Prepaid Sim Cards

I haven't used their card, but your post is pretty brief. You'll get better replies it you can tell us if you're just going to 1 country or several, whether you want a phone just in case of emergencies and for a few brief calls or if you plan on using it regularly, whether you'll be callling companions on your trip in the same country or calling back to the States, how long your trip will be, and who your current cell carrier is.

We will be in Spain for two weeks. We basically want a phone for emergencies or to contact our trip insurer should the need arise. I want to buy the sim chip before I leave because I don't want to waste precious travel time looking for a sim chip. I was also interested in Telestial Passport Plus sim chip because I can use any unused airtime minutes here in the states.

If you just need an emergency phone all that matters is that they don't charge you for dialing an 800 number or equivalent toll free number in Spain. That way you could use a calling card to call back home or so. Also make sure air time for incoming calls (including roaming fees) isn't too expensive. E.g. the maximum incoming charge per minute by law within the EU (i.e. if you hold a SIM card from one EU country and use it in another one) is €0.29 + VAT. So your incoming minutes should be under $.50 I'd say...

Since you're in 1 country a country-specific SIM would have been a good option because it gives the best rates for calling the US and incoming calls are free. However I completely understand your not wanting to spend the time finding a store and buying a SIM.

Since you mentioned using the SIM back at home, that means you have a carrier such as T-Mobile or ATT with GSM. The simplest option, and the one I often do, is just travel with your existing phone. You can call back to the States or receive calls at around $1.29/min. A few brief calls home and I spend under $20. Even if I had to call someone and talk for 30 minutes to straighten out a bank problem or something I'm still in for less than $40. But if you do end up going with the Telestial chip please post back after your trip how it worked out.

I guess I should have also mentioned that I am one of the few people on the planet who does not have a cell phone. On our last trip to Europe (Greece), we ran into a problem at the Athens airport and our travel was delayed for 24 hours (airport worker strike, bad weather). So I needed to contact our travel insurer to take care of our prepaid reservation on Santorini so that we wouldn't be charged for that night. I used calling cards and ended up using 5 cards to accomplish what I needed to do. It was a real pain in the neck and a cell phone would have come in real handy. Lesson learned. Therefore, I simply want a phone with prepaid minutes to use in Spain for the two weeks and then can use any left over minutes here in the states. Sorry for the long explanation.

I use RoamSimple. The Europe sim is $25 and you can buy an unlocked quad phone from them for $29; they charge $15 for express shipping so they know you have the card right away. They bill your credit card once a month for your calls so you don't ever come up short, also you have your number ahead of time to give to your family and hotels.Right now they offer a $10 credit as an incentive. I know there are other companies out there but RoamSimple works well for us. They didn't offer just a Spain sim but we go other places too. Their charges are fairly cheap and texts ae free. That said...if you are considering getting a cell phone for home use, this might be the time, like the other writer said check into TMobile as they use sim cards. The others use the US system.

Mary, A suggestion, as long as you are purchasing a cell phone, get one you can use here and then get just a sim card, such as the Roam Simple for use in Europe... 7-11 C-Stores have a prepaid cell phone plan called Speakout. They are on the T-Mobile network and use GSM phones as in Europe. Several years ago, I purchased a phone from them and it turned out to be an unlocked phone, which you want for Europe. One of the features of Speakout is that your airtime is good for one year, and you can purchase as litte as $25. They charge .15 cents per minute and a monthly 911 charge of a $1 and a few cents. This is the cheapest cost cell service that I am aware of. A Caveat, make sure that the phone you buy from them is at least a triband, and preferably a quad-band GSM phone. Also that the charger handles 125-240 volts.

Here is a website that seems to be a good place for research. www.prepaidgsm.net, I am also still looking for what I need to do regarding my cell phone.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I have purchased a Motorola razr v3 (unlocked gsm quad) cell phone and have also purchased a PassportPlus Sim card from Telestial. The sim card works fine here in the states. I will let you all know how well it works in Spain after my trip in September.