Vietnam

Plans
Pre-paid cards come in many different plans such as HappyZone and Tomato. My HappyZone SIM card was purchased for 50,000VND but did not initially have data. A Vietnamese colleague called Viettel and within five minutes data was working. After a few weeks the voice and data stopped working but a 100,000VND recharge card got it going again and it lasted for about a month with heavy data and SMS usage and minimal voice. It is not clear to me what the plan details are. When it stops working a new recharge card is never far away.

Addition: The "Tomato Plan" works with data, too. It just need to be activated by sending the "3G ON" to the 161.

Coverage
Fast 3G data has been available in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and even all over the remote island of Phu Quoc. The network is new and does not have many users for data yet.

Availability
No ID required. SIM cards are available at the airports and recharge cards are sold in small shops and on the sidewalks.

Tips

 * Call *101# to check your balance.


 * For 3G to work, the APN must be set to 'v-internet' with no username or password.


 * You may need to text "3G ON" to 161 to enable 3G.

Plans
There appear to be a number of different "packages"- but on recent trip it did not appear to be necessary to sign up to a particular package to gain data access. To turn data on you need to send "GPRS ON" to 333. To avoid blowing through your credit too quickly, you should then select a data plan. See Vinaphone Pre-Pay English for details of the settings, and of the different packages available. I used the "U1" package for 250MB/day for approx 50cents. You set this up by texting "U1 ON" to 888. You need to repeat this each day, although there were longer term packages available.

Coverage
Good 3G speeds available pretty much everywhere except in Sapa. Managed video streaming via QIK from Hoi An on a Nexus S.

Availability
In April 2011, I bought a SIM at a kiosk in Hanoi airport, for approx $10USD where they assisted in getting the SIM activated. Top-up cards seem to be available on every street corner.

Tips
Make sure you check out the website. For iPad, where SMS service is not available: To check balance or top up your account go to