Will Yoigo SIM work with a GSM phone?

[nilknarf]

I'll be traveling in Spain next month and am looking for a prepaid card to use with my unlocked Motorola V190 (quadband GSM).

It appears that Yoigo is the best deal in Spain, but I see that it's a W-CDMA network, with roaming on Movistar GSM. Would I be ok with this card and phone combo, assuming it would roam the entire time or should I look for a different card?

Frank

[inquisitor]

Generally UMTS SIM cards are fully downward compatible to GSM, so a Yoigo SIM card should work in your GSM phone. But the question is, whether Yoigo SIMs are admitted everywhere to the movistar network. E.g. In Germany, where O2 has a unilateral national roaming agreement with T-Mobile, O2 customers can only register on T-Mobile in rural areas, where O2 has very little coverage. Maybe Yoigo has something like this in Spain, too.
Petkow will surely know and answer soon.

[petkow]

Originally Posted by nilknarf

...but I see that it's a W-CDMA network, with roaming on Movistar GSM. Would I be ok with this card and phone combo, assuming it would roam the entire time or should I look for a different card?
Frank

Hi Frank and Inquisitor...

Yoigo actually uses 3 networks in Spain: It's own UMTS network, then Movistar (both UMTS and GSM) but it can also still use the Vodafone GSM network who were their old partner. (There is still an agreement until 2012). The last is now rarely used as Movistar is always prioritised.

Unlike the case Inquisitor mentioned in Germany, there is no separate agreement which would only allow roaming where Yoigos own network is not available. So you should have no problems at all! Actually, my old Yoigo SIM is practically banished to an old 5 year old GSM-only handset now but it works everywhere!

Just to confirm... I just popped it into a newer UMTS handset to do some tests. Even where I am at the moment (downtown Madrid), my Yoigo SIM registers and shows full coverage on Yoigo's own W-CDMA network but when I switch the phone to GSM-only mode, it registers fine with Movistar which interestingly actually has a weaker signal where I am located. Also, interestingly I cannot register with Vodafone at all under these conditions!

However, are you aware that there is a minimum monthly spend on Yoigo? This is a show stopper to most occasional visitors to Spain!

[nilknarf]

Thanks guys, that's good to hear. I was aware of the minimum monthly spend with Yoigo, but was thinking I would pick up the €15 card and just use that credit up during this 10-day trip. I'm hoping that I'll be able to use the WAP2 functions with my phones browser and like the daily cap of €1,40 on data usage.

Frank

[petkow]

Originally Posted by nilknarf

I was aware of the minimum monthly spend with Yoigo, but was thinking I would pick up the €15 card and just use that credit up during this 10-day trip.

Yes, that is always a good option. Yoigo are one of the easiest lowcost prepaid cards to pickup in shops. I think they actually give you €20 of credit for €15 these days. Not bad at all!

[nilknarf]

Any idea if I can pick up a Yoigo card in the Madrid Airport? I understand that the Phone Shop sells them, but I didn't locate a Phone Shop at the airport with thier store locator.