# Beware Meo SIM in Portugal



## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

Arrived in Portugal and as normal sought out a SIM to use in MIFI, previously for Portugal I've found the Kangaru one to be best, unfortunately the company were bought out and the deals are no longer the same as previous years.
I went along with the recommendation of the helpful person in the PhoneHouse shop in Tavira he suggested the Meo as being best deal. Actually connects and works OK for a while and then drops the internet access, not the actual connection that stays on perfectly, just the internet access, you then need to turn off MIFI and re-boot it will work for a while and then same again.
I went back next day taking everything with me but he was unable to sort the problem, he made a few phone calls but still drew a blank, ended up with suggesting that probably too many people were trying to log on in the area I was in (bo***ks).
Thought, well I'll just have to grin and bear it, re-booting every 100mb or so and use our allowance, which I thought I'd bought 1.5Gb for €15, even that was not so, only got 1Gb!
Anyway decided not to bother with it and bit the bullet and got a Vodafone one and all well again.
Moral of story don't buy a Meo SIM for data.

No doubt there will be suggestions for using WIFI either at camp sites or via aerials (which I also do), however that only works when something is in range.


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## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

By way of a recommendation for Spain, I've tried a few and found Lebara to be good (rubbish in France).
The only downside now is they have changed the way you can top up for data use, previously you simply topped up when you had used your paid for allowance, for this year when you buy a data package it is for 30 days and you cannot top up until the 30 days has expired no matter how quickly you use your allowance, the only option is to buy further 100mb packages at €3, not exactly cost effective, just be sure to buy the package that is likely to last you 30 days.
The Lebara SIM can be purchased on line (no cost but needs to be topped up) or from a Spanish store, which will be ready topped up for use, I used Worten you will need your passport and they will accept a foreign (to Spain) address to register it to, you can then go on-line and manage your account the Lebara.es web site has an English language option.

As with all different providers you will need the APN settings installed in your MIFI for it to work.


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