SIM cards in Spain etc.

[biscay]

SIM cards abroad Edit Post Reply




I have an old Nokia 6110 with software and I intend using it for E mail in Spain/ Portugal/Italy and France. I intent to use local SIM cards. The phone works on 900MHz so the card needs to support that band and it also needs to be "data enabled"
Anybody got any names of products to look for or other advice, especially in Spain and Italy?



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[LadyInBed]

This has been covered many times on this site. You should find threads if you do a search.
Or you can plow through the following info which I have extracted from this and other sites.

COMMUNICATIONS IN EUROPEAN WATERS

There would appear to be one factor above all others that prevents many would-be live-aboard sailors from ever casting off and which destroys much of the magic for those who do. It is not the threat of gales or the fear of drowning or the misery of seasickness but something far more basic to our human needs. It is the fear of being out of touch with loved ones back at home. This review looks at some of the ways in which modern technology can be used to obviate that fear.
Before looking at possible solutions, a word or two about the philosophy of living aboard as opposed to taking a holiday afloat. When one is in full-time employment one’s annual holiday is supremely important and one makes a very great deal of effort to make sure that it goes well. For the duration of the holiday reality is suspended: worries about relatives are put on one side, health problems are ignored and finances are temporarily over-stretched. By contrast, when one moves on board permanently, reality moves on too. Even though one might be living in paradise, problems can no longer be ignored but must be dealt with on a day-to-day basis. It is this aspect of living aboard that makes communication so vital.
Mobile Telephones
For those for whom money is not an issue modern telecommunications now offer a near-perfect solution. A combined mobile and satellite telephone can give instant access wherever you happen to be on the surface of the globe just as if you were sitting at home. Unfortunately, for the average live-aboard couple trying to make ends meet on limited funds, such systems are prohibitively expensive. However, for those cruising close to land in European waters, there are ways in which a mobile phone can be used to advantage without necessarily reeking havoc with the budget.
Mobile Networks
The Mobile Telephone Networks that cover European waters are all part of the international digital cellular system known as GSM. (Global System for Mobile Communications). All the countries in Europe have at least one Mobile Network, most have several. In the five years since we left the UK we have spent less than half a dozen nights out of range of a GSM aerial, a clear indication of the extent of the system.
GSM Networks in Europe use either the 900 MHz or the 1800 MHz frequency band but, as most new handsets can operate on either, the distinction is now largely academic. In the UK, Vodafone and O2 use 900 MHz and Orange and T-Mobile use 1800 MHz. (The system used in America is different but handsets are now available that can be used on all three systems.)
SIM Cards and Handset Locking
GSM handsets all require a small electronic chip known as a SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module) to be inserted before they can be used to log on to a network. It is the SIM card that carries the details of your account and telephone number, not the handset. Handset Locking, often inaccurately called SIM-locking, is the practice whereby handsets are locked so that they can only be used on the original Mobile Network. This, the Networks tell us, is to ensure that they recoup the subsidy given on the handset at the time of purchase. Before a handset can be used with a SIM card from a different Mobile Network it must be ‘unlocked’. Most handsets provided by Vodafone and O2 on monthly tariffs are unlocked from the outset but those they provide on pre-paid contracts and all handsets provided by Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin, are locked. Each company has a minimum period of time or a minimum expenditure on calls before it will unlock a handset and all but Virgin Mobile charge a fee for doing so. If you hope to use your handset with a foreign SIM card whilst cruising (see below) it is essential to ensure that it is unlocked before leaving the UK.
Using your UK Mobile Phone abroad
Using your UK mobile phone whilst abroad, a process known as ‘Roaming’, is simplicity itself: you switch the phone on, wait for it to log on to a local network and dial the number required. However, calls made in this way can be very expensive (see below). Beware too that you also have to pay to receive calls as you pay for the leg from the UK, not the caller.
Using a Foreign SIM card
It is the high cost of incoming calls that imposes the greatest limitation on the use of a UK mobile phone whilst abroad as callers may not appreciate that you are paying to receive their call. One solution favoured by those who remain in one country for a protracted period of time is to open a pre-paid, ‘SIM Card only’ account with a local Mobile Network. Provided your handset is ‘unlocked’ (see above) the new SIM card can be inserted into your UK phone giving it a local number e.g. a Spanish number if the card was bought in Spain. So long as you use the card only in the country of origin, incoming calls will be paid for entirely by the caller.
Text Messages
When we first set sail for the Mediterranean in 1998 we met few other yachtsmen who used the Short Message Service (SMS) that is built in to all GSM networks. Since then the kids have discovered it and ‘texting’ has become universal.
Most, though not all, GSM phones can send and receive text messages of up to 160 characters. Messages can also be sent from a computer equipped with a modem using a simple piece of software that can be downloaded off the Internet. Any messages sent to your phone whilst it is switched off are stored for up to 17 days. They are received within a few minutes next time the phone is switched on, wherever in the world you happen to be, provided it is in range of a GSM aerial and provided the local Mobile Network includes the SMS service which most now do. Messages cost nothing to receive and, in the UK, only around 12p to send: amazingly cheap for a messaging service that covers half the globe!
Whilst we are cruising one of our children acts as a point of contact for us in the UK. If she receives an urgent message for us she sends us an SMS message either from her mobile phone or from her computer at home. We normally keep our handset switched off but we turn it on for 10 minutes every day during supper. If our daughter has sent us a message we receive it at that time and can take action accordingly. More importantly, if there is no message, we know that there is no problem. To receive such reassurance every night at no cost is a great blessing. We have also found that SMS messages are the perfect means of keeping in contact and arranging meetings with fellow yachtsmen. We have enjoyed many a reunion in deserted anchorages that could not have been arranged in any other way.
Electronic Mail
Electronic Mail, or e-mail as it is universally known, works in a very similar way to SMS messaging: mail sent to your electronic ‘mail box’ is stored until you log on to receive it. However, unlike SMS messages, e-mails can be of any length and can also have files or pictures attached to them. We have received pictures of our grand-children in this way whilst cruising, a delight that any grandparent will readily appreciate, but do read the warning below about receiving attachments on board. A further advantage of e-mail is that the same message can be sent to any number of different recipients for no additional cost. We make use of this by sending regular ‘Passage Reports’ to friends and family to keep them in touch with our progress.
To send and receive electronic mail you need an e-mail address and access to the Internet. The simplest and cheapest way of doing this is to set up a ‘Web Mail’ account such as ‘Hotmail’ and use Internet Cafés to access the Internet. Internet Cafés can now be found in many places throughout the Mediterranean though not, of course, in deserted anchorages miles from civilization.
E-mail on board
To send and receive e-mail on board requires the use of a device on which to read and write your mail, a means to connect to the Internet and an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The most popular device is a laptop computer as it can be used for many other purposes on board, but it is equally possible to use a PDA such as a Psion or Palm or a combined PDA/Mobile Phone. You can connect to the Internet via a satellite link or by SSB radio, but the most common method is to use a mobile phone.
Connection Issues
To use a mobile phone to connect your laptop or PDA to the Internet it must be designed to handle data. As the majority of handsets are not it is essential to check before you buy. You also need to consider the method of joining the two together. Some handsets use an infra‑red link, some use a cable and some can use either. Infra‑red links are limited in range which, if your laptop and handset are on a table at or below sea level, may create problems with reception. A handset joined to your laptop by a cable can be held up through the companionway where the signal strength is likely to be greater. In the last few months, handsets using ‘Bluetooth’, a wireless protocol, have come on to the market which could be ideal if your laptop or PDA is similarly equipped.
Whichever connection method you prefer the handset and laptop must be compatible. Not all laptops have infra-red ports and many new ones do not have serial ports either. Whatever you choose, make sure you can join them up!
Before you can use your handset to connect to the Internet your account must be ‘data enabled’. This must be done by your Mobile Network and involves switching on the necessary services by tapping the appropriate codes into their computer. If you wish to avoid long and expensive international calls back to your Mobile Network it is essential that you ask for this to be done before you leave the UK, but the good news is that it is usually done free of charge. However, yachtsmen favouring the ‘Foreign SIM’ approach (see above) should note that not all ‘SIM Card only’ accounts can be ‘data enabled’ and even those that can, may involve a conversation in the local shop that will tax your language skills to the limit!
Surfing the Web is not very practical on board as a GSM link provides a connection at only 9,600 bps. However, some yachtsmen do use this method to obtain weather charts and/or forecasts, especially before a long passage.
Choice of Internet Service Provider
The services provided by all ISPs include a telephone number or numbers through which you can connect to the Internet and one or more e-mail addresses and their associated mailboxes. The choice of ISPs in the UK is huge but the special needs of those of us cruising abroad cut this down to a much smaller number.
Many yachtsmen use a ‘free’ dial-up service provided by a UK-based ISP. Calls made from abroad to log on to the Internet through such an ISP will be international and charged as such. If you wish to consider this option it is essential to choose an ISP that provides a telephone number that can be dialled from abroad. (Most use 0845 numbers that can be called only from within the UK.) Virgin.net has such a number and is therefore a popular choice.
A popular alternative is to use an ISP that provides local telephone numbers in the countries you intend to visit. CompuServe, AOL and ATTGlobal provide such numbers throughout the world though the latter concentrates on business accounts that are rather expensive for personal use. Dial Pipex provides numbers in many European countries though, unfortunately, not in Croatia or Turkey. Calls made to log on to one of these services will be ‘in-country’ which, depending upon your choice of Mobile Network and tariff, can be cheaper than an international call back to the UK (see below).
A recent innovation is a service offered by two companies called Iberpass and Net2Roam. For a fee, these companies provide telephone numbers abroad that you can use to send and receive e-mail from your UK-based ISP. Further information can be found from their web sites at
http://www.iberpass.com/ and http://www.net2roam.com/

Colvic:
http://www.efax.com
Public Telephones
The combination of e-mail and SMS messaging has solved almost, though not quite all of our problems over communication whilst cruising. For relatives without e-mail or fax we send letters and postcards and there are also times when only a chat will do. On these occasions we use public telephone boxes. In most European Countries the public telephones are now operated by using a ‘smart card’ issued by the Telecom Company and, for some reason which I have never been able to fathom, often obtainable from a tobacconist. However, in those countries that have embraced the concept of competition in the Telecoms industry it is also possible to use third-party pre-paid cards to make calls. These usually take the form of ‘scratch cards’ which enable you to dial a special number and then make a call or calls up to the value of the card. Not surprisingly, they usually offer better value than the local company. In Spain, BT have a pre-paid system that enables one to telephone the UK from any public telephone for the equivalent of 22p per minute, day and night charged by the second. To set up the system dial 900 94 89 25 from any phone in Spain (it is a free call) with a credit card to hand.


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[charles_reed]

What about GPRS

And addressing the question originally posed.

I am of the opinion that only Telefonica in Spain used the 900 band, Amena certainly don't.

I've used SIM cards form both those two, SFR and Orange in France and TIM and iWIND in Italy. All these require a bi or tri-band phone.

I've found that using internet cafés is by far the most economical way to send any volume of e-mail, but SFR, like Vodafone in the UK, do offer a very limited text-only e-mail via GPRS. Costs amount to £7.50 per mB, but as you can only send 150 characters @ about 11kB this shouldn't prove a major problem.

In view of the low cost of mobiles you'll probably be better off ditching your obsolescent one and getting something more able to take advantage of continental GSM networks.

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[LadyInBed]

Re: addressing the question

Came under the part of the question "other advice".
Don't you just hate a smart arse?

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[Ric]

The Movistar prepaid SIM cards in Spain are data-enabled. The vendors will insist that only the usbscription cards are data enabled, but they are wrong. I have bought prepaid cards in the past and if you ring the helpline and tell them you have a subscription, they will give you the set up details and hey-presto you have email on a prepaid SIM. If you don't speak Spanish you can email me and I will send you the dial up numbers etc.

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[cynthia]

Also have a Nikkia. Have found Vodafone SIM good, and established GPRS use on board with the help of their free helpline. Also use the same system in Portugal simply by changing to a local SIM.

Much cheaper down the local internet cafe though!

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[MedMan]

It's nice to see my work being made use of - that's what it's on the web for.

If you would like to read the original document, follow the link below.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtretreat.com>http://www.yachtretreat.com</A>