Travel / Using iPhone in Poland, which carrier to buy a SIM for? And other questions... [17]

JtheScot & MJL,

I am currently in Dzwirzyno (on the Baltic Sea) and everything is working great. I am staying (with my family) in a small little condo that does not get 3G speed, but it does get the Edge network with Plus. In fact, I am replying to this post using my laptop tethered to my iPhone. I am very happy with how this is working so far. From here we are headed to Germany and London, so I will continue to report if anyone is interested.

I will explain the piggy back Sim here:
AT&T locks the iPhone so the only carrier you can use is AT&T. They subsidies the cost of the phone when you buy it, so you can’t really blame them. However, they do not have service here in Europe, so I took it upon myself to find a solution. There are many ways to unlock your iPhone and allow ANY sim to work. I picked the easiest way and bought what is known as a “Piggy Back” sim card. I purchased mine from a company called UnlockediPhone.info: unlockediphone.info. This sim chip slips right under any new sim card you buy while abroad (such as my Plus sim card). You can find out the details of how it works by visiting their site. They are not the only game in town, but this is what I did and it has been working flawlessly since the beginning. A note of caution: these guys have horrible customer service. The product works great, but if you need support, Google is your best friend - not these guys.

MJL, you can take your ATT sim card out by pushing a paper clip through the little hole on the very top of the iPhone. All iPhones require a sim card and this is the place you change it.

As for Wi-Fi hotspots, you don’t really need them if you are able to get mobile service. I use my iPhone to connect my notebook to the internet all the time and find that I get no better speed on a traditional hotspot than I do if I can find a location with 3G speed. I have found a local café that has a hotspot that I will use once in a while, but for the most part, I use my iPhone to stay connected to my business and friends.

As I stated before: I am using iPlus and data is costing me PLN 0.03 per 100 KB. I am sure other carriers have even better pricing, but so far I have found Plus to be fantastic. I have been all over Poland and have had great service. The only place where it gets a little rough is on the train, but then again, I am supposed to be sleeping anyway ;-)

I will continue to report how this works for me if anyone is interested. So far my expectations have been blown away.

Nastrowia!!

Travel / Using iPhone in Poland, which carrier to buy a SIM for? And other questions... [17]

JtheScot,

Cześć!

I am having a great time using my iPhone here in Poland. I'm actually from the US and am using what's known as a Piggy Back Sim that allows me to use any sim card I want - Since iPhones in the US are locked to ATT I have to do this.

I stumbled into a Plus kiosk when I first got here and they got me up and running quickly. It may not be the cheapest, but I can't complain with the service I am getting - much better than I get while at home.

I started out with a SimPlus sim card - this worked well and is very cheap for minutes, but I found that I could use the iPlus sim card and pay a bit more for my talking minutes and have much cheaper data rates. I use more data than I do talk on the phone, so this was a great option for me.

I can't speak to ERA, TakTak, Orange or any other carrier here, but if I start to run low on Złoty, I may experiment with another carrier now that I know what questions to ask.

I am here until the middle of July, so I would love to hear your (or anyone else’s) experiences.

Thanks!

Travel / Using iPhone in Poland, which carrier to buy a SIM for? And other questions... [17]

Hi Mika,

Thanks for your response. I am in Poland now and picked up a sim card at a Plus kiosk before reading your message. Everything seems to be working great, but I am not sure how the data will work out. This sim card only cost about 10 zloty, so I am sure data will drain that pretty fast.

There is a Play kiosk in the same store (Real) that I go in all the time. I will go in there tomorrow and see if I can find out more about it. I'll take my wife this time so she can help translate ;-)

Thanks again...

Real Estate / Foreigners: Please don't buy Polish Land! [823]

Ola??? You still here??? See what you started???

Life / I'm engaged to a girl from Poland. Moving to Poland from the US. [28]

I have been to Poland many times and have seen people staring at me too. It used to bother me a lot, but I think it comes from three things:

1. I don't look Polish, and in the little town I stay in, I probably stand out.

2. I don't speak the language and that makes me a bit uneasy. This causes me to put my guard up and I probably see things that are not there.

3. Polish people like to gawk more than I am used to.

At the end of the day, who cares. Quite honestly, if everything in Poland was the same as the U.S, it would be damn boring. I love the all the cultural differences - good and bad!

News / Help build and visit Poland - Habitat for Humanity [14]

From Habitat For Humanity:


Is this a bad thing? Just because a lot of Poles decide to keep multiple generations living under the same roof does not mean they are all poor. Some of the families I know choose to live this way no matter how much moeny they have.

Maybe I am wrong, but I think Polish people have a great set of values when it comes to families and what they choose to be important in their lives.

Travel / Airfare from Chicago to Wroclaw [7]

UPDATE: I ended up going through a travel agent and was able to get 5 round-trip tickets for a total of $4800. This includes the Phoenix to Chicago leg. Everything was booked through Lufthansa.

Thanks to all who posted.

Work / The cost of an IT programmer in Poland? [9]

I'm glad I found this post. I've been developing in C++ for 20 years and C# since it was invented. I've also been on the management side and managed teams from 4 people to 16 people. Hourly wage swings wildly depending on the technology being used, the length of hte project and the actual project details.

For example, I just finished doing a contract job for a Polish company at $40/hour USD. It was all web-service based with SQL Server being used as the backend. The project before that was fixed bid and ended up averaging $33/hour. For me it is a lot less about the money and much more about the project, company and people I will be working with.

I'll be spending this summer in Poland, and while I don't know if my current visa would allow it, I am looking for some contract work and am open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks...

Life / I loved Poland when I visited and I want to live there. [20]


We like Krakow the best, but about the only larger city I spent anytime in where I would not want to live was Warsaw. Just too busy for us.

We spend a lot of time in walbrzych too.


I met her in the U.S. She was a permanent resident when I met her and is now a citizen. We go back to Poland as often as we can. The kids really like it too. However, they are getting older and I expect to get some pushback from them at sometime. Not because they don't like being there, but my boys are starting to have Girl Firends now, and well, you know how that goes....

My kids are (two boys) 14, 12 and (and my daughter) 10.

By the way...

We are planning on staying 6 weeks this summer and I'd like to find a flat to rent in Krakow to see if I like living in teh city as much as I like visiting. I've looked around on this forum for rental companies, but I'm having trouble finding one that can rent short term for a decent price.

If anyone knows of a site or person that may be able to help, that would be great.

Life / I loved Poland when I visited and I want to live there. [20]

I am in the same boat. My wife is from Poland and although my kids were born and raised in the U.S., the speak fluent Polish. I'm the only one that is laungage challenged!

Of all the European countries I've been to, I have to say that I love Poland. Not sure if the fact that my family can speak the language adds to that or not, but I do know I have more fun there than anyplace else.

We will probably never move there full time, but I'd like to have a place that I can call home at least part of the year - we're working on that now...

-Scott