Regarding Q-Telecom and Carrefour/Champion Mobile in Greece.

[gmmour]

In May 2007, Q-telecom has fully merged with TIM Hellas.
As of that date all postpaid customers have been ported to TIM Hellas and the Q-card prepaid package is the only mobile telephony product that is marketed under the "Q-telecom" brand name.
Nevertheless, Q-telecom is now just a brand name for a prepaid offer by TIM Hellas, although it is not marketed under the TIM brand. In this it matches other prepaid offers like Frog by Cosmote, which is also marketed distinctively although it is actually a Cosmote product.

The 202 09 (Q-telecom) network has closed in May 2007 and Q-telecom's spectrum is being used in the TIM network (202 10).

Thus, since Q-telecom is no longer a separate company, I do think that it should be removed from the cellphone operators' list for Greece in prepaidgsm.net and be put under the "other prepaid offers" together with Frog by Cosmote, Mo'MAD by TIM and Carrefour Mobile/Champion Mobile by Vodafone. The actual product is called Q-Card and I think that it should be listed that way, as "another prepaid offer" offered by TIM Hellas.

In other news now, TIM Hellas will be renamed to WIND Hellas on June 5th, 2007, i.e. coming Tuesday.

And, as far as it concerns Greece, you should add Carrefour/Champion Mobile by Vodafone in the "other prepaid offers" section for Greece. This prepaid offer is sold exclusively in Carrefour and Champion supermarkets (same company) around Greece, it is one of the cheapest offers around, competing directly with Frog by Cosmote and Q-card by TIM. It's innovative in the sence that it can be topped-up using regular Vodafone prepaid cards sold extensively around the country as well as on Carrefour/Champion cashiers with any amount! The website of this offer is:
http://www.carrefour.gr/mobile_champion/default_en.htm
http://www.carrefour.gr/mobile_carrefour/default_en.htm (same thing, different colours, both in English) for you to copy the offers and prices from.
Please note that this is the same product sold under a different name depending on the supermarket where you buy it from. The Marinopoulos group of companies operates its supermarkets under the Champion brand usually in central areas of cities and under the Carrefour brand when we are talking about big supermarkets and shopping centres outside in suburban areas.
Carrefour and Champion mobile is not an MVNO, it is just a Vodafone product marketed exclusively through the Carrefour Marinopoulos retail chain. It came to compete with low-cost offers like Q-card and Frog currently offered by the other two big companies.

[AdmiralAK]

gmmour, do you happen to know what prepaid offers are available at Eleftherios Venizelos (Germanos store at Arrivals)?

Last time I was there (2 years ago), they had CU (vodafone), ForAll (TIM) and What's Up (cosmote) - do they carry all of the above offers now?

[EllasDevil]

Germanos are now owned by Cosmote so they only stock their prepaid products and services.

I remember Vodafone withdrew their products and services as an immediate reaction to the Cosmote purchase and I 'believe' TIM did the same.

[gmmour]

Originally Posted by AdmiralAK

gmmour, do you happen to know what prepaid offers are available at Eleftherios Venizelos (Germanos store at Arrivals)?

Last time I was there (2 years ago), they had CU (vodafone), ForAll (TIM) and What's Up (cosmote) - do they carry all of the above offers now?

Hi!
EllasDevil is right. Germanos was purchased by Cosmote last winter. Vodafone left immediately after the announcement of the acquistition was made and TIM left just a few weeks ago (TIM's retail chain at the time the announcement was made was significantly smaller than that of Vodafone's although they've done a good job expanding their exclusive stores since then, in just a few months).
So Germanos now only sells Cosmote products (not even Frog which is only sold at kiosks and with no reference to Cosmote).

In the kiosks inside the airport though (the Papasotiriou Press points operated by papasotiriou.gr), you might be able to find some other connection packs since most companies sell their connection packs in kiosks too. But I don't think this is the case in the airport... The other place where you can buy prepaid packs is the business center but they, too, have an exclusive agreement with Cosmote...

[Effendi]

I updated some stuff, thank you very much for the information, let's wait for tomorrow's Wind rebrand and other news from Greece.

[gmmour]

Hi,
I'm at the airport posting from Opera Mini. The press points in Athens Airport do sell prepaid connection kits, but they only sell the Vodafone á la carte 20? packs. Germanos sells all the Cosmote products (not Frog though).
Now that 5? connections packs with 5? initial credit are common place at kiosks around the country, I wouldn't buy any of those expensive prepaid packs available at the airport, unless Germanos sells a Cosmote pack for 5? with 5? included initial credit!
By the way, WIND day is coming indeed and teases ads are all over the place!

[gmmour]

@Effendi: I saw you updated the site with WIND's logo. Nevertheless, the greek WIND logo is going to be slightly different from the italian one you used. Namely, the colours are going to be different with blue letters and "head/dot" and red hands, to match TIM Hellas existing colours. It's going to be a light rebranding, with only the name and logo changing, all products and commercials will remain the same.
Also, the letters are going to be a little rounder than the ones in the italian version.
I don't have a pic handy now I'm posting from my phone, I'll try to post it tonight or else you will see it tomorrow on their new site!
Good job with all the updates on the greek site!
Keep it on,
GM

[gmmour]

Here is the WIND Hellas logo, as promised:

[EllasDevil]

Originally Posted by gmmour

It's going to be a light rebranding, with only the name and logo changing, all products and commercials will remain the same.

I had wondered why the teaser commercials were still in the style of TIM, same colors, same 'thelo' slogan.... but without any mention of the TIM name... now it all makes sense. Thanks!

[gmmour]

Hey! You're fast!
You put the correct logo in the Wind page but the logo on the main (Greece) page is still the italian one...

Now, some slight corrections/updates.
Frog, Q and Champion/Carrefour mobile have 5 Euro connection packs with 1 Euro calling credit for 5 months. This means that they pay you back the cost of the connection package in the form of 1 Euro credit per month, but in order to get the free credit from the second month on, you have to make at least one recharge per month. The cheapest amount you can recharge on all three is 3 Euro.