On my vacation in Spain last week I used a prepaid SIM from a new operator called Yoigo to keep up with the mobile web. Yoigo is a 3G operator with attractive rates for both voice and data. Voice calls are € 0.12/minute within Spain to both landline and mobile numbers and international calls are € 0.30/minute to anywhere except Cuba, Somalia and North Korea. Best of all data, both WAP and web, is € 0.0012/KB and data charges are capped at € 1.20/per day no matter how much you use. There is also a € 6.00/month minimum charge.
I bought my Yoigo prepaid SIM on Ebay in advance from seller xortex. I recommend this seller who was helpful and responded quickly to questions I asked both before and after the sale. The Buy It Now price was € 14.90 and shipping was € 3.90. The shipping took two weeks which was OK as I ordered a month before my departure. At my request the seller activated it for voice and data. The SIM comes with € 20.00 credit which I used less than half of in a week of fairly heavy surfing.
It was great to land in Spain with a working mobile. On my last trip to France I spent a whole day wandering around Paris from one mobile shop to another before I found one who would actually sell me a prepaid SIM. I don't have a European 3G phone so I used an old Nokia 3650. Yoigo's network is 3G only but roams on Vodafone for voice and GPRS data with no extra roaming charges.
So how was the Yoigo experience? It wasn't perfect but it's certainly the best deal for short term travelers to Spain. The Vodafone coverage in and around Barcelona was extremely good. Except for a few times deep inside large buildings I was never out of coverage. The GPRS worked perfectly with the phone's built in browser. It also worked, but not quite as well, with most of my third party Java and native applications including Opera Mini, Google Maps, WorldMate and the Doris browser.
For some reason both Netfront and Opera Mobile could not connect to any sites even though they were using the same access point and settings as the other apps. I tried lots of alternate settings (with and without the Yoigo proxy and/or wap gateway) but never got those two applications to work. More annoying was a strange feature of the Yogo/Vodafone network that insisted on sending me "Service Reply" messages every minute or so with my current usage and balance whenever I used GPRS with anything except the built in browser. With all the third party apps, as soon as a page load or download was completed, the connection was dropped and I got a "Service Reply" popup message to the effect that my last session had cost say € 0.008 and my balance was now € 16.87. I had set the phone to use GPRS "when available" which on T-Mobile US keeps the GPRS connection up until I close application. I also turned off both Service Messages and Cell Broadcasts but I still got those Service Reply usage messages. It was more of an annoyance than a real impediment to browsing and I still used Opera Mini for most of my browsing. There is probably some way to turn off the messages. My Spanish is non-existent so I didn't try contacting customer support. Browsing speed was typical GPRS, slow but no better or worse than on T-Mobile.
The seller had also told me that international roaming was enabled but was unable to roam with the Yoigo SIM either in the US or at Amsterdam's Schiphol where I changed planes. I wasn't surprised, international roaming on European prepaids usually requires a local bank account and often a waiting period as well.
For anyone else who might want to try this - here are the settings I used to enable data on the Nokia 3650. Other phones should be similar.
First I created a new access point and named it Yoigo, then set the following:
- Data bearer: GPRS
- Access point name: Internet
- User Name: None
- Prompt Password: No
- Password: Leave blank (shows as ****)
- Authentication: Normal
- Gateway IP address: 10.8.0.36
- Homepage: http://movil.yoigo.es
- Connection security: Off
- Session Mode: Permanent
Then under Advanced Settings (hit the menu softkey from the access point setup screen to find these):
- Phone IP address: Dynamic
- Primary name server: 0.0.0.0
- Second. name server: 0.0.0.0
- Server address: 010.008.000.036
- Port Number: 8080
This Spanish blog page has settings for more phones. Even tethering is possible according to a couple of posts. Supposedly, Yoigo will send the settings to your phone if you SMS the word TODAS to 500. I tried it and got an SMS back saying my phone could not accept the settings. Strange, as I successfully received settings from other carriers with this phone.
Warts and all, I think Yoigo is an excellent choice for anyone traveling to Spain. The low price and high balance of the SIM along with the low voice and data rates mean that for about $25 you can talk and surf with abandon for a week or two before you even need to refill. Sure beats the thousand plus dollars some users have been charged for international data roaming!
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hows the 2 sims working out? i think there are two sims available, one is 1.20+tax a day 3g and one is 3+tax 3g, which did you go for? not quite sure on the difference except I think you get 10mb on the cheaper one before the speed drops off and 100mb a day on the 3euro a day one before the speed drops off. we are using movidata at the moment, whilst coverage has been good and its nearly always hspa we chew through credit and at 30 euro for 500mb we are shelling out nearly that every other day (we are quite heavy surfers). trying to find a better cheaper solution.
thanks
Darren
1 x dongle for internet - Required a passport only.
All working as sold on the box - Dongle used on a MAC no hassle. - Recommend these guy's for now.
Everything works fine, but icannot send emails, because i do not know the smtp adress. Can somebody help me and gives thes smtp adress???
Details here: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/spagna/yoigo.html
I am told the maximum call costs are 1.20 euros/day, expensive by Uk standards but cheap for Spain.
Like Veyton says its an awesome tool and with good service from English speaking staff at Yoigo when needed, I really recommend it.
Do they have other prepaid SIM more than Yoigo
in Spain ? and how to spped it on the laptop ?
I've just purchased a Yoigo USB dongle for internet and e-mail use for my laptop and it works straight from the box, however I'm having trouble setting up my smtp (mail) setting for Microsoft Outlook. Does anyone know the correct outlook setting please?
JJ
I used to have invoices for up to 90 euros a month for the two phones with Vodafone, now my monthly bill is half that for three phones with Yoigo. Apart from being cheaper they have a very simple pricing structure, which last time I looked was identical for contract and pre-paid phones, unlike Vodafone who have all manner of complex contracts which are hard to understand, let alone compare.
I've been with Yoigo 14 months now and am still delighted. I can use my Yoigo phone when travelling to the UK. I also use it a lot for internet access, both browsing with the phone itself (using Opera Mini) and using the phone to connect my laptop to the internet.
Yoigo cap their daily charge for using the internet to about 1.40 per day. So you don't get ripped off. Also you get 1 hour's free calls to any other Yoigo mobile phonre, paying only the small connection charge for each call.
BTW "Yoigo" is a clever name, being a contraction of "Yo oigo", meaning "I hear".
To Imran, it may not be the best but certainly good enough and convenient.
To Frank, yes you can even if you are not a resident there you are able to purchase a SIM from Yoigo.
Great service, would definitely recommend to anyone.
Thanks for the tips, this carrier seems ok. I have searched google and found a bit more info, as with my iPhone I need the 3G speeds for business use when I am traveling.
Thank you.
don't know why. Now I'm trying to get more speed,but if someone knows how, please give a reply.
did anyone tried to connect with the laptop using this Yoigo SIM card and HSDPA Datacard / mobile phone ?
What I am interested is how the HSDPA works, does it works at all, and could it be used for more heavy surfing (on laptop instead of ADSL...) ?
Tnx.
Is it possible to buy a prepaid from yoigo in spain even when not a resident .....(?)
Sure you can ! I did ! It´s no problem, you don´t have to live in spain to buy one. The one who tells this has either a big fantasy or lies ! Look, i am working for about 5 years in spain and sometimes when i am back in Belgium a pass the relode limit and then i lose my number so my sim does not work anymore, the next time i go to spain to work i just buy a new sim prepaid. No problem, not in madrid not in andalusia and not in any part of spain. Ans i am still doing it :)
Do not always believe what others tell you !
Frank.
Cheers!
Just one thing to mention: Not all european prepaids need a bank account for roaming. Here in germany allmost every prepaid will work in other countries without the need to activate any special options.
Matthias
It was very interesting for me to read your post. I don´t tell you how much did i spend with my mob phone in Spain last year, just for a couple days, because you won't believe me. So you can image how nice this information was. This year i just know what to do with the roaming and certainly won't forget the name yoigo.
Just one more think. There is any operator like yoigo in France? Cheers.
I didn't try POP or SMTP email. The client on the 3650 is rather limited and I've never gotten it to work on any carrier. I think the problem is that my email providers require a secure login to both POP and SMTP. I Nokia client doesn't appear to support SMTP logon at all!
Dennis
looks like competition in Spain now also starts to open up the mobile Internet. I'll surely keep your tip in mind for next year's 3GSMWorldCongress. Have you checked if it's possible to use an eMail client (POP3 and SMTP) on the phone with the offer?
Cheers,
Martin