European cell service with prepaid sim chip

[Max2003]

I am sailing on the Oosterdam on the 18th from Barcelona. Most of the stops are in Spain. I have a quad band GSM unlocked Motorola sliver and use the T-Mobile "pay as you go' plan. Has anyone had recent experience with a prepaid sim card for international calls to the US while in a European port?? I understand these are available in country ( Spain in this case). Can you recommend the most reasonable approach under these circumstances??

 

I just need to check in occasionally.

 

Thanks

[deserttraveler]

Try telestial, a company in Massachusetts. They can sell you a Spain-specific sim card or one called passport that works in a bunch of countries. With some models of phone, the dialing can get complicated, but seems to work eventually. They have a website - just google the name.

[SLKB]

RoamSimple is another similar company. We used them while in France this summer. We purchased a France-only card and then mailed it back when we got home for a $10 credit towards the next time we use their service. They have both country specific cards and "world" cards.

[stevexy]

I just used wifi and skype--typically found wifi signals around town.

[jcrandle]

You may already know this, but cellphones must be "unlocked" to allow the use of a SIM that is provided by a vendor OTHER than the carrier that you purchased the phone from, if purchased on a time agreement (one or two year typically). So if you bought your quad band phone from a US cell provider and it includes an exclusive agreement, you may need to have the phone unlocked before you can use a SIM from a different carrier. I'd recommend you check with your carrier to see if your phone is (or can be) unlocked by them, to forestall any disappointment.

 

Even if it is NOT unlocked, it may be possible for the vendor of the european SIM to unlock it, so you can check with them to see what they can do.

 

Just a caution.