I will start with mobile internet in Croatia. I am writing this post on the beach in Punat, island Krk, on my Palm Treo 680, using Vipnet prepaid data only SIM card. I am staying here for 14 days plus I will return to Croatian coast for a couple of weekends or several days in September.
Before going here, I did some research on the web (as I always do before any endeavor). I was looking for a solution that cowers two months and includes several hundred MB of data transfer. Since I am not financially free or affluent yet, I was looking for cheapest option :).
Since Croatia is not in EU (yet), GPRS roaming here is even more expensive: EUR 0.75-0.95 per 100kB, or $10,000 to $13,300 per GB! Unbelievable! This is robbery at broad daylight! My provider does have a deal with Croatian T-Mobile and the 60% off tariff is only $4,800 per GB! Needless to say roaming was out of the question.
There are three cellular network providers in Croatia: T-Mobile, VIP (Vodafone) and Tele 2. All of them offer prepaid solutions for internet access. I eliminated Tele 2 first since their only option is HSDPA/UMTS/GPRS USB stick that costs 395 HRK ($79). You get HRK 394 on your account, but over a period of 6 months and upfront cost was too much plus I was concerned about their coverage on the Croatian Islands. The other two had similar offers – HRK 200 ($40) for USB stick, 1 HRK ($0.20) per MB of data, which comes to $200 per GB.
T-Mobile offers two options:
SIM card only for HRK 100 ($20) with 100MB included or
USB GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA modem for HRK 198 ($40) with 100MB included
Data costs HRK 1 per MB – $200 per GB. You can activate a daily option for HRK 20 and you get 100MB of data, but must spend it in 24h.
Vipnet (Vodafone) also offers two options:
SIM card only for HRK 20 ($4) with 20MB included or
USB GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA modem for HRK 179 ($36) with 20MB included + another 80MB if you charge your account for at least HRK 35 ($7). Plus you get additional free 200MB of data for activating an account before Aug 31 2009.
They also have options, but they last 30 days: 75MB for HRK 50, 200MB for HRK 100 ($100 per GB), 500MB for HRK 200 ($80 per GB).
The USB modem can be bought in the web shop for HRK 151 ($30), but you can only register with Croatian address, so this option was out
I decided to go with Vipnet. Then I found a Croatian computer magazine Bug mentioned on a forum. Their 200th issue (Yul-Aug 2009) offers coupons for Vipnet:
– free data SIM (preloaded with HRK 20) with 3x200MB free data over three months
– HRK 50 off the price for USB modem
I bought the only copy of the magazine they had for EUR 5 in a magazine stand close to my office. When I got to Croatia, I obtained the free SIM first. Spent about 150MB in 10 days using my phone (Palm Treo 680) & laptop with Bluetooth dial-up. Then I got the USB stick too for $26. It works great, but speed of course depends on location and network load (Its the height of the season, so lots of tourists are overloading the network).
I did not really need the USB stick, but it is more convenient then BT dial-up. It is of course locked to Vipnet SIMs, but unlocking codes can be found on eBay. Perhaps my next project
UPDATE:
I was easily able to unlock the USB stick using the DC-Unlocker software found on their site…
Two weeks ago my best mate, Andrew Banks, got himself own Nokia N95 Phone. He got it second hand with an Orange SIM but his on O2 so he needed the N95 phone unlocked. He must think I’ m a tech guy and would know how to do it! Or maybe it’ s because I’ ve a Nokia N95 as well. Unfortunately, I didn’ t know how to unlock it so I decided to do some research and found out that it’ s quite simple. I thought I’ d post my findings here, just in case someone else needs to unlock their N95 as well.