You are mixing up prepaid and billed services. Prepaid does not require a contract.
Also, once you are already in Hungary, you can shop around, because various providers give you decent rates for the day or for the night. If you use your phone only after 6 pm, as far as I can recall, Vodafone gives you the best rates. When I lived in Hungary, I had two prepaid cards with two phones: one for the night (Vodafone; at the time it was about 8c/min) and one for the day (Telenor, costing about the same as using a US T-Mobile phone in Hungary (20c/min). There are also unlimited packages for families (I am familiar with the Telenor options only, which are dirt cheap).
From: unicum@googlegroups.com [mailto:unicum@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Erika Christ
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 2:33 PM
To: unicum@googlegroups.com
Cc: pagarcia@ku.edu; tturcsik@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Unicum] Cell Phone Purchase in Hungary
I just purchased an unlocked (new) phone at Media Markt, they have an extensive selection. There are also several GSM stores across Budapest with new and used/refurbished devices, some locked (you're bound to the original provider), some unlocked -- if the shop looks big enough, you're most likely safe, good places offer few months warranty on used phones. If you buy a refurbished phone, ask about the age of the battery, that may become a pain in the neck if you need to recharge it more than once a day…
As far as I know, all providers have prepaid cards that officially require a contract of one year but there is no mandatory monthly refill. So technically once your credit is up, you're financially free, you just can't officially "cancel" service before the 12 months is over. In Hungary, you don't have to pay for incoming calls (so even with your credit used up, you'll still get them!) but each cell provider has its own area code so all landlines (and other providers) are long distance.
The only exception is T-Mobile which is part of T-Com that owns most of Hungary's landline service, so you stay "within network." Their prepaid card is called "Domino" and some phones are almost as cheap as used ones when you buy it at sign up. You can always get a prepaid sim card without buying a phone, just make sure the phone is either unlocked or set to T-Com.
Telenor and Vodafone also used to have their prepaid service but I'm not familiar with those. Hungary has only GSM networks and phones so they all use sim cards - make sure you know what size the device needs.
Good luck, enjoy your trip!
Erika
On Jul 20, 2014, at 23:11 , Tunde Wackman <tturcsik@gmail.com> wrote:
I would also appreciate any ideas on this topic. Please email to the list or offline at tturcsik@gmail.com
Thanks so much!
Tunde
On Sunday, July 20, 2014, Garcia, Paul A. <pagarcia@ku.edu> wrote:
Where might I purchase in Budapest an inexpensive (cheap, "burn") phone for use in Hungary next month, and get a local number, so that friends might call me and I call them without having to make an international call?
I would want to have a phone that I can go to the ATM and add money to the machine for the minutes I will use.
Please let me know your suggestions off-list.
Thanks, Paul
pagarcia@ku.edu
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