Prepaid SIM cards in Argentina — expiration and roaming?
For my last several visits to Argentina, I've bought a SIM card and charged it as needed for data only for my cell.
I have a Movistar SIM from my trip in February.
1) Do these expire? Can I charge it when I go again in November or do I need a new one?
2) I am also traveling to Brazil and Uruguay. I assume this kind of prepaid plan will not roam. Is that the case? If it does roam, are the charges very high?
I am basically between getting a global sim ($60 for 1GB of data) or trying to use the Movistar SIM I have.
Best Answer
They do expire in about six months to a year. I have asked Movistar repeatedly about this but the answers were all over the place. Last card I bought I didn't use from Jan 10 to July 20, and it still worked; I think, though, that I recharged it remotely before the six months would kick in by July 10.
Other Movistar cards that I didn't use for a longer time were deactivated before a year. On the "interesting" side, even after the sim was no longer active and the number had been given to another user, I was still able to see the call logs on Movistar's page. Talk about bad IT (not that I expect the other carriers to be better at this).
As for roaming, it didn't roam in Canada nor in Chile, so I assume it doesn't anywhere.
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Do prepaid SIM cards expire if not used?
No, you don't need to do anything. Your SIM will expire after 90 days of inactivity, so if you've any top-up credit remaining, use it or you'll lose it! Additionally, you will also need to top-up your account at least once every 365 days.How long do prepaid SIM cards last?
Most of them offer prepaid credit that can be kept for as long as a local SIM card remains active, i.e. 10 days, 2 weeks or 1 month after the last top-up or active use.Do international SIM cards expire?
Although credit on a WorldSIM international SIM card never expires (as long as you use the SIM once a year) many other companies will terminate your SIM if you don't top up every 30 days. Ideally you want to keep your international SIM for life so you always have the same number when you travel.How do I keep my SIM active while abroad?
International Plan or Local SIM?
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