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Keep the above in mind when you read my suggestion.Any suggestion would be helpful.
Your correct $10 day is expensive. I may even take a spare phone for spanish sim. Just means id have to load whatsap contacts before I go. My undestanding is to leave data turned of on current phone, unless needed.If you want to keep your number then the only solution is to use international roaming. I believe you can purchase an international roaming package on your Telstra account for around $10 per day. To me, that is a lot of money. A SIM swap is much cheaper but you don’t get to use your Australian phone number. We have never found that to be a problem as we advise friends to use WhatsApp.
Yes think thats easier option. Thank youWe always take out our SIM card and get a new one in madrid. You just purchase 30 day with internet and top up when needed. Once home switch sims back. You can use orange or vodafone or what ever, you provider you find, a lot of places that will help you there and most speak English. So bring your phone but leave your SIM card out.
If you want to keep your number then the only solution is to use international roaming
I always buy a Spanish SIM card from Movistar or Vodafone. Before inserting the SIM card I divert my Australian number to the new Spanish number so I therefore get any phone calls on my Australian number. The Spanish sim costs about 20€ per month.Hi all. Asking all Australians what was the best way to use your current phone on the Camino plesse. IDid you just use roaming? Only need phone for whatsapp and accomm. I have an Samsung S10 and it doesnt have esim capability. Want to keep my normal number and currently using Telstra. Any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks in advance. Good Way
Before inserting the SIM card I divert my Australian number to the new Spanish number so I therefore get any phone calls on my Australian number.
This is my understanding too...To be able to swap SIM cards, it is my understanding that you need to have an unlocked phone. Check with Telstra.
Yes think thats easier option. Thank you
Oh ok thanks. Ill need to figure out how to divert. Im just going to buy a spanish sim over there. Thanks everyone for your suggestionsI always buy a Spanish SIM card from Movistar or Vodafone. Before inserting the SIM card I divert my Australian number to the new Spanish number so I therefore get any phone calls on my Australian number. The Spanish sim costs about 20€ per month.
Thats my concern also. If cI change to differant sim, I may loose access to all my aps, banking and emails saved re camino. I think Im goingv o take 2 phones. Current switched of till needed, and spare with O/S simI use an Italian or German SIM and roaming is free across Europe. However, there is a problem in that when I attempt to access my Australian bank online via my phone the website sends a security code to my Oz number, which of course I cannot use. My bank does not allow a foreign number to be referenced, nor my email address.I therefore endure much frustration in getting essential banking completed. Maybe it's just my bank...
I keep a seperate bank for my travel, it is different to my main bank account. This way nothing of my personal banking can be compromised when travelling. I simply join another bank and get a travel money card from it. But I’m Australian and unsure how it works for other countrie. I deposit all the money I wish to spend for my holiday in it, and if needed I can transfer more in.Thats my concern also. If cI change to differant sim, I may loose access to all my aps, banking and emails saved re camino. I think Im goingv o take 2 phones. Current switched of till needed, and spare with O/S sim
there is a problem in that when I attempt to access my Australian bank online via my phone the website sends a security code to my Oz number, which of course I cannot use.
Thats my concern also. If cI change to differant sim, I may loose access to all my aps, banking and emails saved re camino.
Dont think so.... dont get something for nothing in Aussie lolOut of interest (I’m from the UK and have a UK contract) but are there any companies in Australia that offer free data, texts and calls from Europe back to Australia. I am currently on my second trip from UK to Australia in three months and without initially realising m, I get free data, texts and calls from here as well as 26 other ‘Longhaul countries’ as well as Europe! Very much depends on your provider though!
Ah ok! I was very suprised to be honest that I got it!Dont think so.... dont get something for nothing in Aussie lol
I don't understand exactly what you need: "only need phone for whatsapp and accomm" and "want to keep my normal number".Hi all. Asking all Australians what was the best way to use your current phone on the Camino plesse. IDid you just use roaming? Only need phone for whatsapp and accomm. I have an Samsung S10 and it doesnt have esim capability. Want to keep my normal number and currently using Telstra. Any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks in advance. Good Way
Most will. The only exception that I found was the AlertCops app, which needs to be setup with the number of the new SIM. Once that was done, everything else was fine (or at least, I didn't find any other app that wasn't working).All your apps still work after you swap the SIM.
Hey Laural. That was very helpful. Thanks very much. Im not a user of Whatsap and on the odd occasion Ivd tried to use O/S I havent had any luck. My understanding is the contacts must be added to whatsap before you can contact them, and you cant just call people like messenger. Ive been trying to source info on how to use it. No I was unsure about loosing access to my loaded aps with a differant sim. Thanks so much.I don't understand exactly what you need: "only need phone for whatsapp and accomm" and "want to keep my normal number".
In my experience, Whatsapp is the most commonly used method to book accommodation.
If you need to be able to receive calls on your Australian number, as was suggested before, perhaps you can leave a recorded message to contact you via email or whatsapp instead while you're away. This will save you a lot of money, as you can avoid roaming altogether.
In case you didn't know, if you swap the SIM card for a local one, all the whatsapp contacts, chat history, etc. remain the same. People can still reach you through whatsapp using your Aussie number, even after you swapped the SIM.
You must ensure that your phone is unlocked though, for the SIM swap to work for you.
If you go the SIM swap route, don't buy your Spanish SIM at the airport (it's a rip-of). I flew to Madrid, took a bus to Atocha station (5 Euro), and bought a Vodafone SIM at a shop there. I think it was 20 or 25 Euro for 28 days including plenty of data, and it was easy to recharge online when it was about to expire.
For your banking needs, I know that some Aussie banks will only use SMS to send you a verification code, but with CBA and Suncorp can be set to work with an app instead. All your apps still work after you swap the SIM.
The contacts don't needed to be added to WhatsApp itself, but they need to be in the contacts on your phone.My understanding is the contacts must be added to whatsap before you can contact them, and you cant just call people like messenger.
Thank you. So Im thinking approx 33 stages of frances, 33 accomm. Id better start adding lol.The contacts don't needed to be added to WhatsApp itself, but they need to be in the contacts on your phone.
You can text, call or video call on WhatsApp as easily as on Messenger.
WhatsApp was really a lifesaver for me last year. I was using it to call and text my husband and family back at home. Half way through my Camino I broke my wrist, and my phone broke at the same time. So I was in the public hospital with no way to contact my family, and the hospital didn't have a way for me to make an international call, but one of the doctors offered to let me use her phone to call my husband via WhatsApp. WhatsApp isn't something that we normally use at home, and I'm so glad that we had set it up for my husband before I left home! Otherwise, I don't know how long it could have been before I could have contacted my family.
There is an exception (I think) to adding the contacts. As I understand it, if you use the Wise Pilgrim app that it has a button on each accommodation page that you can just tap to call via WhatsApp without adding them to your contacts. I prefer to have them in my contacts, so that I can keep track of the name of the place that I called or is calling me.Thank you. So Im thinking approx 33 stages of frances, 33 accomm. Id better start adding lol.
No need to add the contacts before you go. They can be added at any time and as long as they also have WhatsApp you can contact them via WhatsApp.Thank you. So Im thinking approx 33 stages of frances, 33 accomm. Id better start adding lol.
I forgot to mention - it can be easier to add the contacts on your computer if your contacts sync with your phone.Thank you. So Im thinking approx 33 stages of frances, 33 accomm. Id better start adding lol.
So is there an easy way to add multiple contacts . Any ideas.?No need to add the contacts before you go. They can be added at any time and as long as they also have WhatsApp you can contact them via WhatsApp.
So that when you make friends or connections along the way you can also add them as a new contact and keep in touch with them via WhatsApp.
However I understand that for planning purposes you might want to add all the accommodation contacts before you go
This is how whatsapp deals with phone numbers while travelling: https://faq.whatsapp.com/514799537162613/?helpref=uf_shareHey Laural. That was very helpful. Thanks very much. Im not a user of Whatsap and on the odd occasion Ivd tried to use O/S I havent had any luck. My understanding is the contacts must be added to whatsap before you can contact them, and you cant just call people like messenger. Ive been trying to source info on how to use it. No I was unsure about loosing access to my loaded aps with a differant sim. Thanks so much.
As mentioned by @trecileSo is there an easy way to add multiple contacts . Any ideas.?
I forgot to mention - it can be easier to add the contacts on your computer if your contacts sync with your phone.
I use my main phone on messenger for my international calls. I have a Telstra prepaid. I let that run out if pre paid. I have an old phone that I put a European sim in. I can use that for local call in Spain. You can buy sims online before you go or get them in Spain. I have only used these on a few less travelled Caminos. Generally I have had to use a phone locally. Good luckHi all. Asking all Australians what was the best way to use your current phone on the Camino plesse. IDid you just use roaming? Only need phone for whatsapp and accomm. I have an Samsung S10 and it doesnt have esim capability. Want to keep my normal number and currently using Telstra. Any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks in advance. Good Way
No problem, and thank youI use my main phone on messenger for my international calls. I have a Telstra prepaid. I let that run out if pre paid. I have an old phone that I put a European sim in. I can use that for local call in Spain. You can buy sims online before you go or get them in Spain. I have only used these on a few less travelled Caminos. Generally I have had to use a phone locally. Good luck
yes adding on computer is defiantly easierAs mentioned by @trecile
However, I would suggest as you look up an accommodation or business, you will see their contact details, add them from there. If they are using WhatsApp this will appear on the contact. I will see if I can screenshot it to show you
If I have been charged I haven’t noticed it as my €20 SIM card with heaps of data always lasts the month easily . I have not tried to cut off the call quickly but mostly friends know I am overseas and call me on WhatsApp or messenger which are both free.I'm interested in what this costs. What I'm assuming is that a friend in Oz calls your Oz number and your Oz network forwards the call by an international call thus picking up the charges. They must pass this cost onto you. Is this the case?
Of course you could end the call quickly and call your friend back with some cheap method available to you like text, a call over the internet or using the Spanish network's allotment of overseas minutes granted to you.
As an update to the above I have just discovered that the Commonwealth Bank can now send a 'OTP' (One Time Password) to their CBA app if you have that installed on your phone/tablet. As yet I haven't tested this outside of Oz but will still need my 'clunky' solution above for non banking purposes.I have experienced the same issue as Karl Oz with our banks (CBA, Bank of Melbourne, etc) so my clunky solution is to carry 2 phones with me. For one of these I purchase a 'local' sim, for all 'local' calls, and the other I just use my Australian sim without any roaming packages. The Australian sim phone mainly stays off and generally only gets turned on when I am making a credit card purchase, to enable the bank to send me a 'One time Password' by text (or 'MyGov', Medicare, or similar). These incoming texts are definitely free with Optus, but I also believe the same is true with Telstra and Vodafone. Turning on the Australian sim occasionally also shows up any other texts that I might need to attend to as well. Hope this helps
You can still use your old number for WhatsApp with a new SIM. WhatsApp wil recognize that you have a new sim and ask which number you want to use. Spanish sim is what we use. Also, Spanish people may not answer if they see a foreign number in case it is a scam.Hi all. Asking all Australians what was the best way to use your current phone on the Camino plesse. IDid you just use roaming? Only need phone for whatsapp and accomm. I have an Samsung S10 and it doesnt have esim capability. Want to keep my normal number and currently using Telstra. Any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks in advance. Good Way
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