Hi, this thread on the Tenerife page may help, I am going again in April & going to try a spanish sim card. Anything must be cheaper than using my UK one.
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=13914

Thanks for the link

Check my reply on the link above or PM me if you have any questions about mobile phones etc in Tenerife.

Regards

Simon.

Hi

Yes your telephone will work in Tenerife, however you MUST get it chipped in the UK costs around £10.00 at any mobile phone shop. They will do it in Tenerife but will cost you around 30 euros +. You can then go to any moviestar shop and they will do the rest for you! Easy....! We paid 50 euros and got our numbers and if I remember I think it was 20 euros of credit free too. We use the Moviestar shop at the back of the Valdes Centre in Los Cristianos and most of the people that work there are English which helps! You just buy your top up cards then form almost anywhere and do exactly as you would with your pay as you go here in the UK.

Good luck..

Jane & Malc

ankhasenamen,

You need to get your pay as you go phone "Unlocked" from Orange. (not 'chipped'). It's quite legal. Ring orange and tell them you are moving abroad and can they unlock it for you. As long as you have had it over 1 year they will send you a code to type in and hay presto any sim card will work! If your orange contract does not allow unlocking yet, go to a local independent phone store or look in your local UK paper for a company who is willing to do it for a small fee (shouldn't be more than £15) but this IS illegal, however its a long way to come and find you.

Movistar, Vodaphone and Amena all do sims for around €30 to €40 which include about €20 credit. Vodaphone is the cheapest of the three for calls and has the best coverage on the Island (especially the end your going to). There is a shop in Torviscas (English staffed) that sells them, but I'm sure Los Gig has a shop too.

One thing to watch for. If your phone is not too clever it will realise that it now has a Spanish sim in it, change the language and not let you change it back to English! Most newish ones do let you change it back.

One aspect of Spanish Pay as you Go that the UK doesn't have is the facility to top up your phone at any bank cash point. When you move over and open a bank account ask the bank manager to show you how to tell the cash point to speak English to you and you will then see that there is an option to top up your phone!

Cool eh?

Thanks all

Makum, unfortunately ORANGE will not unlock it as the sim is registered to a different handset I live in rural Wales, so nowhere to take it to be unlocked, so I think buying new is going to be our best option.

You can get it unlocked here quite easily and cheaper than buying a new handset.

If you are buying a new handset get a second hand one as unlocked handsets are not cheap in the UK.