SIM card

Gary/Gaynor · Post by **Gary/Gaynor** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:16 am

Having just bought a Samsung tablet does anyone know the best deal I can get on an internet SIM card in Portugal ?

Gary

pickwick · Post by **pickwick** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:49 am

Hi

Worth looking at the Huawai mi-fi device (look on the 3 mobile site in the UK). This allows up to 5 devices to wirelessly connect to the Internet instead of limiting you to just the tablet. For example you might want to connect a new generation iPod (Wi-fi with facetime) or a smart phone or PC at the same time. They have them in Worten and I think TMN and Vodafone too! You just have to watch roaming costs though. We use our "3" one in the UK and are just now looking at getting one for Portugal. They are small enough to keep in your pocket.

My wife just upgraded the software on her iPad 1 and installed Skype on it which she can use at the same time as her laptop and I can connect at the same time with my notebook and my iPod. See below from 3.

Create your own Wi-Fi hotspot.
Get wireless internet whenever you want with MiFi®. Our mobile Wi-Fi dongle works with anything Wi-Fi enabled, connects up to five devices at once, and fits in your pocket. Take it everywhere.

http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/MiFi
Pickwick

maccasa · Post by **maccasa** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:49 pm

can you get "3" in Portugal?

Michael Crane · Post by **Michael Crane** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:23 pm

pickwick, I too have a wi-fi dongle and Sharen and I both use it at the same time instead of swapping the previous dongle between us.

We haven't used it in Portugal (it is UK only), but I would be interested in something similar for Portugal. At the moment I pay £15 per month and can cancel with 1 month's notice; therefore I'd ideally like a connection I can use for December and cancel January!

DaveK uses a Portuguese dongle when in the village and it is pay-as-you-go, the problem with this was illustrated last December when, after a good bit of Skypeing, he ran out of credit!

Gary/Gaynor · Post by **Gary/Gaynor** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:13 pm

Michael Crane wrote:pickwick, I too have a wi-fi dongle and Sharen and I both use it at the same time instead of swapping the previous dongle between us.

We haven't used it in Portugal (it is UK only), but I would be interested in something similar for Portugal. At the moment I pay £15 per month and can cancel with 1 month's notice; therefore I'd ideally like a connection I can use for December and cancel January!

DaveK uses a Portuguese dongle when in the village and it is pay-as-you-go, the problem with this was illustrated last December when, after a good bit of Skypeing, he ran out of credit!

I use a dongle in Portugal Kangaru (Optimus) 1 euro an hour plus the initial cost of the dongle but now I just want a SIM card which offers the same. Pickwick I dont have a WiFi in Portugal so your idea wont work there. However I do the same as you in Holland with my Mac which also allows you to have 5 devices to be attached. My house in the UK also does not have a phone so would like to use a SIM card there aswell. The tablet does not take a dongle no USB port.

Gary

Farol · Post by **Farol** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:34 pm

Interesting article here relating to mifi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi

sam · Post by **sam** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:21 pm

Oh for the days when life was simple. When we first came to Carvoeiro just getting a landline or finding a public phone was difficult. Who remembers the old van parked in what is now the taxi rank? - it had some booths with public phones. Used to get holiday makers queuing up in season. The Portuguese phone cards were pretty with lots of different images, and used ones became collectors items for some kids.
We had a landline. Then mobile calls were possible from Uk phones, if you had registered this with your supplier. Then we bought a portuguese SIM for local calls from our mobile. More recently went to Silves to use internet via laptop, then Lagoa, now Carvoeiro.
Cannot offer advice on the query as some of the postings are beyond my knowledge - but shows how quickly time & technology has moved on.

Canada · Post by **Canada** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:12 am

We bought a high speed Banda Larga at TMN for 39.90 Euros. Then you pay as you go like a phone at 1 Euro per hour. It is very good and can be re used for another 5 Euros next year to redo the SIM card. There is also a slower one for 29.90 but that makes no sense to me. Think most of the phone companies here have similar.

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:38 am

Canada wrote:We bought a high speed Banda Larga at TMN for 39.90 Euros. Then you pay as you go like a phone at 1 Euro per hour. It is very good and can be re used for another 5 Euros next year to redo the SIM card. There is also a slower one for 29.90 but that makes no sense to me. Think most of the phone companies here have similar.

Does it clock up an hour as soon as you logon?

pickwick · Post by **pickwick** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:06 am

Hi

The Mi - Fi is a portable wi - fi zone that you connect up to 5 devices to at the same time. You do not need a USB. My 3 one for the UK costs around £15 each time I go on pay as you go for 5 GB. Optimus do one in Portugal at €29.99 oer month unlimited or 4GB per month for €11.25. You can see them in Worten at Guia or the Optimus shop. The package depends on whether you are in Portugal a lot in terms of value for money - you can download Skype onto your device so get calls back to the UK for 1.4p a minute or free to other Skype users. If you get one you create your own localised wi - fi zone.

Pickwick

Canada · Post by **Canada** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:15 pm

laserblazer wrote:
Canada wrote:We bought a high speed Banda Larga at TMN for 39.90 Euros. Then you pay as you go like a phone at 1 Euro per hour. It is very good and can be re used for another 5 Euros next year to redo the SIM card. There is also a slower one for 29.90 but that makes no sense to me. Think most of the phone companies here have similar.
Does it clock up an hour as soon as you logon?

No, we payed 30Euros for 30 hours. The min when logged in is 5min. so stay on at least 5min each time. It is very good and fast!

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:29 pm

Sounds perfect. Thanks.

Canada · Post by **Canada** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:20 pm

An update to this story laserblazer:
The 30 Euros for 30 hours disappears much faster than it should. After our 1st 30 Euros (gone in one week). We started logging our time and it still ran out in another week when we had only used 1o hours by our calculations. TMN told us how to log on and get a print out but can not figure out from their instructions(and it takes too long online)

fmm · Post by **fmm** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:42 pm

Canada wrote:An update to this story laserblazer:
The 30 Euros for 30 hours disappears much faster than it should. After our 1st 30 Euros (gone in one week). We started logging our time and it still ran out in another week when we had only used 1o hours by our calculations. TMN told us how to log on and get a print out but can not figure out from their instructions(and it takes too long online)

WHich is what I have said on here over and over again. After one holiday of using the hourly rate, I switched over to the other one which is for the amount you download - and it costs me 80% less than the other one to run.

Canada · Post by **Canada** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:54 pm

Interesting! We can tap into our resort wifi for free - so will do that next year.

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