Austria Prepaid for a month

[Javalio]

Hi all,

I have been keeping tabs on this forum for awhile, but never posted.

I am going to Austria in August and I am wondering what is the best, and least expensive prepaid service.

My professor said that she will take us straight to a t-mobile store for us to purchase new phones, but I am looking for the best rates for a number of things.

I have been trying to understand the sites, but I dont speak or read German so the language barrier is a bit tricky to cross.

I already have an unlocked w810i, but wouldn't mind picking up a cool phone I cant get in the states and hopefully unlocking it.

Mainly i will be texting and calling in country, and texting back to america and infrequently or in emergencies calling on my cell to the us. I will be using skype for those long calls when needed. Data might also be nice for e-mail and news/what have you.

Also, my w810i, and im sure most mobiles, have the ability to text to e-mail. Will this work on these networks, as it would save myself and my friends back home lots of money to send text as email through carrier gateways. I figure Europe is more advanced with mobile technology so that should be an option.

Thanks

J

[Effendi]

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/austria.html
there's all the information in English.

Text to e-mail is something almost never used in Europe, AFAIK, at least here in Italy. You can send MMS to e-mail, but there's no sense since you can directly send e-mails using a data connection, which is generally much cheaper.

[bourbonkiller]

Dear Javalio,

beeing austrian and living over here, I think I can help you at several points.

The cheapest offer you can buy when phoning only within Austria (no calls abroad) would be YESSS which runs on the ONE Network. They charge 6,9 Eurocent per Minute to every Network in Austria (no matter which one). If you are looking for a cheap prepay card for phoneing abroad, have a look at eety (associations with E.T. the movie are most welcome - the name is program) they offer very cheap international calls from the mobile. They also unse ONE Network which has a good coverage.

Another opportunity might be the new prepay package called "Mücke" from Telering. But within the last months since Telering has been taken over by T-Mobile, their own network has been shut off and they now roam on T-Mobile Network (with very low priority level).

If you are looking for email (text to email etc.) you should go for a "Three" in austria called DREI pay as you go. They offer complete box with handset and only run a 3G service. Whenever you loose the 3 reception you can roam on A1 Network free of charge. A1 is austrias premier Network with best coverage. The Simcard is ready to handle that national roaming without any troubles, it's part of an agreement and absolutely free of charge. Calls with the 3 prepay will cost 10 Eurocent a minute to any Network and you will have free access to planet 3, a mobile portal where you can watch TV, read news, send and receive emails for free etc. On top of that, you will earn 6 Eurocent for incoming crossnetwork calls.

For any further question do not hesitate to contact me!

www.yesss.at (may be bought at "Hofer" supermarkets"
www.telering.at
www.eety.at (may be bought at kiosks, see homepage)
www.3reload.at (three store, mobile phone shops, tech-discounts)

[inquisitor]

As you'll surely plan to call home eety is the very best choice for you.

As you can see here (click) calls to the US are charged only € 0,12/min.

If your mates also get an eety SIM card, you will reach each other at € 0,09/min.

Btw incoming calls are NOT charged in Europe, as long as you stay in the country the SIM is from. So if you're being called in Austria - no matter from where - that won't cost you a Cent!

eety is available at e.g. Cosmos, Saturn and Austrian post offices.

In order to use eety you'll need a phone that supports GSM1800.

[Javalio]

Thanks to all three of you for the info.

The info on eety is great, and I think I will use them for calling home.

I might also pick up a 3 phone if it isnt too expensive, to try out the superior European 3g networks. Being American and a phone junkie hurts sometimes .

Danke.

Javalio

[inquisitor]

You don't need to join 3 to enjoy 3G - all Austrian GSM operators run 3G networks simultaneously to their GSM networks. If you have a 3G (UMTS) enabled phone it will automatically switch to 3G even with an eety SIM, as far as there's 3G coverage, of course.

[Effendi]

And calling 3 AT's network "superior" sounds quite funny, they even hardly have some decent coverage in Vienna and bigger towns...

[bourbonkiller]

@inquisitor
it's not the matter that other operators do have 3G or not, but DREI offers FREE email in their mobile portal and don't charge for anything (no data, no basic fee, nothing). And the mobile portal of DREI is only working with their own handsets.

@ Effendi
the over all coverage of DREI is superior since they have a national roaming agreement with A1 (and thats the best Network you can get in Austria). I do agree that if you roam in Austria with your italien TRE card, it is absolut crappy.

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by bourbonkiller

@ Effendi
the over all coverage of DREI is superior since they have a national roaming agreement with A1 (and thats the best Network you can get in Austria). I do agree that if you roam in Austria with your italien TRE card, it is absolut crappy.

yeah, of course I meant their network, A1's network is good, also in 3G, we all know it. I'll try to roam on DREI next weekend while I drive through Bregenz, the land with more operators (3 countries)!