BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi. I've got an unlocked quad-band phone and will be taking it on my rtw trip.

Wondering if anyone has any experience picking up and using SIM cards in the following countries. Especially anything to do with data plans which I'm having difficulty researching.

Thanks in advance

Countries:
NZ
Oz
Indonesia
Thailand
Vietnam
India
Isreal
Turkey
Croatia
Italy
Spain
Brazil
Argentina

India: about 5$ three years ago. I didn't have any problem using the phone in states outside the one I bought the card in, but did have trouble re-charging it. It's not that expensive to make local calls, and of course it's free to receive calls, so it's not that you would have to recharge often, but the kind of refill cards I needed - even for the same brand - were not available outside the state I got it in.

Also - the first card I got was no problem in Delhi. Then in Bhopal I tried to buy a new one (because I found I couldn't refill the old one) and a couple of places said they needed more documentation than I could provide (you had to be a resident?). So - while things may have got stricter since I was there, I doubt it - just keep looking if someone says they can't give you a card.

I don't think I've ever had a SIM card in Croatia but I have in its neighbors and it's also cheap and easy.

I don't know what a data plan is, sorry, as great as ex-Yugo is it would not surprise me if a pre-paid sim card / network doesn't have anything particularly complex but I could be wrong.

Thailand, just walk in a 7/11 and ask for a "Happy" card.
Indonesia sells them in small Electronic shops or sometimes in money exchange stores. It was very easy in Thailand and Indonesia. I heard NZ and Australia you have to be in a major city and find a mobile store.

NZ - im not sure of the specific name, but there are plenty of places to buy sim cards here also
Oz - vodaphone - easy to find places to recharge in major cities

Indonesia
Thailand - 1 2 3 go - i think is the name, if you go to shopping centers like MBK and go to the electronic dealer sides you can pay 100 baht for the card...recharging these cards are ridiculously easy all throughout thailand.

Vietnam - again very accessible either 50 80 or 100000 dong for the cards...recharging outside the main cities and towns a little more difficult but not impossible (i forgot the name but all companies have comparable prices for calls.

India

Israel - extremely easy to find, they have the most cell phones per person and capita in the whole world.

Turkey

Croatia

Italy

Spain

Brazil

Argentina[/quote]