SIM card for phone

Following this...as I will be doing the same thing.

I was told Orange or Vodaphone have decent pay as you go packages. As long as your phone is “unlocked” you shouldn’t have a problem. There is a Tech&Fly at Barcelona that will install a new SIM (and make sure it works before you leave). I expect they would offer the same service at their shop in Madrid Airport (Terminal 1, Floor 1.)

We always get a local SIM when we travel, btw, and I have never heard of anyone having to return a SIM.

Cheers!
Claudia

Hi from Wisconsin,
Mobal (it use to be Buzz Phone) has a SIM for $15. It has no time limit. You pay as you use it. You might think it is expensive at $1 per minute. And I don''t know if it handles anything other than phone calls and texts. The nice part is that you get one and use it every time you go to Europe or other parts of the world.

They will mail it to you in the US so when you land you are set.

I watched my son pay, what I considered, a lot for a SIM card in the Czech Republic. It had limited days and minutes.

wayne iNWI

Thank you!

You can go for cheaper smaller carriers or stick to the proven major ones. For a short stay, I would go for the second, cost-wise it's going to be just a tad more expensive but customer service and coverage will make all the difference. But again, that's me.

Major carriers are Movistar, Vodafone and Orange. Also, there is a chain of PhoneHouse franchises all over Madrid which carry all three (and other carriers) and that will advice you which one is "best" for your needs -depending on the "flavour" of the month, you know, commercial wars among telecomm companies here in Europe are common and they have good temporary offers.

Thanks Enric, I will look for that store.

Keep in mind that when you change your SIM, you change your phone number, which could be a problem for some people. Depending on how long you are going to be in Spain, you might just investigate international service with your regular carrier. I am on Verizon, and they have a couple of plans. Last time I was there, I ended up finding wifi almost everywhere (and in every hotel), so I didn't need a lot of data. I could even call by turning on my wifi calling on my phone. In past years, I have used SIMs purchased in Spain, but I'm not going to bother with it anymore.

.... and also keep in mind the source of YOUR phone: if it was a deal with your current company in the States, you should make sure the phone is UNLOCKED, meaning you can freely switch the SIM card and use one from another company.

Some telecomm companies offer deals to their customers by selling phones at a discounted price, but in return, you as a customer, are prevented to switch company (=use a different SIM) for a certain period of time, between 1 and 2 years normally.

@Geri... map of PhoneHouse stores in Madrid

I had no idea that my phone number would change. Thank you for the heads up.

If you didn't get the phone directly from your mobile company (e.g. bought the iPhone directly from Apple), then it should not be locked.

Even if you got the phone directly from a mobile company, it may not even be locked. In the US, Verizon has had the most liberal unlock policy for a while - they have mostly not locked any of their phones for years. (Recently, they have changed this policy with some limited locking of phones, however, right after you activate them.)

But, if your phone is paid off, the mobile company is required to unlock it for you by request (at least in the US; also in Canada now I think).

"Unlocking" a phone means the mobile company provides you with a long numeric "unlock" code, and you use it ONCE, only after you have inserted the new SIM. That is, if your mobile company gives you an unlock code today but you got to Spain next month, you won't use/need the unlock code until you insert the new SIM card in Spain. The FIRST time you insert a new SIM card into the phone, you'll be asked for that unlock code, so have it handy! Once you have entered it once successfully, you will never need it again, no matter how many times you swap SIM cards in the future. The phone isn't "unlocked" until you have needed and typed in that unlock code one time. Then it is unlocked forever!

If you want or need to keep your US or Canadian phone number, you'll need to stay with your US or Canadian carrier, and use one of their international roaming plans. You didn't say what your carrier is; if you do, people can give you specifics of what's involved.

If you buy a Spanish SIM, you get a Spanish phone number and Spanish phone plan. Just as in North America, their are multiple plans available and the specifics change all the time. Are you looking for calls, texts, data? A lot or a little of these?

You don't "return" a SIM card. You just take it out and re-insert your original SIM. The Spanish SIM becomes a souvenir. Sometimes if you go back within a certain time you can re-activate it, but it often expires.

Some basics of local SIM cards, as outlined by Rick, make a good starting point for learning enough to ask more specifics: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe

... or else, if your phone allows two SIM cards at the same time -many do, but not those from Samsung or Apple- you can insert your Spanish SIM card in the phone and have both SIMs active at the same time, thus you can receive calls in your US number and use the Spanish number to make calls, navigate Internet, etc. while in Spain.

"if your phone allows two SIM cards at the same time -many do, but not those from Samsung or Apple"

In the US, none of the carriers sell dual SIM phones. A coworker bought an unlocked dual SIM Samsung from Amazon. Another source of dual SIM phones are online electronic stores like B&H. But, because most people in the US buy their phone from the carrier, dual SIM phones are almost completely unknown here.

So, Geri is extremely unlikely to have one.

her (and your) miss then :)... they're really useful. Over here lots of people prefer them so they can keep work and personal phones in a single device, rather than having to carry two phones. But again, no Samsung or Apple (among others) -to my knowledge anyway.

In many countries here in Europe we also "used" to massively buy our phones to carriers, which offered them in a set of instalments... with an outrageously high margin, I must say. Fortunately, now we have better options.

Enric - if you do want a Samsung phone that has dual SIM capability, you can certainly get it. However, in some models the space for the second SIM is the same space as the Micro SD card, so you can't have two SIMs and extra memory at the same time (that's why I bought the single SIM version of my phone). Other models do not have this problem; if it's important to you, check carefully before buying!

Here are some dual SIM Samsung's from B&H, a long established store (started with photo supplies but has now branched out): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=samsung%20galaxy%20dual%20sim&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

Here's some from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=samsung+galaxy+dual+sim+unlocked&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Geri - Sorry for the thread derailment!