very convenient! (not sure if OK to mention him here)

	(#3)
FF99 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 1 Join Date: 05 Feb 2013 Country:	05-02-2013, 22:24 A few quick questions. Is the Orange shop at the airport reasonably user friendly (reasonably quick service and helpful staff) ? My first stop will be the King David in Jerusalem - is there a shop nearby if I can't sort things out at the airport ? Does Orange allow access to all VOIP services (inc Skype) ? Some mobile operators seems to block such services. Finally, is tethering allowed (or whether allowed or not, does it actually work) ? Could I use the SIM in a dongle if required ?