TLDR: Which one should you go for?

If you need a lot of data: Go with Vodafone or O2 on the higher tier plan. They both give generous data packages for good prices. Vodafone has 50GB for €17/mo and O2 has 150GB for €20/mo.

If you want to save money: Go with Pepefone. The €8/mo plan is pretty much as cheap as it gets for a reasonable plan at 9 GB.

If you want an easy plan: Go with O2 mobile. They are basically the only carrier to allow eSim without having to go in person. They allow you to use all of your data while roaming in the EU and 20 GB for €10/mo is pretty solid in terms of pricing. I will be going with this plan.

Happy travelling!

UPDATE TO TLDR: Jan 19, 2024

I had issues setting up O2 eSim unfortunately. It didn't allow me to use my passport to verify even though it is fully valid. It seems that every Spanish carrier desperately does not want you to use eSim :/

So what did I do? I ended up going with Masmovil (The prepaid Yoigo carrier) which offers 40GB for €10/mo. You just need to go into any Yoigo or authorized Masmovil store (there are tons of them) and ask for a sim. They will tell you they "don't have that sim" and try to up sell you. Just argue a bit and they'll give you the lower data plan. If you really do need eSim, if you are on a iPhone 15 or something, you can get one in store. Kinda a pain, but oh well. They also have higher data tiers which are very competitively priced.

The deets

Note: I put this together in a couple days so it's not comprehensive. Also the terms & conditions are in Spanish so I apologize if I misunderstand how these plans work fully. If you find any errors please feel free to message me at @covalent:jptr.tech (on matrix).

I will be studying abroad in Spain next semester. Super cool and all but that means I need a new phone plan! Currently I'm on Visible (a Verizon MVNO), but the base tier $25/mo unlimited plan doesn't get you any international data! If I upgrade the $35/mo unlimited plan I get .5 GB/day of normal data and then I get downgraded to 2G speeds. Not a great deal. So what do I do? Lets compare all of the cheapest plans on the major carriers.

A quick note. I'm looking for a minimal plan as I will spend a lot of time on WiFi. I want at least 20 GB of data a month and don't particularly care about calling or texting minuets as I will be using Whatsapp for my communication there and it will stay bound to my US number.

The Major Spanish Mobile Carriers

There are currently 4 major network operators in Spain:

• Movistar
• Vodafone
• Orange
• Yoigo

These 4 carriers have roughly the same subscriber count and coverage shouldn't be an issue. All other mobile carriers that cover Spain are MVNO's.

Okay lets break down the carriers for what I care about.

Movistar
Their 20 GB plan currently cost €15/mo. There is a promotion for 4 weeks to 80 GB of data but I don't really care about promotions as I'll be there for a full semester.

The 20 GB plan allows you to roam 8 GB in the rest of the EU.

Unfortunately though, it seems like Movistar only offers eSim in store. I would prefer to be able to do it from the internet so this feels like a no go to me.

Vodafone
Their base level plan is 50 GB of data for €17/mo. They have higher tier unlimited plans but they cost more.

They also do have eSim, but you have to have a physical sim card first and then switch in store for €10.

Orange
Their 17 GB plan cost €15/mo.

They allow full roaming in the EU.

They seem to support eSim. Researching this is annoying as all the results come up for Orange Travel not the local Orange carrier.

Yoigo
Their 25 GB plan cost €10/mo.

eSim is only available in store.

The MVNO's

And lets include some MVNO's for the fun of it. I will be ignoring all the travel plans because they don't make sense long term. Some travel plans are: Airlo, Nomad, US Mobile, Orange Travel, etc.

Pepephone
They are a MVNO of Movistar. Their 39 GB plan cost €14.90/mo. They also have 9 GB plan cost €7.90/mo.

The 9 GB plan allows you to roam 8.42 GB, the 39 GB plan allows you to roam 15.89 GB.

They seem to have eSim support online. I will test this out and see if I can set it up from the US.

Lowi
They are a MVNO of Vodafone. Their 30 GB plan costs €9.90/mo.

They allow for full use of data and calling in any EU Zone 1 country.

It doesn't look like they support eSim though :/

O2
They are a MVNO of Movistar. Their 20GB plan costs €10.

They allow for full use of data and calling in any EU country.

They advertise directly that they support eSim.

Lobster
Their quirk is they cover Spain, but they are fully in English. Their 25 GB plan costs €6.50/mo for the first 3 months then it doubles.

The 25 GB plan allows for 12GB of roaming in most of Europe, and 5GB of roaming in the UK.

No eSim support unfortunately.

How to sign up as US Citizen

So if you go to the checkout page on a Spanish mobile carrier you may find yourself confused as they all ask for your ID. Never fear! All Spanish travel Visas come with a NIE by default, so just plug that in and say you're from the US and you should be fit as a fiddle.