Telephony
Landline phones
There is the de facto monopoly operator for landline phones - TP (Polish: Telekomunikacja Polska), a subsidiary of France Telecom, renowned for its leaving-much-to-be-desired services.
There is also a number of smaller operators (Dialog, Netia, NOM, Energis). They are mainly serving the business market.
Mobile phones
There are four mobile phone operators in Poland: Plus GSM (code 260 01), Era (260 02), Orange (260 03) and Play. The lastone is mainly using Plus GSM coverage network. Nearly all of the country’s surface is covered by the standard European GSM 900/1800 MHz network. UMTS is available in some bigger cities.
Due to the introduction of virtual brands, some operators now have two names for their pre-paid services: Plus has Sami Swoi and Simplus, Era - Heyah and Tak Tak, Orange - Pop and Orange Go.
Domestic call rates are roughly the same across all services.
Polish Telephone Numbers
All telephone numbers in Poland are 10 digits long and start with 0, though many numbers are written the old way, that is often only the last 7 digits are listed, in which case you need to prefix the number with 0 and the area code. Now:
- When calling from a landline telephone, the number starts with zero (except the emergency numbers).
- When calling from a mobile phone, the number never starts with zero. Just omit it.
There are some special numbers, notably:
- 0 800 xxxxxx - toll-free call from a landline phone and from a phone booth, but may still cost something from a mobile phone
- 0 801 xxxxxx - reduced fare, costs as much as a local call from a landline phone at most (but will cost more from a mobile phone)
- 0 70x xxxxxx - premium fare, can be very expensive - read the fine print in that advert you’ve got the number from :)
Also, texting (= sending SMSes) to:
- 7xxx - can cost quite much (again, read the fine print)
- 8xxx - is toll-free
International Calls
To call abroad from Poland:
- From a landline phone: 00 Your Country Code The Number Abroad
- From a mobile phone: + Your Country Code The Number Abroad
To call to Poland from abroad, dial the Polish country code,48, then the number without the leading 0, as if calling from a domestic mobile phone.
International and roaming calls are expensive. To reduce your bill you can:
- buy “phone cards” for international calls
- activate a Polish pre-paid account to make or receive calls (the cost can be as little as 20 zł)
- talk over the Internet
Internet
- With your mobile phone you can use: CSD, HSCSD, GPRS or EDGE, but the cost may be unattracting. UMTS is only available in some bigger cities. If your phone is not SIM-locked, you may consider purchasing a pre-paid SIM card designed for data access. Inquire for one at the mobile operators’ points of sales (hint: check PlusGSM’s SimDATA). With Polish pre-paid plans the cost may be down to 0.3 PLN/1MB.
- Wireless LAN Hot-Spots are available in distinct places - here’s a list (Płatny - Paid, Tak/Nie/Brak danych - Yes/No/No Data). Sometimes free, otherwise not very cheap. Best chances of finding one are at airports, railway stations, in cafés, and yes, shopping malls. You can ask in your hotel but prepare to pay.
- Then, there’re always those old-fashioned Internet cafés