Vodafone Romania prepaid internet card

[VladS]

There's a new Prepaid Internet offer from Vodafone Romania. The coverage is excellent on the new HSUPA 900 network and fair on the HSUPA 2100 one.

The SIM card is free but must be purchased with a top-up voucher worth at least €5. A USB modem pack is available for €35 (no credit included).

Cost/Transfer/Validity/Speed
€5/0.5 GB/10 days/3.6 Mbps
€7/1 GB/10 zile/3.6 Mbps
€10/1 GB/30 zile/3.6 Mbps
€14/2 GB/30 zile/3.6 Mbps
€20/4 GB/30 zile/7.2 Mbps
€30/8 GB/30 zile/21.6 Mbps

Any unused credit is valid for 10 months.

[raywright1]

this is great and timely news. i will be there in july and am not happy with the options i've found on the internet. in fact i haven't seen anything near those prices - are you sure those rates are per GB?

does the same SIM offer GSM as well?

any idea where the vodaphone store/kiosk is in cluj? perhaps the airport?

any good recommendations for the UK?

[raywright1]

Vlad,

the vodafone website isn't exactly clear on the cost. the price tiers you mentioned seem to be for the USB card:

https://www.vodafone.ro/personal/int.../index.htm#id2

while the section that clearly mentions internet on the mobile handset only offers prices if 1) you are an existing vodafone subscriber or 2) if you are a USB card user:

https://www.vodafone.ro/personal/int.../index.htm#id2

do you interpret the website any differently? or better yet, have you personally used a vodafone SIM card in a handset and paid according to the price structure you posted?

thanks!

[f300]

The 2nd link is for handsets (unknown if it works with modems). 0.75 EUR = 24h and 75 MB or 3.99 EUR = 30 days and 500 MB. Both have been there for a while and I can confirm it works (you might need to call support to enable "mobile internet" at all). It works with any prepaid voice SIM (new or existing). When you want to use any of these "boosters" you need to enable it via *147# and follow the menu (otherwise it will be very expensive per kb!!!).

The plans with GB are from what they say available for data cards but there's no reason not to work in smartphones. They're brand new.

Support is nice and still free I believe (except for the fact that they try to hide the humans in the maze of menus you get when calling *222) but quite useless especially for data stuff, keep pushing and you'll get what you want.

Keep in mind all prices don't include VAT and the exchange rate they use is usually outrageous. If you register the card you can pay by mastercard or visa (including non-local cards) and you get fair exchange rate.

[linguist]

Originally Posted by f300

The 2nd link is for handsets (unknown if it works with modems). 0.75 EUR = 24h and 75 MB or 3.99 EUR = 30 days and 500 MB. Both have been there for a while and I can confirm it works (you might need to call support to enable "mobile internet" at all). It works with any prepaid voice SIM (new or existing). When you want to use any of these "boosters" you need to enable it via *147# and follow the menu (otherwise it will be very expensive per kb!!!).

The plans with GB are from what they say available for data cards but there's no reason not to work in smartphones. They're brand new.

Support is nice and still free I believe (except for the fact that they try to hide the humans in the maze of menus you get when calling *222) but quite useless especially for data stuff, keep pushing and you'll get what you want.

Keep in mind all prices don't include VAT and the exchange rate they use is usually outrageous. If you register the card you can pay by mastercard or visa (including non-local cards) and you get fair exchange rate.

That's very interesting info.
Let me see if I get this correct:

I can walk into a shop in Romania that sells pre-paid SIM cards and buy a Vodafone "voice" SIM.
I activate this SIM and then also enable a data package via *147#.
For data, I pay 3.99 EUR and get 500 MB for 30 days.
For local voice calls, I pay local rates.

Is all that correct?
Any idea what the local rate for local calls is?
Any idea what the international calling rates are for these SIM cards?
Thanks!

[raywright1]

I'm in Romania now. I've been to 3 vodafone shops. They have each told me that the voice SIM card is not the same as a GPRS data SIM. You can get WAP and Internet on the voice SIM. I paid 4 EUR for the base package, 1000 min in network, 60 min international and/or out of network, and 60 SMS. I added 120 min international and 120 SMS for 7 EUR. I added 250mb Internet/WAP (with proxy) for 3.99 EUR, but cannot get GPRS internet on the SIM card. I'm stuck using a browser on a tiny screen. So I cannot tether or use my email client.

Also if you pay by credit card, verify the amount before entering your pin on the handheld apparatus. When I purchased my SIM, the clerk accidentaly added two digits at the end which caused me to pay over $4,600 USD for my SIM card! My bank blocked my visa card until I went back to the shop the next day to undo the mistake.

The APN settings they gave me are:
live.pre.vodafone.com
user: live
pwd: vodafone

if anyone knows more than the 3 clerks i have spoken to, please post the APN settings and the exact option under *147# to enable the data plan.

thanks!