Viber

arnhemrd

Im going over to Spain on holiday and would like to make and receive calls using Viber. I believe that unless both parties are Wifi connected this can work out very expensive. My question is, how do i, or the other party know if Wifi connected before making the call. I realise all my contacts with Viber show up on my phone but not if 'Wifi connected'. Thanks John.

visidigi

You need to be on wifi to make a call for free, the recipient if they are in the UK with a data plan will be able to pick up the call for free on mobile network or wifi.

You will avoid connecting up in expensive ways by switching off roaming on your phone and just having wifi.

[Deleted User]

I'd recommend taking your SIM card out of the phone to be double-sure, and switching the phone on SIM-less.

Viber uses about 1MB a minute, therefore so long as the recipient in the UK has a half-decent data plan (or is hooked onto WiFi), they should be OK.

Im_just_careful

If you have a BT landline and a phone that supports it, have a look at the BT Smart Talk app.

NFH

billbennett wrote: »

I'd recommend taking your SIM card out of the phone to be double-sure

And put in a Spanish SIM card instead.

Im_just_careful

NFH wrote: »

And put in a Spanish SIM card instead.

Other than the Carrefour PAYG data SIM only deal, which of the widely available operator deals (from small town shops) do you think is best for a couple of weeks of data use in Spain ?

On the linked website, information on some operators is a bit thin.

NFH

Im_just_careful wrote: »

Other than the Carrefour PAYG data SIM only deal, which of the widely available operator deals (from small town shops) do you think is best for a couple of weeks of data use in Spain ?

Tuenti and Lycamobile are worth a look. For the main networks with physical shops, there's more information at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/spain.php

Im_just_careful

NFH wrote: »

Tuenti and Lycamobile are worth a look. For the main networks with physical shops, there's more information at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/spain.php

Many thanks.

Tuenti is attractive but looks like an online only offer and it's not obvious they will post to the UK.

I've tried my luck with the Spanish Lycamobile site which works in English, I'll see what turns up in the post. Their data offer looks good ( http://www.lycamobile.es/en/Data-value-Pack- )

I may try and get a Vodafone SIM as I won't be near a Carrefour.

The "Tarifa Plana de Internet m!vil para Tarjeta" offer seems to have stopped and the current deals look less attractive (but much better than UK roaming rates !).

NFH

Im_just_careful wrote: »

I've tried my luck with the Spanish Lycamobile site which works in English, I'll see what turns up in the post. Their data offer looks good ( http://www.lycamobile.es/en/Data-value-Pack- )

I received delivery at my UK address when ordering SIM cards on Lycamobile's French and German sites (with a considerable delay), but not on their Polish site. I haven't tried on their Spanish site yet. Please let us know whether it works.

paul_and_shark

arnhemrd wrote: »

Im going over to Spain on holiday and would like to make and receive calls using Viber. I believe that unless both parties are Wifi connected this can work out very expensive. My question is, how do i, or the other party know if Wifi connected before making the call. I realise all my contacts with Viber show up on my phone but not if 'Wifi connected'. Thanks John.

If you are on o2 you could use their new app called TU GO which enables you to make calls out of your normal allowance even if you are abroad if you use a wifi connection and the person receiving the call does not need to be on a wifi connection.

You need to be using a newish handset with IOS 5 or later, or quite a new spec on Android but it certainly works very well

Im_just_careful

NFH wrote: »

Tuenti and Lycamobile are worth a look. For the main networks with physical shops, there's more information at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/spain.php

Having just returned from 2 weeks in Majorca I can update a bit on the use of Lycamobile.

Last time I went I bought the Carrefour SIM (sold for Dongle use) and that was fine. This time, buying the Carrefour SIM wasn't convenient so I bought a Lycamobile Spanish SIM (€2.40) from a small internet cafe in my (smallish) resort. I topped this up, put it in an unlocked Android phone and used my credit to buy a data bundle.

This worked fine but I couldn't get the SIM to work in my unlocked MiFi (the previous year the Carrefour SIM was fine in the same device). It wasn't an APN problem, the SIM wouldn't connect to the network at all.

I wonder if Lyca can detect and block "non-phone" devices.

Another odddity, it was a Spanish SIM but the phone showed "Roaming" when the SIM was in it and sometimes the phone took a while to authenticate for data when turned off and on again.

If I can I'll buy the Carrefour SIM next time I'm in Spain but the Lycamobile offer would be my second choice.

One further oddity, I got "bonus" credit but couldn't use that to buy more data when the first lot ran out, I could use the credit for a little more data use.

This may be because the bundles last a month and you can't buy another until the first one timed out but I can't see this from their website.

Overall I can recommend Lycamobile Spain's offer for an unlocked smartphone.

lycamobile.es for more info (select English). I still haven't had the SIM I ordered from their website a month ago but buying in resort was fine.