Spain Pay As You Go sim card for internet access

park_gate

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Good review. Try Localphone for calls the next time.

Thanks, I use both Localphone for low cost and SIPgate for free incomming line number and a slightly more reliable and better quality service but higher call charges.

There are plenty of WiFi hotspots in Moraira so all I need do is use one of these with the CSIPSimple android app to call the UK for 0.5p / min.

It's a shame Tuenti doesn't allow VoIP. It's the main reason I'm probable going to give up on them. Tuenti is run by Telefonica who along with Vodafone are expert in Spain at turning customers away from them. I use to be with Vodafone.

For voice I use Orange on the Mundo tariff in an old Nokia phone. Been with them for years and am very happy with them. I just think their data is a bit too expensive.

Terry

mskitten2904

bamboobam wrote: »

Help! Was that an Orange Ballena SIM card? Will the Ballena tarriff not work with my mi-fi? Please confirm anyone because I leave on Mon for Spain and I bought a mi-fi and a Ballena Orange sim card, so it won't work then? :-(

Does Delphin work with a mi-fi?

Can anyone using a mi-fi confirm which brand and which tariff they used and whether it worked in their mi-fi? I got an unlocked former 3 mi-fi from ebay and am thinking this 1gb Ballena Orange SIM card won't work?

I had the Ballena tariff kindly given to me by the orange Spain lady only to find it wouldn't connect to my mifi. After about two hours of queuing only to be told it was problem with my mifi and had nothing to do with the sim which worked perfectly on her orange phone. After another 2 hours queuing in the phone shop where I bought my mifi she very kindly called orange for me and the settings on the orange sim should have read orangeworld for the mifi and not simply orange as was on the SIM card. Since that I have found APN needs to be checked on most data sims, for example, giffgaff comes up as O2 on my mifi but has to be changed to Giff gaff settings. TESCO mobile also comes up as TESCO and has to be changed to O2 because they use the O2 network! It's very confusing but double check APN settings. My mifi now works on TESCO, giff gaff and orange.es because I manually changed all the internet settings, it's not for the faint hearted or those who don't know how to change settings HTH

NB you can normally find most phone companies mobile/mifi settings online

park_gate

mskitten2904 wrote: »

I had the Ballena tariff kindly given to me by the orange Spain lady only to find it wouldn't connect to my mifi. After about two hours of queuing only to be told it was problem with my mifi and had nothing to do with the sim which worked perfectly on her orange phone. After another 2 hours queuing in the phone shop where I bought my mifi she very kindly called orange for me and the settings on the orange sim should have read orangeworld for the mifi and not simply orange as was on the SIM card. Since that I have found APN needs to be checked on most data sims, for example, giffgaff comes up as O2 on my mifi but has to be changed to Giff gaff settings. TESCO mobile also comes up as TESCO and has to be changed to O2 because they use the O2 network! It's very confusing but double check APN settings. My mifi now works on TESCO, giff gaff and orange.es because I manually changed all the internet settings, it's not for the faint hearted or those who don't know how to change settings HTH

NB you can normally find most phone companies mobile/mifi settings online

Hi, Could you please clarify? Are you saying a Ballena SIM works in a MiFi when you get the APN set up correctly? Terry

NiftyDigits

park_gate wrote: »

Hi, Could you please clarify? Are you saying a Ballena SIM works in a MiFi when you get the APN set up correctly? Terry

Apparently so. Connection details here

bamboobam

Hello All.

Here I am in northern Lanzarote (in the middle of f*** nowhere!) contacting you using the Orange sim card set to Ballena 12 tariff in my mifi device!

Here are the settings which work (literally copied and pasted from my mifi settings page):
APN: orangeworld
User name: orange
Password: orange

Anyone who experiences difficulty simply does not have the correct settings OR does not have a credit greater than zero on their sim card! (Even though you paid the monthly fee you still need some credit to get the month of benefits.)

I also found that my sim card was password locked initially (password was printed on the credit-card sized packaging the sim card came fitted into) and after I used my non-smart phone to turn off that sim lock it made connecting with the mifi alot faster and easier..... And since the Ballena tariff comes with a 1000 free SMS texts for the month, I have been able to use the sim in my phone to send free texts to my family in Tenerife and ALSO check for and send SMS texts from my laptop by going to the mifi settings page and clicking on SMS! (This is so cool, just like an email inbox and had no idea it would work like that, so I can just leave the orange sim in my mifi and keep my English sim in my non-smart phone...

The mifi device is awesome, easy to use, small, long battery life... simply fantastic!

Here's how I got my Ballena 12 Orange spanish sim card (I think it is important NOT to mention mifi in the Orange shop as it is my impression it just complicates things!):

I went down to Playa Blanca (down south in Lanzarote) because I knew for sure there was an Orange shop there. I knew I'd need my passport so I had it with me. I asked the shop assistant if she spoke English (Habla Ingles?) and she said no and so I proceeded to ask for a sim with Ballena12 tariff ("Necessito un sim para Ballena doce", I'm sure someone who actually speaks Spanish will give you some better words to say!) and she just took care of it entirely.... She took a normal Mundo sim card, opened the packaging, put it in her own phone, sent several texts to activate Ballena 12, and meanwhile took a photocopy of my passport. The only thing she asked me for was my email address to fill in on the form. She gave me my single sheet paperwork which I'd signed (which I hadn't filled in with an address or anything) and then she cellotaped the loose sim card back to the credit-card sized plastic it originally came in and that was it... She almost forgot to ask for the money. It cost 19Euros. She explained to me in Spanish that I always need to keep balance on the card for the internet to work (she said "dinero" so I am pretty sure that's what she was saying) and that already there was 12.84Euros taken by Orange for the month of benefits (which are 1gb data, 1000 free texts to Spanish numbers, and calls to Spanish home or mobile numbers@1cent/min).
I came home to my apt up north, put it in my non-smart phone, sent some texts to my family in Tenerife and then here I made a big error - I balance checked my sim a couple of times... ALTHOUGH CHECKING BALANCE IN UK DOES NOT CHARGE ANYTHING ON PAYG MOBILES IT DOES CHARGE YOU 0.18EUROS FOR CHECKING BALANCE OVER HERE, SO DO NOT CHECK YOUR BALANCE USING YOUR PHONE....
I went to orange.es and registered as a new customer. I went through the options and selected to send my password to them by sms and now i can log in to orange.es using my spanish mobile phone number (which I found printed on the sheet of paperwork that she gave me in the orange shop) and password. On the website you can top up your credit (haven't needed to do that yet, after 50 txts and over 2 hours of calls to Spanish numbers I still have 4 Euros of credit left) and you can do a detail check of each charge and call. It also tells you when your sim card and balance is due to expire (mine says more than 12 months away). So I am guessing I'll be able to access this from the UK and top up from the UK to stop my Spanish sim card expiring... So each time I go away in future (I tend to go for 3 weeks+ because I hate the travelling part - here for 1 month this time) it will only cost me 13Euros (12.84 I think it is because it is 12 plus tax and tax in the Canaries is alot lower so on mainland Spain I think it's just under 15 euros a month) to get 1 month of internet/texts. So next time I'll only need to top up 10euros from the orange website (presume I can do it in UK the day before I go) for it to automatically activate Ballena12.

I do think it is amazing, when you consider I am in the middle of nowhere, bleak rocks by the sea, mountains behind... So tranquil. After surfing with photos turned off in Chrome and not being too frivolous with data (I set gmail to html mode) I have used 600mb of my 1gb in just over 3 weeks and I've checked my emails every other day or so and googled for details of some of the tourist attractions (mainly the smaller bodegas which seem to have random opening times). So I have 1 week left and 400mb. Part of me wants to get on and use the rest of the data up so I can just test HOW bad the 64kbps would be.....

You DO need to put the mifi outside on the balcony to get the best signal. That's just how it is. Fortunately most balconies over here seem to have power points so I have been able to leave it plugged in, on a chair on the balcony (magazine over the top of it to stop the sun heating it too much) just like a normal router at home, away from wherever I am working wirelessly with the laptop. It seems this is ALOT better than a smartphone connected with a cable would be as to get the signal you'd need to be outside all the time. I know it wouldn't be great to leave your mifi outside if it rained so not totally convenient not being able to get a decent signal inside the house, but you can't get a great signal on 3G inside the house from alot of places in the UK: my bro-in-law lives in the sticks in the UK and has mounted an aerial on his roof permanently - inside it connects to his smartphone cradle. It's the only way he can watch iplayer on his 3G internet because he only gets 1-2 bars if inside. Yes he's in the sticks... but so am I here in North Lanzarote. It was never going to be as good as having unlimited data on broadband at home, but for keeping in touch on emails and doing a little bit of work it has been tremendously useful and I think very cheap at just 19euros for the sim and 13 out of that for each month you need the data....

I'll try and come back to this thread to update you with info if I get anything I don't expect. I am due to be in Tenerife in January so hopefully I can use it then...

Best wishes to all and thanks again for the help and replies I got. I do think buying a sim card here in Spain is better than buying one over the internet and I would not recommend that approach. I'd also recommend you check the 3G coverage maps of your area before you choose which sim card (Vodafone has reportedly no 3G coverage in northern Lanzarote so I went with Orange) and I think it is logical to stick with the most touristy areas where you can get the shop assistant (who may even speak English) to activate your tariff for you and just take care of it.
I do not recommend you mention mifi when buying a card. There is alot of CYA by the big brands and "no hablo ingles" when convenient. Call me cynical, but.... when I asked about 3G internet last time I was in a phone shop in Tenerife I was told I needed to pay 30euros a month for a minimum of 3 months. Obviously a shop assistant who gets you to sign up for 90euros may be on commission. It is my opinion, but I don't think there is a difference between a "data sim" and a "phone sim" with regard to a mifi device. Yes some networks might not allow tethering, but mifi works like a mobile phone, not a tethered phone. I love you can send SMS from your laptop. I honestly think the network can't tell the difference between you using your mifi and you using a phone, so best not to get into conversations about mifi. Just ask for what you want and buy it - you're the customer. If they ask you for a device to fit the sim card for you, tell them you left your smartphone at the hotel plugged in on charge and that you can fit it yourself, you just need to buy the sim and them to activate it for you if possible....

That's what I think anyway. I'm off for some afternoon sun on the roof terrace. Bye for now!

NiftyDigits

You can put the MiFi in a plastic bag if you need leave it outside. Just wrap it in some tissue that will absorb any condensation inside the bag. White plastic bag if it is sunny.

Shiver

Hi

Before a recent visit to Mallorca I ordered a VODAFONE YU SMART 8 SIM from http://www.simcardspain.es/en/118-vo...for-spain.html and it arrived in the UK within a few days.

Other details here: https://www.vodafone.es/particulares/es/moviles/tarifas/movil-prepago/hablar-y-navegar/ (use Google translate or suchlike).

On arrival I popped the SIM in my phone and sent off the code for the 'Smart 8' 500MB deal and all worked fine. Tested throughput in Santa Ponsa and was seeing 4-5 meg downloads.

The deal includes 20 texts & 20 minutes to Spanish Nos but I never used any of these. For some reason I was able to make something like a hundred 'free' texts to UK mobiles and those of friends on holiday with us.

Cheers - Andy

1mix

Link doesn't work for me..

Terry98

1mix wrote: »

Link doesn't work for me..

Try this http://www.vodafone.es/particulares/es/moviles/tarifas/movil-prepago/hablar-y-navegar/vodafone-yu/

1mix

For those who don't speak Spanish..