So it seems by far the best deal for me to get my son (who is about to spend a semester in The Czech Republic) a cell phone here along with the appropriate SIM card. Evidently there are two providers in The Czech Republic. The phone and SIM I am planning on getting uses a GO card to increase the amount of prepaid airtime. These cards are said to be available at convenience stores, gas stations, and other merchants. Are they really readily available in Prague or will he basically have a phone that can only receive incoming calls, which is free. Anyone out there know just how available these prepaid cards really are?
It’s not entirely clear from your post, but if I understand correctly you want to buy the phone at home, and put a Czech SIM in it when you get there? If so, there are a few things you should watch out for:
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If you are in America: US (and Asian, I think) cellphones operate on a different frequency to European ones, so you have to make sure you have a “tri-band” model which works on 900 and 1800 Mhz as well as 1900 Mhz, which is the US standard (if my memory serves me well).
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Make sure the phone you buy is not “sim-locked.” If you buy the phone on special offer from your service provider, it may only work with the SIM card of that service provider. There are ways of unlocking the phone, one is costly (get your service provider to do it, and pay back the discount you got when purchasing the handset), the other (finding someone who can do it for you - ask discreetly at any purveyor of second-hand mobiles) will invalidate the warranty at the very least.
I wouldn’t worry about availability of top-up cards, these companies are pretty slick wherever they operate. I live in Hungary, where you can buy top-up cards at every street corner, and even top up your phone directly from an ATM machine. The Czech Republic is not the third world. 
In fact, I think that mobile phones took off in a big way in Eastern Europe far earlier than in places like the US, for example - partly due to the difficulty of obtaining a landline.
Usually the pre-paid cards have much higher per-minute rates, to compensate for the fact that you don’t pay a monthly subscription fee. Your son might want to consider buying an international calling card for phoning home, and just use the mobile for incoming and local calls. I don’t know whether the Czech operators allow you to make calls abroad from pre-paid (it’s quite a recent development here in Hungary) but if they do it’s bound to cost a lot. Do a google search on “international calling cards czech,” there’s a lot of them around.
By the way, there are three Czech service providers:
and
It’s worth comparing their tarrifs with each other’s and with an international calling card. Also, they might have a good offer on a handset that makes it worth just buying one over there…
The phone I am going to purchase is from www.telestial.com and is SIM unlocked. I will buy the phone and SIM card here. The direct dial international rates from the phone are not bad, particularly since they have some one international provider that uses the internet (Net55) and also a call back feature that allows you to call anywhere in the world for 42 cents a minute and that is billed to your home, not time off your prepaid card.
Sounds okay, although the only extra service you are getting is the callback service. Possibly a calling card would be cheaper (I couldn’t be bothered to trawl through all of them comparing prices, and you’ve probably already done so), but having the convenience of being able to call from the mobile is probably worth it in any case. Frustratingly, the “GO” section of Eurotel’s website is a dead link, so it’s not possible to see what kind of a markup Telestial has on the price of the SIM, or what special offers they have on handsets over there. Again, the link on Eurotel’s website to the section on methods of topping up was dead, but both the other service providers allow you to recharge the SIM from an ATM, and it’s almost a dead cert that if the others offer the service, so does Eurotel. You just go to the ATM, insert your card, and instead of withdrawing cash you can top up the card direct from your bank account by typing in your phone number.
Hello-
I use GO from Eurotel myself. It works fine except when you travel outside of the Czech Republic. The roaming it uses is a pain in the butt. When abroad you have to dial a central number in the CZ that then calls you back with a dial tone, that you then call the number you want. Problem is is that the central number is often busy, so it can take up to 15 minutes to get connected, plus the rates are awful.
But in the Czech Republic the phone works fine. The GO coupons (“GO kupony”) are everywhere- newspaper stands, tobacco shops, supermarkets, etc. They sell them in 300KC, 500KC, 1000Kc and 2000Kc increments (28Kc/$1). Plus you can get them at ATM’s and betting places. The phones are nice because they will receive phone calls even when almost empty - if there is less than 50Kc on the phone they lock the number though.
How much are you going to pay? You can walk into a Eurotel shop and buy a Nokia 3310 (the standard mobile by which all others should be compared) for $125 with everything you need and 300Kc in credit. It’s a boxed set (with English instructions and everything you need) that you just point at and buy- it’ll take 5 minutes. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a store as well- they are EVERYWHERE. If you have to pay much more than that in the US, don’t. Plus, when he leaves, he can go hock the thing for $50 I bet. In fact, if he wants, I bet he can pick up a used one at a pawn shop for $75- phone, SIM, charger and all…
Hope this helps. Where is he studying? Prague, Olomouc or Brno?
-Tcat
Tcat,
Thanks, that information is great. Telestial wanted 200 dollars for the phone and 55 for the SIM which included 300 Kc credit. He will certainly be money ahead if he just waits and buys one once he gets there. I like the idea of a cell phone better. He will be traveling to several other cities in Europe, but only for weekend visits so I doubt if he will use the phone out of country. If he does he’ll have to put up with the hassle that you mentioned.
He will be in Prague, studying at Collegium Hieronymi Pragensis. The dorm he is staying at is Dum Jeronyma Prazskeho which those who have stayed there says is very nice.
$255? Better be a good phone! Here is the link to the Czech side of the mobile phone packs. The 3310 is the cheapest because it is a few years old. It is the VW bug of the phone world though- it works great and will be around forever. For $255 you can get the most expensive one with bells and whistles, but I think the extra $130 should be spent calling home…And I’m serious when I say it should take him 5 minutes to find one.
The other operators- T-mobile and Oskar mentioned above - also have mobile phone packs, and they all work just as well as Eurotel. So, he can spend a few minutes looking at the specials between the stores and decide from there.
He’ll have a great experience here! Prague is simply wonderful. History, culture, art, beer and gorgeous women…all the things a college student needs in his life.
If you need any more information, just email me. But don’t email about things like “Can he get X, Y or Z?” Prague is a 1st world country unto itself. The only thing I can’t find here is Splenda artificial sweetner and pre-packaged low-carb food, dammit!
Take care-
-Tcat
It’s also be worth checking out the rates/handset prices of the other two service providers if you’re not going through telestial… They might also have a better roaming service.
By the way, one of the reasons for Telestrial charging a higher price for the handset is that it isn’t SIM-locked. Usually phones on special offer from service providers are cheaper, because they hope to recoup the money through your telephone calls, although pre-pay ones don’t come as cheap as the ones you buy with a one or two-year subscription. It’s worth bearing in mind that if he wants to take the phone back home and use it in the states afterwards, it will have to be unlocked.
Also, if he buys a cheaper phone such as the Nokia 3310 mentioned by tomcat, it won’t work in the US at all, as European phones work on a different frequency. Unless he’s going to sell it or give it away at the end of his stay, he should definitely buy a “tri-band” phone. I think that in the case of Nokia, these phones have an “i” on the end of their name (e.g. 6310i), but it’s best to ask before buying to make sure.
trabi, good points. The tri-band is important if he wants to use it back in the States. But I would suggest hocking it at a pawn shop and writing off the difference. I bet he’ll be able to sell it to an incoming student for the next semester fairly easily.
And you can unlock a phone fairly easily if you search the net…People do it here for a small fee- like $20.
Also, the roaming service of Eurotel is about the best. They even have roaming internet connection…but that requires a better phone than the 3310…
So, do you own a trabi? What make?
-Tcat
I used to have a four-stroke trabi, but sold it a while back. I still see it around occasionally.
He has a cell phone here, so he will not be interested in keeping it. Prague is a very popular semester abroad destination from Swarthmore, the college he goes to, so I will probably advise him to bring it home and then sell it to someone else who is going there. He should have no problem doing that.