Cheapest mobile and internet provider for cellphones?

Hi,

Last time I was there, there was T-mobile, Telenor, Vodafone, and a few virtuals coming and going.
They all had pre-paid offers, called "feltöltőkártya".

don't use Vodaphone

we bought local SIMs in Budapest Head Office for our iPhone 3s 3 years ago..... only AFTER handing over the money did we find out they don't work unless the phone is unlocked .... i now know what that phrase means ....
further, later, when we went to migrate to Telecom [which is normally ridiculously easy over here], it turned out that the 'salesman' had invented all our address / security details, utterly spurious to anything we would have even guessed at, let alone used...
AND, 3 months in a row they switched off my mobile internet, necessitating a trip into the local store each time to re-establish the requirement .....
but, our local office in Sarvar had a VERY helpful lady, who, when she realised i wasn't just incapable of using a smartphone, could not have helped more, and enabled us to get all the recorded data correct, so the migration could ensue ....

Telecom seem to have the best coverage, although that may be different in your area ??

Toby

T Mobile became Telecom on 1st July 2013 ....

Angolhapsi wrote:

don't use Vodaphone

we bought local SIMs in Budapest Head Office for our iPhone 3s 3 years ago..... only AFTER handing over the money did we find out they don't work unless the phone is unlocked .... i now know what that phrase means ....
Toby

1) Don't use an iPhone - get Android instead.

2) You cannot get a phone unlocked in Hungary in my experience.  You can easily get them unlocked in the UK (if you go there).

3) I use Vodafone in my cheap Chinese dual sim Android phone and never had any problems with them.

4) Exception: the stupidly large paperwork requirements for a PAYG sim for 3G Internet.  Pathetic thinking.

Barbara
basic questions so i can help deciding related to the SIM question

1) do you want to have a monhtly fee or pre-paid
2) where do you live? City is enough
3) you want mainly to be available for calls or make outbound calls
4) do you want to use internet? how much data you would need?

cheers,
tibi

Hi!
Ok..I just got android and would like to use viber not every day and normaly google and mail. I probably wont call to much, probably will text more.
I am in Budapest, I am not sure do I want prepaid or monthly fee..what is cheaper? I just know that I dont want to sign any contract longer then 6 months.
tnx!

I took vodafone sim card and for 3000 huf per month I get 1 gb of internet and 50 sms or minute to vodafon free and I can spend this 3000 huf on other calls.
I am satisfied with it.

I had Vodafone pay as you go, but they kept shutting off the internet availability ... which meant a special trip into town each time to get it re-instated .... then, it turned out that the moron in Vodaphone Budapest, where we got our sims, had invented all our address & security details, which caused even more problems .....
Vodafone - never, ever again !!!

omg!
where did you go?
I went to Alle (end of tram 4) and there are fine.

Angolhapsi wrote:

the moron in Vodaphone Budapest, where we got our sims, had invented all our address & security details

Sadly, not just in Budapest. And not just with Vodaphone. It's not really the company, it's the action of its Hungarian employees about which the company may have no clue what is happening. Consider reporting them to some Vodaphone HQ that is outside Hungary. It is your benefit to do so.

This issue is scary. Requirements to provide these details were designed to prevent phones being used in a manner like in the Madrid train bombings.

While I can't say such security are "routinely" ignored in Hungary, anecdotal evidence that I have also experienced indicates that "making information up" in Hungary of official forms happens enough that it may be a real public safety concern, even as a cross boarder issue for any EU country. A potential time bomb... Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock.....

People that falsify data need to be eliminated from the system. Will only happen if they are reported and dealt with accordingly (retrained, fined, or fired).

Till that day happens..... Welcome to Hungary. 

klsallee wrote:

While I can't say such security are "routinely" ignored in Hungary, anecdotal evidence that I have also experienced indicates that "making information up" in Hungary of official forms happens enough that it may be a real public safety concern, even as a cross boarder issue for any EU country. A potential time bomb... Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock.....

People that falsify data need to be eliminated from the system. Will only happen if they are reported and dealt with accordingly (retrained, fined, or fired).

Seems like there is a recurrent issue with VodaFONE (not Vodaphone) in Hungary. Mrs Fluffy also suffered from the "made up data problem" and had to nag them to move her number from T-Mobile to Vodafone for weeks.  Eventually the only way it was solved was to go into a Vodafone office and sort it all out.

I've experienced registration requirements in other countries like Thailand and Cambodia. They give away SIM cards at the airport when you get off the plane.  You can charge up credit anywhere. I never found I had to register and no-one bothered to ask me anything further.  A terrorist is hardly likely to give much of a damn caused by registration requirements.  In Cambodia, they want you to register to stop kidnapping of ethnic Chinese people more than terrorism. Apparently it's a problem there. Registration is a "politician's" answer to a problem.  Bit like making carrying guns illegal. The law is hardly going to stop a determine criminal/terrorist

we went to : Vodafone head office, Deák Ferenc street 19. 5th District, Budapest
they ironically have the email:  [email protected]
!!

i tried a bit harder with the spelling this time, eh ??!!

it wasn't so much the false data [as we only discovered when we 'migrated' to Telecom], but the fact that they kept dicking about with my internet access, and even after topping up, i would be unable to access the internet - meaning a day off each time to go in to Sarvar & get the [extremely helpful] young lady to re-instate the internet permissions ....
PLUS, I tried to moan to Vodafone UK about it, and discovered that they are entirely different companies, only dressed up to look like a global entity. kinda franchised, i 'spose ??
anyway, good riddance to them, my time is worth more to me & my family than to spend it being royally dicked around by anybody, let alone a 'service' provider .....

Angolhapsi wrote:

....fact that they kept dicking about with my internet access, and even after topping up, i would be unable to access the internet - meaning a day off each time to go in to Sarvar & get the [extremely helpful] young lady to re-instate the internet permissions ....
PLUS, I tried to moan to Vodafone UK about it, and discovered that they are entirely different companies, only dressed up to look like a global entity. kinda franchised, i 'spose ??
anyway, good riddance to them, my time is worth more to me & my family than to spend it being royally dicked around by anybody, let alone a 'service' provider .....

Tell me about it.  Down that way, there's hardly any service. Vodafone at Balaton is terrible for Internet. Best way to get (free) Internet if travelling is to go to McDonalds, Costa Coffee (I think) and Subway.  Seems to work worldwide wherever you go. 

Vodafone Group HQ is in Newbury but it's nothing to do with any of the other companies bearing the Vodafone label. The way to get their attention is either to become a shareholder which gives you some ass kicking rights as an investor (like being able to ask questions at the AGM) or write to the chairman. I had to write to the chairman once with Vodafone (in the UK) and I did get action but I was using a UK number then.  They also had the wrong address which explained why I didn't get my free phone. They'd repeatedly sent it to the wrong house.

fluffy2560 wrote:

The law is hardly going to stop a determine criminal/terrorist

That is not a reason to make easy for them either.