Cellphone use through Spain, France, and Portugal
 

Hello All!

I have a month long trip coming up through France, Spain, and Portugal with a family of four. All of us are adults and would like to have our cell phones handy throughout the trip to keep in touch with each other and to be able to contact AirBnB hosts, as well as to use for navigation. I was searching through options, and I know we could use our own phones (ATT) and buy a sim card when we get to BCN airport in Barcelona. We'll just be in roaming when in France and Portugal. Or the second option I saw was to buy/rent a portable hotspot.

Does anyone have any experience with either option? Would it make more sense to use the portable hotspot since there are 4 of us? Or should we just get the sim cards. If so, do you recommend a specific company like Vodafone and are they available at the airport in BCN?

Thank you for any advice!

When is your trip? It makes a difference because after June 30, 2017, there will no longer be roaming charges in the EU, meaning you could buy a SIM card in any country and use it in any other without extra charges.

I don't know about Spain, but we just bought a portable hotspot device in France (for 99€) and had to sign a year contract with Orange. I can't imagine that would be a good deal for you for only a month's visit.

Good to know, StCirq.

silkysilu, if you get a hotspot for keeping in touch with each other, you realize that your devices only connect to the hotspot when within a local area? So, as soon as one person walks away from the hot spot they will no longer have wifi.

Sorry about that, I thought I'd mentioned it. I'm going in April so I guess I won't make that 30 June cutoff. I didn't really think about that in terms of the portable hotspot, good point. I'm clearly tech challenged.

Of course, one person could buy a SIM and make his/her phone a hotspot for the other three. But as said above, a hotspot won't help the four of you keep in touch if you get separated, anyway.

Last year, I switched to T-Mobile just for a few months so I could use my phone (unlimited data, 20 cents/minute calls) in all six countries I visited in Europe and have my phone automatically work as soon as I crossed into another country - no roaming charges to worry about, etc. If the four of you don't have subsidized phones, that would be an option but probably a bit of a hassle.

It would probably be less of a hassle just to buy a SIM in Barcelona and use in roaming til it runs out in the next country, then buy another local SIM. If you stick to mostly texting to keep in touch with each other and making short calls to AirBnB hosts, maybe you won't even use up your data and credit from the Spain SIM even when roaming. Maybe you can keep one person's phone for most of the calls to AirBnB hosts and just top up that SIM when it runs out or buy another one in the next country but the other three phones do it only once and have low usage, never run out of SIM credit from Spain.

If you want to call the US from Europe for free (even landlines), look into the Google Hangouts Dialer app for your smart phones - free on WiFi anyway, it would use your mobile data otherwise. You can also use it to make calls within Europe but not free - a few cents a minute or so. Obviously not practical to keep in touch with each other without a SIM card, though.

We don't travel without T-Mobile. The days of buying local sim cards for travel are numbered.

As far as your phone goes, if everyone has a smartphone, then you can use WhatsApp for free messaging, and voice, as long as you are in a WiFi zone.

Thank you for all your responses! I will get simcards when I land and work it out that way with the roaming as you suggested Andrew. Sounds like the easiest way to go. Thanks again!

*The days of buying local sim cards for travel are numbered.*

Why do you say that Robert2016?

I agree with Robert. US carriers T-Mobile and Sprint both now offer unlimited roaming data and 20 cents/minute calling for US travelers going overseas. Surely the other carriers will soon follow.

T-Mobile has changed the game, at least for Americans traveling abroad.

Ahh too bad we don't have an equivalent in Canada. We live close to the border though, I wonder if we can pick up a T-Mobile sim? I'll have to check that out.

20 cents a minute seems exorbitant to me, except for those traveling from the USA and really limiting their cell phone use.

I think that's what Robert was alluding to: travelers from the US. Why would someone living in the EU need to buy a SIM, anyway, with roaming charges about to disappear? I don't know about situation of non-US travelers coming from outside of Europe - I have no idea what mobile calling is like for them when they travel.

US travelers typically don't need to make many local calls - and it may be even easier to text or email people to confirm lodgings, anyway. And US travelers have plenty of ways to contact people at home for free without spending 20 cents/min.

We don't make any phone calls, except perhaps a couple of local ones. We buy the sim cards for data, because my hub needs to be in constant email contact, and I like to use it for google maps etc.

So I think we still need a european sim card when we get there. So far we have found it is extremely cheap. Whereas Canadian companies charge exorbitant roaming charges. You almost have to mortgage your house.

You need T-Mobile US post-paid (not pre-paid) service to get free unlimited data out of country - and you won't be able to sign up for US T-Mobile service with a Canadian address, I'm fairly sure.

You could pick up a US T-Mobile pre-paid SIM but that won't give you the international roaming (unlimited free data or 20 cents/min calls).

Nothing wrong with buying a local SIM, just a slight extra inconvenience. Sometimes it's super easy; sometimes it's more of a challenge to get the local SIM to work (partly depends on what type of phone you have). I try to make sure I have the person I'm buying the SIM from activate it for me before I leave their store. In some countries, you can buy cheap SIM cards at a convenience store so there's really no one to help you - you kind of have to hope there are instructions in English if you don't read the local language - or have someone where you are staying help you activate it. And hope your phone is new enough (must be unlocked as well) that things like mobile data will work easily for you; they didn't for me last time I bought local SIMs, but I had a very old Android phone, hoping next time it will be easier with my latest Android phone.

I imagine even Canadian mobile companies will eventually lower the cost of roaming like T-Mobile and Spring have in the US.