Greece HSPA (prepaid and postpaid offers)

[goldeneyed]

Hi Evan,

Do you know if the WIND Mobile Broadband with card works for mobile phones like an iPhone or is it only just for an internet stick? The site says that in order to activate the SIM you should put it in a phone and make a chargeable call and then insert the SIM into the internet stick. If I were to put it in my iphone and change the APN wouldn't this work also? I'm interested in the 1GB for 30 Days but I think it says it ends on august 2010 is that right?

[Evan]

Originally Posted by schoen

Hi,
Does somebody of you know if the Wind F2G offers from last year like F2G1/F2G2.... exits anymore. If they sill exits how can check what I have as an offer (I think I activated F2G2, but I'm not sure if I still make call with the sort of plan?)
Thanks in advance

The F2G1,2...8 are not commercially available anymore. However, all customers that have previously activated one of those plans, still have them (except if they've changed to the new plans).

To check which plan you have, call the balance information service (1269), press 2 for English, and after the information about your remaining credit and the expiration date of the SIM, they announce which one of the 8 F2G you were subscribed.

If you still have the F2G2, I suggest not to change it, because is by far the cheapest plan in Greek market' 0.1€/min, charge per second from the 1st second. They recently increased the price of the SMS from 4 to 11 cents, but only for the national texts. International SMS still costs 4 cents.

Originally Posted by goldeneyed

Hi Evan,

Do you know if the WIND Mobile Broadband with card works for mobile phones like an iPhone or is it only just for an internet stick? The site says that in order to activate the SIM you should put it in a phone and make a chargeable call and then insert the SIM into the internet stick. If I were to put it in my iphone and change the APN wouldn't this work also? I'm interested in the 1GB for 30 Days but I think it says it ends on august 2010 is that right?

I'm in Greece at the moment and use the same plan from my mobile. I don't have an iPhone but I read that it works without any issues (as long as it is unlocked of course). Just use the APN: gint.b-online.gr and leave everything else blank.

The 1GB for 30 days is 9.90€ until 31 August and after that 14.90€, I think. However, Wind tends to extend sometimes their offers.

[goldeneyed]

Originally Posted by Evan

The F2G1,2...8 are not commercially available anymore. However, all customers that have previously activated one of those plans, still have them (except if they've changed to the new plans).

To check which plan you have, call the balance information service (1269), press 2 for English, and after the information about your remaining credit and the expiration date of the SIM, they announce which one of the 8 F2G you were subscribed.

If you still have the F2G2, I suggest not to change it, because is by far the cheapest plan in Greek market' 0.1€/min, charge per second from the 1st second. They recently increased the price of the SMS from 4 to 11 cents, but only for the national texts. International SMS still costs 4 cents.



I'm in Greece at the moment and use the same plan from my mobile. I don't have an iPhone but I read that it works without any issues (as long as it is unlocked of course). Just use the APN: gint.b-online.gr and leave everything else blank.

The 1GB for 30 days is 9.90€ until 31 August and after that 14.90€, I think. However, Wind tends to extend sometimes their offers.

Thanks Evan! You always have all the answers lol. So just to clarify you're using it on a regular WInd F2GO prepaid account? Still at 14.90 for 30 days isn't bad compared to what people pay for postpaid in Canada. Did you get a chance to find out if you are indeed able to buy another package of 1GB for 30 days, in case your 1GB runs out early, just like the english version of wind's site says?

[schoen]

Originally Posted by Evan

The F2G1,2...8 are not commercially available anymore. However, all customers that have previously activated one of those plans, still have them (except if they've changed to the new plans).

To check which plan you have, call the balance information service (1269), press 2 for English, and after the information about your remaining credit and the expiration date of the SIM, they announce which one of the 8 F2G you were subscribed.

If you still have the F2G2, I suggest not to change it, because is by far the cheapest plan in Greek market' 0.1€/min, charge per second from the 1st second. They recently increased the price of the SMS from 4 to 11 cents, but only for the national texts. International SMS still costs 4 cents.



I'm in Greece at the moment and use the same plan from my mobile. I don't have an iPhone but I read that it works without any issues (as long as it is unlocked of course). Just use the APN: gint.b-online.gr and leave everything else blank.

The 1GB for 30 days is 9.90€ until 31 August and after that 14.90€, I think. However, Wind tends to extend sometimes their offers.

Thanks
It's all correct. I called 1269 and I still have F2G2. It's the cheapest tarif plan in europe which I've ever seen.
Regards Schoen

[Evan]

Originally Posted by goldeneyed

Thanks Evan! You always have all the answers lol. So just to clarify you're using it on a regular WInd F2GO prepaid account? Still at 14.90 for 30 days isn't bad compared to what people pay for postpaid in Canada. Did you get a chance to find out if you are indeed able to buy another package of 1GB for 30 days, in case your 1GB runs out early, just like the english version of wind's site says?

Yes, it's a normal prepaid Wind Free2Go card which I use it for voice and texts as well. To activate the data add-ons just follow the instructions on their web page.

I'm not sure if you can buy another package before the 30 days are over because I arrived in Greece 10 days ago and I still have many MBs left. But mainly because, I took advantage of their older offer (1.5GB/month absolutely free) on my second F2G SIM.

However, even if it's not possible to purchase another package within 30 days, the price after you consume the 1GB is quite reasonable, i.e., 0.02€/ΜΒ (or 20.5€/ΜΒ) considering that the "normal" package will cost 15€ after 31 August. Just keep in mind to activate the package again after 30 days, because after you will pay the much more expensive "usual" data prices and not the 0.02€/ΜΒ.

Originally Posted by schoen

Thanks
It's all correct. I called 1269 and I still have F2G2. It's the cheapest tarif plan in europe which I've ever seen.
Regards Schoen

And if you add to their voice and SMS prices their previous offer of 1.5GB per month absolutely free without any prerequisite, I think it's the cheapest prepaid card not only in Europe but worldwide.

[wisniak]

Evan,

Just to verify that these updated plans are also valid for iPhones and they are applicable for Data (GPRS/3G) including emails and full Web browsing? (Not WAP browsing through their Portal).

I ask since last month I was in Italy, purchased a Vodafone SIM and for the life of me couldn't get it activated on the iPhone data packages (so instead of 3 Euros I ended paying up ~50 Euros for 10 days...). And not one of the several Vodafone employees knew what I was talking about.
Sadly I was not able to find a TIM or Wind store, because I would have purchased a different SIM with easier usage.

So since I'm planned to visit Greece next month, I want to save myself some unnecessary grief.

Thank you.

[Evan]

I used recently all the three mobile operators with their "Internet" (not WAP) APN with two different modems and two mobile phones, and I didn't have any problem regarding browsing, pop3 and imap email, audio and video streaming etc. Wind has even the voip and p2p ports open...

I don't use an iPhone to know if it works with those mobile plans but I don't see a reason why not, except if the phone is locked or it uses a different protocol to connect to the Internet.

[wisniak]

OK
Thank you.

[timmfive]

Hi all,
after reading all of the above, the 1G/30day/€18 WIND package seemed like the only way to go.
however, i think you will find that the Q-card is the way to go, even though it says only 100MB...

was a bit crazy to get activated, but here is my workflow:
i actually posted this a few weeks ago, but seems it was moderated!? :-/
1) buy Qcard for €5, includes 1€ credit needed to activate some package...
2) install into unlocked phone, will look as though it is Roaming on network. Was told this is cause Q roams on WIND network. Was initally concerned, but seems to work fine. Main point is to make sure you set phone to allow data when roaming. APN is "myq", all defaults.
3) dial 1333, listen to some recording followed by long beep. not sure what this is, but think it is needed to activate/unlock SIM card.
4) dial 12200, try and figure out recording, but need to press 1, 1, 1.
5) reboot phone.

should hopefully be back on the grid!
enjoy
TIM

[Evan]

Originally Posted by italos

Just an update to this based on my experience.

As I said on my previous post that you quoted, the only reason you would have gone with the data plans of Cosmote, was only if you didn't have 3G coverage with the other three providers, since Cosmote data plans were much more expensive than the ones of Vodafone, Wind or Q.

Originally Posted by timmfive

Anyway, there have been some great contributors for this Greek thread.
After reading all 13 pages it seemed like the best/obvious/only option was Wind and the ~€18 for 1G deal. :-/ (Which frankly, isn't great... pretty expensive for 1G)
So I went into a Wind shop the other day to get the above.
There were two useless agents, but one really good guy there who knew his stuff.

Most of the agents are often useless, so you will be much better if you rely on the information posted here based on the official sites of the providers. For example, there wasn't any "~€18 for 1G deal", it was an 9.90€ "summer offer" that went back to its original 15€/1GB price last October. Also the data plan of 100MB/1€ of Q is not available anymore, it ended a couple of weeks ago.

I don't blame entirely the agents though, because the prices, offers and validity of the available data plans change very often. There are many many changes since the last time I wrote the compilation posts, so I'm currently preparing an update which I'll post here as soon as I prepare it.