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Best Swedish "burner" mobile phone arrangements

I will be visiting Stockholm in October with my wife and three in-laws, staying at an Airbnb site.

Last year my wife and I visited, and survived nicely without mobile service while we were there. I had already loaded my mobile with a mapping app for Stockholm that used my GPS to let me know where I was, and that was sufficient for our needs.

But with five of us, and the possible need to be able to contact our Airbnb host or to make dinner reservations, we have realized that it would probably be good to have a mobile available.

prepaid-data-sim-card dot wikia dot com slash wiki slash Sweden lists several Swedish vendors of mobile services, and it looks like Halebop has plans that would work for us (not a lot of data, not a lot of money, voice calls included).

Does anyone have any experience acquiring a "burner" phone in Sweden and activating it like this? I know that my U.S. phone (Republic Wireless, which primarily uses the Sprint network) will not work with a SIM card I pick up there.

Thanks for any experience or suggestions!

Posted by
3207 posts

Last year I bought and used a pre-paid smart phone in Sweden, if that is a burner phone. I obtained a Samsung phone and a sim card/plan for a total of $150.00, to keep the phone and have coverage for 30 days. There are different companies that you can use for the phone coverage/sim card. I used Comviq. When you buy the phone the salesperson will ask you your plans and indicate which phone sim is best for you. I made internal calls in Sweden and had plenty of data. I never called home with it. My US phone died so I am now using this Swedish phone with my home plan, so it was a win/win.

Posted by
8 posts

Thank you, Wray.

As I'm only going to be there for a little over a week, I'm hoping to get away with less than that. But I've managed to find a cheap unlocked phone here in the US, and it's my understanding that I'll be able to put a SIM in it and activate it once I'm there. At this point, I think I'm good. Now it's just a matter of being patient for another six weeks!

Posted by
3207 posts

Travel, Yes, if you have an unlocked phone it will cost you closer to $20.00-30.00, if I recall correctly. Have fun. I love Sweden. Wray

Posted by
38 posts

Just back from a trip that included Sweden. In each Scandinavian country we visited, we were directed to visit the nearest 7-11 to buy a SIM card. Had an old iPhone 5s that I took, and with the local SIM card, the phone worked like a charm! Just used it for data, usually could get 4G LTE. Usually you pay for the card, then a separate fee for the service (minutes and gigabytes). Guess if you are staying a long time, you could buy more data each month. Just be sure you understand how much data and for how long is it effective.

Posted by
8 posts

Tack så mycket, Stewart.

The cheap phone I picked up only has 2G available, but as I'll want it more for calls than data, that should do me just fine. I appreciate the information, though. This gives me confidence that I'll be able to make do with what I have.