Globul does not support EDGE on their GSM network and my experience on their UMTS network is also quite disappointing as bandwidth is low and I've seen a lot of packet loss, so I wouldn't recommend them. I think the state of the network is related to the financial problems of their parent, Greek OTE, who by the way is urgently looking for a buyer for Globul which is expected to yield enough to redeem half of those € 1.4 billion in debt to become due this year. Their total debt amounts to € 4 billion while EBITDA in 3Q2012 was € 430m.
Vivacom, which is the brand of the former state-owned monopolist BTC, provides great UMTS coverage since they are the only Bulgarian operator who has been deploying UMTS to the 900 MHz band (UMTS900) and so covers 98% of the population and 87% of the territory with UMTS. However their only prepaid data offer is the "Easy Traffic" tariff which gives you 1200MB valid for 120 days for 30 Leva (€15.34) and I don't know if they sell SIM cards separately or only bundled with a USB stick for 69 Leva (€ 35.28 ) as
advertised on their website.
M-Tel as the oldest network in the country also provides very good UMTS coverage (UMTS2100 only) and has quite decent data tariffs. What even staff often doesn't realize is, that different tariffs apply when you register your SIM card and when you don't:
With registration ("С регистрация", pronounced "s registraciya") following data packages are available:
SURF
50 MB (50MB valid for 30 days) for 9.90 Leva (€ 5.06)
SURF
100 MB (100MB valid for 30 days) for 14.90 Leva (€ 7.62)
SURF
500 MB (500MB valid for 30 days) for 19.90 Leva (€ 10.17)
source:
Мтел - Мобилен интернет - Прима::Мтел
SIM cards with registration cost 6 Leva.
Without registration ("Без регистрация" pronounced "bez registraciya") prices are much cheaper as there are the following SIM card offers:
SIM card + 1GB valid for 5 days for 9.90 Leva (€ 5.06)
SIM card + 100 MB valid for 15 days + 3 Leva of credit for 7.98 Leva (€ 4.08 )
SIM card + 400 MB valid for 120 days + 3 Leva of credit for 14.90 Leva (€ 7.62)
source:
Мтел - Мобилен интернет - Прима::Мтел
And these are the options for additional data for unregistered SIM cards:
Prima Free Data
512 MB (512MB valid for 60 days) for 19.90 Leva (€ 10.17)
Prima Free Data
1500 MB (1.5GB valid for 60 days) for 29.90 Leva (€ 15.29)
Prima Free Data
1 GB (1GB valid for 2 days) for 9.90 Leva (€ 5.06)
Prima Free Data
5 GB (5GB valid for 30 days) for 49.90 Leva (€ 25.51)
source:
Мтел - Мобилен интернет - Прима::Мтел
The only downside of those unregistered SIM cards is that they are blocked for all other services except for data. Also data roaming is unavailable.
Data sessions require a remaining credit of at least 0.30 Leva (except for when using the SIM card's included initial data).
You can subscribe to another data pack before the old one has been used up or has expired. In that case the remaining data volume will be carried over and its validity period extended according to the validity of the new data pack.
Unregistered SIM cards are activated by sending an empty text to 1617.
To order data packs text the desired amount of data as written and highlighted above to 1796. Be aware that for the 1.5GB you indeed need to text "1500 MB" while for the 1GB pack it's "1 GB" - so the inconsistent designations above are indeed correct.
You can check remaining data by USSD (*101#03#) and probably the old method of texting "balans" to 1796 still works, too.
Current balance can be requested by *101# and recharge vouchers can be redeemed by *100#code#