buy micro sim abroad in Europe?

Sniipe

My parents are thinking about an ipad as a replacement for the laptop when abroad. I believe you can buy a webcam for them to use skype?

Anyway, is it difficult to buy and use a micro sim card so that they can skype home? They will only need a months use out of it; so pay as you go option...

They will be going to France/Spain mainly.

culabula

Sniipe wrote: »

My parents are thinking about an ipad as a replacement for the laptop when abroad. I believe you can buy a webcam for them to use skype?

Anyway, is it difficult to buy and use a micro sim card so that they can skype home? They will only need a months use out of it; so pay as you go option...

They will be going to France/Spain mainly.

The webcam bit, first I've heard of it. Skype will work, they can see you but you can only hear them.

In Spain they should either get a Yoigo SIM or one from the Carrefour supermarket, where they sell own-brand data SIMs. I doubt if they'll be microSIMS, but a pair of scissors will do the job.

France is a disaster for ad-hoc data, although microSIMS are available with iPad plans. Orange seems best as they combine their paltry offering with access to their hotspots throughout the country. SFR seems OK @ 9,90 for the SIM until you realise that it's capped at 75mb a day and lasts for 3 days whereupon it then costs 6€ a day! You might as well buy a new SIM every 3 days.

Remember in both countries they will need a passport, an address, a million euro deposit and the title deeds to their house*.

In my opinion, they would be much better off getting an 087 prepay, signing up to Vodafone 360 and getting roamed data at 39c a day for 100mb. However none of these SIMs allow VoIP IIRC. Much better to have the 087 and use it for surfing and emailing and finding a wifi hotspot for the skyping.

brophs

An iPad isn't an adequate replacement for a laptop, to be honest, unless all you do is surf the net.

culabula

brophs wrote: »

An iPad isn't an adequate replacement for a laptop, to be honest, unless all you do is surf the net.

Come on, it does an awful lot more than just that!

culabula

Sniipe wrote: »

My parents are thinking about an ipad as a replacement for the laptop when abroad. I believe you can buy a webcam for them to use skype?

Anyway, is it difficult to buy and use a micro sim card so that they can skype home? They will only need a months use out of it; so pay as you go option...

They will be going to France/Spain mainly.

Update: I just popped my 087 SIM in my iPhone, was debited 0,39c for the day automatically, then proceeded to make a Skype call on it from a moving train without problems -contrary to what I have always been told about Voda and VoIP.

So, that is what I recommend you do -avoids having to get different SIMs for different jurisdictions.

naasrd

brophs wrote: »

An iPad isn't an adequate replacement for a laptop, to be honest, unless all you do is surf the net.

Have you got one?

Deep Thought

Correct me if wrong, but the iPad has no USB ports, so how do you attach a camera for the likes of Skype etc ?

We use gmail video as long as we have cameras

culabula

Szondi wrote: »

Correct me if wrong, but the iPad has no USB ports, so how do you attach a camera for the likes of Skype etc ?

We use gmail video as long as we have cameras

You can't, as I pointed out earlier, I have never heard of such a thing. An iPad can receive video, not send it.

It is perfectly capable of Skype, Fring and gTalk audio calls, however.

brophs

culabula wrote: »

Come on, it does an awful lot more than just that!

Well of course it does, but I wasn't suggesting that's all it does, rather the only way an iPad offers as much or more to a user is if they only browse the web. Everything else is watered down from what you have in modern laptops, albeit that's for reasons of compactness in some cases. Plus the lack of removeable storage etc. makes it less servicable than a laptop, not to mention the lack of multi-tasking. Things like having to buy apps to edit Office files (and even then those apps don't have the functionality you get on a bog standard laptop) mean it's not directly comparable, IMHO.

naasrd wrote: »

Have you got one?

No. But I have used one quite a bit. And as I said, it's not comparable, IMO. The iPad is more for entertainment - which it does very well - whereas a laptop is more versatile.

Johnmb

brophs wrote: »

Well of course it does, but I wasn't suggesting that's all it does, rather the only way an iPad offers as much or more to a user is if they only browse the web. Everything else is watered down from what you have in modern laptops, albeit that's for reasons of compactness in some cases. Plus the lack of removeable storage etc. makes it less servicable than a laptop, not to mention the lack of multi-tasking. Things like having to buy apps to edit Office files (and even then those apps don't have the functionality you get on a bog standard laptop) mean it's not directly comparable, IMHO.



No. But I have used one quite a bit. And as I said, it's not comparable, IMO. The iPad is more for entertainment - which it does very well - whereas a laptop is more versatile.

Given that the OP said his parents were going to use it as a replacement for the laptop when abroad, most likely while on a holiday, an iPad would be ideal. How many office documents are they likely to be needing to extensively edit while there?

brophs

I took the OP as his parents wanted to buy one as a replacement for a laptop while abroad. Having read it again you're right, I would have thought.

But my point remains the same. It's a fine machine but it's very limited in what it does and if they only want to surf the web etc while abroad then even a netbook would be preferable.

Sniipe

Oh... there is no webcam for the ipad? hmm...

naasrd

brophs wrote: »

No. But I have used one quite a bit. And as I said, it's not comparable, IMO. The iPad is more for entertainment - which it does very well - whereas a laptop is more versatile.

Fair enough, but I had an iBook that I used for work and browsing. As soon as I discovered an app called Pages I ended up selling it because it became redundant and this was within weeks of me buying an iPad.

The idea of switching back seems so tortuous that I couldn't imagine ever using a laptop again. It would seem clunky to me now, the way a pre iPhone mobile would now too. Both have their critics and always will, but both have changed the game whether we like it or not.

culabula

brophs wrote: »

I took the OP as his parents wanted to buy one as a replacement for a laptop while abroad. Having read it again you're right, I would have thought.

But my point remains the same. It's a fine machine but it's very limited in what it does and if they only want to surf the web etc while abroad then even a netbook would be preferable.

¿que? If that's all they wanted to do, then there could hardly be anything more practical, more compact, more efficient than an iPad, where surfing is an absolute delight.

But, Skype was mentioned.....

culabula

naasrd wrote: »

Fair enough, but I had an iBook that I used for work and browsing. As soon as I discovered an app called Pages I ended up selling it because it became redundant and this was within weeks of me buying an iPad.

The idea of switching back seems so tortuous that I couldn't imagine ever using a laptop again. It would seem clunky to me now, the way a pre iPhone mobile would now too. Both have their critics and always will, but both have changed the game whether we like it or not.

I keep tapping my Macbook's screen expecting it to do something and I constantly double-tap the spacebar to insert a full stop!:-) then I just reach for my iPad.......

naasrd

culabula wrote: »

I keep tapping my Macbook's screen expecting it to do something and I constantly double-tap the spacebar to insert a full stop!:-) then I just reach for my iPad.......

Love it! I've done this a few times on my daughter's laptop too.