Best mobile in Poland?

[Lucy]

I'm going to Poland for a week. Which is the best mobile phone deal? From looking at the list, it seems to be mBank Mobile, which costs just € 2.62 with 2.62 credit, and calls only .07 a minute.

Is there any reason to stay away from mBank Mobile?

Next good deal is Mova, € 2.93/2.93 and .10 a minute.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Lucy

I'm going to Poland for a week. Which is the best mobile phone deal?

First, define what is "the best" for you ie. which costs are the most important : national calls, calls to your country, calls to other countries, voice mail, data transmission, anything else... Also, do you want to receive calls from Poland or abroad? Then I'll be able to help you.

Originally Posted by Lucy

From looking at the list, it seems to be mBank Mobile, which costs just € 2.62 with 2.62 credit, and calls only .07 a minute.

Is there any reason to stay away from mBank Mobile?

Yes, it's basically an on-line offer (designed as a kind of loyalty program for customers of an internet bank mBank) and it's hard to buy a SIM card in a shop. Those SIMs are available mainly from some second-hand mobile shops but there's no official list of them. It's also hard to buy a top-up for mBank Mobile.

Originally Posted by Lucy

Next good deal is Mova, € 2.93/2.93 and .10 a minute.

Mova is now the best one with the national rate 0.25 PLN/min (about 0.061 €/min at the current exchage rate) whereas most operators offer SIMs with the base rate 0.29 PLN/min (0.071 €/min). But again, Mova is a virtual operator of the Carrefour supermarkets and SIMs can be bought in Carrefours only (top-ups are availably also from top-up terminals elsewhere).

[Motel75]

The initial credit on SIMs relative to their cost is nearly irrelevant as a deciding factor, considering that many of them are available for 5 zloty or so. (Please use Polish currency when discussing Polish products, it's easier to see what you're talking about.) You will probably want a SIM that you can buy right away at the airport, and neither of the ones you mentioned meets this criterion (one is Internet-only and the other is only sold at Carrefour supermarkets).

I generally recommend Heyah, as it has cheap data, the now-standard 29 grosz per minute national rate, and calls to the rest of the EU cost 59 grosz. Calls to the US are not especially cheap, at 2.18 per minute, but better than some other offers.

If you're going to be coming to Poland every year or so, you might consider Play Fresh, because you can keep it active cheaply (even a 5 zloty topup extends account validity by a year).

As Przemolog says, what is the "best" for you? Minor differences in initial credit and national call rate aren't the only factors, especially for a short-term overseas visitor.

[Lucy]

I'm going to Poland for a week and want it just to make and receive calls to and from Polish phones. Especially to and from other cell phones. Most of my time will be at a conference where people will have Polish & European cell phones.

From what you say Heya might be best.
It costs more for other phones to call Play, so it might not be the friendliest number to have.

I don't know if I'll be returning to Poland. Last time I visited was in 2000, and before that in 1985. Before cell phones!

Lucy

[Lucy]

Also, voice mail, yes, since I want to be able to get messages. The hotel and conference site have wifi, so no need for data.

So just want the cheapest-per-minute for local calls. And for European cells since some of the people I call might be from other countries. Only a handful will be from the US.

Lucy

[Motel75]

Now that you've given us the details, I think Heyah would indeed be the best, due to the cheap EU calls (Like most Polish offers, calling the mailbox is free). You can pick up a SIM at the magazine stores in major airports, or at many other places, the 20 zloty starter (That's what it's called - ask for "STAR-terr Heyah" and roll your r's) contains 20 zl in credit, which will certainly last you a couple of days of heavy calling, and topping it up is easy, just look for the red hand logo.

Remember that you will need an unlocked quad-band phone, or at least one that has the European bands (900/1800 MHz).

A lot of things have changed since 2000 - and as for 1985, it was a different world...

[9eor9]

For calls to US you can call an EU- accessnumber of DialNow | Cheap International Calls with your Heyah card. Every minute will cost you 0,5€ct/min additionally to your Heyah tariff.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by 9eor9

For calls to US you can call an EU- accessnumber of DialNow | Cheap International Calls with your Heyah card. Every minute will cost you 0,5€ct/min additionally to your Heyah tariff.

Are you sure that DialNow is a good idea if Lucy doesn't have a DialNow account???
DialNow | Cheap International Calls

We require a minimum Payment of EUR 200,-. No monthly payment required. Take your time to use this credit and top up again if you run out of credit.

For 200 euros you can have about 400 minutes of calls from Heyah to USA.

Moreover, DialNow doesn't have a Polish access number. Calling a foreign EU number is 0.59 PLN/min with 60-second rounding - not so cheap if you consider that you pay for the time when dial the destination number and wait for connection (and also pay for unaswered/busy calls).

I think that there are two nice workarounds to call USA cheaply from Heyah. The first one is to buy an easy-to-buy Telepin calling card (either a scratch card or a terminal printout) for 10, 15, 25, 50 or 100 PLN. Calls to USA (except Alaska and Hawaii) via a landline access number cost 0.18 PLN/min + a landline rate (0.29 PLN /min from Heyah). Telepin has an English voice menu on the access number.
Another interesting solution is a Karta Papuga calling card. It has an option of unlimited calls to USA/Canada and landlines in some European countries and Australia via a special landline access number (again 0.29 PLN/min from Heyah). The cheapest card cost 10 PLN for 7 days of calling. To activate this option just use the card for the first time: call 39 388 31 50 and enter the PIN (that PIN will assigned to unlimited calling option, not the "regular" calling). No English language support however

[9eor9]

//We require a minimum Payment of EUR 200,-. No monthly payment required. Take your time to use this credit and top up again if you run out of credit.//

This info was completely new to me, but nevertheless I'm of the opinion that everybody should have a DialNow account as it can be used worldwide.
I use my dialnow account since several months and never paid this.
My account started with 10€ + VAT + 0,50€ transfering fee = 12,50€
Also accounts of my friends did not require a 200€ payment, obviously they changed their conditions.


Dialnow access numbers is one way to call cheaper to US with a Heyah card but it is not the best and not the only one.

As Heyah data usage is cheap you can also use http://gsm.voipbuster.com ("voipclient") to trigger callback from Betamax to your Heyah number.
Just open this address from your mobile (This info gave inquisitor).

With this method calls from the Heyah mobile to US will cost € 0,055 + 0,005 = 6€ct/min + 19% (german)VAT. A connection fee of 1€ct per call may also be charged when using the voipclient. "phone to phone" on the DialNow website from you PC will cost a connection fee of 5€ct per call.

[Motel75]

FWIW, at the present exchange rate Heyah's US rate of 2.18 Zl is approximately 50 eurocents anyway.