I often get asked the same questions about sporadic internet useage in Spain by PM. As I was replying to one of these today, I realised it would be more sensible to post the answer in the public forum! In any case, others who are more qualified can refine my explanations, especially when it is about generic stuff like how to reflash a 3G modem etc.

Firstly, the question was asked if once a dongle is configured for use in one country it can be used with another SIM elswhere. My answer was:

Secondly, I had been asked advice on prepaid data plans and on what the catch is with Simyo.

Bimgo sim
 

Hi,

what i still have not found out is whether the blau.es BIMGO monthly flat for 21,50 € is available as a SIM only (Price?) or if it comes always with a USB modem stick for 49,00 € including 1 month flatrate.

In the Media Markt where I got my blau voice SIM they have sold out all blau stuff and did not know anything. In the Phonehouse they had only SIMs for voice calls (and data 8ct/512kB).

Do you know more about this?

I always presumed that by calling their CS they can switch your standard data tariff to the monthly flat tariff. i.e. Same SIM. That would seem logical at least.

Sorry I do not know more.

Masmovil 3G
 

I live in the Alpujarra mountains and have a great problem getting signals. this is just part of a long story but I bought a MasMovil card in the Correos after waiting over 3 weeks for one to arrive that Mas said they had sent!
I cannot speak Spanish yet so it causes some problems, however I was assured by Correos that the card was activated. I paid 10€ which was 10€ credit. So good so far, so I went online and registered the card etc.... It doesn't work, I cannot telephone or send sms, BUT the b******* charged me 50 cents each time I tried to use it to phone my other phone to see if it WAS working, this is on a French mobile number and charged me to phone their customer services, and yet I cannot use the phone!!! I telephoned their helpline..... maybe 10 times over 4/5 days, each time the CS said in English, I cannot speak English but give me your number and someone will call you back..... no-one ever has and now it's ten days later. Their web site does not work, you cannot order a card from there, I tried many times, and was told by their CS via email that they were working on it. Also it has deals on there ending in JULY..... still! A friend telephoned their Spanish CS and was told, the number was working ok, and maybe to take out the sim and re install the sim.... of course this made no difference... so now it is in the waste bin where it belongs!!! I wasted so much time on it.
Companies just don't seem to realise the lifetime value of a customer any more.... I wanted to use their internet 3G... crazy.

Blau
 

Hi

I believe that you can...... I have just bought the 49€ deal with Alcatel usb modem, but I seem to remember that you can buy the card online by itself.... BUT, the sim works, only on GSM 4 or 5.. which is like a slow dialup, it is a nightmare, I have emailed their CS twice since Tuesday without receiving a reply!
Now I know my situation is not good but with my PDA phone hung in my window and Vodafone internet card I can log on at home with one bar 3G. The only problem is it costs 50€ a month unlimited. If I drive to the top of the hill 100 metres from my cortijo I can get 4/5 bars, yet with the Blau I still only get GSM 4/5. Wonderr if anyone can offer any advice. By the way, I ordered the Vodafone USB modem expecting that this would work because my PDA phone worked with the 3G card..... WRONG.... it cannot get a signal at all, so I bought a high gain antenna from Panorama Antennas with a modem mate! NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL and no difference to the signal on the Alcatel Blau either....!!!

I am just about ready to tear my hair out.... what's left of it. If anyone has any suggestions, I am a good listener.

I use a Youigo in my phone and that works ok 95 per cent of the time.
Thanks in advance....
Graham

Sounds like your not having much fun. Your life out there reminds me of "Driving over lemons". I presume you've read it? I suppose it's a life which is supposed to be far from the world of headaches of modern life and 3G internet! ;)

When you say GSM 4/5 what do you mean? Are you talking about bars?

Have you tried the Yoigo SIM in your 3G modem in your area? They use Movistar, so in theory that should have the best 3G coverage.
It will work out a lot cheaper than the 50 euros you waste on Vodafone.

I'm sure we can work something out. There has to be something that will work.

Hi Good to hear from you.... No not read the book yet but have heard about it...:-)

I have tried what you suggested, put the Yoigo card into Alcatel Blau modem and appeared to be about the same . These are the diagnostics from Blau and Yoigo.

THIS IS WITH BLAU CARD
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem name :
HSPA USB MODEM
Firmware version :
C1111000
IMEI :
352079030315954
IMSI :
214190040018681
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Operator Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PIN code status :
READY
Network code :
21403
Network selection mode :
auto
Network mode :
GSM
Signal strength :
level 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Network Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CS network registration :
registered, roaming
PS network registration :
registered, roaming
PS network attachment :
attached

THIS IS WITH YOIGO CARD the Yoigo would not work in the Vodafone modem.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem name :
HSPA USB MODEM
Firmware version :
C1111000
IMEI :
352079030315954
IMSI :
214040103287218
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Operator Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PIN code status :
READY
Network code :
21407
Network selection mode :
auto
Network mode :
GSM
Signal strength :
level 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Network Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CS network registration :
registered, roaming
PS network registration :
registered, roaming
PS network attachment :
attached

THIS IS WITH YOIGO CARD

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem name :
HSPA USB MODEM
Firmware version :
C1111000
IMEI :
352079030315954
IMSI :
214040103287218
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Operator Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PIN code status :
READY
Network code :
21407
Network selection mode :
auto
Network mode :
GSM
Signal strength :
level 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Network Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CS network registration :
registered, roaming
PS network registration :
registered, roaming
PS network attachment :
attached

Vodafone dongle would not accept any other card.
Something interesting this morning..... I had emailed to Blau asking what was the problem and had also emailed to Simyo because I tried to order one of their cards online..... Had a reply from both this morning..... It is the same company. Both emails were the same, asking me to ring this number, which was the same for both companies!

So no luck yet......
Any more suggestions???....:-)

cheers.... have a good one...
Graham

Yes Blau and Simyo along with a few more are part of e-plus Moviles S.A. which again is a part of KPN. All their networks are MVNO's and piggyback on Orange. It appears you only have 2G (GPRS) coverage of Orange, so Simyo will also not help you.

Have you looked up coverage maps of all the networks by any chance? You can find these on the company websites and even on sites like GSMWorld etc.

The Yoigo test suggests you also only have 2G coverage for Movistar, and as expected none on their own Yoigo network.

So unfortunately it looks like you are stuck on Vodafone, who are the only ones who appear to have 3G coverage where you are. I am not that familiar with other MVNO's that use the Vodafone network in Spain. (i.e. Piggy back networks). I know Yoigo have a deal with them, but unfortunately only for 2G data. Their 3G roaming partner is Movistar. There are probably about a dozen MVNO's on Vodafone. I think BT are also with them, but I am not sure of their data rates (or if they have).
For a list of some of the MVNO's in Spain see:
Comparativa tarifas móvil low cost: Movistar, Vodafone, Orange, Yoigo y OMVs
Unfortunately, no data rates there.

Also, have you considered traditional wired broadband? It may be a much cheaper option for you!

movidata.es
 

Hi,

at The Phonehouse they sell movidata.es with unlocked stick for 59€, either 6€/100MB or dayflat 2,50€
Balance does not expire, SIM expires after 6 months without use.
Is this SIM available without modem????
I ask this because the told me at The Phonehouse that it is not.
Which network is used?
I only know that it can be recharged in the same way as happymovil.

Re blau.es: I've used this on many places and sometimes got an UMTS connection, but even this was very slow. They use national roaming on AMENA.

I use the same basic connection through Amena (Orange), however mine is through Simyo... but its's all the same! The ISP is Simfonics Iberia. My UMTS connections are not too bad. Just did a test this morning via speedtest.net and I got 1.26Mb/s down and about 0.33 up! Could be better for HSDPA but it's not bad! I think I have had faster in the past though!

Unless someone has had a better experience with simyo than I had, I'd recommend to stay away from their 500mb/€5 plan as it seems to be a lie. No I also didn't think big companies would do things like that, but it looks no better :P Will see if they do something about it now that I complained, but they sure didn't seem very helpful and I'm probably going to try to report the company tomorrow. The customer service is a joke.

Wrote a more detailed post in the simyo thread.

I still have decent experiences, though their speed seems to be going downhill, at least in in rural areas (even where there is 3G & 3.5G coverage). In my house it used to be good enough for VoIP calls but no longer. However I still have no problems doing VoIP calls anywhere within the city perimeter of Madrid.

But it looks like you do not have a data complaint but a billing complaint! Have you been overcharged? Can you give some details? Remember that it is actually 500mb/€5.80 if you consider VAT! You will get charged at standard rates in (i.e. in small increments) until you hit this level, and then you will no longer get charged per session! Have you been online and checked the data connection details. I would suggest copy-pasting these into excel, summing and reading the bottom lines.

There is an issue that some may not be aware of. The data gets measured in 256kb blocks. In theory therefore if you do 2000 connections of 50k each you will hit your 500MB limit though the real data (as measured by your mobiles data counter) has only been around 100MB. Curious... but is this the issue you are facing?

Agree 100%.

Where?

Connected to 3G Yoigo internet - bought it at the PhoneHouse. So far it works pretty well although it's not the cheapest.

Read about my experiences with 3G high speed internet in Spain here.

Seems like my other post was deleted, I'll summarize it.

Yes you bet it's a billing problem. They have charged me €6.2 so far for about 20 megabytes, and this is in 6 days. I didn't realize that charging in blocks makes every mail check count as 256 kb, and had my iPhone set to fetch every 15 minutes. Even so, I don't have more than maybe 400 blocks *at most*, which would be 100 mb, so why isn't it stopping at €5?
When my friend called them (since I don't speak Spanish) they were just trying to buy time, giving random reasons that made no sense ("you can't be charged more money than you buy for your card" - yeah I know it's prepaid) and saying for instance that "maybe it's better not to use it so much because it's not designed for that". In the end refused to do anything about the fact that I'm being charged too much.

In Sweden I can get 1gb at 7 Mbit for €15, including access to thousands of Wifi spots around Europe, or 500 mb or less for around €10, so I'm pretty disappointed with Spain. :P
Haven't found anything below €25 per month except this one.

Ok, I was about to order simyo (.es - heading out to Spain next month) now I'll probably go with 20 EUR Yoigo from the Phonehouse. Any other caveats/updates (BTW good job laptopnomad)?

Isn't the Yoigo one 25 Euros for 3GB? The benefit is that this is on their own network or on Movistar which has good coverage. (all at 3Mbps)
Yoigo - Internet para llevar. Accede a internet en un ordenador desde donde quieras.

Simyo (as I mentioned in the other post) is now 18 EUR for 1GB or 25 for 5GB (3.6Mbps)
simyo - Habla gratis entre número simyo, sólo 8cent/min al resto.Siempre.

Blau is 21,50 for "unlimited" though they throttle after 1GB. (3.6Mbps until then)
blau - Qué es.

Masmovil is getting decent reviews and is a good choice for occasional use at a low 1.5c/512KB. (3.6 Mbps) They have an English website, and English speaking customer service. They are also supposed to have some tariff of 18 Euros per month for 1 GB.
MSmovil: The smart mobile choice ;)

Apart from Yoigo, all of the above are on Orange, who don't have the best coverage and are getting a bit congested in places. Some people are now preferring the move to Vodafone who can get you HSUPA speeds. I think the best one for that is Pepephone who will give you 300MB for 7 Euros or 1GB for 17.99.
pepephone.com - El operador móvil que vuela - Contratación


Just watch out for minimum consumption on all of these, in case you want to keep your SIM active for the next trip. Simyo is still good es there is still no consumo minimo, even though their customer service is shocking!

Also see: Comparativa tarifas internet móvil desde ordenador

Oh, sure - I meant 20 EUR SIM card ("package") and then use for some days the 3 EUR/day plan until I run out of credit. Good point about minimum consumption, forgot about that. I don't care much about what happens to the card after I leave (same month, March) but I was assuming it'll be good for some months afterward for receiving.

This Pepephone sounds certainly interesting especially if the starting packet/SIM is available for reasonable price/with the right amount of credit included. Is it available at ThePhoneHouse?

No, I don't think so. I think the only places that it is available is Pepephone.com and travel agencies of Halcon Viajes and Viajes Ecuador. There are more than a 1000 of those around Spain. You can look for them here:
Offices of Halcon Viajes
Offices of Viajes Ecuador

Thanks for the valuable overview of the prepaid data options. I will be visiting Spain for a short stay (9 days) so from the above offers, I guess that the best is the one offered by Masmovil.

However, they state on their webpage that in order to activate the data option, you need first to go to your account on the web. This is rather strange, since most mobile operators, have the internet pre-activated and if not, you need to send an SMS or contact the customer service from your mobile. And it's strange, because in order to have internet on your mobile you need to already have access to the internet from a computer :D

Do you know if this is the only way to have the SIM activated for data? Or if the rest of the providers have the same requirement? I noticed on the Pepephone web site that the internet is possibly pre-activated on the SIM but I'm not so sure since my Spanish are not good at all.

With Masmovil you can activate internet from their website or by calling 1473.

Thanks. I won't be able to activate internet from their website, since I won't have any internet connection when I'll arrive in Spain. ;)

I hope that they can activate internet alternatively by calling 1473, even though they explicitly say on their help/FAQ section that internet activation is possible only though the web.

I wonder who are the geniuses coming with these ideas. Last time I've had my internet connection down I called my ISP and the menu for connection problems and support was ending with something like "go to this URL". Apparently phone support is only for people who want to buy more stuff from them...

Have a look at:
MSmovil: Despierta tu mvil! ;)

Thanks a lot for the info and the link petkow. However, the link is about the "Fixed Price tariff of 1GB" and not the "normal" pay as you go Internet.

Their user guide explicitly states:
MSmovil: The smart mobile choice ;)


And their FAQ section, says exactly the same:
MSmovil: The smart mobile choice ;)

Rather confusing and contradictory information really. I really hope that your information is more updated and I can activate the internet by a phone call.

Despierta tu móvil ;) llama gratis al 1473
 

Take a look at the top right-hand corner of this page:
https://clientes.masmovil.es/MasVida...oycliente.html

In spanish it says: "Despierta tu móvil ;) llama gratis al 1473"

Which means: "Wake-up, i.e. activate, your mobile, by calling the free phone number 1473."

Thanks babble, hope it works that way :)

Sorry I cannot help any more. I agree the information is contradictory. However, I am pretty sure that you can sort it out with their customer service on 1473. I mean, it would be really quite bad, if they could not do that for you!

I mean, at the very worst case, all the person on the other end of the phone needs to do is open a browser on his PC, enter your account (with your permission of course) and activate it for you!

Otherwise I guess, you will need to find an internet cafe or free wifi hotspot somewhere for a few minutes worth of browsing.

Thanks petkow, I'll call their customer service and if the activation is not possible I'll try to find a solution or another mobile provider.

Pepephone's offer of 300MB/7€ is very good considering they use the Vodafone network and internet is pre-activated. Unfortunately, if I understood their terms correctly, this offer works more like a monthly "contract" and it's not pre- but postpaid.

MASMovil Data flatrate
 

Just as an update to this thread, I note that MASmovil have made their page a bit clearer now to suggest that any step of the registration for their flatrate can be done via their site, or by dialling 1473. If doing it via the phone, and if the person on the other end speaks little English, then just make sure you use the magic words: "Tarifa Plana Internet": For the info page see: Tarifa Plana Internet

The tariff is 18 Euros for 1GB of useage in a month. This is valid both for prepaid and contract customers. If you are a prepaid customer, make sure that you have over 20 Euros of credit on your account before asking for this, as the full amount will be charged at the outset. Remember the 18 Euros does not include IVA (VAT).

Also remember that your 1GB of internet is actually charged as 2000 blocks of 512kB. Therefore, if you are planning many small connections (such as for periodic automatic email retrieval) then use this tariff with care! After you have used your 2000 blocks, you will be charged at 1.5c per 512 kB.

For people who can read Spanish, all T's and C's are clearly laid out in this pdf as well: http://www.masmovil.es/documents/con...e-internet.pdf

Hi Guys!


Just looking for the simple (classic) prepaid/prepago solution for the foreigner coming to the vicinity of Javea city coast area for a week holidays.

Interested in buying some SIM solution with the following:


- instant use a few hours after buy, clear instruction with startup codes;
- purchase cost up to 20E, with the start top-up ready to use for data&calls or data only;
- no need to activate the data transfer separately via web/phone;
- rates up to let say 10cents/1MB, less the better ,or the preactivated data bulk available;
- daily data rates less preffered, cause I suppose may be difficult to activate;
- no need to fix it much with the residential proof, etc;

- clear setups for data issues like Google Tłumacz

- also microSIM for iPad would be an advantage.


any idea what prepaid provider to choose for the mentioned or similar requirements ?


Thanks in advance! PM's also welcomed:roll:.



--
best regards,
August

ask for some prepaid solution
 

Hi !


Just looking for the simple (classic) prepaid/prepago solution for the foreigner coming to the vicinity of Javea city / Alicante coast area for a week holidays in September.

Interested in buying some SIM solution with the following :


- instant use after a few hours after buy, clear instructions on startup codes;
- purchase cost up to 20E, with the start top-up ready to use for the /calls&data/ or /data only/;
- no need to activate the data transfer separately via web/phone;
- rates up to 10cents/1MB, less the better ,or the preactivated data bulk available;
- daily data rates less preffered, cause I suppose may be difficult to activate;
- no need to fix it much with the residential proof, etc;
- also microSIM coming soon for iPad would be an advantage.


any idea which prepaid provider to choose for the mentioned or similar requirements ?


Thanks in advance! PM's also welcomed.



--
best regards,
August

I think masMovil is the simplest all-round package. You don't need to take their monthly data plan. Just pay 3c/MB. Also, I think they are currently allowing 30MB per month free data. Check the site for more details:

MSmovil - Tu operador low cost de telefona. Tarifa mvil barata

Looking into the same thing. Want to take my Android phone with me to Javea in August and not have to turn everything off such as email and navigation and a bit of browsing.
Favouring MasMovil as the coverage map has good coverage around Javea area.
Can you get MasMovil to deliver to the UK or would it be best to get one from ebay?
Also, do these sims expire as we go back to Javea quite often i.e. annually.

You will not be able to get them to deliver to the UK. I am not sure how many genuine sellers there are on ebay, but you may be lucky. Spanish SIM's tend to not be sold on ebay because of the compulsory registration issue. Best is to try and get a MasMovil SIM once when you are here, but the experience of another member on here recently suggested that they are not always easily available.

In terms of coming back again with the same SIM in the future, just remember that on the masMovil SIM you have a minimum obligation to spend 1 euro per month. (This is one of the reasons why personally I prefer the Simyo card that has no minimum spend requirement). On MasMovil, if you do not spend 1 euro in credit, (such as if you are back in the UK), it will just take this from your credit. After your credit gets to zero, you have 90 days to top up the SIM if you want to keep it active, or else it will be blocked for good.

What it boils down to is this. If you are planning on coming back again in 6 months, make sure you have at least 3 euros of credit left before you leave. 1 euro will be charged every month, and after 3 months your credit will go to zero. Once this happens, the clock will start ticking, and you have roughly another 3 months (90 days) to top it up again to reactivate the SIM. During those 3 months you do not need to be paying 1 euro a month (i.e. the account does not go negative).

Movistar pre paid Card
 

on a different matter : Movistar sells pre paid sim cards and somehow or other the shop says the normal Internet plans Movistar offers will not fit on this card, but that internet will be billed at 1 eur per mb. He states that my card will not support the same plan a dongle would (for which a separate pre paid card is available). Yet, when they try to sell the plan, they also try to sell you an iphone.
This sounds like absolute nonsense to me; can someone knowledgeable shed light on this ?

this is the plan I want to put on the card:

http://www.tarifas.movistar.es/parti...mium#contratar

Isnt this how it should work? Or does Movistar simply not have pre paid cards with a data plan other then 1 eur per mb ?

what happened to my post regarding Movistar ? IT was being reveiwed the system said, but I haven't seen it show up

Petkow, thank you for you feedback!

regards,
August

Movistar Internet packages
 

Guess my previous post got lost. I have a Movistar Tarjeta, which the salesman in the Movistar shop says cannot be upgraded with a Premium Internet package but can only do data on the 3 euro /day thing.
I want to pay 29 (incl. IVA) for a month of the Premium Plan for my iphone, but he says this is not possible and is only for people with a contract.

I need to know if this is nonsense or not and if there exist prepaid Internet plans; just throwing 3 euro a day at the problem is not my idea of a solution.
Plus, the speed is only 1mbit down if I underatnd him correctly.

Can anyone shed a light on this ?

thanx !

something weird going with "moderator must approve" as nothing seems to get approved ?

You seem to be OK with posting now, judging by your 2 posts. Can you not just repost the other that is missing?