For many people, choosing a mobile phone is very difficult. Operators have similar offers, so the consumer faces a big challenge. To make your decision easier, you can use, for example, a report from the Office of Electronic Communications, in which you will find information such as the level of user satisfaction with the use of the selected service.
Mobile telephony in Poland
According to statistics, approximately ¾ of Poles use smartphones for conversations, while less than 24% of the population of our country use regular mobile phones. Almost 70% of mobile phone users choose a subscription from a provider of communication services. Phones with a traditional prepaid card are less popular, with 28% of people still using this option. Despite the widespread promotion of mixed packages (a combination of postpaid and prepaid services), they are not very popular in our country. About 5% of all recipients use them. As for business phones, only 6% of all mobile phone users use them, while the rest, i.e. 94% of people, say they mostly use their personal phone for calls. Therefore, it can be concluded that that in our country the use of a business phone as the main number is not as widespread as in other countries. When choosing a telephone network, it is important to compare the offers of mobile operators, because each of us must decide for himself which offer suits him best.
Mobile operators in Poland
There are many mobile operators in Poland. Wondering which network is the best? It is difficult to answer this question unequivocally, because most of them have very similar proposals. The most popular of them are listed below.
• Orange (Orange Polska SA) is the largest mobile network in Poland. It is an international brand specializing in telecommunication services. It is owned by the French company France Teéleécom, which is managed by Brand Services Ltd. Orange provides its services in 35 countries to slightly more than 150 million customers. In Poland, the brand was introduced by operator PTK Centertel in the second half of 2005. The Orange network offers fixed and mobile communication services. In the case of smartphones, we can use mobile communication and mobile Internet access. The operator provides its services to individuals and legal entities.
• Play (Play Communications SA) is a mobile communications network that is the holding company of the Play Group. He started his activity in 2007. The operator provides its services to more than 15 million subscribers. The network offer includes: phone calls, messaging, data and video calls. This package is intended for both individual customers and companies. The company concludes contracts with customers on a subscription or subscription basis. Play works using its own telecommunications infrastructure, as well as internal roaming, using the resources of partner networks, which are Orange, Plus and T-Mobile. The telecommunications network operates in the 2G/3G/4G LTE/5G standard. Its area covers 99% of the population of our country.
• Plus – founded in 1996. The mobile network operator is Polkomtel sp. These include Plus Subscription, Plus Mix, Plus on Card or Plus Company.
• T-Mobile is an international mobile operator. The owner of the network is Telekom Deutschland. T-Mobile offers services for individual and corporate customers. They are provided in the field of telephony and mobile and fixed Internet. It is possible to purchase a subscription, a prepaid system or a mixed offer (this system consists in combining a subscription fee with a prepaid service – the operator provides the possibility of additional top-up of the user’s account). At the moment, the network is an integrated operator. This means that it can provide its mobile and fixed communication services, as well as integrate them with each other.
• Plush is a brand that provides mobile communication services. It was created by the Plus network. Its activity is based on prepaid sales, i.e. sales with advance payment. Plush network services are created for young people.
• Red Bull Mobile is an international brand that provides mobile communication services. The operator’s offer includes both prepaid (prepaid sales) and prepaid (postpaid) phones. As can be concluded from the name of the brand, it is closely related to the food product (the operator attaches a can of Red Bull to the prepaid starter). The operator covers such countries as: Austria, Belgium and Poland.
• Tu Biedronka is a mobile communication network that provides telecommunication infrastructure services. Potential recipients of the offer are customers of Biedronka discounters. It is here that Biedronka started its activities in the field of telecommunication services in 2009. The operator offers services in the prepaid system (starter kits and top-ups can be purchased only in Biedronka stores). The network presented by us is part of the telecommunications company T-Mobile.
• Virgin Mobile is the world’s largest virtual mobile phone. The network was established in 1999 in Great Britain and became the world’s first virtual operator providing telecommunications services.
• Otwarta is the cheapest mobile network. It is a virtual operator with fully Polish capital. It offers services on a subscription model. Fixed network tariffs include voice and internet services.
• Nju mobile is a mobile communication network in Poland operated by the operator Orange. Their activity began in 2013. The Nju mobile offer includes prepaid and postpaid services. Contracts for the provision of services with this operator are concluded for an indefinite period, so the user can terminate them at any time.
SIM and eSIM card in Poland
Mobile networks in Poland offer their users very favorable offers. By choosing them, consumers receive a SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module), which is made of plastic. Its surface is equipped with a microprocessor, which gives the user the opportunity to use the services of the selected mobile operator. When issuing a SIM card to a consumer, the mobile communications operator assigns it an individual phone number, which allows you to use telecommunication services on our phone.
When we choose a subscription service, the phone number is usually assigned by the operator (the customer also has the option of choosing a number). In the case of prepaid services, all mobile networks in Poland have a pre-assigned number to the purchased SIM card. When choosing such a service model, clients very often focus on choosing a number, and not on the tariff that works with a prepaid card.
The phone number assigned to the SIM card is called the MSISDM (Mobile Station International Directory Number). A string of nine digits is stored in the memory of the SIM card, as well as in the registers of home subscribers of operators providing mobile communication services.
Over the years, the size of SIM cards gradually decreased. This was due to the fact that a large number of electronic components are installed in modern mobile phones and smartphones, so manufacturers were looking for ways to save space, which led to a sharp reduction in SIM cards. At the moment, the following types of cards can be distinguished:
• Full Size – Length – 85.60mm, Width – 53.98mm, Thickness – 0.76mm, Technical Size – 1FF.
• Mini SIM – length – 25 mm, width – 15 mm, thickness – 0.76 mm, technical size – 2FF.
• Micro SIM – length – 15 mm, width – 12 mm, thickness – 0.76 mm, technical size 3FF.
• Nano SIM – length – 12.30 mm, width – 8.8 mm, thickness – 0.67 mm, technical size – 4 FF.
• SIM 3 in 1 – length – 25 mm, width – 15 mm, thickness – 0.76 mm, technical size – 2FF/3FF/4FF.
Currently, the most popular mobile networks in Poland offer SIM cards of all three most common sizes, i.e. Mini SIM, Micro SIM and Nano SIM. Their design is that one card size is inside another. This solution allows you to adjust the size according to the size of the SIM card slot installed in your phone.
Operators of virtual mobile networks in Poland
New mobile networks in Poland usually work on the basis of virtual packets. The offers of operators that work exclusively in the network are less recognizable and are rarely called “the best network in Poland”. Their low popularity may be related, for example, to the fact that they do not hire celebrities to advertise their products. In the case of such operators, marketing funds are really small. However, their main advantage is relatively low prices. According to statistics, by choosing the offer of virtual operators, we can often save up to several hundred zlotys per year.
Mobile network coverage in Poland
Wondering which network has the best coverage? It’s hard to say, as it all depends on where you live, where you use your mobile phone most often, and what device you use. To check which operator is right for you, it is best to buy several sims from different operators. Comparing mobile networks will let you know which network has the best coverage in your area. However, more and more people are abandoning this action in favor of the RFBenchmark mobile app . This allows us to get an answer to the question that worries us very quickly. With the help of the program, we will check the quality and speed of our network.
Mobile Internet in Poland
The largest mobile communication networks in Poland, in addition to phone calls and SMS and MMS messages, also give their users the opportunity to use the Internet. Are you interested in the speed of data transfer with selected operators? It mainly depends on the technology used.
in addition, it is worth remembering that the range and speed of the mobile network can be very different and depend mainly on such factors as:
• Number of users logged into the selected relay station
• the number of users who use data transmission in the relay station
• weather conditions
• the type of device we use
• the number of applications and programs running in the background
• our distance from the relay station
• terrain relief
• traffic volume in the operator’s network
• the type of software used in the device.
Values of individual abbreviations of data transmission types in GSM networks in Poland
Currently, mobile operators mainly use such data transmission technologies. They are:
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) – a protocol that allows information to be transmitted in the form of data packets in GSM networks. Transfer speed from 30 to 80 kbit/s.
• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) – transmission of received information at a speed of 21.6 Mbit/s and data transmission at a speed of 5.76 Mbit/s. The 3G generation is called the standard of mobile networks. It allows you to make phone calls, video calls, data transfer and many other functions very quickly and efficiently.
• LTE (Long Term Evolution)is the latest standard for wireless data transmission. Its goal is to increase the opportunities that mobile network operators in Poland offer to their users by increasing data transfer speeds, reducing delays and, above all, reducing costs associated with the use of data transfer. To be able to use Internet services with LTE speed, we must be in the coverage area of the LTE/4G network offered by our operator. It is also necessary to have a device such as: Phone/smartphone, tablet or router, equipped with the function of supporting data transmission speed. The operator must also equip its consumer with a SIM card that supports this technology (USIM card). Using LTE coverage services allows you to watch movies or listen to music without problems to be able to play high-quality video without interruption,