O Varšavě

Telecommunication in Poland

Thanks to the 1989 transformation of Poland, in following years after that most of the telecommunication network was build as new using the most recent technology. The national, state owned cable telecommunication company was partially privatised (France Telecom) and together with a few other cable or wireless providers form modern network.

As a visitor in Poland you may need a few information that will help your requirements.

Using a telephone to call someone in Poland is the same as in most of European countries, in fact EU is a responsible regulator of such settings.

Even though it is a standard I was asked many times how to call somebody:
Calling from outside to Poland using mobile or land-line phone: "00 48 xx yyyyyyy" for land line or "00 48 vvv zzz zzz" for mobile phone
Calling from Poland to Poland using land-line phone: "0 xx yyyyyyy"
Calling in Poland mobile to land-line: "xx yyy yy yy"
Calling in Poland land-line to mobile phone: "0 vvv zzz zzz"
Calling mobile to mobile: "vvv zzz zzz" or "+48 vvv zzz zzz" (it is advised to use +48 prefix for sms)

0048 - Poland (on mobile phones 00 can be replaced with +)
xx - city code (used even within the area where applied), two digits always
vvv - mobile provider prefix
yyy yy yy - personal telephone number, always 7 digits
zzz zzz - personal mobile number, always 6 digits

Special numbers
0 800 - free number, often unreachable from mobile phone.
0 801 - fixed low rate no matter how long the conversation is, also often not reachable from mobile phone
0 700 - extra paid service numbers, better to avoid

Public phones
There are quite a number of public phone available in cities. You may use them after you get a prepay card that you insert to the telephone. Every public telephone also have a own telephone number that could be used for incoming calls.

Using own mobile phone:
If you brought your own mobile phone, 99% it will work fine in Poland. If your number belong to one of EU member operating countries, then you may have low rates for calling (obviously set by EU administration). If you are from any other country - check the rates with your provider. Using of the telephone is the same as described above.
Essential before arriving:

• check your provider if roaming setting is on
• check if the cost of incoming and outcoming calls
• check if your telephone support GSM900, GSM1800 or 3G (for US, Japan and other overseas)
• if you use data transmission (gprs, umts, etc.) it is better to switch it off as it is very expensive on roaming
• if you plan to switch your telephone off and on to prevent people calling you - switch your voice mail off too

If you plan to spend some time in Poland and want to keep in touch plus control your spendings it is highly advised to get prepay card and sms your friends or relatives of your number in Poland. The prepay card can be bought in most of kiosks, newsagents or even grocery shop. ID and permanent address is not required. Be sure your device works in European networks and your telephone is simlock free. The cost is very low (like 10 Euro) as well as the rates. Prepay telephone require to be uploaded with some amount of money, that you can bay with the card or get on any ATM. Best if you get 25PLN or 50 PLN and see how it goes.