Subject: [78attendees] nearest place to obtain a SIM card?

From: =JeffH <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:58:11 -0700

does anyone know where might be the nearest retail outlet to the 
MECC/NH/Novotel where one can obtain a SIM card (for my euro mobile ph)?

thanks,

=JeffH

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From: Iljitsch van Beijnum <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:26:40 +0200

On 26 jul 2010, at 6:58, =JeffH wrote:

> does anyone know where might be the nearest retail outlet to the MECC/NH/Novotel where one can obtain a SIM card (for my euro mobile ph)?

There is a KPN store just south of the Markt square, open util 6:

kpn winkel Maastricht Centrum
Muntstraat 13
6211EG  MAASTRICHT

Another block or two further south is T-Mobile:

T-Mobile Shop

‎
Kleine Staat 13
6211ED Maastricht

And a block or so to the west is Vodafone (which also has its Dutch headquarters in the city):

Vodafone winkel

‎
Grote Staat 24
6211 CW Maastricht

There are of course also independent phone stores in shopping areas. Which means, almost certainly not around the MECC.

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From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:35:49 -0700

On a related topic, has anybody cut down a SIM card here for their iPad yet?   If so, do you have tools?   I'd like to put a SIM card in my iPad, but since I had to travel on an airplane, I couldn't bring scissors or a knife.   It seems a shame to buy them here and then throw them away when I leave.

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From: Steve Padgett <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:55:09 +0200

For anyone still looking to get a SIM -- a shameless plug for vodafone -

I got a prepaid vodafone SIM card for internet access on my phone...
they're currently running a special where you get 5 euro credit on the
card (7.50 euro card) and you get 30 days of internet access (up to
10x the "average customer internet usage" - so I may find myself cut
off at some point) for 50% off the regular prices of 9.50 euro (so
4.75 euro).  Neither the discount nor the 5-euro credit wasn't
advertised in the store - I only found out about it once I activated
internet on my sim card (you have to SMS a string to a # to get it).

(I also bought a 20-euro top-up voucher (which I found out later isn't
needed) and still have 20.25 euro credit on my sim.)

So, if all you want is data - the 7.50 euro vodafone sim is
surprisingly cheap / useful for Internet access, and I've been getting
3G basically everywhere. If you're paying for hotel internet and your
phone supports tethering this may be a cheaper alternative.

Steve Padgett
Google, Inc
650.214.5615 - AS15169

On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 6:58 AM, =JeffH <[email-masked]> wrote:
> _______________________________________________
> 78attendees mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/78attendees
>

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From: Aaron Stone <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:14:16 -0700

Yep. That's probably the card everyone wants to get.

Where to get one is the open question ;p

Aaron

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From: Basil Dolmatov <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:20:23 +0400

> Where to get one is the open question ;p
Yes, same for me, I have found T-mobile shop only, but I doubt they 
could help with this. ;)

dol@

>
> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 12:55 AM, Steve Padgett<[email-masked]>  wrote:
>

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From: "Gaetan Feige (gfeige)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:24:12 +0200

You can also get a T Mobile SIM :

Vodafone: http://prepaid-wireless-internet-access.wetpaint.com/page/Netherlands+-+Vodafone

T Mobile is the one offering it at 2 Euros 50c : http://prepaid-wireless-internet-access.wetpaint.com/page/Netherlands+-+T-Mobile

Gaétan

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Basil Dolmatov
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 10:20
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [78attendees] nearest place to obtain a SIM card?

dol@

---

From: Geert Jan de Groot <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:05:10 +0200

On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:35:49 -0700 Ted Lemon wrote:
> On a related topic, has anybody cut down a SIM card here for their iPad yet? 
  If so, do you have tools?   I'd like to put a SIM card in my iPad, but since 
I had to travel on an airplane, I couldn't bring scissors or a knife.   It seem
s a shame to buy them here and then throw them away when I leave.

I have a knife that might do it. I'll leave it with the helpdesk
in the terminal room.

Geert Jan

---

From: Malcolm Scott <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:08:01 +0100 (BST)

> Where to get one is the open question ;p

Vodafone store in central Maastricht: http://tinyurl.com/3xj7uk3

(I passed Vodafone's NL HQ on the bus from Wilhelminasingel this morning 
(http://tinyurl.com/37nb49p) but I don't think there is a store there.)

-- 
Malcolm Scott
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

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From: "Gaetan Feige (gfeige)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:08:29 +0200

SIM cards are already cut down, they come I na big format but the small format is detachable ....

No need for tools.

Gaétan

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Geert Jan de Groot
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 11:05
To: Ted Lemon
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [78attendees] nearest place to obtain a SIM card?

Geert Jan

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From: Randy Bush <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:22:04 +0200

good info.  thanks.

it would seem useful for the ietf to pre-make a deal with a carrier to
have a desk at the venue selling local voice and or data sims at a good
price.

randy

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From: "David A. Bryan" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:28:16 +0200

This would actually be a really great idea, if possible. Would be
great even if it was limited time (Sunday eve and Monday morning,
perhaps...?) I've wandered around looking for SIM cards at many an
IETF meeting...

If there are any carriers local to the next few events who see this,
please consider it. Not sure there is a great benefit to the carrier,
but it would be very convenient for attendees if any can swing it and
well appreciated...

David

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From: Patrik Fältström <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:39:59 +0200

> have a desk at the venue selling local voice and or data sims at a good

I tried in Stockholm, and it was hard given I could not tell them how many SIM's that would be sold. What I managed to do was to negotiate "special service" at one store two blocks from the venue, if one showed the IETF badge, which I also announced on the attendee list.

Unfortunately people did not use this "service", but went to other stores as well...

I.e. I got back (if I translate from politically correct language to language we understand): "See, we did the right thing of not having a stand there".

Hard problem to solve.

   Patrik

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From: Marshall Eubanks <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:45:08 -0400

> have a desk at the venue selling local voice and or data sims at a  

We could certainly look into that for Beijing, where it is even more  
of a good idea.

Marshall

> randy

Marshall Eubanks
CTO / Iformata Communications
[email-masked]
+1-703-501-4376

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From: Randy Bush <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:45:28 +0200

> I tried in Stockholm ...
> I.e. I got back (if I translate from politically correct language to
> language we understand): "See, we did the right thing of not having a
> stand there".

at sanog, in paro, bt had a teensie desk with no big cost, and said it
worked out well for them.  they key may be to minimize cost of providing
the service.

randy

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From: "Gaetan Feige (gfeige)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:51:44 +0200

Working closely with Mobile Operators this thread does strike my mind. Why ?

- Because it demonstrates that using a 3G SIM for connectivity not only is convenient but cheaper than using WIFI which is a non federated access solution. In my hotel WIFI is 17 Euros per 24 hours. As we mentioned earlier T Mobile 3G is 2.5 Euros per day and Vodafone is 7.50 Euros for 30 days.
- But having a crowd like IETF all using 3G would put lots of load on the cellular network and this at times when operators are all looking at data offload solutions .... T Mobile Netherlands was in the press not long ago for a network breakdown due to the load generated during the world cup.

Currently this may be the only easy way to get the cheapest access, I just wanted to highlight that operators are looking at ways to automate offload, this is both a technical and business / economical challenge, but mostly business if I may say. Sitting in the Federated identity BOF, operators need to enable roaming for logging and then come up with pricing schemes which enable the use of WIFI at reasonable costs ...

It seems from some discussions I have had that it is the operators who would like to offload today, so I would expect them to price the offload such that we would use offload.

Any opinions ?

I would for sure like a 3G data access when in China .... :-)

Gaétan

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of David A. Bryan
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 09:28
To: Randy Bush
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [78attendees] nearest place to obtain a SIM card?

David

---

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:57:04 -0400

An algorithm that has worked for me in both Stockholm and Maastricht has
been to find a local outpost of "The Phone House" (Car Phone Warehouse
in the UK).  The one in Maastricht is on Wolfstraat downtown, not too
far from the pedestrian bridge.  As this is not a carrier store, they
tend to have SIM cards for all the major carriers, plus some additional
carriers that are actually resellers.

People's needs for SIM cards vary - my company paid for data roaming on
my locked phone, but not voice roaming, so I needed a prepaid SIM for
voice for an unlocked phone.  The Phone House recommended Lebara, which
has turned out to be a good solution for me - Lebara's apparently a
reseller that uses KPN's network.  The Albert Heijn outpost at the train
station has top-ups.

Thanks,
--David

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From: Michal Krsek <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:57:35 +0200

Hi,

> I.e. I got back (if I translate from politically correct language to language we understand): "See, we did the right thing of not having a stand there".

seems to me that usage of the telco mobile network is a fuction of the 
quality of the wireless in the hotels and venue. If venue and hotels 
where participants stay have good connectivity, not so much demand for 
mobile carrier services appear.

On the other hand - one of the best businesses for mobile carriers is 
roaming :-) So the question is why these carriers put money to 
canibalise their profit?

Just trying to be provocative - want to get as much information as 
possible before I'll start discussion for having such as booth in Prague 
(two operators have their shops a block far away).

Other possibility is that someone acts as a volunteer nearby the 
conference registration (for distribution of a few cards).  Another 
issue is format of the card - there are no plans for microSIM 
distributuion in CZ (and not sure what is the situation in China).

         With kind regards
                 MK

P.S: If you have bought a SIM card durict your visit to Prague and plan 
to do it again, just send me an e-mail.

---

From: Scott Brim <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:13:03 +0200

On 07/27/2010 09:45 GMT+02:00, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
> We could certainly look into that for Beijing, where it is even more of
> a good idea.
>
> Marshall

In favor.  It's also leads the mobile operator community to feel closer 
affiliation with the IETF.

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From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:40:45 -0700

> have a desk at the venue selling local voice and or data sims at a good

Smarter would probably be to have people sign up in advance, so that they have enough on-hand to meet demand.   But yeah, that would have made a real difference for me.   If it's possible to get 3G wireless in Beijing, it would be really fabulous to even get the SIM card in advance of IETF, so that I could use it before arriving at the venue.   But I will freely admit that this is a pretty fussy request, and that it's probably not practical to accommodate it.   :')

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From: Randy Bush <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:41:52 +0200

> Smarter would probably be to have people sign up in advance, so that
> they have enough on-hand to meet demand.  But yeah, that would have
> made a real difference for me.  If it's possible to get 3G wireless in
> Beijing, it would be really fabulous to even get the SIM card in
> advance of IETF, so that I could use it before arriving at the venue.
> But I will freely admit that this is a pretty fussy request, and that
> it's probably not practical to accommodate it.  :')

depends on price, data limits, ...

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From: Joel Jaeggli <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:26:56 +0200

> affiliation with the IETF.

retail operations are rather far from the standards facing side of your
average mobile operator...

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From: Chris Morrow <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:38:22 -0400

> For anyone still looking to get a SIM -- a shameless plug for vodafone -

bought this one, works well :) thanks!

also, hopefully I can tether if the hotel evening goes as lastnight did :(

(though chellis and others are/have started to light some hotel space
with ietf wireless, woot!)

-chris