Need tips for best data options for France and Spain

[creativedogmedia]

Traveling to Marseilles and driving to Barcelona the end of Feb....will be in Barcelona for 5 days and then taking train to Madrid for flight home. I have a 5S and curious what best option is for data plans - either setting up with Verizon first or buying local SIM when landing in France (or getting prior)....what is best route? FYI - I am a heavy data user but can throttle it back a bit as needed. Still, would like a gb or 2 for the trip. Thanks.

 

[creativedogmedia]

Any suggestions here? Thinking prepaid sim may be best option for data.

 

[aristobrat]

Hopefully someone with some experience with French/Spanish pre-paid SIMs can give you some advice.

I work in Hong Kong two weeks every year and pre-paid SIMs were hands-down less expensive than Verizon's international data rates were. I ended up finding a US$30 pre-paid SIM that gave me two weeks of unlimited data. US$30 with Verizon would get like 100mb of international data (at the time I was researching this).

I didn't have much luck finding a pre-paid SIM before I arrived in HK the first time. Seemed like almost all of the sites that came up when I googled before the trip seemed scammy. When I got in HK, it seemed like every carrier there offered pre-paid SIMs, so it was a matter of figuring out who had the best bang for the buck. In your case, you'll have also factor in using it from the two countries.

Have a great trip!

 

[creativedogmedia]

Also, just confirming...the 5S is unlocked for using a pre-paid SIM in another country according to Verizon. It's just not unlocked for a domestic carrier switch in the US. That correct?

 

[C DM]

Also, just confirming...the 5S is unlocked for using a pre-paid SIM in another country according to Verizon. It's just not unlocked for a domestic carrier switch in the US. That correct?

A Verizon 5S is unlocked (on the GSM side of things) everywhere, domestically and internationally.

 

[creativedogmedia]

A Verizon 5S is unlocked (on the GSM side of things) everywhere, domestically and internationally.

I'm with Verizon. I just picked up a 1GB pre-paid SIM from Telestial.com. Will I be able to simply pop out the verizon sim and pop in the Telestial sim once in France?

 

[aristobrat]

Yes, that's what I did in Hong Kong with my Verizon iPhone 4s, 5 (and 5s later this year).

You may have to dial a certain number to "activate" the data part of the pre-paid SIM, so keep the instructions that come with it handy.