Ortwin asked me to write this guest post, a translated version of my original post in German. Since I’ll visit Croatia this summer, I looked for prepaid SIM cards with mobile 3G/4G Internet.
The following selection came together because I looked for a vendor with good network coverage in the area (near Donji Miholjac) where I’m staying.
I have found the following vendors:
- T-Hrvatski Telecom
- Vipnet.hr (website only in Croatian)
- Bonbon.hr (by a tip from a friend from Croatia)
I linked to the English pages where possible to make your life easier. 🙂
To make the different offers comparable, I did a calculation for a 2 week vacation with maximum Internet volume.
T-Hrvatski Telecom (formerly T-Mobile)
As a Telekom user in Germany my eyes fell on the Croatian colleagues there – Deutsche Telekom owns a majority stake in T-Hrvatski Telecom. In the package you have a Micro SIM. If you need a Nano SIM, the easiest way is to exchange it in a local Telekom shop.
| One time | Options | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIM-Card | 20 kn | 0 kn | ||
| Internet XL 2GB | 0 kn | 75 kn | option for 30 days | |
| MMS/SMS-Flat HR | 0 kn | 20 kn | 10 kn each week | |
| Total Kuna | 20 kn | 95 kn | 115 kn | |
| Total € | 2.65 € | 12.58 € | 15.23 € | |
| KUNA/€ exchange rate | 7.55 |
Update 11.09.2015: If you travel to Croatia for just one week or if you need a lot of data they have a new offer. For 11 € (85 kn) you get a 7-day flat without limitation and 75 Mbit/s. Their Twitter support told me you can reactivate it after you have topped up your SIM card again. You can buy this card in a local Telekom shop. More information on their Visiting Croatia page.
Vipnet (own network)
The second vendor I found is Vipnet.hr. However, the information on the page was not easy to find. If you need a Nano SIM you can get it directly at purchase. VIP offers complete packages that strike me as very balanced.
| One time | Options | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIM-Card-Package | 50 kn | 0 kn | for 50 kn you get: 1500 minutes/SMS budget in Croatia 1500 MB |
|
| Total Kuna | 50 kn | 0 kn | 50 kn | |
| Total € | 6.62 € | 0 € | 6.62 € | |
| KUNA/€ exchange rate | 7.55 |
bonbon.hr (uses T-Mobile network)
A Croatian friend of mine recommended bonbon. As far as I found out, it’s in fact part of the T-Hrvatski Telekom group, similar to Congstar in Germany. bonbon currently has a nice bonbon for tourists: “Upload your credit with 80 kn and you get a discount of 50% on a package of your choice” (extract from http://www.tourist.bonbon.hr/en/prices-packages ). Even if this offer expires sometime, it’s a really fair offer for this price (5 GB for 90 kn). Update 11.09.2015: The Price of 45 kn is now the regular Price for 5 GB of data volume.
However, bonbon doesn’t have Nano SIMs in their starter pack. After an exchange with their Twitter support (very friendly & fast) you get it as a replacement card but they send it only to Croatian addresses. The card arrives in 2-3 days, sometimes even faster.
| One time | Options | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIM-Card | 20 kn | 0 kn | ||
| Internet 5GB | 0 kn | 45 kn | current offer: 50% for the first package | |
| 1200 SMS in HR | 0 kn | 60 kn | ||
| Total Kuna | 20 kn | 105 kn | 125 kn | |
| Total € | 2.65 € | 13.91 € | 16.56 € | |
| KUNA/€ exchange rate | 7.55 |
I decided to go for bonbon. Part of the reason was their friendly support.
That’s it with my short overview of mobile Internet in Croatia. If there are changes, I’ll update this post. Also, please post your feedback in the comments.
Note by Ortwin: My thanks to Arnaud for adding his experience about Croatia to our ongoing series of how to get 3G data access internationally. If you want to support his blog, he’s happy to receive some Flattrs.
22 Comments
Comments are closed.
Michał
Hi,
can you please provide exact name or direct link to this Vipnet offer for 50kn?
It really is hard to find on the website 🙂
Thanks!
Arnaud Feld
Hey Michał,
Just use the VIPNET-Link at the Beginning of the Blogpost and you will find directly the Way to the right Site.
Greetings
Arnaud
Michał
Thank you! I haven’t noticed it.
Ale
Vipnet got their site translated into English
Ortwin Gentz
Ale, seems they only translated their website selectively. The “Zakon! tarife” page doesn’t seem to be translated. Or did you find it?
Damian
You forgot (or didn’t know) about Tele2 “Welcome to Croatia” – 1000 min within Croatia + 3GB Internet.
As far as I remember it was 50 Kunas last year (probably the same this year). The problem is a connection fee, and you have around 20-25 kunas for it only. So that 1000 mins within Croatia it’s just a marketing move, you practically can’t use even 1/10 of it 😉
Arnaud Feld
I didn’t take them in my List because the own Network from Tele2 is not the best. They have a national Roaming with T-Mobile, but from some Friends i heard when Tele2 has a little bit network coverage then i can not correctly use the Roaming.
That’s why I selected the 3 Provider above.
xpwe
I just came back from Sibenik area, Zadar to Split. And after reading your article I wanted to get a bonbon, but they did not offer a nano sim.
When I arrived I checked the offers and for me the best one was the T-Mobile 11€ 7 day real unlimited.
My whole family shared my iPhone Hotspot and we had 10GB in 7 days due to iCloud Foto Sync etc.
I decided to purchase a 2nd card for the 2nd week instead of trying to extend it. They provided a clever nano Sim with adapters for micro and regular. I used it in my iPhone 5 and my iPad (but the iPad did not allow to create a hotspot).
Arnaud Feld
hi xpwe,
last year T-Mobile didn’t have this Offer. I have seen it some weeks ago but didn’t have the time yet to change it in the original Blogpost (and Ortwin can change it here).
Scribsi
First of all thank you for your post.
I tried to order a simcard on bonbon website but every times it gave me an error message.
Maybe someone had the same issue?
Thanks
Arnaud Feld
@Scribsi
Today I have ordered 2 new Sim-Cards and it works without problem. Try it again 🙂
Greetings
Arnaud
Larre69
I would like to share my thoughts and opinions guys.
Have researched about best option for affordable internet travelling to Croatia and I found out Bonbon and Telekom as best options.
I did not know how difficult will it be to buy ANY of them.
Every single gas station had only Tele2 or vionet.
When I asked for bonbon/telekom they advised me to go to the centre and buy one at some kiosks/tisak.
I went to Karlovac Kaufland and shops around and they looked me like They thiought I am crazy asking for a sim card.
Finally I found BonBon in one very small Tisak but not the start paket but regular sim. It cost 20hrk but there were no instructions in english and also text messages from the network arrived only in Croatia. I was very unhappy. Fortunatelly, on the internet I found their customer service and they helped me with everything, even very unclear way activation of 5GB internet (only 45hrk)
Have tried many other stores since that and 25 petrol stations and no one had telekom or bonbon.
Be prepared for this and rather arrange everything from home and internet in advance. You can order bonbon from their website(free shipping) and contact their customer service with regards to internet package activation.
Worthless to stop and ask for sim cards at gas stations!!!!
NIk
Guys,
You can also check local company that rents 3G wifi mobile routers with unlimited data usage … roamfree.ninja. I took one this summer with my wife, and we were thrilled…exellent speed (plitvice, Hvar, on a boat to Vis and Zagreb), excellent support 🙂
Most of all, we ordered device upfront, and when we came to hotel in Hvar, device was waiting for us at reception, powered it, enter key and we were connected in seconds.
Price was 8 EUR per day, as we stayed in Croatia for 2 weeks, but it worth every cent. This was our first trip where we didn’t have to think about connecting to internet, and how much gigs did we have on account, as their option is 75 GB per week.
richard
hi we live in croatia and found that every TISAK kiosk has bonbon sim cards.
Sharad
We are on a 3 week holiday to Croatia. We need data access mainly for using google maps as we will be on the road trip. Looks like in all probability we will be using bonbon sim cards. The only problem we will face is for 2 days when we do a trip to Bosnia and Montenegro. The bonbon sim will not work once we cross the border. Would someone know a solution for these 2 days
Mark
If I understand correctly, you order a BonBon sim card in advance of holidays for €2.65
But then how do you get the internet 5GB ?
Thx!
Arnaud Feld
@Mark
Here ( https://arnaudfeld.de/2014/08/14/bonbon-karte-aktivieren-option-buchen/ ) i wrote in German how to get the different options.
I think i will talk in the next Days with Ortwin to make a englisch Version of my German Blogpost here or make my Blogpost multilingual.
Marko
Thanks Aranud, I can understand German.
So if I understand correctly: I order the BonBon sim card at home, then in Croatia buy a BonBon charge card for 80 Kuna, then activate it in Croatia via the procedure you indicated.
Only hings is I don’t know how the activation will work with a usb 3G dongle on my laptop.
Greetings,
Rafael
I am going to Croatia for 3 weeks and need a Nano sim for a tablet. I need to ise the tablet as a hotspot for my phones because they are locked. Can anyone give some advice. Thanks!!!!
Petr
Yes BonBon is cheapes and best but activation via SMS is non function
Best is buy it
recharge it
and call to 097 0700700
and ask to activate 5GB package
don´t use SMS activation
Arnaud Feld
@petr
Calling bonbon works also but for me SMS was the fastest Way
edje1205
I live for 3 months a year in croatia and my wife speaks understand most of it. I use and preferre bonbon. However activatian was a hell. Sms is the best way, but dont use a telephone number outside croatia after installation because its (still) international calling outsite the bundle of bonbon so nomore rights on your 5Gb internet. Call e.g your tomato telephone number inside croatia and then it works. If you registrate at there website you can upgrade/buy new 5 Gb. The not used data has lost so wait as long you have some Mb left. For me it was not possible to use visa from abroad so I had to use VPN to simulate croation connection. But when I m here no problem to pay by visa etc. Succes !