Global GSM Prepaid Overview - Great for travelers!

[TriBand81]

Originally posted by AdmiralAK
GREEK NETWORKS UPDATE

Cosmote's gprs is not i-mode, i-mode is a service that can only be accessed with special handsets sold by cosmote.
GPRS portal is called mycosmos.

i-mode is also available here in Germany through E-Plus. i-mode is actually developed by NTTDoCoMo:

http://www.nttdocomo.com/corebiz/imode/

[Karsini]

A Meteor Ireland review here. Will post Vodafone and O2 if you guys think this is ok.

Quick Facts
Country: Ireland
Network Name: Meteor
Website: http://www.meteor.ie
Product Name: Pay as You Go
Owned by/Major partners: Western Wireless International (WWI)
Operational Frequency: GSM900/GSM1800
Prepaid Package Cost (Just SIM): €19.99
Prepaid Package Validity: Minimum of €10 topup every 6 months
CSD access: Yes
GPRS access: Yes
EDGE access: No
SIM applications: Yes (Your Links/Messaging/Tones and Graphics/Games)
Manual included: Yes (English only)
Refill amounts: €5, €10, €20, €40
Availability: Republic of Ireland
Competitors: Vodafone Ireland, O2 Ireland

More In-Depth Information

Buying:
The Good:
Once you buy the SIM you'll get €10 free credit with it, and registering your details online will give you another €15. So you're basically getting the SIM for nothing, lol.
Top-up vouchers are available in almost any newsagents.

The Bad:
Finding Meteor packages is trickier than the others. Meteor's retail network is very limited at the moment, but the Carphone Warehouse, Xtra Vision and 3G stores all stock the SIM packs.

Usage:
The Good:
Prices are much cheaper than the other networks. Meteor don't charge extra for calling Vodafone or O2.
If you're in an area on the western seaboard of Ireland which has no Meteor coverage you can roam on O2's network.
Meteor don't restrict where you can roam on prepaid SIMs, unlike their competitors.
If you run out of credit you can send a free SMS message to someone asking them to call you, hehe. Works for any network too, unlike O2.

The Bad:
The service is extremely unreliable. In October 2004 and February 2005 there were two long blackouts which rendered the network useless for about 5 hours.
Coverage is a bit ropey in parts.
The GPRS WAP network is almost unusable during the day due to network congestion. WAP CSD is down as I write this.
Customer service is poor, it may take several calls to solve a single problem.

TIPS:
Keep the customer service number handy as you might need to call it, its 1905.
GPRS ISP access requires you to call them and opt in.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I'm with Meteor at the moment but I can't see myself staying much longer. The service is just too unreliable for my liking. But they are the cheapest option in the prepaid sector by far. If you're in a major town/city, don't use WAP and don't mind occasional outages then Meteor might just suit you. But for the moment I think they have a lot of work to do.

[AdmiralAK]

Cool - - add more if you would like

[TriBand81]

Sounds like their services could use some major improvement but then again, the adage "You get what you pay for" seems all too evident.

Might be a worthwhile service to use for phone service when traveling there for a short time.

[CEC]

Hello,

I have a question. All the Italian prepaid sims requires a "Codice Fiscale". The links provided in the Italian reviews here and elsewhere are not working for me (www.comuni.it). Is there anywhere else to get it?

[JEFFJAGUAR]

As I understand it, this is akin to the social security number in the United States but everybody is eligible for one and many have reported in various forums that the seller of the SIM card will go about getting one for you...whether it is actually a separate one for you or a made up number or whatever I have no idea to be frank; but nobody has ever reported they were unable to purchase an Italiam SIM without one in advance.,

[lindsayt]

I hear a lot of people talking about rules recently changing to allow Euro Prepaid to roam in the US.

I do a lot of research in Paris and have recently bought an Orange France Prepaid SIM. It will be waiting for me in March when I go to Paris - it has to be activated in France. I plan to post a full review of Orange France when I return, since surprisingly there is none yet.

Anyway, some US resellers of the Orange France cards say they can't be recharged in the US, but Orange France claims that I can roam in the US and dial their recharge number in the US so long as I buy my recharge cards in Paris. Does anybody know if this is true? Thanks!

[JEFFJAGUAR]

1. Yes you can roam with Orange France in the US no problem but why would you want to? Roaming rates are very high (Orange Fr calls to the US even from France are 0,80€ a little too high for my thinking.

2. However, you can indeed recharge Orange Fr SIM's from the US assuming you are doing it just to keep your number which isn't a terrible idea (you can even get the 10€ recharge slip which gives you 10 days of calls but extends validity for 6 months)...what you do is dial 224 followed by the number of the recharge slip so you could, for example, buy 2 or 3 10€ recharge slips and use them 5.9 months apart to keep the account active; they have a fixed expiration date but it's usually at least 1.5 years out.

So the answers to your questions are yes and yes....

[Junglizt1210]

Codice Fiscale:

try here:
http://www.comuni.it/servizi/codfisc/

[Andytel]

About the italian "Codice Fiscale" (tax account code), let me throw in my 2cents (as I'm italian):

When you go into a shop to buy a SIM card, the dealer needs this code for tax accounting purposes.
Any reasonably smart dealer will be able to calculate your fiscal code for you.
If you are not resident in Italy, all you really need is a valid ID (passport or identity card).

Any prepaid SIM you buy from TIM, Vodafone IT and WIND will work in any unlocked GSM phone which supports 900 and/or 1800 MHz frequency bands. There are special SIM cards for data traffic only, if you want to use them with PC-connect cards.

Las thing: USIM cards by "3" (Tre Italy) will NEVER work in any GSM equipment. You need an UMTS phone to use them.
All UMTS phones by "3" are always USIM-locked, phones by other italian operators are lock-free.

[AdmiralAK]

I thought there was a law in italy that made handsets SIM-free.

Also when I tried to calculate my codice fiscale, when I entered towns that are not italian I got an error. When I entered "roma" for example everything was OK, but when I entered "boston" I got an error

[Junglizt1210]

hehe... i wonder why......... lol
i presume its so that you don't get foreigners using local stuff. like a lot of countries really..... even Italy has some limits set in place....

[TriBand81]

Originally posted by AdmiralAK
I thought there was a law in italy that made handsets SIM-free.

Also when I tried to calculate my codice fiscale, when I entered towns that are not italian I got an error. When I entered "roma" for example everything was OK, but when I entered "boston" I got an error

It makes you wonder what would happen if you entered a place that existed both in Italy and in the US .

[Geoneil]

Updates to alanh's Virgin Mobile review: Virgin do offer connection via CSD and GPRS, CSD is at normal Virgin call rates, GPRS is £5/Mb
You can buy 'bundles' of calls and text messages out of your top ups, these are similar to buying a month's contract rate (or topping up on 3pay)

I'm not a customer of this service but I though I'd do a review out of completeness, if anyone's actually on Tesco, maybe they could correct me where I'm wrong

Quick Facts
Country: United Kingdom
Network Name: Tesco Mobile
Website: www.tescomobile.com
Product Name: Tesco Mobile
Owned by/Major partners: Tesco Stores, O2
Operational Frequency: GSM900 I also hear that O2 use GSM1800 in some areas but it's mostly GSM900
Prepaid Package Cost (Just SIM): £4.47, £7.94 for a twin pack (should you need to buy two SIMs)
Prepaid Package Validity: 1 call every six months
CSD access: Yes
GPRS access: Yes (£4/Mb)
EDGE access: unknown
SIM applications: unknown
Manual included: Yes (English)
Refill amounts: Any amount from £5 upwards by an e-topup card which can be used pretty much anywhere, voucher or a debit/credit card.
Availability: From Tesco only, not much of a problem as it's only the No 1 supermarket in the UK and online from the Tesco Mobile website
Competitors: Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange, Virgin, Fresh, 3

More In-Depth Information

Buying:
The Good:
The cheapest SIM-only package that I know of (unsure if this is a special offer though)
You can link the phone to your Tesco Clubcard and collect money off Tesco purchases 1p in the pound for every top up, 2p in the pound if you top up at Tesco (useful for a long stay in the UK, I suppose)


The Bad:
Only appears to be available from a Tesco supermarket. Supermarkets generally aren't the first place you'd think of going for a mobile phone or SIM card...

Usage:
The Good:
Your Comments Here
Cheap cross-network rates to other mobile networks - 20p/min, this means you can make voice calls to mobiles on the 3 network for less than it would cost you from a BT fixed line
Able to use GPRS
You can get half-prices calls and texts to 3 nominated 'favourite numbers' these can be UK fixed lines or mobiles

The Bad:
Expensive land line and own network rates - 20p/min, the rates are similar to Fresh in that all UK calls on all UK networks are 20p/min.
Typically expensive international roaming rates: from UK 89p/min to EU, USA and Canada; £1.49/min to anywhere else!
I insert my Virgin SIM card into my phone and I get a Virgin alpha tag rather than a T-Mobile one (except on my ancient 3310 which shows One 2 One - T-Mobile's former name) it can only follow that a Tesco SIM card will give a Tesco alpha tag (except in my ancient 3310 which will say BTCELLNET). I ask Americans to imagine being back at home, walking round with the word K-Mart on their mobile phone's screen...

TIPS:
Make sure the phone's unlocked and preferably compatible with the GSM900 band (if not, you can always buy one, they generally start at something like £20 for something very basic), getting a SIM only prepaid package isn't the problem it appears to be in many countries stated in this thread, hand it over at the till (or scan it in at a self-service till) and you're good to go, no ID or proof of having not nicked the phone required.
If you are having a long stay in the UK, say over 3 months, pick up a Tesco Clubcard, Tesco's a good store and if you're not going back for a bit you might as well enjoy the money off. If you're staying with Brits offer to link your phone to their Clubcard if they have one - it'll be a nice gesture.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Not a bad package, particularly if you're calling a lot of UK mobile phones from an unusual dealer it has to be said.

[lindsayt]

Quick Facts
Country: France
Network Name: Orange France
Website: http://www.orange.fr
Product Name: Mobicarte Orange
Owned by/Major partners: France Telecom
Operational Frequency: 900/1800 GSM
Prepaid Package Cost (Just SIM): €30
Prepaid Package Validity: 15 days send + 6 mo. receive
CSD access: Yes
GPRS access: Yes?
EDGE access: No
SIM applications: Yes
Manual included: Yes – French and abbrev. English
Refill amounts: €10, €20, €30, €40, etc.
Availability: Orange and France Telecom stores, website
Competitors: SFR (Vodafone), Bouygetel

More In-Depth Information

Buying:
The Good:
Orange and France Telecom stores are all over the place in Paris. The €30 SIM card package includes 10 minutes of calling and 10 minutes of WAP access. The card is easy to activate and the whole activation process, which takes about 5 seconds, can be completed by SMS.

The Bad:
French law requires verification of the identity of anybody who gets a phone number. You have to give a passport if you’re not French. Also, although it is possible to buy the card ahead of time on France Telecom’s website (as I did), it is NOT a good idea. This is because it takes up to 48 hours for international calling to be allowed AFTER they verify your identity, and net sales have to be verified by mail AFTER the account is activated in France. For me, this meant that I couldn’t even mail back the paperwork until my first day in France, and I might not have had international calling for a week. So I stopped in to an Orange store, where they verified my identity and had international calling within 12 hours.

Usage:
The Good:
As with all European carriers, incoming calls are free. Recharge cards €30 and over offer bonus credit that gets increasingly generous as the denominations go up: total credit of €35 for €30, of €50 for €40, and so forth until eventually credit of €150 for €100. Also, recharges of €20 and up extend the send validity by 2-6 months, plus another 6 months of receive validity after the send validity expires. The network is very solid: I almost never lost a signal on the RER lines, and coverage on the metro was pretty good – especially on the Meteor line (14). Above ground, I never lost a signal, even traveling to some distant suburbs of Paris. The Orange staff were very helpful with my above-mentioned verification process, though this would have been very hard if I did not speak French. It is possible to buy recharges EVERYWHERE – not just Orange and France Telecom shops, but all post offices, tobacco shops, and any France Telecom Phone booth. Orange Mobicarte service works outside France, including the United States. In the United States, Orange cards can roam on all three major networks. It is possible to recharge from abroad, as long as the recharges were bought in France or from a handful of Top-up groups in Europe.

The Bad:
The costs are pretty high: €.50/minute domestic, and somewhere around €1/minute to the US. To the best of my knowledge, it is not possible to get balance, recharge, and validity information in English. It is not possible to buy recharges remotely so you have to buy any recharges while you’re in France.

TIPS:
Wait to buy the card in France – it’s substantially easier and faster than through the web. Buy recharges in the biggest denomination you think you’ll use – the deal gets substantially better as the quantity goes up. The service seems to work almost as well with a 900MHz phone as with a 900/1800 phone – only twice did I get a “Network Busy” error on the Samsung r225. I never got a “Network Busy” error on my Motorola V600, so the ability to use both 900 and 1800 may be good at peak usage places and times; but I never found holes in the 900 coverage to be filled at 1800. If you plan to maintain the account while abroad, be sure to buy all the recharges you need while in France.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The service I received from Orange in France was truly remarkable, and the network is solid. Unfortunately, since I ran out of time to reflex my T-Mobile-branded V600 before the trip, I was unable to try out the WAP or GPRS service that Orange offers; but voice and SMS service within France, from France to the US, from the US to France, and within the US worked flawlessly every time once my verification paperwork was filed. Recharging was convenient and easy, and Orange’s heavy use of SMS to alert users to the need to recharge, the state of the account, and other customer service issues was a pleasant surprise. Even though it was fairly expensive to call internationally with the Mobicarte service (Callback world screwed me with a long setup time), I liked the fact that I always knew exactly where my balance stood. This, combined with the solid coverage and good customer service lead me to recommend Orange’s Mobicarte service to anybody traveling in France.