Brad Ideas - Forum topic - Comments

Can I buy a sim card at

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:34:12 -0700

Can I buy a sim card at Suvarnabhumi International Airport?

Mexitel Cellular phone for Mexico

Abagail — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:15:17 -0700

Yes!!! Great deal - thank you sooooo much.
Tried it, it worked great, it costs almost nothing.
Why haven't we heard about this earlier???

japan's network is largely

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:55:29 -0700

japan's network is largely CDMA, the only foreign phones that will work are newer 3g models. however it is almost impossible to get a sim card if you are not a resident. renting is a much better short term option.

sim needed in Italy to phone uk

Little Scruffs — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:44:51 -0700

Hi, My daughter is going to Italy for a month in September. Should she take an unlocked pay as you go phone and purchase sim card there and what sort of cost would it be. If we text her is it local rate or if we phone her? thank you in advance

Sim card for travel to Ecuador

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:47:09 -0700

Going on a short (one week) trip to Ecuador and I would like to know the best place to get a sim card. It needs to work in Tena, Ecuador for calls to the USA. Any advise would be appreciated.

SIM Card from Treo GSM in Canada

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:49:04 -0700

Do I need a specail SIM card to use my phone as a modem in Canada? Just got a Treo 650 GSM to use internationally. Hopefully I can download email from a US number through my phone. Has anyone done this?
Many thanks!

Sim-Only in France

Omar Khan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:14:20 -0700

Hi, in the UK we have sim-only deals, which are like packages with contracts, i.e. free minutes for a fixed-rate per month. You do not receive a phone, just the sim-card, and in exchange the user is only tied into a one-month contract and can leave the company at any time once latest bill is paid.

I am interested to know if any such deals exist in France.

Please note that I am not interested in:

- long-term contract packages with a mobile phone included; nor
- pre-paid credit sim-card only offers.

Thanks.

I'll second the

david — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:55:49 -0700

I'll second the recommendation for Meteor. Not only did it work well at a reasonable price but it' super easy to buy more minutes as you need them either at all kinds of retail stores or the Gazillion Meteor shops in most towns.

Cosmote sim card

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:34:34 -0700

Let me know if I should let my cosmote sim card expire which I purchasedx in Athens on holiday. I will not be returning to Greece and will be in USA. Thanks.

Best company in each country to buy a prepaid SIM from

Babs — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:52:30 -0700

What is the best prepaid simple card in Poland with easy capability to increase minutes. Am I better buying the SIM card in Poland Vs. buying them in the US?

Pre paid sim cards in Romania

Shannon — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:41:41 -0700

I am traveling from the USA to Romanina this summer and want to take my t mobile phone but just want to buy a prepaid sim card. I sure don't want to use the t mobile intnational from here as I will be broke. Any body know if they sell them in the airports or where at?

Thanks

SIM cards in Argentina and Chile

Donna traveling — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:20:16 -0800

I have a GSM unlocked phone. I am travelling to Argentina and Chile in about two weeks. Should I buy a SIM card before I leave or wait and buy it there? I looked at a couple of sites for buying SIM cards online for specific countries. Most seem to be based in the USA. I am in Canada. There isn't time to get the SIM card delivered before I leave unless I pay significant shipping charges to ensure speedy arrival.

Any comments would be most welcome. Thanks in advance

Philippines

Rick — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:34:05 -0800

Prepaid SIM cards can be bought at just about every neighborhood grocery or supermarket; Globe and Smart are the best providers. A SIM usually should cost no more than 100 pesos; it can be reloaded for any amount over 10 pesos.

Germany

brad — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:42:00 -0800

On a recent trip to Germany, I chose the smobil SIM available at Schlecker drugstores. The stores are everywhere. At the time they had a 2 for 1 deal on their regular SIM deal, which is 15 euros with 10 euros of airtime. The 2 for 1 was a fabulous deal, and the really good thing about it was that they only charge 1 cent/minute for on-network calls for the first 30 days, so since we got 2 SIMs for our two phones, we could all each other for effectively nothing. This is handy if you often use cell phones as a couple to meet up after you go in two directions, or if you lose each other. However, there is no English documentation.

(However, if this is all you need you may simply look for a plan that has affordable texting between the two of you, which smobil also does.)

Some other good SIMs to look at include tchibo, which includes unlimited on-network for 4 euros and 89 cents to the USA. Most companies are quite expensive for calls out of Europe, up to 2 euros/minute. One exception is the blauworld SIM which is sold in the airport, it is 9 cents/minute to the USA or other countries with the ever-sneaky 15 cent connection charge. However, if you think most of your calls will be to your home country, this is a good one to look up. Blau has a regular card too, with 20 euros credit for 20 euros, ie. a free SIM.

The MVNOs seem to do much better deals on a short term SIM, in particular wrt how much credit you get when you buy the SIM. In the end you largely care about how many minutes to the places you want you get for the price of the SIM, since you may never refill.

When I went to Austria, smobil charged me 58 cents to make calls, 29 to receive. Not too bad. Of course, calling European mobile phones is always expensive from the USA, 30 US cents/minute is about as cheap as you will find it.

FIDO cards

Nerbit — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:40:41 -0800

I bought a FIDO card last week (Jan 08) and they charged $60 for the SIM which came with $25 credit. Also ran into the problem with the credit card fiasco. When I tried to refill in store it took me over 15 minutes to purchase a refill, and then another 10 to go through all of the options on the automated menu. IMPORTANT: There are a number of different codes you will need, the one to refill is different to access your voicemail - keep the paperwork!!