Mobile phone/SIM for Spain

[dontlookdown]

Daughter will be studying in Spain next year. Currently on an ancient and v cheap EE PAYG deal. She owns the phone (Pixel).

Will need a good roaming deal that is as cheap as possible for next year.

Anyone know what the best options are at the moment? Happy to change operators but she really wants to keep her number for admin reasons as it is linked to a lot of accounts.

[rdjohn]

It will depend on where she lives. On the Costa del Sol there are lots of operators, many use Amiga.

A search and shop-around when she is in the area, should provide a quick answer. Prices are similar to the UK.

I use Lebara in the UK and Olin, my broadband supplier, in Spain. I doubt that you will find a provider significantly cheaper than https://lebaraspain.es. I think they use the Vodafone.es network

[dontlookdown]

Tks, she is going to be in Zaragoza not on the coast.

[megaphone]

Is her phone dual sim? If so she could run a local sim card for general use/Data and keep her UK number for incoming only.

If she's on an old EE contract she may still have Europe roaming, mine does.

[hellorent]

ID mobile do 50gb pm for £8 and you can use 30gb pm for roaming also data rollover, in Spain have a look at Lobster

[Baldchap]

Lobster in Spain do free calls to the UK.

[rdjohn]

Do Lobster have a store in Zaragoza? I thought they were after Costa market.

[dontlookdown]

megaphone said:

Is her phone dual sim? If so she could run a local sim card for general use/Data and keep her UK number for incoming only.

If she's on an old EE contract she may still have Europe roaming, mine does.

Not dual SIM, and sadly no roaming on her current PAYG deal.

Wasn't sure whether a Spanish SIM with UK roaming, or a UK SIM with Spanish roaming would be best bet. O2, for example, seems to do decent EU roaming.

[dontlookdown]

Baldchap said:

Lobster in Spain do free calls to the UK.

Tks will check that out.

[TheLurker]

Just be careful using a UK sim and roaming, as I think a lot of them have a clause that you're effectively not meant to use them when living over there. So they either want you to be using the sim more in the UK than abroad, limit the number of total days or days consecutively abroad etc.

[Stevemr]

Pretty much all uk networks cap the amount of data you. A use abroad to 25-30 gb a month.
They also have a maximum number of days you can use.

[RizzoTheRat]

TheLurker said:

Just be careful using a UK sim and roaming, as I think a lot of them have a clause that you're effectively not meant to use them when living over there. So they either want you to be using the sim more in the UK than abroad, limit the number of total days or days consecutively abroad etc.

Some networks pay less attention to that than others though, I've been using my Talk Mobile sim in NL for years now, but my wife was with Vodaphone and after a couple of years living here they decided she was exceeding thier fair use policy.

Also it may be worth seeing if her phone can run an e-sim as a second sim. Some, like Airalo do ones that are data only, so it may be possible to keep her UK sim for incoming calls and whatsapp and use an e-sim for data and just call people on Whatsapp voice calls instead of by phone.

These days with 2 factor authentication on all sorts of stuff, changing your phone number is a pain in the arse.

[dontlookdown]

RizzoTheRat said:

Also it may be worth seeing if her phone can run an e-sim as a second sim. Some, like Airalo do ones that are data only, so it may be possible to keep her UK sim for incoming calls and whatsapp and use an e-sim for data and just call people on Whatsapp voice calls instead of by phone.

These days with 2 factor authentication on all sorts of stuff, changing your phone number is a pain in the arse.

I am coming round to the e-sim idea. Her phone can do it, apparently. Pixel 6A. Convert her UK EE SIM to an e-sim and get a cheap Spanish SIM card for when she is there.

Totally agree re 2FA. Losing access to her UK number would be a right pain.

[RizzoTheRat]

If she wants to hit the ground running look at one of the big international ones like Lebara, she should be able to get the sim before she goes

[Phil.]

Another vote for Lobster in Spain. The website is in English and so is their customer service which is good from experience. I’ve two of their SIM’s presently.

[nyt]

I was looking at: https://www.lebara.co.uk/en/msm/p/44000053.html

Seems like a great deal. Not sure if the amount of time 'roaming' would be limited.

[macstorm73]

Spend a lot of time in Zaragoza myself, really nice part of Spain. I've O2 for the UK but tend to use Movistar on my longer trips

[Busa mav]

My EE contract , had for 5 years , gives free EU roaming , check her contract.


Otherwise, Tesco mobile have free roaming for a year.

[dave_s13]

Also used lobster when in Spain, in a 4g router so we had internet where we were staying. Only issue is you have to have the sim posted to a Spanish address.

[goldbazinga]

There must be Spanish e-sim deals available?

A quick google seems to show Movistar doing a 20Gb/month eSim for €16.95.