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Buying sim card at Malaga Airport

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 2:25am
6 replies2263 views3 members subscribed
OIS

Posts: 4

Location: Málaga

Joined: 31 Dec 2021

Can I buy a Sim Card at Malaga Airport?

Or is it best to buy in the Centre of city?

Thank you

John

Holaitsdavid

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 1:29pm

Holaitsdavid

Very helpful member

Posts: 1447

542 helpful points

Location: Mijas Costa

Joined: 30 Mar 2021

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 1:29pm

How long will you be in Malaga? if a short time and coming from UK you might be better off to add a roaming bundle to UK plan, if not already existing in package, you can buy Three Card with a roaming bundle. 

PhilipGC11

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 6:55pm

Posts: 74

28 helpful points

Location: Estepona

Joined: 19 Oct 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 6:55pm

OIS wrote on Sun Jan 2, 2022 2:25am:

Can I buy a Sim Card at Malaga Airport?

Or is it best to buy in the Centre of city?

Thank you

John

Hi John

As in the UK, you can buy a SIM card at any one of many thousands of stores, including kiosks on street corners.

Please ensure that your mobile telephone is not locked to your network provider otherwise you will not be able to use a different SIM card.

It was common practice for network providers to lock mobile telephones to their network, however, most networks have stopped doing this.

At the airport you can check what is offered against standard prices.

SIM cards should be free provided that you pay a minimum of €10 for data and calls.

With Vodafone €10 should provide 12GB of data and 300 minutes of EU calls.

With Orange €9.95 should provide 25GB of data and unlimited EU calls.

Here is a link to the prices that you can expect to pay:

https://toomanyadapters.com/buying-sim-card-spain/

Before you buy a Spanish SIM card you should consider why you are doing so.

If you have a UK mobile contract that is at least 7 or 8 months old then you should have unlimited roaming included.

This is something that UK networks have been excluding on new contracts entered into from about July 2021.

If you have unlimited roaming then the only reason to have a Spanish SIM card is that a UK +44 number may put off some people calling you because they think that they will be paying international rates and, of course, a Spanish SIM card can no longer make free calls to a UK mobile telephone now that the UK is no longer part of the EU.

There are other ways around this, for example, you can make international calls mobile to mobile using WhatsApp, at no cost using WiFi, or some mobile data usage although, of course, that does not work with landlines.

Let us know what you decide to do and how much you end up paying.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

Philip

OIS

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 9:07pm

OIS

Original Poster

Posts: 4

Location: Málaga

Joined: 31 Dec 2021

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 9:07pm

Holaitsdavid wrote on Sun Jan 2, 2022 1:29pm:

How long will you be in Malaga? if a short time and coming from UK you might be better off to add a roaming bundle to UK plan, if not already existing in package, you can buy Three Card with a roaming bundle. 

Thanks for this advise.

In fact I am coming from Australia, I usailly buy sim cards on arrival in Italy or France..  Orange or Tim.

I intend to spend a month or more in Spain and on to France , Italy etc, so I will consider a sim for 4 months.

Of course I will use WhatsApp when possible, but would need data for internet etc.

Of course I will want to add health data, vaccination etc on my iPhone ASAp on my arrival.

Thanks again

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OIS

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 9:08pm

OIS

Original Poster

Posts: 4

Location: Málaga

Joined: 31 Dec 2021

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 9:08pm

PhilipGC11 wrote on Sun Jan 2, 2022 6:55pm:

Hi John

As in the UK, you can buy a SIM card at any one of many thousands of stores, including kiosks on street corners.

Please ensure that your mobile telephone is not locked to your network provider otherwise you will not be able to use a different SIM card.

It was common practice for network providers to lock mobile telephones to their network, however, most networks have stopped doing this.

At the airport you can check what is offered against standard prices.

SIM cards should be free provided that you pay a minimum of €10 for data and calls.

With Vodafone €10 should provide 12GB of data and 300 minutes of EU calls.

With Orange €9.95 should provide 25GB of data and unlimited EU calls.

Here is a link to the prices that you can expect to pay:

https://toomanyadapters.com/buying-sim-card-spain/

Before you buy a Spanish SIM card you should consider why you are doing so.

If you have a UK mobile contract that is at least 7 or 8 months old then you should have unlimited roaming included.

This is something that UK networks have been excluding on new contracts entered into from about July 2021.

If you have unlimited roaming then the only reason to have a Spanish SIM card is that a UK +44 number may put off some people calling you because they think that they will be paying international rates and, of course, a Spanish SIM card can no longer make free calls to a UK mobile telephone now that the UK is no longer part of the EU.

There are other ways around this, for example, you can make international calls mobile to mobile using WhatsApp, at no cost using WiFi, or some mobile data usage although, of course, that does not work with landlines.

Let us know what you decide to do and how much you end up paying.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

Philip

Phillip,

Thanks for this advise.

In fact I am coming from Australia, I usually buy sim cards on arrival in Italy or France..  Orange or Tim.

I intend to spend a month or more in Spain and on to France , Italy etc, so I will consider a sim for 4 months.

Of course I will use WhatsApp when possible, would need data for internet etc.

Of course I will want to add health data, vaccination etc on my iPhone ASAP on my arrival.

Thanks again


PhilipGC11

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 10:24pm

Posts: 74

28 helpful points

Location: Estepona

Joined: 19 Oct 2018

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 10:24pm

OIS wrote on Sun Jan 2, 2022 9:08pm:

Phillip,

Thanks for this advise.

In fact I am coming from Australia, I usually buy sim cards on arrival in Italy or France..  Orange or Tim.

I intend to spend a month or more in Spain and on to France , Italy etc, so I will consider a sim for 4 months.

Of course I will use WhatsApp when possible, would need data for internet etc.

Of course I will want to add health data, vaccination etc on my iPhone ASAP on my arrival.

Thanks again


G'day John

I live in the UK but have a second home in Spain and I always used to buy local SIM cards, however, since around 2016, when the EU directed network operators to permit EU roaming at domestic tariffs I have not had to do so.

We no longer have Orange in the UK, since Orange merged with T-Mobile to form EE, however, Orange has a good network in France, Italy and Spain, so Orange probably will be a good fit for your trip across these countries.  You should find free WiFi in most hotels, restaurants, cafés and bars and other public areas, such as airports, however, it does not always work when you need it!

Spain has had minimal restrictions to entry during the last couple of years, however, you do need to be able to show your vaccine status on your iPhone which we can do through the NHS app, which will produce a QR code that is scanned at the airport, on arrival after passing through customs.

You must also download the Spain Travel Health app from the Apple App Store (search for SpTH) and complete the online form.  It is quite straightforward, with details about your passport, flight and address in Spain, however, on one occasion I made a mistake and the app thought that I was transiting through Spain to a third country. I was then escorted to a queue of people waiting to be interrogated.  While waiting, I was able to complete a new online form on my mobile, but you do need WiFi or mobile data to do this on your mobile. They do have a desktop computer if you are totally stuck.

It is best to check with your network provider that international roaming is turned on and activated before you travel because you may need this when you land.  On our first trip in 2021, we had no mobile data on all 3 of our mobile telephones, because both EE and O2 had failed to include this when I had updated my tariffs about a year earlier.  This meant we had no Google Maps, which was a major headache after picking up our hire car just before midnight, leaving us driving around the docks in Malaga in pitch darkness for about 1 hour trying to find our way out.  

It is also best to save all your QR codes as PDFs so that you do not need data to access these.  I find my iPhone is frustratingly unintuitive about doing this, because it does not have a proper file manager to organise saved documents, however, you may find this simple to do.

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Philip

OIS

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 10:37pm

OIS

Original Poster

Posts: 4

Location: Málaga

Joined: 31 Dec 2021

Posted: Sun Jan 2, 2022 10:37pm

PhilipGC11 wrote on Sun Jan 2, 2022 10:24pm:

G'day John

I live in the UK but have a second home in Spain and I always used to buy local SIM cards, however, since around 2016, when the EU directed network operators to permit EU roaming at domestic tariffs I have not had to do so.

We no longer have Orange in the UK, since Orange merged with T-Mobile to form EE, however, Orange has a good network in France, Italy and Spain, so Orange probably will be a good fit for your trip across these countries.  You should find free WiFi in most hotels, restaurants, cafés and bars and other public areas, such as airports, however, it does not always work when you need it!

Spain has had minimal restrictions to entry during the last couple of years, however, you do need to be able to show your vaccine status on your iPhone which we can do through the NHS app, which will produce a QR code that is scanned at the airport, on arrival after passing through customs.

You must also download the Spain Travel Health app from the Apple App Store (search for SpTH) and complete the online form.  It is quite straightforward, with details about your passport, flight and address in Spain, however, on one occasion I made a mistake and the app thought that I was transiting through Spain to a third country. I was then escorted to a queue of people waiting to be interrogated.  While waiting, I was able to complete a new online form on my mobile, but you do need WiFi or mobile data to do this on your mobile. They do have a desktop computer if you are totally stuck.

It is best to check with your network provider that international roaming is turned on and activated before you travel because you may need this when you land.  On our first trip in 2021, we had no mobile data on all 3 of our mobile telephones, because both EE and O2 had failed to include this when I had updated my tariffs about a year earlier.  This meant we had no Google Maps, which was a major headache after picking up our hire car just before midnight, leaving us driving around the docks in Malaga in pitch darkness for about 1 hour trying to find our way out.  

It is also best to save all your QR codes as PDFs so that you do not need data to access these.  I find my iPhone is frustratingly unintuitive about doing this, because it does not have a proper file manager to organise saved documents, however, you may find this simple to do.

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Philip

Phillip.

Thanks again.

John

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