Prepaid Wireless Internet Access - Recently Updated Pages

Brazil - Claro

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:22:09 CST

Operation frequency: 900/1800/1900 GPRS and EDGE, and nationalwide 3G 850/2100.
Coverage: Nationwide except Northern Region, part of Minas Gerais state and Londrina and Tamarana in Paraná state.

Offer name: Claro Toda Hora
Simcard cost: R$15,00 (5,50 euro)
Voice Call: R$1,36/min (0,50 euro)
Data cost: R$6,00/mb (2,20 euro)

Data bundle: none
APN: claro.com.br
User: claro
Require Password: no
Password:
Authentication: no

The operator have a prepaid dataplan with 2 packages:

100mb at 20R$ (11,62US$), with a lenght of 24 hours;
500mb at 50R$ (29,09US$), with a lenght of 1 week.

Obs: to activate a prepaid simcard user must make a call to any number except free numbers. An automatic system will pickup the call and ask for a valid CPF (Cadastro Pessoa Física), a brazilian document. So it´s better to ask for the attendant to make this process for you.

Belgium Mobile Vikings

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:23:43 CST

At www.mobilevikings.com you can get a simcard, there send it to your home after payin.(verry fast)
Pay by creditcard/ Paypal
Costs 15euro > 1month incl. 15euro for local phones AND FREE >>> internet >>1GIG !!!<<< + MAIL and also FREE 1000 SMS !!! > 30days

I tried myself and it works fine, ONLY EDGE next year G3

Its works also on my laptop with the HUAWEI E220

(i am Belgium)

Netherlands - T-Mobile

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:08:57 CST

T-Mobile probably has the best options when you’re looking to hook up your laptop to the mobile web in the Netherlands.

The standard prepaid plan: unlimited access at € 4.50 per day
This plan is enabled on the "garden-variety" prepaid SIM cards. You can get one for € 10 with € 5 calling credit, plus € 10 after on-line registration.
With these SIM cards, the cost of using mobile internet is deducted from the prepaid calling credit. The costs of T-Mobile PrePaid web’n’walk are € 0.20 for each unit of 200 KB. You will never have to pay more than € 4.50 per day, however. This gives you unlimited access at UMTS speeds.

The "Laptop Prepaid" plan: even faster unlimited access at € 7.00 per day
T-Mobile also sells special prepaid SIM cards under the "Laptop Prepaid" plan. These can access the web at greater speeds (2048/384 kbps), but have a higher maximum per-day charge: € 7.00. Otherwise, this plan does not differ much from the above plan. The cost of using mobile internet is deducted from the prepaid calling credit. The costs of T-Mobile internet are € 0.20 for each unit of 200 KB.

For details see the pricelist here.

Account Info (taken from here and a minor update from t-mobile.nl here):
APN: internet
Username (not sure if it is necessary): tmobile
Password (not sure if it is necessary): tmobile

Roaming: Cost per MB with a Prepaid SIM when roaming outside the Netherlands: € 1.68 per MB

France - Orange

thorsten.gehrig — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:08:41 CST

Mobicarte - Les Options Internet

Mobicarte is the France Telecom / Orange Prepaid SIM card, which is admitted to Orange's GSM/EDGE- and also UMTS/HSDPA-network.

options for internet access:

Option 'Internet Max' (please see actual Posts - looks like this option is not longer available)

€12/month for 'unlimited' web + 10 MB mail access.
Access may be terminated or capped after 500 MB download for the rest of the month, but it is reported, that this limit is not enforced (as of September 2008). It is not possible to renew this plan within the that same month to restore access.
Terms and conditions say the option is only for handset-based access, however it could be used flawlessly from a computer in September 2008.

A Mobicarte prepaid SIM can be bought without a phone in Orange shops for 30 euros or for less than € 10 at the French branch of that big auction site. The initial credit is € 4,50 for calls and 100kb for surfing.
Coupons for recharging can be bought at post offices, supermarkets and of course orange shops.

To activate the 5 MB option, additional credit (e.g. 10 euros) has to be bought. Current balance can be checked by typing #123# + dial button.

To activate one of the options described above, call '220' and select 'Découverte Multimedia' or 'Internet Max' from the 'Multimedia Menu'. The price for the option will be immediately taken from the prepaid account.

It's also possible to activate one of the options via the #123# USSD dialogue. When the current credit is shown, answer with '00' to go to the main menu and go to 'gerer vos option' from there. Here's a picture of how the screen looks like in that menu:

Mobicard recharging and Internet Max activation tutorial for non-french speakers (like me).
I tested it on 08/17/09 in Paris.

Part 1, Recharging:

Press #123# to activate to the mobicard menu.
Select 3 for the menu
Select 2 for "Recharger"
Select 1 "par recharge mobicarte"
Enter your 14 digit card code.

Part 2, Activating:

Again, select #123# to activate the mobicard menu
Select 3 for the menu
Select 3, Vos bons plans
Select 4, Votre multimedia
Select 3, Option Internet Max
Acknowledge the following general terms and conditions with 1 (several times)

That´s it. Keep in mind that the activation could take up to 48 hours. You won´t get notified.

GPRS/3G details:

APN: orange (tried with 'decouverte multimedia' option but should work for 'Internet max' as well)
Username: orange (might not be required)
Password: orange (might not be required)

iPhone users are lucky, the settings are automatically configured by orange (tested with my jailbroken iPhone).

Switzerland - Aldi

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:22:26 CDT

Sunrise and Aldi Switzerland ask for 0.10 Swiss Francs per 20 kb block which is 5 Swiss Francs per MB or about 2.90 Euros. Well, way to go, but it's a start. But I definitely would not use it with a notebook.

When roaming the price per 20kb block is 0.30 Swiss Francs per 20 kb block for all roaming countries according to the price list of Sunrise. That's 15 Swiss Francs per MB or about 8.90 Euros. Not really on the cheap side but still cheaper than many other roaming alternatives for countries for which you don't have a SIM and don't want to spend a full 15 Euros for a 24 hour Vodafone Germany Websession.

I had a look on the Aldi Switzerland homepage for the details. To get a SIM card a registration form has to be downloaded, filled out and taken to one of the Aldi supermarkets when buying a SIM card together with your passport. Activation of the SIM card then takes around 24 hours. I wonder if things work quicker when going to a Sunrise shop!?

One more note: Orangeclick also offers mobile Internet access but prices are not competitive unless you subscribe to a 5 Swiss Francs add on which is deducted from the prepaid account once a month. This gives you 2MB worth of data and a price of 2.5 euros per megabyte afterwards.

The best Prepaid offer ist easy liberty uno and easy befree from operator Swisscom , available at post offices and swisscom shops. Easy liberty uno chages 1.-/MB with a max. of 5.- a day, means after 5 MB traffic is free. Calls charged 0.80/hour to swisscom/landline and 0.70/min to other national nets.
Easy befree has flatrates for internet (4.-/day), messageing sms/mms (2.-/day) and national calling (3.-/day). Sim costs 20.- inc. 20.- of credit. Sim is the same as easy liberty uno, you can choose the offer while registering (ID needed).

Network covers 99.8 of country with EDGE and 90% whit HSDPA/HSUPA

www.swisscom.ch

Aruba - SETAR

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:06:03 CDT

GSM 900/1800
3G ???

Pay-as-you-go offer name: Primo

Weekdays 07:00-19:00
0,74 local 0,84 other companies
Weekdays 19:00-07:00
0,34 local 0,44 other companies
Weekend
0,34 local 0,44 other companies

SMS 0,15
SMS other company 0,20
International SMS 0,30

GPRS 0,02/10kb - That's €0.81 per MB. For exchange rates see Yahoo Finance

All prices in AFL.

SETAR offers four different phone cards with denominations of Afl. 5,-(20 days), Afl. 10,-(30 days), Afl. 15,-(30 days), Afl. 25,-(45 days), Afl. 35,-(60 days) and Afl. 50,-(60 days). The calling-credit defines your calling time. These costs are deducted from your calling-credit by the second and depend on the time you're calling (peak between 7.00 and 19.00, off-peak between 19.00 and 7.00 and during the weekends).You can buy a PRIMO card at most supermarkets, bars and restaurants in Aruba, at the main-office and at all SETAR's Teleshops. PRIMO cards are also available in vending machines located at several retail stores and gasoline stations.

Primo

Austria - Yess

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:04:21 CDT

Overview:

In Austria, Yesss (www.yesss.at) offers a prepaid GSM/UMTS SIM card called "Diskont-Surfen". The Download-Speed is max 1 MBit/s.Yesss uses the GSM1800/2100 UMTS Network from Orange (No EDGE available in the GSM network). HSDPA and UMTS is available in big cities and mostly along highways.

Price:

The Starter Package is 10 EUR and includes 512 MB Data. The 512 MB are valid for 12 months.
You can buy the card online (shipping only to Austrian addresses) or directly in one of the Hofer-Supermarkets.

They also offer for 55 euros a starter package including an unlocked USB modem and a data SIM card with 2 GB of data, valid for 12 months.
The type of modem they sell changes from time to time (the had Huawei E160, ZTE MF 626, ZTE MF 628, at the moment - Oct 2009 - it's a Huawei E1552)

How to buy Top up Cards:
10 Euro "Ladebons" (Topup Cards) are not usable.
20 Euro "Ladebons" are available at all Post-Stores and many other Shops.
You can also recharge your account with the following amounts: € 20 / € 40 / € 60 / € 80, on the electronic way (credit card, online banking or ATM).

Misc Info:

A 20 Euros recharge buy 1GB(valid for 12 Month) or 2 GB(valid for 1 Month) if you switch to "Poweroption" Tariff.
Recharge and switching between Tariffs ist only possible via this Website.
The SIM card is also enabled for voice calls (9 ct./min) and SMS (13 ct.).
The 5 digit password for the web page is included in the letter which was part of the SIM card package. It's also possible to check the remaining data volume via this page.
You'll get a private 10.x.x.x IP address, they are using NAT.

Activation:
There is no special activation nessesary. Just buy the card at a Hofer Store with no ID or what so ever for 10 €, insert the SIM to your Phone or Data Card.
Telephone-No. of Customer-Support is 0820-810810

Misc:

APN to use: web.yesss.at, no username or password
Proxy-server: 194.24.128.118, port 9201 (not needed for PCs and also not needed in most phones)
Connection-type: wap (not needed for PCs and also not needed in most phones)

Links:

Coverage Map

Coverage 1800 Mhz

Alternatives:

A1 B.Free
3-Austria

MTel Prima

inquisitor — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:27:14 CDT

Warning!
MTel seems to have severe ongoing problems with their billing system. In 2 out of 9 times, when a user ordered the 250MB data pack (replaced by the 350MB pack in June 2009) between October 2008 and April 2009, he received a message saying:
"V momenta sistemata ne raboti. Molya, opitayte pak po-kasno" (The system is currently not working. Please try again later)
Allthough the order obviously failed and no data volume was added to the user's account, MTel charged 24.50 lv as if the order had succeeded. After the first failure it took him five calls and an eMail until that amount was refunded only two months later allthough he speaks Bulgarian and so hadn't have any communication problems.

MTel is offering affordable data options for their prepaid customers with the so called "Prima" SIM card. In April 2009 they were sold for 9 lv including 5 lv of inital credit (1 Leva = € 0,51). Additionally you need a top-up voucher to add the required credit for the desired data option.
Prima SIMs are available everywhere in electronic and phone shops and do not require any registration. Top-up vouchers are sold at all kind of shops, gas stations, restaurants etc.

network
MTel - owned by Mobilkom Austria - is Bulgaria's incumbent network operator providing the best coverage in the country. There is a wide-spread EDGE-coverage based on GSM900/1800 while the bigger cities and the Black Sea coast have 3G service (UMTS2100) including HSDPA/HSUPA-support with 7.2 MBit/s of downstream and 1.45 MBit/s of upstream.

data options
There are three data options, which are valid for 30 days after activation:

Free Surf 25 MB, 25 MB for 9,90 lv (= € 0,20/MB)
Free Surf 350 MB, 350 MB for 18,90 lv (= € 0,028/MB)
Free Surf 1GB, 1024 MB for € 29,90 lv (= 0,015/MB)

Multiple subscription of these data packs is possible even before the volume of the previous option has been consumed. So you could get 375 MB of volume by activating Free Surf 350 MB and Free Surf 25 MB or you could get 2048 MB by activating Free Surf 1 GB twice. Exceeding traffic is billed with 2,56 lv/MB (=€ 1,30/MB), so it may be reasonable to subscribe to a further volume-pack!

activation

Activate your Prima SIM by calling *88. You may chose Bulgarian or English instructions.
Afterwards it's necessary to activate GPRS/3G packet data by calling again *88 and pressing 4 (activation of services), 2 (GPRS), 1 (activation). The activation usually takes a couple of minutes (up to 24 hours) and should be confirmed by SMS.
Now get a voucher and top up your credit by calling 1114 and entering the recharge code followed by #.
Activate one or more of the data options by sending a SMS with "25 MB", "350 MB" or "1 GB" to 1796 (free of charge).

validity period

data packs are valid for 30 days from the activation date
validity of data packs can be prolonged by ordering another data option. Then the remaining traffic is valid as long as the last data option booked.
when the bundle expires, the unused megabytes (MB) are not carried over with next activation.
the Prima SIM itself is valid for 12 months after the last top-up.

check remaining data volume

Send a SMS with "balans" to 1796 (free of charge) and you will receive a text stating the remaining data volume and validity.

check remaining credit
To check the remaining credit of your Prima SIM

either dial 1114 or
enter *101# and press the pick-up button

recharge credit
In order to recharge the credit of your Prima SIM card, you need to buy a Prima topup voucher, which is sold at all kind of shops, gasstations, some restaurants and bars, etc.
After uncovering the voucher code you can..

either top up by the voice-guided menu, which you'll reach by calling 1114 from your handset
or by entering *100#voucher code# and pressing the pick-up button of your handset
or by using the STK-Menu (M-Tel / M-Tel Info / Zaredi Prima / enter voucher code)

important to know

3G service is only available to 3G-enabled SIM cards (so-called "USIM"). So SIMs older than 2 years may not be admitted to MTel's 3G network.
In order to use data service you must have a minimum amount of 1 lv left on your Prima SIM.
All prices include VAT and are valid only for MTel network.
1 МВ (Megabyte) is equal to 1024 kb (Kilobytes).
Charging increments of data options: per 20 KB
Price per MB without data option or after exceeding the volume: 2.56 lv/MB (billed in 100 KB increments)

internet experience

bandwidth
- In EDGE-covered areas you will have stable download speeds of up to 200 KBit/s and upload speeds of up to 100 KBit/s, also for international connections.
latency
- international internet exchanges can be reached via EDGE without remarkable delay: DECIX 200ms, LINX 200ms, NYIIX 320ms, JPIX 500ms (surely better with HSDPA)
instant messaging
- There is no blocking of any instant messaging service. ICQ, AIM, MSN and Yahoo were tested successfully.
VoIP usage
- Incoming and outgoing SIP-calls can be placed flawlessly (use a smallband codec to save volume!)
- Skype is working, too.
VPN usage
- VPN seems to be blocked. Connection through Cisco-VPN and OpenVPN failed.
IP address
- Users are being assigned private IP addresses (subnet 10.161.255.255) and all traffic passes a NAT-gateway (213.226.53.254=gprs-nat.mtel.net)

settings

connection over GPRS/EDGE/3G
- АPN: inet-gprs.mtel.bg
- username: [blank]
- password: [blank]
- DNS: 213.226.7.34 (not required, will be assigned automatically if left blank)

detailed pages in English:
http://www.mtel.bg/customer/inet/index.php,
http://www.mtel.bg/mobiltel/prices/pricesurfing.php?lang=en

other interesting options:
http://www.mtel.bg/mobiltel/services/services31.php

Zapp UMTS

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:14:59 CDT

Zapp's UMTS/HSDPA network is available in medium to large metropolitan areas. Active areas are marked in yellow on their coverage map: http://www.zapp.ro/acoperire/

A SIM-only prepaid option is available for roughly EUR14 (RON59) and it includes two months of unlimited service.
The SIM card is also available in a modem bundle (ZTE MF-626). A three month unlimited use bundle is RON220 while a 12 month bundle is EUR140.

The operatop reserves the right to throttle customers who exceed a monthly softcap.

Top-up options are:
1 day (24hrs) for EUR1.90 (no softcap info)
30 days for EUR9 (softcap set at 1GB)
120 days for EUR27 (softcap set at 1.5GB/30days).

Zapp CDMA

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:54:58 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Germany - N24 Internet Stick

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:07:23 CDT

This offer, which has to be bought via the Internet Portal of N24 (german news TV station), is based on the Vodafone Websession offer but has different tariffs:

1h: 99 euro cents
12h: 2.99 euros
7 days: 9.99 euros. All offers limited to 1GB, if you go above the limit a new session has to be bought
Use in European countries: limited to 50 MB per day, 19.99 euros a day (5 euros more than via the Vodafone web session offer)

The (sim-locked) Huawei E160 3G USB stick with the SIM card costs 64.95 Euros. It seems the SIM card can not be bought separately (unlike with the Vodafone Websession, which can be used with any german Vodafone prepaid SIM).

Update August 2009 : Price for stick is 44,95 euro incl.10 euro start amount and Sim only is available again through their online webshop http://www.n24.de/ratgeberservice/n24_internet_stick/webshop.html for 14,95 euro incl.10 euro start amount.

I am impressed with the connection - Vodafone network rocks!

Other info:

APN: event.vodafone.de
Top-up: Via vodafone top-up vouchers
For further details see the Vodafone Websession page

Tunisia - Tunisiana

thorsten.gehrig — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:54:14 CDT

Overview

Tunisia you can buy a prepaid GSM card called "Carta +" by Tunisian Operator Tunisiana in one of many mobile phone stores with the "Tunisiana" sign for about 5€. (I buyed on at Monastier Airport for 5 Dinar ~ 2,5 Euro)
Their network ist 2g only (as of spring 08) but they have good edge coverage, especially in the areas frequented by tourist.
To activate the card you have to make a (free) inital call to 1222.
Then you also have to ensurethat the internet mobile service is activated on your sim card (on mine it wasn't by default), either by asking directly in the store when you buy the card, or (if they don't know what you are talking about, which was the case for me :) ) by calling the free Hotline 1111. There will be someone who speaks some english if you ask.
The Shop in Monastier Airport activated the Card and Internet and MMS Services via Online Software.

To check your balance enter *100# (send).

Connection Settings

APN: internet.tunisiana.com
User: internet
Pass: internet

Proxy:10.3.2.99 (if needed)
Port: 80 (if needed)

Pricing(see here)

There are 4 different pricing options for prepaid customers:
The standard price ist 0,004TND/kb (= about 2€/MB)

Additionally there are 3 Data Packages ("Forfaits") you can chose from:

2 MB data traffic for 4 TND

10 MB data traffic for 9 TND

"unlimited" (3GB cap) data traffic for 39 TND (which is about €21)

(The 19 TND weekend and evenig flat is not available for prepaid customers)

The traffic is valid for 30 days and you can also buy a packages only once every 30 days!

To activate a data package you have to enter *124*"price of the package"# and then press send.
For example to buy the 10MB for 9 TND package you have to enter *124*9# (send).

You can check your remaining traffic by entering*100*4# (send).

To check your balance enter *100# (send).

Attention: In Tunesia the Internet is censored. For Example there is no Youtube available. Also the provider Tunisiana blockes all SMTP mail! POP3 and IMAP is working for receiving Email. Webmail and Microsoft Exchange Protocol works (for sending and receivung).
Also my experience showed that the EDGE-Connections are stable for a data transfer - but not "stand by connections". I used the SIM in my iphone and i lost several times a day the online connections - then a offline/online switch were needet (Flight mode on/off). Also the speed was most time at GPRS level - while the connection was EDGE (i stayed in Iberostar Sahara Beach in Skanes) - anyway it was much faster EDGE-Connection at Monastier Airport.

TIM - Maxxi Alice Facile Recharge

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:21:37 CDT

(This is a translation of the official operators web page, made with translate.google.com)

Description

Maxxi Alice Facile Recharge
Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge is the perfect promotion for all prepaid customers (Note 1) that often need to connect to the Internet at all hours of day and night.

This offer is ideal for surfing the Internet with:
* Computer + mobile phone (using your phone as a modem);
* PDAs for reading / sending e-mail and surf the Web;
* PC Card or USB CARD (modem cards that connect to the PC).

Here are the features:
* Up to 1 GB of free internet traffic (GPRS / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA / Wi.Fi public) to be used only within the national territory at any time of day and night for 30 days from (Note 5) ;
* The cost is 20 euro (VAT incl.)
* Repurchase at any time even before the deadline (Note 2). Indeed Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge is a real RECHARGE! Activate several times during the 30 days: if you finish the free traffic you do not have to wait, you can immediately resume Maxxi Alice Easy. And there are no limits to repurchase!
* Offer only compatible with apn ibox.tim.it

Easy Recharge is also Maxxi Alice!

If the repurchase offer within 30 days you are well-recognized 2000 MB to navigate.
Yes, just double the MB available:

1000 MB + another 1000 in Regal TIM = 2000 MB total

In fact, this mechanism will recharge is also acknowledged for subsequent purchases (Note 3).
Where regain Maxxi Alice Easy over 30 days, you will not autoricarichi, then you will have 1 GB of traffic and you will lose any of the previous MB Maxxi Alice easy not consumed. Therefore, if you always have 2000 MB available, you must not do is buy back offer within 30 days from the previous year. Simple!
Also, if you have not yet consumed all of the Internet recognized by the previous MB Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge, fear not: will accrue to those provided in the new offer. The important thing is that repurchases when the former is still active Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge (within 30 days)!

Ex: say you've bought for the first time Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge October 10th, November 7th you have another 100 MB of Internet and regain Maxxi Alice Easy recharge: you will be well-recognized 2100 MB (1000 + on a new bid TIM 1000 bonus for having reactivated within 30 days + 100 MB that you were left over from the previous offer!) (Note 4).

So what are you waiting ... active immediately Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge!

Note 1. Active offer / renewable up to date, addressed to all residential customers except for TIM TIM Prepaid Card Company, the holders of corporate contracts and Customers with active supply Office Network 1-3.

Note 2. Until maturity.

Note 3. Until maturity. Where regain Maxxi Alice Easy autoricarichi than 30 days and you do not then 1 GB of traffic, also lost any of the previous MB Maxxi Alice easy not consumed.

Note 4. All of the example MB (2,100 MB) will be consumed within 30 days of activation last Maxxi Alice Recharge: Recharge the mechanism will be repeated in the event of repurchase of an additional Maxxi Alice recharge within 30 days. Remember that this option will be active only until maturity, not consumed any MB that date will be lost.

Note 5. Offer valid only toward apn ibox.tim.it - check the settings of your PC before surfing. For any excess of the consumption bundle of Internet traffic provided by the bid you will be automatically applied the standard rate provided for the mobile Internet of 0.6 cents. Euro / KB (about € 6 per megabyte). Easy Recharge Maxxi Alice has a duration of 30 days to maturity and return to apply the standard rate for mobile internet browsing of 0.6 cents. Euro / KB (about € 6 per megabyte), except activation of a new Maxxi Alice Easy Recharge.

Italy - TIM

Chris_M — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:35:06 CDT

Overview:

Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) offers Internet access via their prepaid cards with several options (see below)

Where to get the SIM card: In a TIM shop in Italy.

Activation of the Offers:

Offer	Send following Text to 4916
Maxxi Alice 30: 30 Hours, 10 € + 5 € activation fee (once)	PRO MAXXIALICE30
Maxxi Alice 100: 100 Hours, 20 € + 5 € activation fee (once)	PRO MAXXIALICE100
Maxxi Alice 150: 150 Hours valid daily 5pm to 9am, Weekends and Bank holidays, 20 € + 5 € activation fee (once)	PRO MAXXIALICE150
Maxxi Alice Day: Max 90 minutes at one day, counting 15 minutes, 3€	PRO MAXXIALICEDAY
Maxxi Alice 3x2: 3 € per Month fixed, each 15 Min Online = 0,50 €	PRO MAXXIALICE3x2
Maxxi Alice Facile: 1000 MB per month, €20. If you top-up another €20 within 30 days from the activation, you are given 2GB. So you get 3GB for €40. Also refered as 'MaxxiALICEWeb Facile' in TIM's documents.	PRO FACILE
iPhone Daily: 30 MB per Day, 1€ per Day You need as least 4 Euro credit to activate this option. You receive an SMS if the 30 MB are reached. Overtraffic will then billed with 6€/MB!	call Customer Service at 119 to activate it. SALDO DAILY (to check your data-balance) INFO DAILY (to check if it is activated) DAILY OFF (to deactivate the service)
Maxxi per iPhone: 50 MB per Day, 10€ per Month (till 05.October 08, afterwards 15€ per Month). You need as least 4 Euro credit to activate this option. If you are using more than 50 MB the iPhone Daily will be activated for this day (and you get another 30 MB). Overtraffic will then billed with 6€/MB! (Page)	call Customer Service at 119 to activate it. IPHONE OFF (to deactivate the service)

Activation only takes a couple of minutes.

Misc:

APN to use: ibox.tim.it, no username and password required
All services are open

How to check data balance: To check how many mega bytes are still left, call 4916, wait till the announcement of the remaining credit is over and then go to menu option "3". Listen to all the options, blablabla, and after a while the computerized voice will announce the remaining volume of the Web Facile option.

Or send a SMS for free to 4916, with text SALDO MAXXIALICE100 (change 100 to 30 or 150)

Or check it via TIM web-site (see instruction bellow).

How to check the main balance:
Send a SMS for free to 4916, with text PRE CRE SIN

How to top-up the card: Buy a scratch card for 20 euros. Send an SMS to 4916 which contains "RIC XXXXXXXX", where XXXXXXXX is the secret number from the scratch card.

Another way to to activate tariffs/plans/etc via TIM web-site:
1. Send a SMS for free to 49001, with text TIM XXXXXXXX (XXXXXXXX is your new 8 digits password)
2. Go to : https://www.tim.it/119/login.do and login with your phone# and password.
3. Now you can add/remove/check data balance/ and more...........

Links:

Link to the TIM offer
Translation of the official Maxxi Alice Facile web page

Italy - Wind

Chris_M — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:02:59 CDT

Mobile operator WIND has the following prepaid mobile data offers:

Volume based tariffs:

Mega 1500 (450 MB/per Month) for one €8.-
Mega No Limit (2.5 GB / per month) for € 20.-
Mega 15000 (4.5 GB / per month) for € 30.-

Time based tariffs:

Mega Ore (50 hours/per Month) for €9.-
Mega 100 Ore (100 hours/per Month) for € 15.-

The offers are described (in Italian) here.

APN: internet.wind

How to get the data-options running for the first time:

Check the balance of the prepaid account (USSD code: *123# ). It must be more than 9 Euros for the 50 hours option and more than 15 Euros for the 100 hours option.The little extra is for the sms messages that need to be sent.

Send a SMS to short code 4533 that contains the following text: gprs si

(Note: In case the phone does not set the SMS Service Center Number correctly by copying it from the SIM card, use the following SMSC number: +393205858500)

Wait until GPRS is activated for the sim card. This could take a couple of hours. You will see once GPRS is activated as the mobile does a GPRS attach when powered on.

After GPRS is activated, send the follwoing text in an SMS to short code 4533:

'mega 1500 si' for the 488 MB option
'mega si' for the 2.5MB option
'mega 15000 si' for the 5 GB option

'ore si' for the 50 hours option
'100 si' for the 100 hours option

Again you have to wait for the activation (several hours to a day). The option is activated once the prepaid account balance has been reduced by the amount of the subscribed option.

Some SMS messages (in Italian) might come to inform you of the current state of activation

Deactivate the data-option if not used for a month

Wind will take whatever money is left on the account the next month if you don't deactivate the option. Therefore if you don't want to use the option for a month send a message to 4533 with the text 'ore no', 'mega 1500 no', etc. to prevent this.

How to activate the data-option again if not used for some time:

It might be sufficient to just put 20 euros on the prepaid account and wait till it the service deducts it from there
Sometimes it happens that the 20 euros are deducted but GPRS service was deactivated. Therefore the option is active but you have to activate GPRS again first. (sms 'gprs si' to 4533, see above). As they charge for the SMS, make sure you have some balance left on the top up account.
If not, make sure you have more than 8, 20 or 30 euros on the account and repeat the procedure described above for the first time activation

How to check how much volume is left

Press *123# on the Mobile Phone to receive your actual credit.

Call 4242 and press 5. The system then announces how much "money" is left for the data option. 100 Euros equal 50 hours and 200 Euros equals to 100 hours.

Send an SMS to 4155 containing "Saldo". The message is free and the system returns an answer within a couple of seconds with how much "money" is left for the data offer.

Time Calculation:

For the time-bundles the calculation is 50 cent for 15 Minutes. Therefore 100 Euro equals to 200 sessions with 15 minutes each = 3000 minutes = 50 hours.

Misc:

Also check the TIM offer in Italy. Their network is a lot better, their 3G deployment is excellent and they have EDGE available everywhere. Their offer is a bit more expensive, though.
Also check the tre.it-offer. Bad 3G network-coverage (and no 2G) - but for 9 € 30days with each 50 MB.

Jersey Guernsey IOM - C&W Sure Mobile

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:42:39 CDT

Sure Mobile offer pay-for-use HSDPA access in the islands

APN: wap
No username or password needed
No proxy needed
No ports blocked

More details

SIM cards are available for £5 with £5 credit from most newsagents

Normal data charge is £0.01 per MB

Coverage in Jersey is very good, and up to 6Meg connection is possible in the town

Spain - simyo

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:56:08 CDT

Overview

Simyo is an operator that uses Orange 3G and GSM network. It has very good prices. All prices here have taxes. You can buy a sim via Internet at simyo.es, but you can't get it outside Spain (by law). There is no way to buy it in a shop.

A voice + data price overview can be found here. National calls to any dest: sms / 1 minute:0,1044 eur. - call start: 0.174 eur.

Data: it's very good for internet access. You can access with hspda, 3g or gprs almost over the entire country (not all for hspda but 97% with 3g)

First 100mb on the same day: 1.1484 €
Less than 10mb: 0.1044 €

First 500mb on the same month: 5.8€

If you want more than 100mb/day you can use data plan, 25 € + tax (16%) for 5gb, if you pass the limit you browse at 128kbps.

Simyo is a subsidary of KPN.

Configuration

Configuration details can be found here.
APN: gprs-service.com
no username / password seems to be required

United Kingdom - 3

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:24:00 CDT

Since December 2007 the following options are available:

From the website:

"...we now offer Mobile Broadband on Pay As You Go! So if you don't want a contract, you don't have to have one - the choice is yours. And better still, we don't charge you any more for the service as a Pay As You Go customer – it's still just £10 for 1GB of data, and you have 30 days in which to use it."

The offers in this package:

Broadband Lite: 1 GB/month, 10 pounds
Broadband Plus 3 GB/month, 15 pounds
Broadband Max: 7 GB/month, 25 pounds

Further information:

Network Coverage

Here's a link to the 'Get Started Guide' for Interent Access with Pay As You Go SIMs. Among other things the PDF file behind the link explains how to activate one of the broadband offers above via 3's online portal.

Here's a report of how to activate one of the offers in practice and ignore warnings from shop assistants that it won't work with non-'3' phones.

APN: three.co.uk (in case the phone doesn't configure itself automatically. Tested the APN with the 10GB offer in April 2008)

Store locator

It looks like they are not blocking applications. My IPSec VPN works as well as Yahoo messenger and voice calls via the Skype PC client.

'Three' seems to have some bandwidth throtteling in place. Downlink speeds reach around 1 MBit/s (tested with a 3.6 MBit/s HSDPA modem in several locations and over several days) and the uplink is limited to 50-60 kbit/s. The uplink limit probably prevents use ofmost VoIP software except for Skype, which uses around 30 kbit/s in uplink if it detects that more is not available. (April 2008)

Reliability: In the past couple of months I have noticed that 3's service is not very reliable. The connection is often slow, especially in the evening, and sometimes does not work at all. End of July 2008, I arrived in London and only got sporradic service until I stopped trying and used a Vodafone Websession with a different SIM card. They might be cheap but that is worth nothing if it doesn't work.
Reliability Update: at the end of August 2008 I have used 3 "Broadband Lite" in London and I noticed no problems at all with the service. The average speed was around 400-500 kbps d/u and everytime I needed internet access it worked flawlessy.
Reliability Update: at the end of Oct 2008 I reactivated my 3 pay-as-you-go USB dongle and it was very very slow (down to 20 kbps in the evening). When I used it before (in Feb 2008) internet access was very quick. I too can say: "Vodafon is much better right now".

Internet access limited to use from handset:

Internet Daily £0.50
Internet Weekly £2.50
Internet Monthly £5.00

These offers are described here (September 2009).

More details:

The offers are intended for mobile phone use only, but PC tethering is possible. Services tested are web, secure smtp and secure pop3, Skype and Yahoo Instant messaging, ftp.

When you top up, a 150 MB allowance for mobile Internet is automatically added free of charge which is valid for 90 days. In other words, you only need to activate one of the options above if you go over this free allowance.

Features can be activated and allowance can be checked from a mobile browser via this link: http://mobile3.three.co.uk/837_sc

It's also possible to activate a plug-on by calling 444.

Vodafone UK

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:03:28 CDT

Vodafone currently offers two kinds of deals, one for PC tethering and one for small screen browsing.

1. PC Tethering

In December 2008, Vodafone started their 'TopUp and Go Mobile Broandband' offer. The package costs 39 pounds and includes a 3G dongle, a SIM card and 1 GB worth of data traffic. The Vodafone web site states that there is no time limit in which 1 GB has to be used ("No time pressure – your TopUp won’t run out after 30 days").

It seems that the SIM card can also be used in another 3G dongle (in case you already have one) and this thread in the Vodafone customer forums suggests the original software might not be necessary either.

Every additional 1 GB costs 15 pounds. Top-up works via vouchers (not quite clear to me how to use the vouchers without the Vodafone software) or by calling 08080-101238 and using your credit card (not sure if international credit cards work, to be verified).

According to the thread above the connection details are as follows if you use the SIM without the Vodafone software:

APN: pp.internet
Username/password: not necessary

2. Small Screen Web Browsing

On Prepaid SIM cards, Vodafone UK offers mobile phone web browsing with a cap of 0.5 pounds (50 pence) a day for a maximum of 25MB. This web page mentions that if more is consumed they "will be in touch". They don't say exactly what that means.

Tested services:

Web browsing with the Nokia browser
Web browsing with Opera Mini
eMail via POP3, SMTP
Nokia A-GPS lookups (with a Nokia N95)

Tethering with the PC is not allowed as per the fine print. It is nevertheless be possible.

Tech Details:

APN: pp.vodafone.co.uk
Username and password (not sure if that is necessary): wap / wap
To check balance: *#1345#
To get you own number: *#100#

Misc Info:

Price of the SIM: 5 pounds, with 1 pound of balance on the SIM

The 50 pence a day option for Internet access comes by default, activating an option is not possible

TopUp/charge can be done by credit cards via vodafone's web site, but some cards issued outside UK may not be accepted. As of Feb 2009. Japanese credit cards could not be used.

TopUps can also be bought in Vodafone stores. It's not necessary to know your mobile phone number.

Starting 1. July 2009, Vodafone has new data roaming prices that might be interesting for some applications. More details here. Unfortunately, the page does not say if the offer can be used with a prepaid SIM and how mobile phones and PCs, for which pricing is different, are separated.

Portugal - TMN

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:11:04 CDT

SIM price 10eur. You will get 5eur on balance.

Where to buy: go to http://www.tmn.pt/ -> Pontos de Venda

In may 24th 2009 i bought a TMN sim card with this internet prepaid plan:
10€: 400MB 3G and 400MB TMN Wifi hotspots plus 30 free SMS. Expiration in 12 days.
25€: 1GB 3G and Unlimited TMN Wifi hotspots plus 60 free SMS. Expiration in 30 days.
note that the sms sending is limited to 3 sms per day

Another plan is:
€0,981/day - 10 MB/day
€7,44/month - 100 MB
€15/month - 250 MB

----------------

Update August 2009

1 new plan: 10€ - 10 hours without data limit (SIM-card is valid for 150 days!!)

The package with SIM-card costs 15€ (10€ for traffic and 5€ for SIM-card). At almost any TMN shop a recharge is possible.

-----------------

to activate 100mb, dial 12300 and choose option 1.
wait SMS from 12300 about activation(2-8 hours)! do not use internet before SMS! you will loose all money.

APN: internet

3G and GPRS - OK