Wife and Daughter Travelling to Spain and Portugal this Summer

[rmwlaw]

My wife and daughter are going to be in Spain this summer for a month, teaching and traveling (including a trip to Portugal). We bought an iPad2 a few months back knowing that they would be going to Spain this summer. When purchased, we had to choose AT&T or Sprint, and decided to go with AT&T as her designated provider. However, due to the exorbitant prices here in Florida for a usage plan, we never activated her AT&T account, and she relies upon wireless at home, her school, restaurants, etc. Works pretty well without a data usage plan.

When she gets there, she will probably want to make sure that she has a data plan, rather than risking reliance upon WiFi. How extensive is WiFi coverage in Spain? In Portugal? Would you recommend that she purchase a month's data plan or rely upon WiFi?

If you recommend that she go with a data plan, I guess she will need to have a compatible SIM card. Is there already a SIM card inside of her iPad2, even though we never activated her data plan with AT&T? There was mention in another thread about shops in Spain having SIM cutters. Does anyone know if they physically break/cut a SIM card inside of her iPad? Can the SIM card (if actually cut) be replaced afterwards?

Are there still pay as you go plans available? If so, roughly how much do they charge nowadays. My wife and daughter will be in many different regions, including extended time in and around Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in Portugal. Want to find them good service levels at most reasonable subscription prices.

Richard in S.E. Florida (near Fort Lauderdale), U.S.

 

[JJ_BPK]

Richard

I can't help to much with Spain, but we just returned from 3 weeks in London, West England and Scotland. WIFI is all over and mostly free..

As for a phone, I would suggest the ladies get a cheap un-locked quad ban phone and purchase a prepaid simm when they land at the airport. Put 20EU the tab and go for it. Even if they buy one after they land, prices will be 20-30EU on most pay-as-u-go plans.

I carried my Verizon Dinc2 unlocked. The simm was free and 20uk lasted three weeks with daily use. I think we were paying 5P a minute?? with Lycamobel. Found a free simm stuck in the back of the British Air magazine on the plane. We had planned to pick up an O2 or Orange simm when we landed.

Good Luck..

 

[rmwlaw]

JJ_BPK:
Thanks for the information, but I am specifically looking for information regarding the use of an iPad2 in Spain and Portugal for my wife. Hopefully someone has some recent experiences and can share their information here (and make my life simpler... when the wife's happy, I'm probably going to be more happy).

 

[TechnologyWriter]

It's very expensive if you buy something here, and expensive no matter what--she's going to want to use wi-fi as much as possible, and only use a data plan as an emergency. She should go to Spain, and then have a local help her buy a SIM card with a pay as you go data plan--plans from AT&T are beyond exorbitant to the point of ridiculous and shouldn't be considered (ie, she'll burn though $50 worth of data in a day or so just doing basic functions like web browsing, uploading photos, videochatting or whatever). But again, even local plans using a local SIM aren't cheap, so she should plan to use Wi-FI exclusively. It is readily found in cities, though often requires a subscription/registration but is immeasurably cheaper than cell signal.

 

[celia50]

My wife and daughter are going to be in Spain this summer for a month, teaching and traveling (including a trip to Portugal). We bought an iPad2 a few months back knowing that they would be going to Spain this summer. When purchased, we had to choose AT&T or Sprint, and decided to go with AT&T as her designated provider. However, due to the exorbitant prices here in Florida for a usage plan, we never activated her AT&T account, and she relies upon wireless at home, her school, restaurants, etc. Works pretty well without a data usage plan.

When she gets there, she will probably want to make sure that she has a data plan, rather than risking reliance upon WiFi. How extensive is WiFi coverage in Spain? In Portugal? Would you recommend that she purchase a month's data plan or rely upon WiFi?

If you recommend that she go with a data plan, I guess she will need to have a compatible SIM card. Is there already a SIM card inside of her iPad2, even though we never activated her data plan with AT&T? There was mention in another thread about shops in Spain having SIM cutters. Does anyone know if they physically break/cut a SIM card inside of her iPad? Can the SIM card (if actually cut) be replaced afterwards?

Are there still pay as you go plans available? If so, roughly how much do they charge nowadays. My wife and daughter will be in many different regions, including extended time in and around Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in Portugal. Want to find them good service levels at most reasonable subscription prices.

Richard in S.E. Florida (near Fort Lauderdale), U.S.

Hi I bought a PAYG micro-sim from Yoigo last year in Altea,Alicante,we also have WiFi at home with Orange so I use this setting always.There are WiFi Free Zone at BK and McDonalds and you can get Pass Word from restaurants and bars too as a customer.
I have PAYG sim cards for Singapore,Australia and UK as I switch them accordingly on my travels.
Hope this is helpful.