HUNGARY: data access, ppd, GPRS and up?

[heinz57g]

is anybody out there in hungary and actually uses mobile data access? is anything
prepaid available that a visitor could buy and use? any real firsthand experiences?

greetings - heinz -

PS: not really a double posting. i will be crossing the HU/SR border
the next few months twice a day, and need access on both sides.

[Effendi]

I'd go with Pannon which has some data bundles too (and the best coverage, in 3G too, and an easy tariff).

It's not so easy to buy a prepaid card in Hungary, BTW. When I was in Budapest 1,5 years ago I couldn't buy it... the main problem is that it seems you must go to an official dealer (Pannon, T-Mobile, Vodafone) and there are really few of them and often with quite short open times. And overcrowded. I wanted to buy a Pannon prepaid card in Budapest and it took me time to find the official shop, then it was totally crowded and I was hungry, so I went to eat a goulash and when I came back the shop was closed (about 2pm). It was Saturday so it didn't open at all in the afternoon and Sunday all day. Then I didn't buy it, since I was leaving Hungary the following day...

[heinz57g]

effendi, i am glad you just verified and doubled my experiences. these shops are so flooded
with 'normal' buyers who will stand in line to get the latest blue blinking sliding mobile phone,
and pay anything for it, that the odd-one-out buyer asking for data sims is plainly forgotten.

hope this will change one day. soon.

greetings - heinz -

[Effendi]

The strange thing is that there are NO mobile shops in HU which sell prepaid cards, except the very few official ones of the 3 operators. It's easier to get a card out of Budapest, in smaller towns, where the 3 shops will all be in the centre, easy to find and not overcrowded. In the capital it was a mess... and few Enslish speakers too... It's full, instead, of GSM-repair shops.... beautiful, but strange country!

[heinz57g]

>> It's full, instead, of GSM-repair shops....

yep, because all they do all day is remove the SIM branding of 'imported' cheap phones. it is getting a bit less
these days, but for a couple of years this was big business.

>> beautiful, but strange country!

totally true, i love relaxing there, and spending lazy weekends. but just dont (like i have to) get involved in any
actual work, which might have to do with officials, government, regulations, laws, papers, papers, papers - then
you need the occasional trip back to serbia just to breathe again.

i wish though somebody actually living there or having very recently been there could jump in here and update us a bit.

greetings - heinz -

[heinz57g]

any hungarians here pls who could jump in and comment? was
beginning this week in pecs, and tried, at least with some success.

buying the pannon card alone was an adventure. that i would
need my passport, and fake a hungarian residence addrs i had
anticipated, but why they needed my mothers name and addrs
(long since deceased, RIP) is totally beyond me.

remember, we are talking about a PREPAID sim card!

the girls i the two pannon shops i visited must have been chosen
for looks, i have to admit they were pretty. but none of them (nor
the one gentleman they called for translation), had the slightest
idea what GPRS or EDGE or UMTS actually was. there is plenty
of literature available in the shops, tons of it. no a single leaflet
in anything but hungarian...

important: the card should be initialized/registered in the shop, and
the PIN code request should be disabled. otherwise you cannot use
it in a modem.

all done. actual time for it to start working would be 1 to 24 hours, i
was told, and it took well over 15 hrs. beat me to understand this
- maybe they tried checking my mothers addrs.

actual connection was fine and instant (both EDGE and UMTS as
well as standard GPRS), apn net with guest and guest, but a couple of
mins and just over 2MB used, the connection was gone, and couldnt
be revived.

naturally, the 6.50 EURO credit on the card was used up. some 3 EURO
per MB is hard to believe, these days.

received three SMSs from them though, which i assume just tell me
that. is anybody here who could translate this?

- Tisztelt Elöfizetönk! Egyenlege: 212Ft. VÃ*sÃ*rlÃ*si keret 0Ft. (came 2x within 2 mins)

- TÃ*jékoztatjuk, hogy WAP-forgalma elérte a 800kB-ot, melyet az egy hònapig ingyenesen rendelkezésére Ã*llò 1 MB WAP-forgalombòl hasznÃ*lt fel. Ãœdvözlettel:Pannon

- TÃ*jékoztatjuk, hogy WAP-forgalma elérte a 1MB-ot, melyet az egy hònapig ingyenesen rendelkezésére Ã*llò 1 MB WAP-forgalombòl hasznÃ*lt fel.Ãœdvözlettel:Pannon

just for curiosity, what are they trying to tell me? anybody?

but more importantly: would anybody know anything a throughpassing and
motherless foreigner could use without paying a ridicoulos 3 EUR/MB?
any suggestions?

greetings - heinz -