Cell Phones in Spain

[Janet Beckstrom]

Hello!

My 19 year old daughter is about to embark on a 2-month study abroad program
in Santander. She plans to purchase an inexpensive cell phone when she
arrives in Spain. She flies into Madrid and then they are taking a bus to
Santander.

I'm just wondering if anyone can offer suggestions as to a brand and/or
features she should look for. Some of her friends are suggesting Happy
Mobile (or Movil?); we've also heard of Orange and Vodafone. She will be
using it to communicate with her classmates there in Santander, as well as
to call home (hopefully). What is the best way for her to make international
calls (back to the US)? Using an international calling card (purchased here)
from a pay phone, or using the cell phone she purchases in Spain? And if the
latter, should she use the minutes that come with the phone, or use the
international calling card on the cell phone?

Any information/suggestions/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Janet Beckstrom
Michigan, USA

wordc...@voyager.net

[Roger Warwick]

Hi Janet,

There are 3 main mobile phone providers in Spain: Movistar, Vodafone & Orange. Yoigo is a 4th, slowly picking up market share.

Traditionally, Movistar has always had the best network coverage, followed by Vodafone and Orange, but it often depends on your location, and all 3 networks always give good coverage in any town or city such as Santander. Not sure about Yoigo as it is relatively new.

There are other, so-called virtual operators, of which Happy Movil is one. These are basically resellers - they don't have their own infrastructure, but purchase wholesale time on the other operators' networks and resell to the consumer.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and can often be good for the consumer simply looking for cheap rates.

If your daughter's friends have already been to Santander and are recommending Happy Movil, then they'll have seen that the network coverage is good in that location and I see no reason not to accept their recommendations.

But if your main concern is the rates, check each mobile providers webpage for their tariffs, and compare with how much the international calling card would cost. For example, these are the rates to USA using Happy Movil (5.8 euro cents per minute to a fixed phone or 6.7 euro cents per minute to a mobile):

EE UU
Precio/min fijo	0,05 €/min(0,058 € iva incl.)
Precio/min móvil	0,058 €/min(0,067 € iva incl.)

Taken from this webpage: http://www.happymovil.es/tarifas_extended.aspx

Bear in mind also that from a mobile phone in Spain you always pay a cost to establish the call: 41.7 euro cents for International calls.

Compare these rates with an international calling card. The other option she may have is to use "locutorios" or call shops. I'm not sure what the rates are like but they are popular amongst people from South American countries and for sure are reasonably cheap - she should check them out anyway.

Hope this helps a little.

Roger.

[Karen Sanchez]

I have an Orange pre-paid card while i'm in Spain. They also have an international calling card that is pretty cheap that you buy for 5 euros. I forget how many centimos it costs a minute with it, but i got a lot of talk time out of it.  Check www.orange.es  for rates.

 

I would think that the best way to call home would be using an intl calling card that works on the cell phone that she buys.  I would not reccomend a US calling card to use from a payphone. Think about it. Spain 6 hrs ahead of us (if you are on the east coast, more if you are out west). I see you are in Michigan, so 7 hrs?  If she were to call you around 6pm your time when you got home from work, then she'd have to be standing at a payphone at 1am on the street. Not ideal. (not that it's not safe, could even be noisy). Calling from the cell phone is just more convenient and she wouldn't have to be standing up all the time and it's more private.

 

Karen

---

From: Janet Beckstrom <wordc...@voyager.net>
To: trave...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 9:31:40 PM
Subject: [travelspain] Cell Phones in Spain

[Janet Beckstrom]

Thank you to Roger and Karen for your responses. I printed your comments for her to take along. Katie arrived in Madrid yesterday and traveled to Santander today where she will be living until August 1. I expect she’ll be purchasing a phone in the next couple of days. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

Janet Beckstrom
Flint, Michigan
wordc...@voyager.net

On 6/4/09 3:02 AM, "Roger Warwick" <roger....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Janet,

There are 3 main mobile phone providers in Spain: Movistar, Vodafone & Orange. Yoigo is a 4th, slowly picking up market share.

Traditionally, Movistar has always had the best network coverage, followed by Vodafone and Orange, but it often depends on your location, and all 3 networks always give good coverage in any town or city such as Santander. Not sure about Yoigo as it is relatively new.

There are other, so-called virtual operators, of which Happy Movil is one. These are basically resellers - they don't have their own infrastructure, but purchase wholesale time on the other operators' networks and resell to the consumer.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and can often be good for the consumer simply looking for cheap rates.

If your daughter's friends have already been to Santander and are recommending Happy Movil, then they'll have seen that the network coverage is good in that location and I see no reason not to accept their recommendations.

But if your main concern is the rates, check each mobile providers webpage for their tariffs, and compare with how much the international calling card would cost. For example, these are the rates to USA using Happy Movil (5.8 euro cents per minute to a fixed phone or 6.7 euro cents per minute to a mobile):

EE UU

Precio/min fijo 0,05 €/min(0,058 € iva incl.)
Precio/min móvil0,058 €/min(0,067 € iva incl.)

[Rosemary Potter]

Hi

 

Just seen these messages.  I have Vodaphone and was in Archidona near Antequera last October and whilst I could call people in the UK from my mobile, I had no success calling anyone in Spain – either to their mobiles or their landlines.  The same applied in Málaga or anywhere else I was.  My daughter has 2 mobiles – one was Vodaphone and the other T-mobile.  She also had the same problem with Vodaphone, yet with her T-mobile ‘phone, she could call people in Spain as well as the UK.  Interesting as T –mobile does not work too well in our part of the UK (Cotswolds).

 

I really would recommend that yr daughter buy a Spanish mobile, but cannot comment on how they would work for calls to the USA.

 

Best wishes to you daughter – lucky her to be in Santander!

 

Rosemary

[Webmaster - Conference Coordinator Spain]

I have orange and its fine. coverage seems similar with all networks.
The important aspect alllways is who they are calling, where and on what
network and let that dictate the decision.

Most people have mobiles here. to use on for international calls is
going to expensive wherever you call and it would be better to use
internet cafes and skype on pc's and indeed pre pay calling cards that
are freely available.

Rosemary Potter wrote:
>
> Hi
>
>
>
> Just seen these messages. I have Vodaphone and was in Archidona near
> Antequera last October and whilst I could call people in the UK from
> my mobile, I had no success calling anyone in Spain – either to their
> mobiles or their landlines. The same applied in Málaga or anywhere
> else I was. My daughter has 2 mobiles – one was Vodaphone and the
> other T-mobile. She also had the same problem with Vodaphone, yet
> with her T-mobile ‘phone, she could call people in Spain as well as
> the UK. Interesting as T –mobile does not work too well in our part
> of the UK (Cotswolds).
>
>
>
> I really would recommend that yr daughter buy a Spanish mobile, but
> cannot comment on how they would work for calls to the USA.
>
>
>
> Best wishes to you daughter – lucky her to be in Santander!
>
>
>
> Rosemary
>
>
>

> *From:* trave...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:trave...@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Janet Beckstrom
> *Sent:* 06 June 2009 18:23
> *To:* trave...@googlegroups.com
> *Subject:* [travelspain] Re: Cell Phones in Spain

[Pete Clark]

In message <001b01c9e6e4$a0bd43e0$e237cba0$@com>, Rosemary Potter
<theca...@btinternet.com> writes

> Just seen these messages.  I have Vodaphone and was in Archidona

> Antequera last October and whilst I could call people in the UK

> from my I had no success calling anyone in Spain – either to their
> mobiles or landlines.  The same applied in Málaga or anywhere else
> I was.  My has 2 mobiles – one was Vodaphone and the other
> T-mobile.  She also the same problem with Vodaphone, yet with her
> T-mobile ‘phone, she could people in Spain as well as the UK.  
> Interesting as T –mobile does not work well in our part of the UK

> (Cotswolds).
>
> I really would recommend that yr daughter buy a Spanish mobile,

> cannot comment on how they would work for calls to the USA.
>

> Rosemary

There really is no need to buy a Spanish phone. The sims are different,
but the phones are the same. I live in Spain, and have had phones from
the UK, from Netherlands, and from Spain, all working without problems.

I really don't know why you couldn't reach anyone in Spain, but if you
were calling the UK, then you must have been connected to the Spanish
mobile network, who would handle your call to the UK. Perhaps it was a
limitation of your contract with Vodaphone UK?

To make your calls to the UK, your phone connects to a Spanish network,
which then passes you over to the UK networks. The UK networks have no
"signal" in Spain.

I use Movistar (which is run by Telefonica). If use one of the other
networks, then they don't always work as well when you get out of the
main areas. I live in the hills inland from Malaga, and wouldn't use the
others because of local blanks in coverage.

--
Pete Clark

Hot Costa - what's on in Spain, and where
http://www.hotcosta.com