Traveling to Spain - prepaid iPad data

[Cuprous]

I will be traveling to Spain this month and would like to get a prepaid data plan for my iPad. Which cell phone companies have prepaid data for the iPad? If this is not known, does MasMovil or any other company have microsim cards available to use with their prepaid data plans?

Thanks for the help.

[drama queen]

Originally Posted by Cuprous

I will be traveling to Spain this month and would like to get a prepaid data plan for my iPad. Which cell phone companies have prepaid data for the iPad? If this is not known, does MasMovil or any other company have microsim cards available to use with their prepaid data plans?

Thanks for the help.

I am just back from 10 days in Spain. I got a Carrefour pre-pay SIM for €15, with a limit of 100MB per day - ie total of 1GByte. If you want to extend - you can re-charge in units of €5, and it only costs €1 per day.

However, I don't think they have Micro-SIMs. I didn't need one - but my understanding is that it is fairly easy to cut a standard SIM into a Micro-SIM size using a scissors.

See this tutorial,

How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom -- Engadget

There are other MVNOs - but most of them require that you order SIMs in advance with delivery to a postal address in Spain. Carrefour are a big supermarket chain - so you can walk in to any of their stores and pick up a SIM.

[petkow]

When I was in Alicante airport a few days ago, I saw a shop selling various prepaid SIM cards, including some that were branded specifically for the iPad. I think Orange are trying hardest to corner this market, although in my opinion their special iPad tariff isn't even all that great. Their special tariff works out as either 3.5 Euros per day or if you will use it more, then it works out at 35 Euros per month. (There is no minimum commitment). You can pick up a ready-to-go Orange microsim pretty much in any shop that deals in mobile phones.

If you can read Spanish (or want to use an online translator) then see: iPad: elige tu tarifa / PortalTIC.es
Orange tarifas prepago iPad

[laptopnomad]

MicroSIM card is no different from the normal simcard, only size differs. I saw a few offers for ipad arrangements with The PhoneHouse, though it was all contract based.

Why not use a normal simcard?

Look here:

Make a Micro-SIMCARD from a SIMCARD

WIKI about the Micro-SIMCARD
"The newest incarnation known as the 3FF or micro-SIM has dimensions of 15 mm × 12 mm. It can easily be broken off to be used in a device that uses the smaller SIM."

Cheers!

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by laptopnomad

Why not use a normal simcard?

We discussed that question in "iPad and micro SIMs".

[recoiller]

Hi,

I'm just back from a trip to spain, 2 weeks holiday.
I've looked for the best prepaid option to use on my iPad.

I enjoyed my Holiday in Mallorca, an Isle the makes things even a bit more complex.

Spain is very complex with their mobile services. There are several providers like Movistar Moviles, Orange, Yoigo, Vodafone and T-mobile. shop-in-shop's are everywhere like in the major Carrefour Supermarkets. There are here and there Phonehouses that offer all services but those are rare.

In all cases when you need a mobile number (as so for data) you will need to identify with your passport. In my case only Yoigo offered prepaid options that they call "by the card". With all other providers you need a Spanish address and bank account.

Yoigo offers a prepaid simcard for 20 euro. Internet will cost 3 euro per day and you have 1Gb free data. After that you pay extra.
I bought the usb-modem that comes with a simcard for 29 euro.
I topped it up with 30 euro (=10 days).

It worked like a charm, I was in a house on a hill, great reception and speed. Loved it. Yoigo is in my opinion the way to go. I did had to go to a Yoigo-shop, not all small Yoigo-stands offer this service.

At the shop they cut my Sim to micro sim but with the excess piece I was able to use it on my Mac with the USB modem as well.

Great service too!

[wisniak]

I just returned from Spain, Barcelona and Pyrenees.

Due to my itinerary, the first (and only) quick option for me was the Carrefour card, which I purchased in their Prat de Llobregat branch (a couple of kilometers from the Barcelona airport, on the left side of the highway).

I paid 1 Euro/day for the 13 days I was there + 5 Euros for the card itself.
I could have paid 1 additional Euro to have 30 calendar days access.

I can't say what was the MB limit but it seems I did not reach it, as in the last days, when we were in Barcelona, I still had fast browsing speeds.

I had pretty fast 3G access in most places, except out in the nature reserves, where I had no reception at all (on the other hand, my wife's BB did have some reception in some of the places).

Further, in some of the towns were we stayed I seemed to have roaming, not 3G (there was a little hollow circle in the left top side) and indeed speed was slow.

Last, take into account that Carrefour sell regular SIM cards, not MicroSIMs, so you need to have a SIM cutting device (I purchased one in eBay for $5, it worked perfectly, though it was the 1st time I ever used one). And if your device supports regular SIM cards, you'll need an adapter tray (the SIM cutter comes with one, you can purchase them for cheap on eBay).

[dohouch]

Originally Posted by wisniak

I had pretty fast 3G access in most places, except out in the nature reserves, where I had no reception at all (on the other hand, my wife's BB did have some reception in some of the places).

Apparently the one thing iPhones don't do well is receive mobile signals.