Israel GPRS rates - Page 5

sperial · 15-09-2014, 16:36

The cheapest will be Golan Telecom's NIS 59/month "hybrid" plan - unlimited calls and texts in Israel and to landlines in 55 countries. When you leave change to NIS 9.90/month (~EUR 2) and keep the line live indefinitely. However - it depends on Golan acceptance of your foreign credit card. Buy the SIM card at any "Bug" or "Best Mobile" shops, in most shopping malls.
Orange prepaid is expensive - according to their site you can buy 1GB for NIS 59, 3 GB for NIS 79 5GB for NIS or unlimited data for NIS 149 - all valid for 30 days. Use it with VoIP which is not prohibited on Israeli networks.

sperial · 25-09-2014, 11:31

BTW - formally Israeli SIM cards expire after inactivity for 12 months but experience, at least with Orange, is that usually they remain valid indefinitely. Validity of credit depends on type of top up.

schumi26 · 14-01-2015, 03:35

You will have to top up at an Orange booth or a post office

sperial · 02-05-2015, 16:40

A new player on the Israeli prepaid market: Hot mobile, with prepaid plan called HOTALK,
Price of SIM card not stated on internet site, but probably NIS 39.90 (EUR 9.10), simiar to pospaid cards. Hot mobile cards can be purchased at Hot cable TV stands in most shopping malls.
There are four top up options:
HOTALK Basic - NIS 50 (EUR 11.50) - NIS 0.49 (EUR 1.15) per minute, SMS or 1 MB data. Valid 180 days.
HOTALK unlimited: NIS 99 (EUR 22.75) - 3000 min., 3000 SMS, 4GB data. Valid 30 days.
HOTALK unlimited: NIS 39 (EUR 9) - 3000 min., 3000 SMS, 1GB data. Valid 7 days.
HOTALK unlimited plus: NIS 139 (EUR 32) - 3000 min., 3000 SMS, 4GB data PLUS NIS 100 for international calling. Valid 30 days.

The major operator Pelephone also improved it's prepaid offer - "Unlimited" plans including unlimited national minuted ans SMS plus 3 GB data for NIS 59 (EUR 14) or 6 GB for NIS 79 (EUR 18.15)

wolfbln · 02-05-2015, 18:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperial

A new player on the Israeli prepaid market: Hot mobile, with prepaid plan called HOTALK,
Price of SIM card not stated on internet site, but probably NIS 39.90 (EUR 9.10), simiar to pospaid cards. Hot mobile cards can be purchased at Hot cable TV stands in most shopping malls.

From the Data WIKI:

Hot Mobile has only pre/postpaid contracts like Golan which they call "programs". They demand an Israeli ID number. If you don't have one, you can think of one online. They accept international credit cards.

The SIM card is 39 NIS, data is 0.13 NIS/MB.

Generally rates are not as good as Golan and the SIM is much harder to handle with a fake ID number and harder to disconnect as well, so tourists may prefer Golan and this option is only recommended if a local assists you.

But I will add their data-only rates, which are still a good value if someone dares to fake an Israeli ID.

QUOTE from HOT Mobile Website: "The English wording is solely for the user's convenience; the wording in Hebrew is binding."

sperial · 02-05-2015, 19:15

The wiki needs an update. The Hot prepaid plan, as well as the improved Pelephone plan are new, marketed for less than a week. Other companies also have better offers than the basic rates those shown this site's "national operators" page

Faking an Israeli ID is not like faking an Italian tax ID, it is unique, and an ID card (or passport, or Israeli driver licence) have to be presented to the sales representative when signing a contract. Internet registration of a postpaid line is possible only with a credit card, and the credit and ID details are checked against a central data base.

On the other hand,opposite to regulations in some European countries, SIM cards can be bought anonymously and paid cash.

wolfbln · 02-05-2015, 22:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperial

The wiki needs an update. The Hot prepaid plan, as well as the improved Pelephone plan are new, marketed for less than a week. Other companies also have better offers than the basic rates those shown this site's "national operators" page.

Faking an Israeli ID is not like faking an Italian tax ID, it is unique, and an ID card (or passport, or Israeli driver licence) have to be presented to the sales representative when signing a contract. Internet registration of a postpaid line is possible only with a credit card, and the credit and ID details are checked against a central data base.

On the other hand, SIM cards can be bought anonymously and paid cash.

All I want to stress is that with HOT Mobile like on GOLAN, you'll be on a recurring contract (which is prepaid and can be terminated at any time), not a regular prepaid or PAYG SIM as it is known in the rest of the world. Both of them simply don't sell genuine prepaid SIM cards like in most other European nations.

GOLAN is the only of the new providers who lets foreigners (= people without an Israeli ID) officially to make a contract. HOT Mobile doesn't do this according to user reports. But some users were successful online when they gave instead of the Israeli ID another "fictional" number.

So what are you trying to say?
- HOT is a good offer. that's right. But only to Israel citizens - so of very limited use for 99% in the forum.
- You can't fake an Israeli ID, well some did it obviously - and you don't need to present it to anybody because HOT is an online operator after all.
- And the "anonymously bought SIM cards paid in cash" obviously don't refer to the contracts of HOT. HOT links to a credit card.
= I only wanted to stress that your HOT offer has some strings attached if you not happen to live in Israel and have an Israeli ID/credit card.

What Pelephone is concerned, they only have their website in Hebrew (as the only of the big MNOs) which is spoken by 0.1% of the world population (9 millions out of 9 billions). Obviously, they are not so interested in the rest 99.9%. So may be you can update the WIKI on their part???

The problem with Israel and the phone market there is similar to France: In both countries there are contracts which can be terminated anytime by free will. This makes real prepaid quite expensive. So many "new offers" like Walla Mobile (Pelephone) or 012 Smile (Orange/Partner) pose two problems to visitors:
- they are sold online only and sent to an Israeli address
- they need to be linked to an Israeli ID and credit card, which closes the door for all Non-Israelis.
-> that's why they are not on the WIKI. "Real" prepaid cards (not recurring contracts) are still pretty expensive in Israel.

sperial · 03-05-2015, 03:05

wolfbln, I live in Israel, Hebrew is my mother tongue and I follow the local market.
Most MVNO's and all MMO's, except Golan (which is actually an MVNO), offer TRUE PREPAID, NON-CONTRACT lines. Just go to their shop, get a SIM card and a top up, drop the SIM into your phone and use it. It is already activated. No contract, no ID required, just some cash. AFAIK prepaid is about 30% of the lines.
As to the internet sites - you are right, most of them have very rudimentary foreign language pages if at all. Again, Golan is the exception, maybe because it is owned and run by the owner and former manager of french Free network. BTW, I have the same problem when surfing the sites of many European mobile operators. Yhank yoy, Google Translate.

sperial · 16-02-2016, 14:52

After a high profile political dispute with France Telecom/Orange the Israel Orange today started rebranding as Partner. No change in service for existing customers is expected, but as Israel became a low cost postpaid cellular market no prepaid plans are advertised on the new web site.

wolfbln · 18-02-2016, 07:38

Well, the change from Orange to Partner was expected. One can argue, if their new logo is such a major coup and eyecatcher. Is turquoise now the new orange in Israel?

I can hardly imagine that they will not offer a prepaid SIM card as one of the three historical providers in the country. Are Orange's Big Talk SIMs not sold anymore? May be recolored?

I mean does everyone (without any credit check or verified residency) get at postpaid contract in Israel in these days? Except of visitors, there are migrant workers and lot of other people who may be interested in having cellular coverage in the country. Not to mention some neighbors who still don't have 3G in their territories and are using Israeli providers instead. I can't hardly imagine that they mean no business for the providers.

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	(#41)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	15-09-2014, 16:36 The cheapest will be Golan Telecom's NIS 59/month "hybrid" plan - unlimited calls and texts in Israel and to landlines in 55 countries. When you leave change to NIS 9.90/month (~EUR 2) and keep the line live indefinitely. However - it depends on Golan acceptance of your foreign credit card. Buy the SIM card at any "Bug" or "Best Mobile" shops, in most shopping malls. Orange prepaid is expensive - according to their site you can buy 1GB for NIS 59, 3 GB for NIS 79 5GB for NIS or unlimited data for NIS 149 - all valid for 30 days. Use it with VoIP which is not prohibited on Israeli networks.

	(#42)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	25-09-2014, 11:31 BTW - formally Israeli SIM cards expire after inactivity for 12 months but experience, at least with Orange, is that usually they remain valid indefinitely. Validity of credit depends on type of top up.

	(#43)
schumi26 (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 07 Jan 2015 Country:	14-01-2015, 03:35 You will have to top up at an Orange booth or a post office

	(#44)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	02-05-2015, 16:40 A new player on the Israeli prepaid market: Hot mobile, with prepaid plan called HOTALK, Price of SIM card not stated on internet site, but probably NIS 39.90 (EUR 9.10), simiar to pospaid cards. Hot mobile cards can be purchased at Hot cable TV stands in most shopping malls. There are four top up options: HOTALK Basic - NIS 50 (EUR 11.50) - NIS 0.49 (EUR 1.15) per minute, SMS or 1 MB data. Valid 180 days. HOTALK unlimited: NIS 99 (EUR 22.75) - 3000 min., 3000 SMS, 4GB data. Valid 30 days. HOTALK unlimited: NIS 39 (EUR 9) - 3000 min., 3000 SMS, 1GB data. Valid 7 days. HOTALK unlimited plus: NIS 139 (EUR 32) - 3000 min., 3000 SMS, 4GB data PLUS NIS 100 for international calling. Valid 30 days. The major operator Pelephone also improved it's prepaid offer - "Unlimited" plans including unlimited national minuted ans SMS plus 3 GB data for NIS 59 (EUR 14) or 6 GB for NIS 79 (EUR 18.15)

	(#46)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	02-05-2015, 19:15 The wiki needs an update. The Hot prepaid plan, as well as the improved Pelephone plan are new, marketed for less than a week. Other companies also have better offers than the basic rates those shown this site's "national operators" page Faking an Israeli ID is not like faking an Italian tax ID, it is unique, and an ID card (or passport, or Israeli driver licence) have to be presented to the sales representative when signing a contract. Internet registration of a postpaid line is possible only with a credit card, and the credit and ID details are checked against a central data base. On the other hand,opposite to regulations in some European countries, SIM cards can be bought anonymously and paid cash. Last edited by sperial; 02-05-2015 at 19:53..

	(#48)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	03-05-2015, 03:05 wolfbln, I live in Israel, Hebrew is my mother tongue and I follow the local market. Most MVNO's and all MMO's, except Golan (which is actually an MVNO), offer TRUE PREPAID, NON-CONTRACT lines. Just go to their shop, get a SIM card and a top up, drop the SIM into your phone and use it. It is already activated. No contract, no ID required, just some cash. AFAIK prepaid is about 30% of the lines. As to the internet sites - you are right, most of them have very rudimentary foreign language pages if at all. Again, Golan is the exception, maybe because it is owned and run by the owner and former manager of french Free network. BTW, I have the same problem when surfing the sites of many European mobile operators. Yhank yoy, Google Translate.

	(#49)
sperial (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 74 Join Date: 22 Jun 2011 Country:	16-02-2016, 14:52 After a high profile political dispute with France Telecom/Orange the Israel Orange today started rebranding as Partner. No change in service for existing customers is expected, but as Israel became a low cost postpaid cellular market no prepaid plans are advertised on the new web site.

	(#50)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	18-02-2016, 07:38 Well, the change from Orange to Partner was expected. One can argue, if their new logo is such a major coup and eyecatcher. Is turquoise now the new orange in Israel? I can hardly imagine that they will not offer a prepaid SIM card as one of the three historical providers in the country. Are Orange's Big Talk SIMs not sold anymore? May be recolored? I mean does everyone (without any credit check or verified residency) get at postpaid contract in Israel in these days? Except of visitors, there are migrant workers and lot of other people who may be interested in having cellular coverage in the country. Not to mention some neighbors who still don't have 3G in their territories and are using Israeli providers instead. I can't hardly imagine that they mean no business for the providers.