Payg roaming sim cards

[solo12002]

Im hitting Poland in August, just debating if I should buy a PAYG sim card while out there, or get one of the roaming ones before I go.

looking at the Prices for PAYG roaming sims, they are staring to look much dear than the euro rates I get on my contract mobile.

Any thoughts?

[Hands0n]

First thought - be very careful.

Our own 3GSU travels out to Turkey frequently (he's there now) and swears by popping a Turkcell SIM in his handset when there.

As you've said, Euro rates are compelling. These are almost ruining the Market for these "roaming" SIM propositions.

I've always considered Vodafone's Passport good value for contract custom. But that is no good for PAYG.

I think a trawl through all the main players PAYG tariffs would be worthwhile. Include the MVNOs who may have a better deal for travellers. Also consider buying a local SIM while in Poland.

I think you may find some good tips on Martin's Money website. He's usually canny with this stuff.

Importantly you need to consider how you intend to use it. If for local Polish calls then a Polish SIM I'd likely to be the best value. If for calling home to the UK then maybe a UK SIM will be the best value.

[solo12002]

Done that so far most of the networks charge 38 p to make a call and 19 p to get one.

I have a three contract up in August and like many on here not sure if I was to stay with them. However I am also thinking of getting the o2 30 day sime which gives me ITS but for £10 for the month I can buy euro ex buy on which gives me calls rates of 25 p and free to get in comming calls, I still check out the local polish PAYG Sim all the same

[Hands0n]

Its a veritable minefield, thats for sure.

I did a little digging around, doubt you've come across as many as I. One that caught my eye was this mob http://www.uk2abroad.com/destinations/index.asp?uk2abroad-destination=Poland - that link takes you to their Poland page.

There's also this innovative offer of a "Student Pack" for £24.99 which includes 15 PLN credit (£2.98 at today's rates) - http://www.studentjetpacks.com/jetpacks_index_poland.asp Gotta love those student deals :D

[3GScottishUser]

Just returned form Turkey after a weeks holiday and the cost of using Vodafone (and most of the other networks) is appalling. Vodafone who own a network 100% in Turkey charge contract customers £1.69/min to make calls home to the UK. No passport is available and the International roaming option makes little difference.

I bought a mobile in Turkey a couple of years ago for local use. A simple Nokia 1600 with no bells and whistles but it does the business for voice and text and there is no 3G in Turkey anyway. It cost about £45 and all phones in Turkey are unlockled and not subsidised. Free Wi-Fi is extensive in public tourist areas inluding airports, hotels and fast food outlets.

You cannot use a local SIM in a UK handset unless you take the phone to the Turkish government to have its IMEI registered and for that you need proof of puchace or ownership. The Turks have acted to stop stolen handsets being imported for local use.

Local PAYG SIMS can be used in Turkish supplied handsets and a Vodafone SIM with 100 credits costs 22 YTL (Turkish Lira) about £9.50. Local calls and SMS cost 1 credit/min or text. Calls to UK landlines cost 4 credits/min and to UK mobiles 8 credits/min. Top-ups are available in 50, 100 & 250 credit amounts with a bonus 15% when the top-up is activated. You cannot use credits outwith Turkey, nor can you top-up outwith the country. Credit lasts 90 days from activation. SIM cards and top-ups are cheapest from Vodafone shops although basic handsets are best bought from big supermarkets like Tansas and Migros.

Lots of holildaymakers will be heading for Turkey this year because of the Euro parity so it makes sense to consider the options including getting a local phone if you are there for a fortnight. An unlocked Turkish handset can be used in the UK on any network with a valid UK SIM.

Make just 40 mins of calls home with Vodafone UK Contract and you face a bill of over £66. So a local handset and some credit might make better sense and you can keep your UK phone with you to see who is calling or texting and use a local service to call them back.

I think its appalling that Vodafone in particular are charging such extortionate prices when they have a presence in Turkey but hopefully Talk3G users will avoid their nonsense and communicate at reasonable cost. There is no excuse when you know the score!!

[solo12002]

I agree its shocking. I think the other networks can learnfrom three in that they should all have home like home allowing you to use your mins and texts across all of their networks no matter were they are. Three does it sorry to say only across the three or four non uk networks they have.

Think of the uptake there would be if they did not only for text,calls but mobile broadband

[Hands0n]

The trouble is that all of the European mobile network operators, under the stewardship of the GSMA, are still steeped in their 1980's state-run monopolistic mindset. They barely, if at all, grasp the notion of low-price/high volume, although the evidence is staring them in the face.

An example; SMS - at the beginning this was 60p a pop. Then Genie launched under Cellnet (as O2 was) charging 10p a message and including bundles in their £10 per top up. Overnight SMS use, as we now observe it, was born and the other networks had no option but to reduce their per-SMS cost to 10p. The rest is history. Absolutely millions has been made from SMS using otherwise near-completely redundant bandwidth that has to be there anyway! SMS takes a free ride and generates revenue, how bad is that?

We see massive increases in mobile use, usurping landline usage for the first time, because of the bundling of minutes into contracts. and as the "value" of these increases so does usage. We cannot be very far from "unlimited" calling.

Yet for international roaming there is still this incredible corporate luddite mindset that says charge a premium for anyone who travels to another country. They have had to be regulated to bring their charges down - and corresponding use, and revenue, has gone up. But still, in spite of and in the face of these revenue and usage improvements they still have to be dragged [by regulation] kicking and screaming all of the way.

What the mobile network operators need, if they do not already have, is a facsimile to the Bank's FX-Net. This is a means whereby they nett off their bi-lateral transactions and only pay each other the difference at the end of the day. It is a pointless exercise in bureaucracy tit-for-tat charging cross-border.

And at the end of the day, what are they really charging for? These are sunk costs in establishing the networks. They have to be there to be there! Its not as if they've had to lay in special infrastructure to allow us to roam. Because, like all telcos, they have to have international routes to even exist. It would be non-viable to have a mobile phone network that did not have routes to all of its peers!