Talk:Euro4/@comment-26415680-20150519195019

Ortel mobile Germany with Cross option - be careful
''TL;DR? Non-immediate Paypal top ups, delayed "cross" plan activation, unusual (greedy) data counting, no warning when data quota is about to end (at all! just an SMS with "you are out of data" and robbing per mb straight after this SMS), unexpected behavior when topping up after previously having "cross" enabled... be careful.''

Full story:
Be careful with this company, let me describe my experience with it to explain why...

(1) I've got an Ortel SIM card from my brother, that happened to buy it from some shop while in Germany, pre-activated. After finding out about the "cross" option i've decided to give it a try and use it for my trip to Germany + Austria, quite a long trip, starting on 03/04/2015, ending 25/04/2015. The SIM card has not nearly enough credit remaining on it for "cross", so i've registered on the "Mein Ortel" site and went ahead to top it up, by Paypal, trying to add the required €20. This was an evening before my flight. One hour later, despite the fact Paypal has billed me at the very minute i've attempted a top-up, the credit was NOT yet on my SIM account. I've sent an email to the support, asking about it, and, after a few more hours, went to the airport and boarded the flight to Germany. After landing neither the credit nor a reply email was there, so i've ended up topping it up AGAIN, with a voucher from a kiosk in the MUC airport. This one worked, so i've texted "CROSS" to 77300, expecting to get it activated immediately... or so i though. Instead of a happy activation SMS, all i've got is an SMS telling me "we've received your request, please wait for a separate confirmation SMS" or something like that, in German.

(2) A day has ended...a night has passed... i've checked my device in the morning... no "activated" SMS in sight... and no original Paypal top-up either... The Mein Ortel saying "cross" activation pending, or something like that, as well. Eventually it went active about about 2 days after activation. With the Paypal credit top up finally coming in about 3 days after the actual payment!!! The response email with "sorry for the delay", with no explanation whatsoever, took even longer.

(3) The data seemed to be working fine, although rarely at 3G speeds, but thats probably because of the locations i've been to. I've been monitoring the consumed data amount using the built in Android data counter, that has yet to fail me on any prepaid or postpaid plan, usually staying less than a few percents off the carrier reading. Not this time, though. On the very last day i've got an SMS "your data quota is over", while driving, so i didn't read it right away. After seeing it i've turned the data off, looking at the counter... it has been showing 680 mbytes, thats 70 mbytes under the limit, almost 10% below the expected "cross" quota!!! As already mentioned, this is the very first time the built in Android OS counter was off by THAT much, or was it really? Or are Ortel just cheating one way or another? In addition, the (still enabled) data, while driving, managed to drain a few euros off the remaining credit, while no prior warnings were given about the data quota going to end.

(4) Despite of it being my last day, i've bought the extension pack of 500 mbyte so i'd at least have data on the way to and at the airport, hoping it won't take 2 days to activate again. It took half an hour. I've been using the service till my departure, hoping the initial experience i had is going to be a one time thing.

(5) Rewind about a month forward... today... i am about to have a trip to Sweden this Friday, staying there for a few days, going to arrive Friday evening, depart early morning on 27's. Thinking "i should still have some credit on Ortel SIM, lets add some more, reactivate the cross option and give it another try" i went to the Mein Ortel to check. Cross seems deactivated because of the lack of credit, as expected, wtih €9.90 credit still remaining. Perfect, lets try topping up with Papal again, so i did. Checked in 5 minutes after topup, the credit wasn't there... i though "well, i have till Friday, will check again later" and left the site.

(6) Logged in about 2 hours later to check and found the credit being €4.90 with the "cross" reactivated, automatically!!! And a little line under it saying "Stand: 24.04.2015, 19:34:15", does that means "until" that date/time?! Instead of the expected 30 days?!?! I've also logged in on the mobile app, this one is showing the extra data pack if 500mb being still active, instead of being expired with the previous "cross" activation, and saying "6 days remaining" under it, with the "cross" just saying "active" not mentioning and number of days or date. I've emailed Ortel supported, asking for the explanation on this, but no longer hoping for anything.

PS: I'll comment here after i am back from the trip, but somehow it seems to me i'll just see the remaining €4.90 vanishing, taken for non-"cross" data roaming, on 24/04/2015. In this case i seriously doubt i'll ever use this card again.