Which GPRS service provider in the Med.

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mocruising

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I am looking to purchase a GPRS card for my laptop to enable me to browse and send/receive e-mails. The boat is currently in Menorca but generally moving east. The question is who is the cheapest per/Mb and who offers the best coverage.

Any comments welcome.
 
Movistar is presently the cheapest in Spain. You can buy a 3G/GPRS card on PAYG or contract with airtime. However, when you move east you will be on roaming tariff unless you get new SIM for the each country.Look at www.Movistar.es
 
Vodafone have a new service where they offer international roaming
1GB in UK and 100Mb per month when roaming included
Which will work in
Spain, Italy and Greece ect

We have this service as I use it for work
Card is free though with the subscrition of £100 per month
More details on their site
 
Perhaps you should qualify that remark Steve.
I am considering vodaphone myself as they offer a new 'passport' service that offers roaming at local uk rates apparently.
 
Expensive if you are always roaming in Spain. Movistar provide 100 MB for £20/month and 1.532 GB for £40/month. I do not have their roaming rates.
 
Vodafone passport service

[ QUOTE ]
I am considering vodaphone myself as they offer a new 'passport' service that offers roaming at local uk rates apparently.

[/ QUOTE ].
Vodafone's call rate abroad is one of the highest in Europe. It was 80pence a minute. Even using passport you will pay 75p per minute to make and RECEIVE calls (+VAT within the country you are calling from!) from the UK. You will pay 35p, (+VAT from the country you are texting from) plus the UK rate to send one text.

[ QUOTE ]
Vodafone Passport is available to customers on: Perfect Fit price plans (available as at May 1st 2005), Smartstep, Smartplus, 3G price plans and Businesstime (12 month versions only) price plans.

[/ QUOTE ]
None of these plans seems to easily correlate with their price plans for using their "mobile connect" service(some detail below).

Using the Vodafone Mobile Connect data card abroad
Vodafone Mobile Connect £5.88 per MB >£10.28 per MB
Vodafone Mobile Connect Unlimited £4.11 per MB >£10.28 per MB**

I have a European call card. 6€'s gets you 35 minutes Spanish mobile to UK mobile or 1 hr 40 for Spanish mobile to UK landline. (but Skype VOIP is free).

IMHO there are better (cheaper) alternatives than using the highly expensive Vodafone options (speaking as one who was truly stung by Vodafone last year).

Steve
www.seraph-sailing.com
 
Re: Vodafone passport service

I sympathise with your views about Vodafone - I've just received a hefty bill for my blackberry which I use in France but the new Passport plan looks pretty attractive to me. The following is taken from the Vodafone website - it appears that the 75p charge is a one off connection fee:

"Pay 75p per call and take your home tariff abroad with you too.
That's Vodafone Passport, our new international price option for pay monthly and pay as you talk customers.*

With Vodafone Passport, you pay a one-off connection fee of 75p for every call you make. After that, you pay the same rate as you would if you were making the call at home. So it's easy to work out how much it costs to call your friends or family back home.

What's more, you can now use your inclusive minutes or a pay as you talk voice pack when you're abroad. The same charging applies for calls you make within the country you're visiting.

A 10 minute call home can now cost you as little as 75p!
If you are a pay monthly customer and you make a 10-minute call to the UK from Spain and have 10 or more inclusive minutes left in your plan, the call will cost you just 75p. The same applies to pay as you talk customers with voice pack minutes."
 
Re: Vodafone passport service

Unfortunately, the passport service doesn't apply to data calls -

"7. Vodafone Passport applies to voice calls made back to the United Kingdom or within the visited country and excludes calls to other countries, premium rate numbers and all data transfers (including text messages)."

so you won't save anything if you use your mobile to access the Internet.
 
Re: Vodafone passport service

"Unfortunately, the passport service doesn't apply to data calls"

True - and not only is data transfer prohibitively expensive but the pricing structure and itemised billing are extremely opaque, at least with my Blackberry, which makes it very difficult to check the accuracy of the charges.

I bought the Blackberry specifically to send and receive emails when in France but I'm ditching it - just too expensive to justify - even as a business expense.

On the other hand, I do think Vodafone Passport is a step in the right direction, and I posted the info from their website to correct the impression that the charges for voice calls attracted a levy of 75p a minute, every minute.

What is the cheapest way of sending and receiving emails on the move abroad - laptop connected to a phone?
 
Vodafone GPRS costs

I maintain my stance re not using Vodafone UK abroad. The thread has got back to the original question re using GPRS abroad.

Here is the link to Vodafone internet/GPRS page
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cgi-bin/COUK/p...gcegjdgnfdffm.0

Now go to the bottom where it says price plans. Does it take you to their GPRS pricing - NO! because they don't want you to know the real price of using their extortionate on-line services. - By one who has been caught by them before; and who refused to pay their four figure bill for a quarter (and succeeded!)
 
Re: Vodafone GPRS costs

I was actually agreeing with you about Vodafone data calls Steve! In case you missed it, this is an extract from my earlier post -

"..and not only is data transfer prohibitively expensive but the pricing structure and itemised billing are extremely opaque, at least with my Blackberry, which makes it very difficult to check the accuracy of the charges.

I bought the Blackberry specifically to send and receive emails when in France but I'm ditching it - just too expensive to justify - even as a business expense."

I mentioned the cost of Vodafone Passport voice calls because your post suggested they are more expensive than the published tariff.
 
I'm using a Vodaphone card in Greece, bought in Greece. The deal was 75euro to sign up for 12 months and that gave you the card free.

I then get 15Meg a month for 15 euro a month. Not enough for web browsing regular, but plenty for email, checking weather forecasts and the odd visit here!

30 euro a month buys you 40Meg. I don't know what the roaming charges would be, but for what I get here I think its not bad value at all. The coverage is very good too - in two months around the Ionian I have only lost the signal twice - both in isolated bays surrounded by hills.

You do need a Greek address to register (They call the number you give to confirm it, but a local chandelry let me give their address for that ).
 
I doubt you\'ll be happy wit just one GPRS service provider in the Med.

I always use a local provider and can vouch for the following:-

Movistar in Spain

Orange in France

TIM in Italy.

I can't comment on farther East as I've not yet carried out the exercise.

Vodafone and subsidiaries are probably the most expensive in any country and under any circumstances.
However, if cost is no criterion, their coverage and similarity of operating systems make them simple and seamless.
 
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