cellphone in Portugal and Spain

I believe you might have to buy a separate SIM for each country and make sure your phone is unlocked. On my last trip to Portugal and Spain, although ATT is my provider, I signed up with T-Mobile which gave me 2 gigs of data, free texts and 20¢ per minute for calls. What I liked most about it was not having to purchase SIMs in Europe (went through hell getting a nano SIM for my iPhone in France), having the phone up and running before I left the US, seamless network switching when crossing borders.

If you buy the SIM in either country at the start of your trip, it should work in the next country through a partner carrier, until you use up the pre-paid time on it. Roaming rates could apply, but not as high as they used to be. After that, it might be hard to top up and you could get a new one for the second country. See also https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe.

Hi Mark,

I was just in Portugal and Seville, Spain a few weeks ago. I bought 10 MEO sim cards in Lisbon for 10 euros each, which came with 100 texts/calls and 3 gig of internet. It worked flawlessly. My family who was with us (10 different phones) used Facebook messenger and Facebook calling the entire time, instead of Facetime or using the MEO calling/texting option. We all have iPhones, and Facetime did not work well for us. Another company option is VODAFONE (they have a store in the airport) and it was a few euros more for more texts and the same 3 gig of data. In 2 weeks I only used about 600mb of data (even using the Facebook messaging and calling used very little data), and I used google maps constantly and normal internet usage as I do back home! No one in our group came close to using 3 gigs of data in 2 weeks.

When we drove to Seville, our MEO account sent us a text message after crossing the border into Spain (10 minutes after crossing) that their service would work, and showed the fees, which were astronomical. Therefore, we all switched our phones to airplane mode for the 2 days in Seville and used wi-fi only. I did not need to buy a new sim card in Spain so I do not know which company to recommend, sorry. Once we reached the border driving back to Portugal, we all switched our phones off airplane mode and set to normal mode and the MEO card started right up and worked perfectly for the rest of our Portugal trip.

Some things to consider...our phones were all bought at Verizon and came unlocked. Bring a paper clip that can open your phone sim slot, as the MEO sim card did not have a tool to open the phones. Bring a baggie and small watertight container to store your normal sim card (and paper clip) once you remove it in Europe. When coming home, and on the airplane, you can replace the Europe sim card with your original sim card. The MEO and VODAFONE sim card each last for 30 days, then you can add more money to the account or buy a new sim card. One more MEO sim card was purchased in Faro at the mall, and it was only 5 Euros for the same ones bought for 10 euros in Lisbon! The sim card comes with a 4 or 5 digit PIN code that must be entered on startup, and anytime after your phone is shutdown and turned back on. Take a picture of the PIN and save it in your phone if you need to access the code anytime. If you forget the PIN code, it will ask for another different code (printed on the sim card as well). If you do not have the second code, your phone will not work any longer...not good!

Hope this helps.

Carl

Thanks Carl, very much appreciate your reply and advice,
Mark

Okay,
I don't worry about the sim card. With my family we use the WhatsApp (if you have facebook, its available).
We have a group account, SmithClan, and we can text each other she internet is available. We stop at a McDonald's or Starbucks or place where its available (hotel or free town hotspots). We also have individual accounts where I can call for free using WhatsApp. This has been great when I am traveling by myself and I am abroad. Hope this helps.
You can IM me if you need help.