Going to Greece with 3G iPad, advice on getting 3G there? (calling Europeans!)

I posted about this about two to three weeks ago, however no one seemed able to answer or willing to help.

I will also be in Greece in July and i was wondering the something.

It would be nice if anyone could shed some light on this topic. I was unsuccessful in my post.

It would seem that there are a number of different options open to you - Pay as you go sims seem to be available from 3 (UK) from yesterday but would have the cost of £3 per *Mb* roaming. I guess the lack of response is probably due to most Europeans will have a greater desire not to over pay for a short term thing.

Free WiFi is not that readily available in Europe yet, I'd probably go for a hotel with free WiFi rather than worry about 3g cover.

CristobalHuet said:

Hey all,

I'm going on vacation to Greece for a month between July and August, with my iPad arriving sometime in the next two weeks.

How would you recommend going about getting a SIM/micro-SIM card to use there? I know Vodafone is in Greece as in other parts of the world, but I'm not sure they sell micro-SIM cards prepaid, let alone SIM cards.

I took a look at their site and they have 1-year contracts, which I do not want.

Can any Europeans who bought their iPad from the US before it was released in their countries share some advice how they did it, contract-free?

Click to expand...

Hi

First of all please accept my apologies for my English

I live in Greece (Athens) and a few days ago I received my ipad 3G

So.....NO micro sim in Greece (no release date yet for Ipad)

Only way is to cut the normal Sim.
You have to use a normal sim from Wind Operator as a prepay internet mobile data

Check this
http://www.wind.com.gr/pages.fds?langid=2&pageid=1443

But as I told you have to cut the sim card

Dimos
Athens

Kalipera


Greece has 3 operators (Cosmote-Vodafone-Wind)

Only with Wind you can work your Ipad with prepay data
Wind Coverage is ok.No problem.take a look:

http://www.wind.com.gr/pages.fds?langID=2&pageID=26

Of course I forgot to mentione the problem that you will face when you want to recharge the prepay sim (2 or 7 days) . You must to take out the micro sim and to put again in your phone to sent the activation sms

So you need an adaptor (micro sim to normal sim)

http://hijinksinc.com/2010/05/14/using-a-micro-sim-in-an-iphone-3g/

or


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MICRO-SIM-CAR...UK_Mobiles_Accessories_RL&hash=item439f7c983f

Dimos
Athens

how to activate wind sim card in ipad 3g in greece?

hi dimo,

i, too, am visiting greece this summer with my iPad 3G and looking to take advantage of the advice offered here. are these the plans you had in mind:

http://www.wind.com.gr/Left-Menu/Mobile/For-Individual/Prepaid-Telephony/WIND-F2G/ADSM.aspx

dimo, do you know what the steps are to get the iPad 3G to work? the site says something about registration, etc.

does this sound right:

1) pick up a sim card at the store where you register your personal info and load it with your desired amount of euros (eg 30euros for two weeks time)
2) activate it using your cellphone by sending and SMS message (any GSM cellphone that works in greece will do here?)
3) cut it down to micro-sim size & slide it into iPad
4) how do you get to iPad to work with the new card? the iPad settings for "cellular" have menus for "APN settings" & "PIN." any ideas how to set those properly for the wind prepaid sim?

just curious if you have been able to successfully go through the process already. im not really an expert on any of the above.

thanks to dimos for all the helpful info, and to cristobalhuet for starting this very interesting post!

Yes, you can use USA purchased IPAD in greece

Yes, you can use USA purchased IPAD in Greece.

In the US they told no but I took my IPAD version 1 to Greece and out that the primary wireless company there called COSMOTE puts in their SIM and charges you 15 Euro for 1 gig for a month or up to 50 Euros for 5 gigs for month. I went to their service center in Syntagma square in Athens at PUBLIC store and the gentleman who sells IPADs there helped me to activate it.

Back in the USA both ATT and Apple stores told me that it would not work.
It worked fine and was my office away from office...

Good luck,
Demetri

I'm going in Italy and here is what I did.
Find the providers and then ask them on twitter. In 24h, I had answers from the 3 providers I asked.

iPad Pre-paid SIM in Greece: Theoretically Possible, Difficult Actually

For others finding this thread via search, I want to report on my recent experience in Greece. I am just back from a week in Athens and Syros during May 2011.

While it is theoretically possible to purchase pre-paid data plans for your iPad from Cosmote and Vodafone, I found that I could not do so and still have any time to enjoy my vacation.

I first thought I would get the SIM at the airport on arrival, but the branch of Germanos (the main Cosmote retailer) in the arrivals hall has closed, so the only branch at the airport is in the departure area and inaccessible on arrival.

Once in downtown Athens, I visited four branches of Germanos, two OTEShops of Cosmote, and two branches of Vodafone. The staff people in each one said that it was possible to buy a prepaid SIM card for an iPad, but none of them had the SIM cards in stock. They could be ordered to arrive in approximately a week. Obviously not possible on a week's vacation.

So, you may find promising information on the websites of the mobile carriers, but it may be hard actually to get hold of a SIM card. I had to give up and rely on WiFi. If you must have a SIM card, you may want to look into whether it is possible to order one online in advance.

Demetrio said:

Yes, you can use USA purchased IPAD in Greece.

In the US they told no but I took my IPAD version 1 to Greece and out that the primary wireless company there called COSMOTE puts in their SIM and charges you 15 Euro for 1 gig for a month or up to 50 Euros for 5 gigs for month. I went to their service center in Syntagma square in Athens at PUBLIC store and the gentleman who sells IPADs there helped me to activate it.

Back in the USA both ATT and Apple stores told me that it would not work.
It worked fine and was my office away from office...

Good luck,
Demetri

Click to expand...

Great to know there is a place in Syntagma.

Hsven't been back to visit friends/relatives in a few years (pre-iPad) but the friend with whom I usually stay lives pretty near Syntagma...Was maybe thinking about a quick trip there this Summer.

Edited to add: Just read the last post and am disappointed. Why should I have expected different?
As a Greek, I know that nothing is ever easy or simple in Greece.

Darn...

Thanks for posting, all...

Built said:

Just read the last post and am disappointed. Why should I have expected different?
As a Greek, I know that nothing is ever easy or simple in Greece.

Darn...

Thanks for posting, all...

Click to expand...

As I think someone mentioned earlier, your best bet might be to get a full size SIM and cut it to microSIM size. That's what I did last September when I was traveling in Turkey. I could have bought a microSIM from Vodaphone at the airport, but I decided I wanted to go with TurkCell for better coverage. I bought a prepaid data SIM from one of their major stores in Istanbul, cut it down to a microSIM and it worked perfectly.

Ipad SIM

I am moving to Greece in August and am planning to purchase an IPAD. I found this site where you can purchase a prepay SIM in the US to take over...

http://www.mrsimcard.com/ipad.html

Also talking about this SIM...
http://oomobile.wordpress.com/2011/...ay-as-you-go-service-for-travelers-to-france/

Hope this helps!

considering ipad - does greece?

didn't quite make it if 3g is a good idea in greece now. I'm going there til october, and was wondering wether this will be a good idea. Is there a pre paid, 3 moths card? what kind of usage does the cosmote mentioned offer (different ipad options), and how much an improvement does it bring to a place that has wi-fi, but not 100%? Thanx

I think it will be no prob to buy a microsim just prepaid n then with bout 20 euros to have like a gigab or two..
Im Greek but i live un Holland for a few years now so cant really help, just from greek forums i hear that n also wind got a package of prepaid with good rates ! Im also going for a few weeks in august for my big fat greek wedding
To all of u that go to Greece for holiday i wish u fun n enjoy the sun good food and wine!
Giorgos Crete Greece

It's very nice to hear people coming to my beautiful country!!!!
I hope you all enjoy your time here since Greece in summer is the best place to be!!!

Now as far as internet connection for iPad is concerned I have tried all 3 companies. The best is cosmote (speed and signal).
I also use cosmote for my iPad 2 3g. You can find both micro sims and regular sims (for iPad 1).

http://www.cosmote.gr/cosmoportal/p...s/section/Internet_E-mailwithMobile/loc/en_US

Follow this link for more information.
I believe this is the best solution for your purpose.

Please let me know if I can help you more...

Have a nice time here... Live your myth in Greece!

We will be bringing our iPad to Greece with us in August. When we arrive at the airport from the US, we will take another flight to Ikaria. Do you know if there is somewhere in the airport where we can purchase the Cosmote SIM for our iPad? We will not have time to go into Athens to purchase these.

Are the SIM cards usually available at the peripteros like phone cards are?

Thank you for your help!

There is store called GERMANOS that is in the airport, there you will find everything for a cosmote connection.

Enjoy your time in Greece!!!

iPhone tethering to iPad/Laptop

Do you know if you can use the COSMOTE iPad cards on an iPhone 4 and then do Tethering to connect a laptop or a WIFI-only iPad?

I have an iPhone 4 and would like to use it to connect my laptop and my iPad.

Thank you !!!!

Hi mate just go to greece they have micro sims

CristobalHuet said:

Hey all,

I'm going on vacation to Greece for a month between July and August, with my iPad arriving sometime in the next two weeks.

How would you recommend going about getting a SIM/micro-SIM card to use there? I know Vodafone is in Greece as in other parts of the world, but I'm not sure they sell micro-SIM cards prepaid, let alone SIM cards.

I took a look at their site and they have 1-year contracts, which I do not want.

[mate just go I was ther they have micro sims every were vodafone wind or cosmote

----------

met0813 said:

We will be bringing our iPad to Greece with us in August. When we arrive at the airport from the US, we will take another flight to Ikaria. Do you know if there is somewhere in the airport where we can purchase the Cosmote SIM for our iPad? We will not have time to go into Athens to purchase these.

Are the SIM cards usually available at the peripteros like phone cards are?

Thank you for your help!

Click to expand...

hi mate ther are stores in the airport name is Germany's they will help you have a nice trip

Click to expand...

CristobalHuet said:

Hey all,

I'm going on vacation to Greece for a month between July and August, with my iPad arriving sometime in the next two weeks.

How would you recommend going about getting a SIM/micro-SIM card to use there? I know Vodafone is in Greece as in other parts of the world, but I'm not sure they sell micro-SIM cards prepaid, let alone SIM cards.

I took a look at their site and they have 1-year contracts, which I do not want.

Can any Europeans who bought their iPad from the US before it was released in their countries share some advice how they did it, contract-free?

Click to expand...

I do not live in Greece, but I've been there several times - as a European - and yes, they do sell SIM cards, and yes cell reception is quite good. No LTE networks, though.

ThatsMeRight said:

I do not live in Greece, but I've been there several times - as a European - and yes, they do sell SIM cards, and yes cell reception is quite good. No LTE networks, though.

Click to expand...

Hi ThatsMeRight, I am not clear if COSMOTE has a micro sim card for the iPad. Do you know, can you confirm? I want to send an iPad 2 from US to my parents in Greece. --Thanks

TonySqrd said:

Hi ThatsMeRight, I am not clear if COSMOTE has a micro sim card for the iPad. Do you know, can you confirm? I want to send an iPad 2 from US to my parents in Greece. --Thanks

Click to expand...

Hi, Yes Cosmote has micro sims and nano as well...