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Next week I am leaving for Vienna and staying there for a week.

I'm staying there for work, alone, and since I need to get in contact with my colleagues and family at home (I am Italian) I would like to have a SIM card to use with my 3rd generation iPad, so as to have Internet on it and be able to navigate freely.

When I went to Cambridge last year I succeeded in buying a low-cost SIM that was enabled for 1GB of data from tablet and smartphones. It lasted one month and costed 3 pounds.

I was wondering whether there is a similar solution in Vienna, such that:

  • I don't need a long-term contract to buy it
  • I can easily buy it in place
  • It does not cost too much
  • I can use it with my iPad

Do you know about something similar to what I am looking for?

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  • I don't know specifically about Vienna, but in general it may be more expensive to get "smart phone" plans, and micro SIMs may not be available for the "dumb phone" plans. But you can get your own SIM card cutter to make a normal SIM into either of the smaller sizes. I got one made by NOOSY on Amazon and it works well.
    – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
    Commented Apr 27, 2015 at 2:18
  • @R Scissors works too, if used carefully :)
    – deviantfan
    Commented Apr 27, 2015 at 5:12

2 Answers 2

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All major provider have something in this direction (that is, all three with
real infrastructure, and everything else are just resellers of these three)

Recommendation: A1, it has (at least) two prepaid data plans, best coverage
(measured, not subjectively), etc., see below. (I'm not affiliated with them)

Don't use: "3", because since they merged with another company,
you're lucky if you get a connection at all (I experienced it myself)

A1:

Price: There is e.g. prepaid 3 5 GB, valid for 1 month, for €10
It "can" be used for phone calls too (not included in the price),
but for speech there are cheaper things.

Where to get it: Every A1 shop (there are enough, especially in shopping centers), Telekom, and sometimes large post offices. In some cases, an ID is required, but usually not. It only takes some minutes until you'll get the card and an information sheet about PIN code, phone numer, etc., and that's it. Note that you need to pay the first €10 for your card there, they won't give it to you empty.

Sim/MicroSim: Just say that you need a MicroSIM when you´re there.

Reusing: After the first month or after the 3 5GB, it still works with an per-MB-price (given that you have still money on it). If you load €10 again, you´ll get another 3 5GB for one month (if you want). It hasn't to be right after the first month.

To reload, without online banking etc., codes for €10, €20 or €40 can be bought in pretty much every super market (Spar, Billa… just ask the cashier to print a code for A1), post office, gas station, A1 shop, etc.etc. Then, two possibilites:

  • Call 0800664290 (german-only computer voice),
    there you can choose to enter a code or/and do some other stuff.
  • Independent of the language: Type *102*xxxxxxxxxxxxx# where
    the x part is the 13-digit code and "call" this. After some seconds,
    you'll get a SMS confirmation.

Expiring: If you don't load any money for 1 year, the card gets unusable.

Details (in German): http://www.a1.net/internet/mobiles-internet-wertkarte

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Walk in the next "Hofer" supermarket and buy an "Hot" SIM card. The package contains a Micro-SIM and adapters for phones that require Mini or normal size SIM cards. The SIM card costs €2 and you can activate it yourself and choose your plan online. You can choose between a contract (€6.9 per month, 3GB data) that can be canceld monthly or a prepaid version (€0.009 per MB, €0.039 per SMS or minute).

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  • 1
    While I haven´t read the details, the contract plan is not possible in OPs situation (because phone contracts usually requires eg. an Austrian bank account etc.). And €0.009 per MB is cheaper if less than ca. 1GB is used, but not above. (Note: "Hot" is a reseller from TMobile, the third of the three providers with real infrastructure)
    – deviantfan
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 10:57
  • Moreover, I see that the website is entirely written in German, which makes quite impossible for foreign clients to understand how to recharge the card
    – Eleanore
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 12:12
  • @Eleanore Haven´t thought of the language barrier for recharging before; I changed the part of my answer to provide something language-independent too. Considering the role of tourism for Austria, german-only technical stuff is way too common here.
    – deviantfan
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 15:59

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