JR14

Not sure if this is a repeat, but I've found you generally get the best deal after arrival in Spain if you just go over to a Phone House (general mobile store) and tell them what you're looking for. I.e. do you just want a SIM or do you need a phone with it? Do you want/need data? How long is your trip? Since a more general store has a lot of brands lined up, they're usually more flexible and cheaper than any of the big brand names.

Last time we did that, we ended up with an unknown brand SIM that worked on a known brand network for cheap. No muss, no fuss.

NFH

You can order a Tuenti SIM card using a non-Spanish credit card to be sent to your accommodation, e.g. your hotel. This is much easier and cuts out the middleman.

osamede

The first post in this thread should be updated, as is NOT true that you need to show a passport in order to get a SIM in Spain.

A couple weeks ago I went into an Orange phone shop in Spain and was told this. She also said prepaid plans were 3G only, no 4G.

I then walked out, went to the Vodaphone shop 2 doors down where the lady there was happy to accept my European-based drivers licence and not a passport.

Vodaphone offered a “Holiday” package, which was a pay-as-you-go plan targeted at foreigners.
- For 10 or 15 Euro you get 500 MB of data+some texts and call minutes
- For 15 or 18 Euro you get 1.2Gb of data plus minutes and calls
- For 20 Euro you get 2.0 Gb of data plus minutes and calls
(sorry I dont remember the numbers too precisely)

All of these included 4G service - if it was running in the area you were using the phone. And my experience was that the signal strength was good. Where I didnt see 4G, I usually had at least HSDPA signal.

She activated the SIM while I was in the shop and I was able to verify that it was working before I left. All this took about 10 minutes.

The lady told me that the SIM would not work outside Spain, but that was incorrect - when I left Spain and went to the the UK, I got a welcome message saying that I could roam on Vodaphone for a flat rate per day….if I had credit on the account. Unfortunately I didn’t, because I had assumed what the lady told me was true about roaming. But it wasnt.

So if you start your trip in Spain, you can buy this card but be sure to top it up with additional credit before you leave Spain and you can use the same card and phone number in other countries, with daily flat rate in Europe.

One negative about Vodafone: they are spammers. Every single day I received 1-3 text messages with some stupid message or other about a sweepstakes that they wanted me to join in. Someone in their marketing department needs to exit the stone age. So crazy as it sounds, if you get this SIM you might want to consider adding Vodaphone to your "block" or "spam" list.

boberonicus

The guy I spoke to at an "Internet Shop" in Estepone said you must have a passport, but they circumvent this by entering a driver's license number as a passport number and no one cares. So I wouldn't change the wiki just yet.

For €10, I purchased up a "Hits" SIM in Estepone - they're a Vodaphone MVNO. For €8 you get 1GB including the SIM. The remaining €2 are credited to the account, which can be used for phone calls, texts, etc. Coverage was 3G but fast enough and pretty solid all over the Costa del Sol.
No spam from this Vodaphone MVNO.

aztimm

I was just in Spain and ended up with an Orange SIM card. Gave 3G service to my iPhone 4 (yea it is old, but I use it only for foreign travel).

Was E20 for 2gb of data, plus some phone/texts (I don't remember how much).
Since I have iMessage, those don't count toward texts anyway--and could send texts back to the U.S.

They did ask for my passport and made a copy of it.


My hotel's WiFi was so bad that I just used the iPhone 4 as a hotspot for my laptop. I also did that to use my iPhone 5S (it was still faster to use it that way than the 4).

scubadu

I have to say, I really wish Europe would get over this practice. The world has changed dramatically, identity theft is an ever increasing problem in today's world and I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with every place in Europe "needing" my passport in order to conduct business, making a photocopy of it and then it ends up god knows where over time.

For a continent that can be so obsessed with "privacy" laws and where an EU citizens cat photos can be stored in the cloud or whether Google should be allowed to do X, Y, or Z, honestly, I'm a bit stunned that the photocopying and maintaining of physical copies of peoples passports is handled quite so cavalierly...

Regards

directcj

I'll be arriving into Barcelona from the US and am wondering what my options are now. Any updates to this?

Are there places at the airport or the main train station where I can purchase a sim card for my AT&T Galaxy 7 or Verizon iPhone6?

My son also has an Orange sim card he used in France a few months ago - can additional data time be added to it?

Also, I'm not too keen on having them make a copy of my passport - is this still common practice?

DH

There is a Vodafone shop in arrival area where you can pick up prepaid SIM for visitors which includes 2GB data and 50 mins for 15€.

http://www.vodafone.es/ca/c/particul...t-in-spain-vf/

McFlying

Indeed, and nobody can start selling you fishy plans

wco81

Hmm anyone able to secure a Tuenti SIM recently?

Looks like the data point in this thread was from 2 year ago.

u600213

Hi,

I recently visited Bilbao and San Sebastian as well as various locations in Cornwall, UK. I used a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 SM-N910A originally an AT&T version, now unlocked.

I chose an Orange Holidays Spain SIM card because it offered 30 minutes of voice and 12GB of data, free incoming calls for 30 days. Orange prefers the EE network in the UK. Based on coverage maps, Orange was good enough for Spain and EE was desirable for some locations in Cornwall. It was a triple cut SIM so you punch out whatever size you want.

The Orange Holiday SIM includes free incoming texts but not outgoing. That was fine for me because I could use other apps for that.

I purchased mine online prior to my trip for $65 including registration of the SIM on the start date of my choice. I wanted to have it in my physical possession on landing and not hunt around for a SIM. I know they can be had for 35 Euro's from an Orange shop but it was worth it to me. In fact, I stuck it in my phone during the flight to Europe and was able to use it in the Brussels airport while waiting for my flight to Bilbao so the first country of use did not have to be Spain. The only setup I had to do was to choose an APN from a list provided on my phone screen. I picked on that looked plausible and it worked although I could have read the instructions kindly provided with the SIM in English.

I got LTE in many places in Bilbao and San Sebastian but dropped to 4G, Edge or voice only between cities. The AT&T version of the Note 4 does not have bands 8 or 20 so actual LTE coverage is likely better than I got.

In UK, it worked as expected showing Orange/EE but would occasionally roam on to O2.

I made some calls using Skype and Google Hangouts Dialer Android app and they were fine. I did not tether as I did not bring my laptop so don't know if it would have worked or not.

wco81

To follow up, I did order it online to have it delivered to my Bilbao hotel for 15 Euros.

Worked right out of the envelope, as soon as I put it in my iPad.

That was suppose to get me 12 GB over 30 days. Great speeds along most of the Asturian and Basque country places I stayed or visited.

Tethering was fine too. Network ID said Tuenti but it's suppose to be on Movistar network.

I visited Biarritz out of San Sebastian and once in France, the speeds connected at 3G only on Bouygues network. Speeds were okay but tethering was disabled.

On the return to the US, I spend a couple of hours in AMS where it worked again at 3G speeds.

Back in the US, it roamed on T-Mobile and the speeds were okay, nothing to write home about but I didn't have to tether to my iPhone or look for Wifi.

Now I'm in Austria via MUC and it's still working, speeds are 2-3 Mbps. It's approaching 2 months since I ordered this. Tuenti has sent me several emails, including several to recharge. Every time I go to a new country, it sends me instructions on how to set up roaming.

I don't know why it's still working. It was only suppose to last 30 days. If it roamed at LTE speeds in other European countries, I definitely would have recharged.

I still bought a local SIM for Austria.

RedSun

Group travel to Spain for about 10 days, from US. Already get GSM unlocked phones. What are the options to use? Mostly for emergency contact and occasional uses.

Also, a phone number is required before the trip. So no option to buy a local SIM card. This will likely be a global roaming to contact another US phone number (on the same trip).

David-A

If you don't plan to get a local sim card, then this post is unquestionably in the wrong section.
Only a small percentage of the users of the section will be from the USA, so will know about what options are available from US operators.

I'd suggest the US section - as it sounds like it is US knowledge you need.

UAPremExecflyer

Your question really has nothing to do with Europe ... you are not purchasing a local SIM card ... your question relates to the US wireless provider (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile etc) that you use and international coverage plans.
One of many threads Verizon Travelpass - $5/day or $10/day -use existing data/voice/plan in 140 countries