Phone advice please....

[Kimberley Hall]

Good evening all you lovely pilgrims,

In a week I'll be setting off to walk the Camino del Norte. I've decided not to take any device that has internet. I have a old phone just in case of emergencies, that literally text and calls. I'm not sure whether to take a UK sim, or to buy one there. I land in Bilbao so I imagine they're pretty accessible. What do you advise?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

If the phone is an unlocked, three band GSM phone, you can get a SIM chip for a Spanish mobile company. Your UK sim might work, but the roaming charges could be quite high. Vodafone, Orange, and Movistar all get good reviews and have good coverage.

 

[Sara M]

Hi Kimberely
I've just returned from walking the del Norte and had a truly wonderful time. Get as fit as you can and take it slowly!

I bought a Spanish sim in Irun (Orange) and topped it up at ATM machines and larger supermarkets, but your phone has to be unlocked.

Have a rethink about not having access to the Internet. Great thought, but if you want to pre-book accommodation or you want translation help it will be much easier. To save weight I took a Wise Pilgrim Del Norte App on my iphone which has a very useful Sat Nav 'blue spot', which tells you exactly where you are on and off the Camino and was especially useful for navigating out of cities. I found it invaluable when the yellow arrows petered our or I missed one.

Also useful for finding alternative accommodation, places to eat in cities, making travel arrangements to get home (downloading your boarding pass) and consulting this website!

Yes the Internet is a double-edged sword, but I was glad to have it on many occaisions especially walking solo in isolated areas. You can always turn it off until you need it.

If you decide to walk without it, some private albergues have PAYG computers and there are Internet cafes in larger towns...

Have a wonderful time and 'Muy Buen Camino'.

Sara

 

[Bradypus]

I have a Three UK sim and have used that very successfully on several caminos. If you are on pay monthly contract you can use your normal allowance at no extra cost. If like me you are on pay-as-you-go you just need to buy a standard add-on package for the same benefits. The £10 add-on gives a fairly generous call, text and data allowance valid for 1 month.

 

[Tia Valeria]

We have old Orange PAYG phones with UK sim. No internet just text and talk. They work well and we used them with our UK vouchers. If you need to add a voucher check that you have the full Orange phone number as +44.......with the 450 suffix.
Text 'To Spain' to Orange and you will get a text back with the costs to and from Spain.

 

[jo webber]

For those of us outside of Europe, would it be possible to buy a phone with one or two months of service?

My cell phone turned into an unusable brick in France last year, and years ago the sim card bought in the US for Italy, did not work when we got there.

 

[jmcarp]

For those of us outside of Europe, would it be possible to buy a phone with one or two months of service?

My cell phone turned into an unusable brick in France last year, and years ago the sim card bought in the US for Italy, did not work when we got there.

There are many options for obtaining a SIM card prior to leaving the US. I got a SIM card from http://www.simsforspain.com/. They're located in Boston. I chose the Orange Mundo plan and had excellent coverage along the Camino Francés. I topped up a couple of times along the way at Orange stores in Burgos and Sarria. Purchase the card far enough in advance to get it registered so it will work as soon as you hit the ground, otherwise you will have to register it after you get to Spain. (Could that have been the problem with your previous experience in France and Italy?) Registration involves sending an image of your passport info. Call their support line if you have questions.

 

[jo webber]

There are many options for obtaining a SIM card prior to leaving the US. I got a SIM card from http://www.simsforspain.com/. They're located in Boston. I chose the Orange Mundo plan and had excellent coverage along the Camino Francés. I topped up a couple of times along the way at Orange stores in Burgos and Sarria. Purchase the card far enough in advance to get it registered so it will work as soon as you hit the ground, otherwise you will have to register it after you get to Spain. (Could that have been the problem with your previous experience in France and Italy?) Registration involves sending an image of your passport info. Call their support line if you have questions.

Thank you so much. I will contact them and see what I need to do.

 

[John Sikora]

Another option would be cellularabroad.com for US based customer. I used them to buy a couple of months usage with I think 2GB of Internet usage.

 

[ChloeRose]

Orange doesn't have the best pricing but you'll be able to find their stores much easier than some of the cheaper options. I'd suggest a trickle of data and a few hundred minutes/texts. It's worth it!

A side note: be careful not to call 1-800 type numbers on your foreign SIM. They aren't considered toll free in Spain and often are priced even higher than normal numbers.