Vodafone Spain

[f300]

I didn't get any answer to my question from this thread so I took my chances and followed the documentation from shop and store.

Here's the story: I've got a SIM which was supposed to have 10 euros on it and it seems that it had 9 (hard to say because just checking your credit costs 11 eurocents).

I tried to activate "Tarifa Plana de Internet móvil para Tarjeta: unlimited surfing for € 3.50/week (€ 0.50 per day); to activate write TPTarjeta to 22521" which is present apart from our wiki on Vodafone's web site and in-store printed material (and known by in-store people) but there was no confirmation and internet used all my credit in less than one day (I used APNs airtelwap.es and airtelnet.es, they seem to have different and really strange billing).

People from Vodafone store were totally unhelpful and also unable to speak any other language (well, apart from the local dialect which apparently wasn't Spanish and of which they were very proud). On the other hand free support at "123" was multilingual (with quite a few language choices) except for the fact that you had first to get an operator, ask "do you speak english", they would transfer you to the menu where you could select your language and then ring an operator on that language (there was the option to save the language as well but that didn't work even after multiple tries so for each call you had to hunt through the menus for a spanish operator that would transfer you to this language selection menu).

Nothing to say about the support, they were helpful, knew the language perfectly well and were able to get me internet access. BUT here comes the funny part:
- they claimed sending SMS "TPTarjeta to 22521" would just subscribe you to some games and not activate any internet (although the option was on their web site and in printed documentation). In fact for me it did just nothing (I just had all my credit drained by the default data plan).
- of course I've got no refund
- however they have a plan that's nowhere advertised: 3EUR for 1 week unlimited internet, with throttling at 500MB. This in fact worked really well and even plain SIP voip wasn't blocked
- the plan is called "Bono Navegacion Movil semanal" and you have to call every week to reactivate it
- there's some confusion about prices, here is with VAT, here is without, etc
- EU SMS is 60 cents a piece!!!
- validity of the SIM without recharging is okish, something like 9 months
- registering for myvodafone was a big pain as it worked only partially the first time and I had to fight with it for quite a lot. Still better than the average as I always needed "human support" to register for the "web portal" for big operators (T-Mobile and Vodafone). Never had a problem with MVNOs though.

[inquisitor]

Checking credit by USSD (dial *134#) should be free of charge.

[f300]

I'm quite sure this is what I used (based on google...) and it was also mentioned that it will be charged.
What's more after I reached zero credit I received the following "offer" from 22417:

Promocion Vodafone:
Te regalamos todas las consultas de saldo que solicites en los 2 meses desde el dia en que actuivaste tu telefono. Aprovechalor, marca *134#.

I don't know spanish but it looks like they would give me this "credit check" for free for two months. But this happened about one week after the SIM was activated so it doesn't come by default, it is related either to my credit running out either to me registering to myvodafone.

[f300]

Never say "It can't get any worse.". Fast forward more than one month, nothing really changed: older non-existent plans still present on Vodafone's web page while the actual plan is nowhere to be seen, you still need to call each week the customer service to activate the weekly internet (and there's no monthly) but now there was a twist: they just couldn't activate it. Opened a trouble ticket, of course nobody bothered to call back. I continued to call until at some point they were able to activate it, after more than two days (keep in mind this is for weekly, even worse if you need it for monday-friday and they can't activate it for the first two days).

We really, really need some acceptable data roaming plans, at least for EU, each country has a different nonsense, I'm really getting tired of it.

[inquisitor]

That's the typical Spanish understanding of customer care unfortunately encountered quite often in this country. And then they wonder about their deteriorating economy. At least you could find someone speaking this exotic language called "English". I fear the EU will have broken apart before the vision of a single telecom market can become reality.

[UKSTEVE]

We really, really need some acceptable data roaming plans, at least for EU, each country has a different nonsense, I'm really getting tired of it.[/QUOTE]

I use the EuropaSIM.com - at 6 euros a day for up to 150MB, this does me in most situations across the whole of Europe with no preparation needed.

(Spain is a pig's a**e for PAYG cellular in that you have to hand over all sorts of info - payment card details + passport details etc for them to activate your SIM card)

+Steve

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by UKSTEVE

(Spain is a pig's a**e for PAYG cellular in that you have to hand over all sorts of info - payment card details + passport details etc for them to activate your SIM card)

You haven't been to France, have you?

Toggle has announced their plans to introduce data packs for all toggle countries - given the fact that they use IMSIs from their local MVNO operations they could probably offer extremly good data rates in many countries.

[UKSTEVE]

[QUOTE=inquisitor;42134]You haven't been to France, have you?


Sadly I have encountered the non-joy of French mobile BB

I usually end up buying iffy cards on eBay to get me 1Gb for 20 euros or similar - when I visit for more than a few days.

Use them in a Novatel MiFi unit - supports up to five devices.

Tx for the tip about Toggle - will investigate

[Chuck]

Be aware, the new prepaid cards from Vodafone Spain block video and voice calls with VIBER, Skype, LINE, and Tango.
Vodafone does not publish this information and in the shops they do not know !

Back to Stone Age, thanks Vodafone Spain.
It's time that Management looks into this as well as the European telco agency !

[gkeeper]

Originally Posted by Chuck

Be aware, the new prepaid cards from Vodafone Spain block video and voice calls with VIBER, Skype, LINE, and Tango.
Vodafone does not publish this information and in the shops they do not know !

Back to Stone Age, thanks Vodafone Spain.
It's time that Management looks into this as well as the European telco agency !

I think this is just the start, the more the Mobile operators get pushed by the EU commision (or one or two looking to make a name) the more they will push back. If they had let the reductions in roaming continue as planned who knows, but pushing big business while trying to change the rules is not a good idea as its the consumer who always ends up footing the bill. As the going says there are no free lunches.