Brad Ideas - Best company in each country to buy a prepaid SIM from - Comments

Mexitel cellular

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:23:24 -0800

E-bay shipping was quoted at $55.00 for Mayan cell phone. Not cheap.

I would recommend getting

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:57:32 -0800

I would recommend getting the 2degrees sim. it's a new company, but you could get a cheap $2 sim card and top up $20. prices are more competitive than vodafone, and chances are, with phone calls you don't really need 3g. although coverage might not be as good in very rural areas, i think you get more bang for your buck. plus texting to many places overseas is only 9c per text. you also get a "magic topup" (certain # of free texts plus cheaper calls) when you add credit to your phone which lasts for 1 month only, so if you're not here for long, it would be very useful.

Local Service but International Roaming thats cheap.

Success Okere-Desmond — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:19:00 -0800

Hello,
It would be my pleasure to introduce to you the Success-Mobile SIM cards.
We started off with a prepaid US number service that allows international roaming for 49cents in most countries and now we have upgraded our system and now provide other countries on the same network.
Now subscribers would have the options of having a sim card with a country number of choice from any of the following countries for both inbound and outbound.

Now you can get your SIM card and it would carry your choice number from any of the following location for both inbound and outbound calls.

... list removed ...

We would glad to work with you thereby you can now provide you with the Success-Mobile SIM cards that work just the way you want it.

Think about it and lets work.

Email: success@success-mobile.net

India Sim Card

Sandy — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:50:04 -0800

Is it possible to buy a sim card here in the US before going to India?

sim cards eu

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:44:15 -0800

I cant answer the all over europe question but I can say the all consider themselves 'small independent eu nations' and you get into roaming if you go from say spain to portugal to france. I found it extremely easy however to just jump to a new sim in each place i went. But I would imagine that vodaphone might cover most over your territory...
anyone?

Spain sim cards.

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:36:46 -0800

Heads up in spain... I travelled around most work. Blau is Good, but the best card was YOIGO awesome! except for the annoying pop ups continously. The trick here is to find one that you can set the APN codes as that will have to be done by you. Yoigo required some help from a spanish friend and a call to Yoigo. The apn code is: internet yep thats it. Blau was well documented and I could get the code from the pamphlet. Blau was cheap to call but not so cheap with data roaming. Yoigo on the otherhand charged only 3euros max a day no matter how much you data downloaded. but if you popped on and checked your mail then popped off by turning on/off 3g it was about .2 of a euro. Where this maximum came in handy was when walking around a unfamilar town with google maps and all your goodies TomTom excetra.... you get the point compared to a ATT plan you could keep it pretty cheap if you didnt use it all the time. Like for example when you first arrive in Barcelona and have no idea where you are. I bought a 20euro sim and streched it out over two weeks. In the end though its easy to try them and find one you like. Shop around. My iphone was a jailbreak'ed. 3gs. Same thing in portugal, if you drop in and want to make calls just buy a prepaid simcard. Also you have to do a lot of convincing to some of the store clerks that this is going to work. Telemovia is like the at&t there and has everyone convinced that the devil is going to find you if you have an unlocked phone. But once you demonstrate this they all want to know the details...

Pre Paid in Australia

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:28:23 -0800

I'm in Aus and there are numerous Pre-paid services that give you value for money, and their sites are heaps easier to explain what your paying for.

Check out each of these to see which plan best suits your travelling;
Vodafone - www.Vodafone.com.au
Telstra - www.Telstra.com.au/Telstra+Pre-paid
Virgin - http://www.virginmobile.com.au/mobile-plans-pricing/pre-paid-plans/
Woolworths - http://www.everydaymobile.com.au/edmobile/wps/portal/mobile
Optus - https://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel...
or even Crazy Johns - http://www.crazyjohns.com.au/prepaid/

I personally use Optus Pre-Paid with the Turbo Cap, you pay $30 but get $400 worth of value, the rates are a little higher than telstra (the other leading brand), however, for me, as a local, that $30 lasts at least a month and I use my phone everyday for calling, if you were just texting it would last heaps longer. The expiry is 30 days but you can top up for as little as $10.
If you are travelling aruond the service is pretty good nation wide, you don't need to get a new phone for every state.

Another thing to note is that you can buy a sim almost anywhere; in the branded phone stores, super markets, news agent, 7/11 or convenience stores and any petrol service stations. Top ups are easy as well, even online.

Best of luck and happy travelling

New Zealand

John in Brisbane — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:12:23 -0800

Hi there,

Hope this is of use to someone - I think there should be a proper site for this sort of information - you would get enough hits to sell ads for sure!

Just back from a trip to NZ. My research beforehand showed that Vodafone.co.nz is the biggest operator over there, both for cell/mobile phones and mobile internet. Telstra is starting to compete but has much less coverage. Its pretty basic 3g with gprs/gsm off the beaten track. The bad news is that its convenient but expensive, even for an Aussie who is used to getting ripped off for telecoms! You can turn up at Auckland airport and buy a sim from a Vodafone stand in the terminal for $30 and then stick as much credit on it as you want. For $30 (this is all $NZD) you get $30 credit with calls around a dollar a minute plus you get 100MB of data to use as you please. You can get a sim for your 3g modem for the same money but putting credit on it is something crazy like 500mb for $40 - maybe that will last a while on an iphone but not for me and my 10" asus! On a contract you pay $40 for 1 gig/month! Thats 4 to 6 times worse value than in Oz. The credit will not run out for a year so to just remain contactable (with no charges for incoming calls unlike international roaming) you can get pretty good value out of one recharge I guess. Start making calls and it won't last though! People in NZ text a lot more so maybe consider that.

You can buy top-ups almost anywhere that has an eftpos machine.

Be warned that despite "97% coverage", many of the places you will want to go will have zero reception. If you must be contactable while doing some of the touristy stuff you will need a sat phone.

The good thing is that in the major towns and cities there are plenty of free hotspots but ADSL over there is expensive and slow so don't expect to youtube HD movie trailers at McDonalds! I googled free hotspots before travelling and while there and there were plenty. Public libraries are your safest bet.

For just keeping in touch via email maybe consider throwing a few bucks at an internet cafe every few days - NZ is not a place you should spend too much time buried in a computer anyway!

Telus has now gone 3G so you

Angela — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:24:13 -0800

Telus has now gone 3G so you can get a SIM card now. They also have the best coverage in the Rocky Mountains if you are going to be in Western Canada. Otherwise all providers have equivalent service.

I am sorry to say, but the

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:02:35 -0800

I am sorry to say, but the cheapest plan is O2 Wireless and you don't have to unlock your phone if its an at&t phone, I'm using it in my iphone right now! Calling is just 00.14 cents a minute 00.05 cents to text (but you have to pay 00.10 cents for the first time you use your phone for texting that day), but it still comes out cheaper than t mobile and at&t, and they run off of at&t network! Also, you can buy the sim card from their site or ebay, and you get $7.00 in call credit, and the sim card costs $10 from them and about $5 from ebay

USA Sim -- Free of charge receiving nationwide & international

mkyousuf — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:20:50 -0800

I plan to travel to USA for about a month.
I would be making few calls but would be receiving a lots of calls.
Does anyone know of a pre-paid SIM with free receiving ( no hidden charges)

India - Lots of experience.

YOGA for ALL — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:33:02 -0800

I have had many sim cards in India with many companies. I even now hold a BSNL 7 year sim that I bought for less than $7 and came with talk time to boot! I've been told by many that this card also has free roaming throughout the country but I have newer seen it actually work in that way because I prefer to use AIRTEL for most of my calling. The 7 year card gives me a back up working where AIRTEL doesn't and working for me when I land to call friends for pickup.

I absolutely despise Vodafone and do not recommend but for a short time, who cares. Mudit is correct about the strictness of the companies due to government. You can buy a card and activate it with skimpy ID's but it will work only for a couple of days at best (outgoing) and probably a week incoming if the company isn't satisfied with your paperwork. They will pay you a visit at your address to see if you really live there. You might be able to do a hotel but don't count on it working out for long unless the hotel has a success rate.

AIRTEL has special international packages for calling USA and everywhere else. Beginning 2009 I called USA on a card costing RS/100 ($2+) and received something like 40 minutes talk time, anyway whatever it was it was ridiculously affordable. You won't get this with the other companies. They also have unlimited data plans for $7/month and the same plan can connect your laptop to the Internet over blue tooth if you have a phone that will do that. AIRTEL is more affordable for both data plans and normal local calling. All simm cards give free incoming calls for the life of the simm as long as you are still in the home state.

If you're going to travel with the same simm, be sure to top it off before you leave home state. Leaving the state will put you on roaming costs incoming & outgoing but most of all you may not be able to add talk time to your simm or you may but it might not be guaranteed to work and once you spend the money it's gone.

There is customer service in India and sometimes they will do a lot for you but compared to CS in USA forget about it.

High rates

brad — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:49:25 -0800

The rates are quite a bit more than domestic SIMs so people had better value not having to buy highly.

International cell phone and Sim card package

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:22:21 -0800

We at www.universalsim.com offer the product you will all love, get an international cell phone package that includes a unlock GSM cell phone and a global Sim card with coverage in 220 countries, so you can travel the world with one phone and one phone number. about pricing it might be a bit more expansive in some countries than the local Sim card, but the convenience of getting USA support and you don't have to worry about refilling your international cell phone with more minutes and you don't have to buy a Sim card in every country you visit makes it unique . get Free incoming calls in 80 countries and calls beck to the USA is only 0.59 cents a minute in most countries.package starts at $39.00 that includes a international cell phone and global Sim card this is the most convents way to go today

Can the Simm card be easily

Spokane — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:42:22 -0700

Can the Simm card be easily purchased in Paris?

Best company in each country to buy a prepaid SIM from

brad — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 20:14:26 -0700

This special forum topic exists to help people identify the best local company to use for a temporary prepaid GSM SIM card when you visit that country. If you research this, put your results here. In particular look for the best results for a short term visitor, who thus won’t care much about when the minutes expire and may or may not care when the number expires. A typical cost to compare would be the cost of the card and say 60 to 100 anytime minutes. However, if there is a major difference for somebody planning mostly night/weekend calling, note that.

Here are things to note in your comment:

Company and their URL
Price for SIM, price for a cost-effective prepaid card
Ease of getting the card
Other companies to check if this one isn’t convenient
When will cheapest minutes expire, and how long after that does number expire
Can you refill from overseas (ie. with non-local credit card)
For comparison, cost of a prepaid account including (probably subsidy locked) phone. This bundle can be cheaper than an unlock and a naked SIM.

Important note: If you have any affiliation with a company you talk about or link to you must disclose it. No affiliate links allowed Furthermore, you must post your prices. (Create an account so you can come back and edit your posting when they change) and they must be one of the best deals out there. We want real information on the best deals, not self-promotion or typical vastly overpriced cards.