<p>DS will be in Spain for the spring semester. I’m researching cell phones and pre-paid SIM cards. I’d kind of like him to have one before he goes instead of having to buy one when he gets there, in case there’s a problem with his flights, etc (he’s changing planes at Heathrow). </p>
<p>Online, it looks like Telestial has the best deal - get a GSM unlocked cell phone and prepaid SIM card for $69. The SIM card is rechargeable and comes with $10 airtime included. They charge $.29/min for calls w/in Spain or to the US, $.69/min for calls to other cell phones in Spain, free incoming texts and $.69/outgoing text. (Plus a $.35/call connection fee). The SIM card works in 140 countries, call rates vary in other countries but were not too far above the Spain rate. The package is at [World</a> Cell Phone](<a href=“Telestial”>http://www.telestial.com/promo/econopluspack.php) </p>
<p>Anyone have any experience with Telestial or the Siemens A70 phone?</p>
<p>Never heard of them but sounds like a good deal. He could switch sims once in Spain and get a local one which may be cheaper while he is there and then use the other sim for travelling? My son switches sims when he comes here to visit. He has a U.S. one and an EU one.</p>
<p>My daughter used a prepaid from Telestial when she went to Spain a couple of years ago. We got her cell phone unlocked so she could use her own phone; it was free with the unlock code from AT&T. Once she arrived, her program offered a different SIM card and plan where calls between students in the program would be free. It turned out to be a better deal, so she when ahead and bought what was offered from her program. When we went to visit, we used her Telestial SIM card to use up the minutes and she used it when she would call us; it is so easy to switch SIM cards, that it wasn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>You might want to check and see if the program your son is attending offers a similar plan.</p>
<p>Don’t know about the Siemens A70, but we had the Siemens AX72 and it was fine until my son lost the battery cover in Africa. We got it as part of a similar package with Cellular Abroad. Since I didn’t want my D traveling with a duct taped battery (thought it might raise some eyebrows), I bought a basic unlocked quad-band Motorola flip phone from J & R Music World. Phone was about $39. It’s worked just fine, and she switches sim cards depending on where she is. Back to the original question, if the A70 is anything like the AX72, its a basic, non-flip phone. It made and received phone calls, texting didn’t seem to work so well when texting out of the country where the sim card was based, and certainly not to international numbers.</p>
<p>archiemom, Slow Travel is where I found the Telestial link.</p>