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I noticed that Nizzle's iPhone report from Amsterdam had a lot of followers intrigued by the live feeling of the report. Well, the thing is: If you already have a compatible phone, you can do it, too. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

What you need:
A GSM 900/1800 capable smartphone that is "unlocked" i.e. not tied to a specific carrier by a "SIM lock". If you don't have a phone like that, it gets a bit more expensive (Decent Android phones can be had around here starting around €230 new. Used phones can be a lot cheaper.)

If you have a phone:
Go to any store selling pre-paid Vodafone SIM cards. I got mine at a PhoneHouse store. I paid €7,50 and the card had €5 on it. Immediately buy a code to top it up, at least €10.

Place the card in your phone, the PIN will be "0000". To activate the card, you need to place one phone call. I recommend calling the free self-service hotline thing. The number is 1200. You can hang up once you get the connection. Or you might want to play around and see what you can configure.

To activate the internet option, send an SMS message (or "text") to 4000. The text is: "zorgeloos internet aan". Make sure you wait for the confirmation message before you hit the internet.

Done, you now have 30 days of pretty much unlimited mobile Internet for €9,50. The rule is you can't use more than 10 times the average of all other customers. That will definitely be enough for a live trip report, using google maps to hunt for coffeeshops, uploading pictures via twitter, facebook, whatever and some web surfing.

Very useful info!

Thanks =)

BTW, I should have also mentioned that Vodafone NL does provide 3G/UMTS up to 3.6 Mbit/s downstream and 384 KBit/s upstream, so is definitely usable.

I originally got the information from an article on a german site. Here is the Google-translated article translated article. The translation is not exactly readable, but there are a lot of screenshots of the SMS going back and forth to activate the internet option. Here is the original article in German

Also, they recommend adding 20€ because that will give you 15 free voice minutes OR 50 free SMS (all within NL). You need to actually opt-in to the "Meerwaarderen" option BEFORE you activate your 20€, either by SMS or via the 1200 self-service-thing. The steps to do that are also in the article.

If you have any questions (as I said, the translation IS lousy), just ask, I'll be glad to help out.

Vodafone NL English summary page. You want the "Carefree Internet" (Zorgeloos Internet)

Vodafone NL Zorgeloos Internet product description in dutch

Just a tidbit,

I'm here in A'dam now and every...single...store is sold out of Vodafone SIM (every vodafone store + every generic multi-brand store).

So if you're planning on getting one, might be tough. If you live in Europe, order it online

That is weird. Never heard of that happening.

I got mine at the PhoneHouse on Nieuwendijk 239 on May 1st. No problem at all.

Just got back from my two week vacation to the Netherlands (which did include one day in Amsterdam this Tuesday to join the celebration for the soccer team.)

The big question was "how much is 10 times the average of all customers?"

Turns out I got a warning SMS at just over 400 MB and it was cut off around 500 MB total volume. So the average user seems to get by on 50 MB per month.

Very happy with the 9.50€ deal. Using my own SIM and paying for 500 MB in roaming charges would have been 450€. Yes, I would have used less at those rates, but definitely more than 10€.

Just called TMobile to see if they have any boosters available and a 7 day internet booster and 30 day talk and text booster costs only £5 each... So no nasty suprises for a tenner..

Worth a call to 150 if you are already on TMob to see wahts available to you.

If you just keep pressing number 7 & 8 the computer thing gets confused and puts you through to an operator...

I'm sure theres a proper way to get there but these automated systems really piss me off..