Hey Jude
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances April '23
Camino Portuguese Feb '24
Sim cards!
Bear with me as this is a very long post and I write it in the hope that it will help someone else avoid the problems I have had.
I am walking the Camino in April and May and then traveling throughout Europe and beyond for possibly up to 12 months. I want to I have access to data and be in contact with family in Australia over that time. The solution I thought was to get a SIM card that would be useful all over Europe. (My phone is one of the few that is not compatible with an ESIM unfortunately)
Luckily I have a friend in Paris who speaks good French and we searched high and low for a prepaid SIM that would be useful over Europe. I got a "Free" (if you get to the end of the post you will see that this is a total misnomer) sim that I paid for for a month and could renew for a month at a time and would of course be able to access data and phone calls all over Europe. No. As soon as I crossed the Pyrenees this SIM was useless.
That's okay, I paid €30 and I really needed contact with my friends in Paris and needed to be able to use Google maps while wandering aimlessly around Paris. So I thought the €30 was money well spent.
Once I got to Pamplona I bought a Spanish SIM card (Orange) which I was also told would enable me to access data and voice calls all over Europe. (I am picking up a theme here!)
The orange SIM has been very useful, without too many hiccups, as I wander westward across Spain.
Then... One month after I initially bought the "Free" SIM They took €20 from my credit card account. Alarmed, I accessed my online account and tried to cancel but with my non-existent French and a poor website I was unable to do so. I asked my French speaking friend for help. She rang "Free" on my behalf and was told that to cancel my SIM card and avoid future payments I had to send a registered letter to them from Spain, complete with details as to why I have left France including job offers and/or rental agreements!!!! This is all for a prepaid SIM that was "sins obligation" ie. Supposedly no strings.
I consider myself not particularly stupid and my French speaking friend is a very clever person and a lawyer so I don't think we entered into this SIM card business lightly.
What I wish to advise future pilgrims is to wait until you get to Spain to buy a SIM card! And if you can, pay with cash so that they don't have your credit card details to make further unauthorized withdrawals/payments.
Buen Camino all.
Bear with me as this is a very long post and I write it in the hope that it will help someone else avoid the problems I have had.
I am walking the Camino in April and May and then traveling throughout Europe and beyond for possibly up to 12 months. I want to I have access to data and be in contact with family in Australia over that time. The solution I thought was to get a SIM card that would be useful all over Europe. (My phone is one of the few that is not compatible with an ESIM unfortunately)
Luckily I have a friend in Paris who speaks good French and we searched high and low for a prepaid SIM that would be useful over Europe. I got a "Free" (if you get to the end of the post you will see that this is a total misnomer) sim that I paid for for a month and could renew for a month at a time and would of course be able to access data and phone calls all over Europe. No. As soon as I crossed the Pyrenees this SIM was useless.
That's okay, I paid €30 and I really needed contact with my friends in Paris and needed to be able to use Google maps while wandering aimlessly around Paris. So I thought the €30 was money well spent.
Once I got to Pamplona I bought a Spanish SIM card (Orange) which I was also told would enable me to access data and voice calls all over Europe. (I am picking up a theme here!)
The orange SIM has been very useful, without too many hiccups, as I wander westward across Spain.
Then... One month after I initially bought the "Free" SIM They took €20 from my credit card account. Alarmed, I accessed my online account and tried to cancel but with my non-existent French and a poor website I was unable to do so. I asked my French speaking friend for help. She rang "Free" on my behalf and was told that to cancel my SIM card and avoid future payments I had to send a registered letter to them from Spain, complete with details as to why I have left France including job offers and/or rental agreements!!!! This is all for a prepaid SIM that was "sins obligation" ie. Supposedly no strings.
I consider myself not particularly stupid and my French speaking friend is a very clever person and a lawyer so I don't think we entered into this SIM card business lightly.
What I wish to advise future pilgrims is to wait until you get to Spain to buy a SIM card! And if you can, pay with cash so that they don't have your credit card details to make further unauthorized withdrawals/payments.
Buen Camino all.