Mobile Data in Spain - After the event

I bought a Spanish SIM for the unlocked Android phone I have when I went to Spain at Christmas.

The best deal seemed to come from Carrefour.

The APN settings are:-

NAME=Carrefour, APN=carrefourinternet.

100 MB per day is the download cap.

Every day that you use the Internet, €1 will be deducted from your credit. This is €1 plus VAT (TVA) so works out at about €1.19 a day.

The minimum top-up seems to be €5, You buy the SIM for €5 and put credit on in €5 multiples.

Hence the cost works out at €1.19 per day plus the €5 for the SIM, but the minimum that you can initially buy is 4 days.

The SIM worked in my Zoom WE3G once I had sussed the PIN lock. The carrier for the SIM has the 4 digit PIN and the PUK printed on it (but strangely not the number).

I topped up in a Carrefour Express by another €5 using the reciept for the original Top Up which had the number.

I attempted online top up but that didn't like my non-Spanish credit card.

Speeds were good until more than 100MB was used, then it went slow (but still useful on a smartphone).

Sadly the SIM dies if you don't spend €3 a month so when I go next I'll have to buy another one but all in all I thought it was good.

I didn't try the other deals which are as follows:-

OR [translated from Spanish by that nice Mr Google]
Bonus 1 GB

Pay € 19, which lasts 30 calendar days from the sign up.

Once past the 30 days you have to resubscribe. If you do not, you automatically pass to the daily rate.

How to sign up

Make sure you have sufficient funds in your SIM card (at least 23 €).

From the Mobile Partner application (see below) send a free SMS with the text 22864 " ALTA BONO 1GB "

You will receive an SMS confirming to recruitment.

You then have the bonus that you can enjoy for 30 days.

You can check the consumption at any time by sending an SMS to 22864 with the text BONO 1GB (you have 5 free consumer inquiries each month.)

Get the USB modem + SIM or SIM only:

* In the online shop
* In Carrefour Hypermarkets
* Supermarket Carrefour Expres

Recharge based on your needs, just like a mobile phone.

You can make your charge:

*In Carrefour Hypermarkets
*In Supermarket Carrefour Express
*Online here
*In the ATM network 4B
*In kiosks and establishments
*By phone at 902 202 000

Instructions:

By introducing the first USB Modem on your computer, you install the Mobile Partner application. Download from here the user manual .

Once passed, the 1024 Mb (1 GB), The speed reduces to 128 kbps.

This rate is valid for domestic traffic.

What to do if you eat the bonus of 1 Gb within 30 days:

* You can continue browsing the remaining days at a speed of 128 kbps. Once past the 30 days return to the daily rate.
* You can terminate the bond, and return to the daily rate at any time.

To terminate the bond, send free SMS from the Mobile Partner to the number 22864 with text BAJA BONO 1GB.

A collection of Malware checkers

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Hitman Pro: Malware Scanner (very quick! no install needed)
http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro

Kapersky TDSSKiller (very quick! no install needed, for TDSS rootkit)
http://support.kaspersky.com/downloa...tdsskiller.exe

Dr Web CureIt!
https://www.freedrweb.com/download+cureit/gr/?lng=en (direct link)

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool 32-bit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...displaylang=en

Spybot: Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

Norman Malware Cleaner (no install needed, takes time)
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivir...-Cleaner.shtml)

The Vodafone SMTP server

After trouble with very slow e-mails some while back it seems that the Vodafone SMTP server may be gone for good.

You can never tell with phone network SMTP servers as they are the least loved part of a mobile phone operators system (at least by the management and staff - possibly because people won't pay £5 a month extra for it !).

To use my legacy POP3 account on my Orange San Francisco I needed a Vodafone SMTP server (network of the month before I go to T-Mobile).

I thank the excellent blog post at :-

http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/sending-email-smtp-vodafone-uk

for the following hint.

Sign up for a free Vodafone 360 account at www.vodafone360.com

The settings are then as follows:

SMTP (Outgoing) server - smtp.360.com
Username - username@360.com - where "username" is what you selected when you signed up for the 360 account
Password - your 360 password
Security - SSL / TLS
Port - 465

You should now be able to send email via SMTP.