6 euros per month isnt much, (or is it?).

I had great customer service during the one call I made ... I was trying to find somewhere to top up and eventually called customer service. he didnt speak English, but with my very poor Spanish, he eventually got through to me that I should try internet/phone shops and anywhere that topped up other networks.... he was extremely patient, and wouldnt let me go until he was sure I had understood him.

The Phone House made sure my sim was activated there and then - they even got me to call them to make double sure. I dont know what they would have done if it hadnt worked, but it did.

Did you have a problem getting your sim activated?

That obviously depends how you use it but I agree normally 6 euros per month isn't much. They also have a more expensive offer without minimum consumption. In the beginning they couldn't actually change your tariff to that but I guess that it should be possible now.

I use Orange but a friend of mine has Yoigo. He had problems getting the sim card activated. Problems with activation of the sim occur with other operators as well and usually you just call the customer service, they activate the card manually and within a day everything works fine. However in my friends case it took them weeks to get this done. They were friendly and kept opening incidents reports for his line. They told him they would fix it and get back to him but it took a lot of calls from him and several weeks until they would actually do fix it.

If you want to be absolutely sure that the sim is fully activated you should have the guy in the phone shop call your new number. Because often you can make calls with a sim card that is not fully activated but others cannot call you.

And dont uy o on a Saturday or Sunday

I bought my TIM SIM on a Sunday, and the shop told me it wouldnt be activated until the Monday.... presumably to do with office hours or working day or something.

I bought my WIND SIM on a Saturday and the shop said it may not be activated until the Monday ..... but it was activated by the saturday evening.

In both instances, I was told that it couldnt be activated there and then because it was the weekend.

Richard

i guess i'm deciding between yoigo and vodafone then. for those who have used yoigo before: are you certain that incoming calls (in spain) are free? because the site lists 12cents/todas las llamdas.

i wasn't really anticipating the need to call customer service or anything.. i just need something that's cheap and easy to re-up

On the site it says todas las llamadas to emphasize it's the same price for calls to fixed lines, calls to yoigo mobile numbers and calls to mobile phones from other operators. With other operators you often have differences in prices depending where you call.

Incoming calls (in spain) are definitively free with all providers.

One more thing. If you plan to travel to other European countries during your stay you should be aware that for their prepaid customers yoigo currently only offers roaming in Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal, UK, and Sweden.

Carrefour movil (and the big providers of course) cover significantly larger parts of Europe.

Richard. I have a Nokia 6310i (oldie but goodie) that I used in Europe a while ago. It is unlocked and I can buy a SIM in Italy where I'll be traveling for a month. Do the SIM cards in Italy automatically allow you to use the phone as a modem,i.e. data? I will be staying mostly in a villa in Tuscany so no good internet service there. I have an IBM Thinkpad T40 which unfortunately does not have bluetooth. It does have infrared but I'm still trying to make that work re: modem. Can't seem to find the right driver for IRda. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!

Italian prepaid SIMs have a wide variety of plans, programs and "bolt-ons" that are generally activated or deactivated by texting a particular phrase to a particular number. I don't know all the plans because they seem to change them almost weekly. At one time, long ago, Wind had an unlimited GPRS plan that give you full Internet access for 20 Euro per month. I traveled all over using my laptop tethered to my T68i. It was slow but much cheaper and more convenient than an Internet cafe.

Wind dropped that plan and changed to other and then changed them yet again. Look on the Italy page for the (more or less) current information. But your plan will work: I've done it.

I just wanted to reiterate what Krabat and others were saying. A lot of my north American visitors need extra assurance on this fairly basic issue that the rest of us take for granted. There are very very few countries in the world where you are charged for incoming calls, and the USA just happens to be one of them!

For the rest of us (including everyone here in Europe), incoming calls are 100% free on any prepaid or postpaid cell/mobile phone. This is of course provided you are in the country where the SIM card is primarily intended to be used in. e.g. If you buy a Vodafone SIM in spain you will not get charged to recieve a call in Spain (regardless of where it comes from). However, if you take the SIM elsewhere in Europe (even if you are still on Vodafone), and if someone were to call then you you will get charged!