Phone question

AT&T also has a talk plan, but it's something like $.99 per minute--expensive. You can set the phone to text via Wifi for nothing when you're in hotels or Wifi hotspots.

Look around and you can find phone service companies that can unlock that phone.
I used TMobile's $50 unlimited plan (with no contracts) where calling when I was outside the U.S. was $.20 and unlimited text and data. They're owned by the German telephone company, and they're the official phone carrier for many European countries. And I think your phone unlocked can be used on TMobile's system---if just for one month.
Our only problem with our TMobile service is that it was seamless with our home service in the U.S. Our 2 1/2 old granddaughter kept calling on her mother's speed dial--waking us up at 3:30 a.m. in Budapest.

"Can we buy a cheap local telephone with a sim card have minutes added? If so, what might we expect to pay?"

Yes, you can do this. You'll probably pay something like €30 for the phone and a few minutes of airtime, then you can add time in €10 increments. This is for a "dumbphone" that will have talk and text, but not data.

"Are there obvious places to buy the phones/cards?"

There will be phone stores, as well as sections of department stores like El Corte Ingles or electronics stores like FNAC. But if you need one right upon arrival, I'm not sure if there are places at the airports, and whether they would have cheaper phones or just expensive ones.

To learn more about Spanish phone plans, a great resource is Prepaid GSM, but the discussions there can get very technical, so don't be afraid to ask for clarification. Here's their Spain & Portugal Forum: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33

And here's their list of Spanish providers: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/spain.php

Barbara,

• Another option is to take an old phone that is "out of contract" with
  AT&T (that you may have laying around in your home)

• Once you find your old phone, you can request AT&T to unlock it. You will need that phone's IMEI#

• Once you have your phone unlocked, you can simply purchase a sim card
  once you arrive in Spain.

There is a Telecor shop in Madrid's Atocha train station, with a friendly salesperson who will help you choose the best sim card for your phone.

Have a wonderful trip!

Edit: We were in Spain in October & I purchased a 'Lebara' sim card for my old phone (not smartphone) which provided me with 400minutes (domestic & international) for €10/month.

Here is Lebara's link for more info: http://www.lebara.es/?&isoCode=en_GB

Thanks for your information. I have an additional question. What do I need in order to be able to use Google Translate when we are out and about? I have the ap on the iPhone but it uses data, right? If I buy an unlocked phone can I download that ap and buy time? I'm a little tech challenged so not sure about this. We'd love to use the map ap too but that will use data also, right? Those 2 and ability to call our airbnb/home away hosts are so important and want to do this as reasonable as possible. Thanks

I travel to europe monthly on business. I used to do the local sim cards but now that AT&T has their international plans I find them much more convenient and have my normal phone number as well.

My recommendation is that you simply buy the AT&T $30 or $60 plan depending on how much data and voice you think you will need. I suspect if you just want to text and need a little data and not much voice the $30 will be fine for you.

I don't do a lot of voice myself, but with the $30 plan it is 0.50 min and with the $60 plan it is 0.35. If you just make a couple of quick calls it doesn't really matter and get the cheaper plan.

Just a couple of practical things I've learned the hard way with my iphone. . You will be roaming (so of course you need to turn that on in the settings). But I've found it very handy to go into the Settings->Cellular menu and scroll down and go through and select which applications can use cellular data (otherwise they only work when on Wifi). I generally turn off all the stuff that might consume a lot of data like backups and photos etc.

I learned this the hard way when my phone sync'd 300MB of photos one night and ate up my international data plan.

Get the $30 one time plan.. .It will probably work great for you.

Thanks Steve. I am feeling better about just going with the AT&T international plan. My only concern is how much data it will use to access google translate and/or maps. I'm thinking now that I can certainly live without these, but it would come in handy a few times. I'll watch the photo sync. Good advice.

Barbara,

Google translate uses very little data. Google maps uses a bit more since it downloads the maps but with a 120GB ($30) or 300GB ($60) you shouldn't have any problem. Typically I use the maps, browser, navigation and a few other search apps when I am out and about and don't see a huge data usage from those. The trick really is to remember to always get your phone on wifi at the hotel at night, then you can sync up your photos.. I wouldn't worry about using these apps, they use data but as long as you monitor your data usage periodically you shouldn't have a problem.

Another trick I have learned is that when I need to communicate via voice I use facetime audio (not video) to anyone who has an iphone. It uses data instead of the cellular network so it saves on the 0.50/minute rate. If you are on Wifi then it costs you nothing, but it does use some of your data if you are not on wifi. ALso the voice quality is much better than cellular. If you don't know how to place calls via facetime audio practice before you leave. But in general for a few short calls here and there I don't worry about it.

Also note as soon as you land in europe, go to the settings->Cellular and scroll down to the very bottom and reset your statistics. After that in the settings->Cellular menu you can view the current period cellular usage so you can monitor at any given time how much data you have used. By periodically checking this you get a feel pretty quickly how much you have consumed. The other thing you can do is dial *data# and you will receive a text back from AT&T telling you how much you have used of your plan.

Have a great time!

You also might find OffMaps 2 useful, Barbara. You download maps before you leave the U.S., so you don't have to use any data to use the maps abroad. They have maps for hundreds (thousands, maybe) of cities around the world. I think you locate your position and search for things, too (e.g. landmarks). And it's very inexpensive to buy the app--$.99 I think.

Barbara,

I believe the latest versions of google maps apps for iphone (and I think android) now support offline maps.. So the trick is to while on Wifi go and select the areas you will be visiting and zoom in so that the maps are cached. Then when you are offline you can use them without data. There may be a more elegant way of doing it, but with the cheap data plans I haven't done it for a couple of years.

But I find the real value of using a mobile phone the ability to click on items live such as restaurants, or museums etc to get additional info. In the end a $30 data plan when on a multi- thousand dollar vacation seems to make more sense to me now. Just my opinion of course...