Hungary has three major mobile phone providers. These three split up the market. Market leader is T-Mobile formerly known as Westel. Vodafone and Pannon are close behind. If you decide to get a mobile phone we recommend to take the provider your friends use because the minute fees within the network are cheaper than to other networks. Further there is no major differnece between them but have a closer look at the 3 major ones.
- T-Mobile
- Telenor
- Vodafone
V. Petofi Sándor u. 12.
Phone: (+36-1) 266 5723
Website
2045 Törökbálint, Pannon út 1.
Phone: (+36-20) 930 4000
Website
Váci út 1-3. (Westend City Center)
Phone: (+36-1) 238 7281
Website
Next to regular mobile contracts you can also get mobile internet access in Hungary from all these providers. As I said before there is no major difference in the providers, all are reliable and work perfectly fine all over the country. The fees and minute prices are changing day by day so it would be useless to publish them here but you can find them on the websites.
As in other countries in Europe some providers sell exclusivly mobile phones like the iPhone at T-Mobile, the Blackberry Storm at Vodafone and so on. So if you fancy one of these phones you will not have much choice.
The listed adresses above symbolize the headquarters of the three mobile phone providers. You will find shops all over the country. In every shopping center you can find a major store and even in supermarkets you can find shops. If you come over to Budapest or Hungary for only a while it is recommendable to get a prepaid card from one of the providers. The minute fees are nearly the same, you don’t have to sign a contract and you can start immediately calling people.
Hi there
Thanks very much for the information! I’ll be studying in Budapest for the coming year and am thinking to bring my iPhone with me. Is it true that I can simply subscribe to the mobile phone / data plan with any of the above three service providers using my own iPhone? Do they have contract as short as one year?
Thank you very much!
Cheers,
Jan
Pannon gsm does not exist since May 2010. It is called Telenor. Great infos otherwise.
Hi does anyone know if foreigners can buy mobile internet, for a mobile phone on pay as you go with Vodafone? I tried to buy mobile internet for a laptop there once from T-Mobile and I couldn’t because I am not a Hungarian citizen.
Steve
Yes you can buy a us mobile stick, upload its funds and purchase some data
Traveling to Budapest, this evening with scheduled arrival there tomorrow, 2 August at 6:50 PM, AugustLiszt Schiphit Airport, Budapest (BUD). Return departure back to USA Sunday, 11 August, 6:15 AM. Can I pick up (rent) a wireless phone at the airport & return it there?
What will be the rate? What brand of cell phone?
I live in Connecticut. I will be leaving for the JFK Airport in NY City at 4:00 PM local time EST, but can pick up your reply on my iPhone. Thank you,
Bill Tafoya
Dear Bill,
as far as I am aware there is no such service of phone rental in Hungary. The easiest solution would be to get a prepaid card from one of the large providers and bring your own phone.
Or are you in need of a phone as well?
Regards
Dear SIR/MADAM
Greetings of the day?
We would like to introduce our company which deals in a
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contacts as one of the suppliers of mobile phones
Please kindly quotations the cif prices to entebbe air port.
khan
property agents Uganda
Plot 87 Kampala Road
watoto church Kampala Uganda
East Africa
Our niece is a student there. She needs a phone and we would like to send her an iPhone as a surprise gift. Is there any reason that an unlocked GSM iPhone would not work on the mobile carriers there? Or any other considerations we should know before we send it?
Hi John,
any phone that is unlocked will work here in Hungary as long it is a GSM 900/1800 band phone. Depending on where you come from a phone might not work.
You can check out the bands here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands
So if you are from the US you might have problems.
Hope that helps!
I have a ZTE MF Mobile Hotspot (21,6 MBit/s) I purchased in Heidelberg in 201 for use with my IPad. Will I be able to reactivate this in Budapest on June 1, 2015 for one month of usage in Hungary, Austria, France, Belgium, Germany, and The Netherlands?
I am I Budapest for Christmas can you tell me what is the best network to use in Hungary
In terms of network coverage in Budapest the 3 big operators (Telekom, Vodafone and Telenor) are equally the same. When it comes to the country side my experience is that Telenor is lacking in coverage. So if you just stay in Budapest the choice is yours, if you are planning to travel in the country choose either Telekom or Vodafone. I personally use Telekom since 2004 and I am happy with it. Hope that helps…