SIM card for Poland and Hungary?

[brikis98]

At the end of June, I will be spending one week in Budapest, Hungary and one week in Krakow, Poland. I will be taking my unlocked iPhone 3GS and would love to get a SIM card there to use for:

1. A few incoming calls from the US
2. A few calls to mobile numbers in Hungary and Poland
3. A decent amount of data usage (Google Maps, looking up hours, reviews, etc)

What is my most affordable option? Buy one international card to use in both countries? Or buy separate SIM cards in each country? If so, which one(s)?

[Motel75]

Separate cards. I'm sure someone else will give you the scoop on Hungary, but for Poland, you sound like a candidate for Heyah, which has very cheap data and all calls within the EU cost 59 grosz (within Poland, except for Play, they cost 29 grosz). Available everywhere, with the basic starter sim costing 5 zloty.

[brikis98]

Originally Posted by Motel75

Separate cards. I'm sure someone else will give you the scoop on Hungary, but for Poland, you sound like a candidate for Heyah, which has very cheap data and all calls within the EU cost 59 grosz (within Poland, except for Play, they cost 29 grosz). Available everywhere, with the basic starter sim costing 5 zloty.

Thanks for the info.

Is there any way to buy the Heyah SIM card online? If not, what's the best place to get it there? Supermarket? Electronics store? Newspaper stand?

[Effendi]

You can find Heyah cards at the first kiosk on the street you see or at the airport or everywhere else. Really easy. No need at all to buy it online.

For Hungary, instead, it will be much more complicated...

[brikis98]

Originally Posted by Effendi

For Hungary, instead, it will be much more complicated...

How come? Are there no good SIM card deals in Hungary?

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by brikis98

How come? Are there no good SIM card deals in Hungary?

It's not quite as competitive a market as Poland is, where there are lots of MVNOs (none of which, however, has been particularly successful). The prepaid offers are a bit same-y - see PrePaidGSM: Hungary. You'd probably be fine with T-Mobile for calling the EU and US, but I'm not sure which would be the best data offer.

Note that all European mobiles offer free incoming calls, as long as you are within the country it is from (once you leave that country, roaming within the EU is regulated, so that incoming calls cost about 20 euro cents and outgoing cost about 50). Paying for incoming calls is a North American anomaly due to the lack of specific area codes for mobile numbers and the corresponding lack of a "termination fee" for calls to them.

You might also want to think about if you'll ever be back to Hungary or Poland and/or if you want to keep your SIM going - some cards have much longer or cheaper expiration than others (in Poland, the clear winner is Play Fresh, which is active for one year after only a 5 zloty topup).

[ms93]

In Heyah calls to US (fixed+mobile) are now for 59gr also. I don't know if it wouldn't be cheaper to call from Poland to US than if someone would call to Polish mobile from US.
Internet in Heyah isn't the cheapest in Poland (2gr/100kB, there are some cheaper options), but it will be good for you, because you will have one card for net and calling.
In Poland SIMs aren't registered, so it's easy to buy, as I remember correctly in Hungary you have to register SIM, so to buy it you have to find operator's store.

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by ms93

In Poland SIMs aren't registered, so it's easy to buy, as I remember correctly in Hungary you have to register SIM, so to buy it you have to find operator's store.

exactly, and when I've been to Hungary I remember there were just 1 or 2 shops for each operator (they are 3) in every bigger city, that meant in Budapest there were about 3 shops selling prepaid cards, and long queues of people waiting for a clerk to help them...