PrePaidGSM.net Forum (Archived) - View Single Post

cameronjpu · 23-08-2011, 23:24

Here is a follow-up, for those who find this thread while hunting for answers. I know how frustrating it is when you hear all the debate but never the answer.

I went to Spain and headed straight for the Carrefour express in the Ramblas area of Barcelona. I quickly found that this didn't feel much like a cell phone shop - it was a grocery store in every sense. I went to what appeared to be the customer service area and asked for a SIM card and did my best to convey to them what I was looking for. The guy gave me a SIM card and, though he was clearly not happy to have to deal with me (activating it took him 3-5 minutes) he did. We made a phone call to activate the SIM and I headed out.

The data did not yet work, and he said it might take 10 minutes or so. I had all the information that you see above with me and was not able to get the APN settings to be correct to get data working. After spending an hour on the phone with Carrefour's support people, I gave up. Their suggestion to me was that the SIM card could not be used by a non-resident, so I had to MAIL them a letter with my local address and passport, and they would MAIL me back a SIM card that had been activated. That, or get a refund.

I found that very unlikely, but clearly the first option was not possible. I took the card back to the store and amazingly, got a full refund.

I went across the street to the Phone House (or something like that) and bought a Yoigo SIM that gave me 100MB of data per day at full speed, and then down to 64K afterward. That worked fine for me, as I did find wifi at our hotels. I had to fix the wifi at one hotel which hadn't been working for months, according to the staff. Fixed it in 10 minutes... fixing computers is a good skill to have.

So my advice? It would have to be to go to the Phone House and let their specialists give you what you need. They have multiple options, they only deal with cell phones (no lettuce or Pepsi) and they know what they're doing. Carrefour clearly had a better deal than what I got, but I also wasted 2 hours of my precious vacation failing to get connected, which is worth a lot of money to me.

	(#30)
cameronjpu (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 23 Join Date: 05 Oct 2010 Country:	23-08-2011, 23:24 Here is a follow-up, for those who find this thread while hunting for answers. I know how frustrating it is when you hear all the debate but never the answer. I went to Spain and headed straight for the Carrefour express in the Ramblas area of Barcelona. I quickly found that this didn't feel much like a cell phone shop - it was a grocery store in every sense. I went to what appeared to be the customer service area and asked for a SIM card and did my best to convey to them what I was looking for. The guy gave me a SIM card and, though he was clearly not happy to have to deal with me (activating it took him 3-5 minutes) he did. We made a phone call to activate the SIM and I headed out. The data did not yet work, and he said it might take 10 minutes or so. I had all the information that you see above with me and was not able to get the APN settings to be correct to get data working. After spending an hour on the phone with Carrefour's support people, I gave up. Their suggestion to me was that the SIM card could not be used by a non-resident, so I had to MAIL them a letter with my local address and passport, and they would MAIL me back a SIM card that had been activated. That, or get a refund. I found that very unlikely, but clearly the first option was not possible. I took the card back to the store and amazingly, got a full refund. I went across the street to the Phone House (or something like that) and bought a Yoigo SIM that gave me 100MB of data per day at full speed, and then down to 64K afterward. That worked fine for me, as I did find wifi at our hotels. I had to fix the wifi at one hotel which hadn't been working for months, according to the staff. Fixed it in 10 minutes... fixing computers is a good skill to have. So my advice? It would have to be to go to the Phone House and let their specialists give you what you need. They have multiple options, they only deal with cell phones (no lettuce or Pepsi) and they know what they're doing. Carrefour clearly had a better deal than what I got, but I also wasted 2 hours of my precious vacation failing to get connected, which is worth a lot of money to me.