imm2b

Thank you linglingfool.

I just brought a couple SIM cards from the same source for our travel in a couple weeks. Hopefully, it will arrive before our trip.

Once arrived in Europe, we can just pop in the SIM and it will work right away? Since it's a Spanish SIM, I assume we'll have to be in Spain first in order to activate?

I'm getting a SIM for my daughter who's traveling on another carrier. I'm hoping we can communicate right away once we landed in Paris before connecting to Madrid.

linglingfool

It will come pre-activated (a follow-up email asking for your passport info will likely be forthcoming), so there's no need to visit Spain to start using it. If you have a GSM phone (so non-Sprint/Verizon), you can turn data roaming off and try the SIM at home to make sure it works before you even get on the plane. Dial *111# <send> to check the balance.

One thing to note is that you'll want to make sure that the APN settings are being properly read by your phone, otherwise you'll have to enter them manually to ensure you have internet access upon arrival.

imm2b

Great thank you. Yes. I received the email asking for passport info. I'm so glad to have found this option.

Thanks for the info about APN. I tried google, but it's still not clear to me. I have the iPhone 6, and I don't see the APN settings anywhere. I understand that there's an app available at unlockit.co.nz, but I'm reluctant to download. My iPhone 6 is unlocked. I was hoping to pop in the SIM and it will work seamlessly.

linglingfool

I'm an Android guy myself, but I put one of these into an iPhone 5s recently and the settings automatically populated. To verify that's the case for your 6, insert the SIM, check Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Network and make sure the APN field says "internet" or "orangeworld". If you're on Sprint or Verizon, you won't be able to see the APN settings until you insert the card. (You'll want to disable data roaming in the Cellular menu before inserting the SIM if you're still at home to avoid immediately burning through the credit on your SIM with expensive international roaming.) If it's blank, set the APN to "orangeworld", and the username/password to "orange".

imm2b

Thank you. I have AT&T. Hopefully, the settings will auto populate. I'll try your suggestion to test the SIM when it gets here. I've spent the last couple hours googling for iPhone 6 APN, but not getting much real info.

linglingfool

T-Mobile has instructions here on how to set an APN.

From doing a bit of reading, though, it appears that lots of carriers send their settings to be included in iOS by default, which is probably why they were already there when I set it up on that iPhone. Knowing that, I think you'll be fine.

imm2b

That's nice to hear. I was in China recently and got a local SIM for an iPhone 5. I didn't have to change APN for it to work. I think you are right about iOS.

Thanks again for your help.

jzongker

Just following up to let others know that everything worked great with the SIM card. I highly recommend it! Having Google Maps with you at all times makes things sooo much easier. A few notes:

1. You can't top up your card outside of Spain, so make sure it's precharged with enough to get through your whole trip if you're not visiting Spain.

2. If you are in Spain, keep your phone in airplane mode when you don't need it. You only get 10MB/day there and that's VERY easy to blow through.

3. While in Spain, you can top up your card at any of the RIA shops. They are tiny cellphone stores/Inet cafes that are fairly easy to find.

4. If you travel to Switzerland, put your phone in airplane mode. You must enabled data roaming for the cards to work throughout Europe, but Switzerland isn't part of their network, so it'll quickly eat through your remaining credits.

5. I never could get the thing to work as an actual phone, but it didn't matter for me since I was just after data anyways. You could always use Skype on it, if all else fails.

pbiflyer

A couple follow up questions for jzongker.

1. I thought you could refill the SIM online. Was that not the case?
2. I thought it was 100MB a day, not 10MB?
3. Why couldn't you use it as a phone?

Thanks for the info!

jzongker

1. I thought so too. I couldn't ever log in. It asked for a password I didn't know and I think when I tried to have them text it to me, it told me I had to be in Spain (was in the UK at the time).

2. It is 100MB/day throughout Europe, but there are special rules in Spain. I received this text shortly after arriving. "Hola. Has consumido los 10Mb de tu tarifa de navegacion. Continuas navegando hasta 10 Mb mŕs durante otras 24 horas, por solo 50 cts. con IVA Disfrutalos!"

3. Not sure, I never tried while in Spain, but the calls wouldn't go through anywhere else (even to my wife's phone on the same network). I included the country code when dialing. I got a Spanish recording that I couldn't understand when trying.

linglingfool

As I mentioned in post #28, you don't need to register an account or need any kind of login information to reload. I did it a half dozen times on two different cards.

There are monthly data packs for Spain that can be activated separately -- 500 MB for €6, 1GB for €9, or 2GB for €15. These can be activated by SMS, but I believe can only be deactivated by registering for the online account, or by running out of credit.

pbiflyer

Basically useless in Rome.
It worked okay for a bit if you are in the right spot. But often times got no service and even when I did and had bars, it said no network connection.
I should not have been out of data, as my phone said I only used 24meg.
And I added 10 euro to the account, so if it ran out after a few minutes not worth it.
Off to try Vodafone.

imm2b

Just to report. My Orange SIM works flawlessly upon landing in Paris. I have been using it in Dubrovnik and Korcula, Croatia for the last 4 days without any issues. Yesterday morning, I reloaded 20 Euros into the account before getting on the ferry to Hvar, Croatia. Upon landing, in Hvar about 2 hours later, our account was almost empty.

I google for their customer service phone number and found - 902 011 900 - dial without the country code (+34). At first, they said, my account doesn't have text message included and each text message will cost 1.21 euros. I said, that's not right because I have the Go Europe plan and it's 1 euro/day. They had to create a case and fix my account. I'm not sure what happened, but I am suspecting the reload may have reset my account without Go Europe plan. If your account is getting empty quickly, call the customer service # above and have them check to make sure Go Europe is enabled.

linglingfool

Was that the first reload you had done beyond the credit that came with the card? I had done another top-up after receiving the cards before we used them, and everything appeared to be billed properly, but after a second reload on both cards credit did seem to be draining faster than it should. I chalked it up to excessive Instagram usage at the time by the owners of the phones

imm2b

That was the 2nd reload. I did the 1st reload before leaving the US and that seems to be fine. Also, I was told that the Go Europe plan doesn't including standard SMS, they are billed at 7 cents per text. Somehow, my account was billed at 1.21 euros per SMS after the 2nd reload. FWIW, I have 3 Orange SIMs, and 2 out of 3 got screwed up. Also, it will take 48 hours for them to get back to me after they created the case. I spent almost 40 minutes on the phone with the CS rep explaining the issue and the rep researching the issue. The rep was courteous and speak good English. He was apologetic, but I don't think he has the power to fix anything. He advises me not to use my phone until it's resolved if I don't want to have excessive billing....lol.

Here's the link to where I found the CS #. There are similar complaints about excessive billing for Orange SIM.

Update: It turns out that the 1.21 euro per text charge was correct. My teenager was texting her friend in the US. Texting to the US is 1.21 euros per text and 7 cents in Europe. It's best to turn off SMS in Europe. Use messaging apps for all your messages.