Sim card query

Yes, it should work throughout the EU. Just need to read terms and conditions. Here is the (e)SIM I plan to buy for November trip in Spain: https://orange-zen.simoptions.com/ . Orange is a French company. I will buy after arrival; cheaper and dealer can assist with any activation issues.

EDIT: I now plan to buy online direct from Orange before I leave. That way Euro phone number will be loaded on phone before I leave (so I can provide to first hotel, etc) and it will activate as soon as I use the phone after landing in Europe. You can buy using the Orange website or the Apple or Android app.

https://travel.orange.com/en/

Have an Orange sim which worked great in France. Just crossed into Germany so limited experience. It does work but data has as slowed drastically. Thank goodness for wifi.

The GSM network is standard throughout most of the world. I have used French SIM cards from Japan to Turkey and well beyond.

It depends on which plan you buy. The Orange Holiday plan is for all of Europe. Some (e)SIMs are French only -- look at the terms. Citizenship has nothing to do with it. One gotcha for an extended trip -- you will need to register your French number SIM due to French regulations.

I use a data eSIM from Airalo, as my main base SIM comes with a decent allotment of minutes and SMS, but has horrible data. The pan-EU version is a few dollars/euros extra per month. This is an option if all travelers want data but don't need the calls.

Thank you all for such helpful replies and oh so helpful links.( apologies if I am not following the correct protocols, but I am not that familiar with forum etiquette) Definitely looking into the Orange Holiday Plan.
QM

We found with Orange we could use Google Maps pretty much all the time and never ran out of credit with Orange.

Interesting topic. As a fellow Canadian, I was in Spain in May and bought a local Vodafone SIM card which had 50G and supposedly EU roaming privileges and served me well. I tried to use it on a more recent trip to Germany/Italy (and I definitely had data available on it) but it never worked. So I ended up using Bell's Roam Better plan for 10 days (which was expensive enough). I'm still not sure why my Vodafone SIM card never worked, so best read the fine print. And yes, my phone bill is very high this month. Lesson learned. From now on I will always buy a local SIM upon arrival, despite the fact I was assured my previous one would work.

Thanks Greg W, I had a funny feeling this might happen, I heard it happened before to a fellow Canadian, who could not get the card to work in the next country they visited . So today I went to the Shaw office and found out how to add roaming just before we leave. And thanks to ParisAmsterdam for the info about Orange as it looks like a viable alternative.
QM

GregW:

I was in Spain in May and bought a local Vodafone SIM card which had 50G and supposedly EU roaming privileges and served me well. I tried to use it on a more recent trip to Germany/Italy (and I definitely had data available on it) but it never worked.

This could mean a lot of things. (Your 50GB of data was good for only 28 days, so it wouldn't have been valid anymore months later.) What happened exactly when you put the SIM card into your phone and turned it on? Did the SIM connect to any mobile network? Did you try to connect to one manually? Sometimes you need to set the APN to get mobile data to work, if your phone can't do it automatically.

Vodafone operates subsidiaries in different countries, and each country's Vodafone seems to have different rules. According to the blog below, Vodafone's prepaid SIMs charge a 0.50 cent inactivity fee after 3-4 months of inactivity (send a text once in a while to avoid this, though that costs money too - credit needed on your SIM) and a top-off every 7 months. If your SIM had no money left on it, it could be you needed to add credit to it or that it was disabled because you didn't have enough credit left to pay the inactivity fee. What seems more likely is that you didn't have any funds remaining on the SIM and you needed to top it off, then activate a new bundle of data good for a month.

I've been using a Dutch Vodafone SIM since 2017 in various European countries. I've used it in Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal without problems (but never in the Netherlands - I bought the SIM on eBay). Their requirements are that you use the SIM every six months to keep it active. I had enough credit left that I am able to send a text once every six months in the US (I have to pay a roaming fee for the texting). I haven't used it since 2019, but according to my Vodafone account it's still active and I am still able to send a text (last one in May). I hope to get back to Europe very soon to use it again. When I do, I'll have to add some money to it, then buy a "bundle" for 30 days worth of data, good for the duration of my trip.

But yeah - don't assume anything about a SIM. Try to understand the individual rules of use for each one you buy.

https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Spain#Vodafone_Espa%C3%B1a