A telephone rental service similar to On Spanish Time?
 

Leaving for Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) in 2 weeks. Had planned on renting a phone from On Spanish Time, but just found out theyr'e closed until February. They do refer to another company (Cellular Abroad) but they appear more expensive. Do you have any other recommendations for renting a phone in Spain? Thank you.

I can't believe that Jer is closed until February. There must be some mistake since he has more than one office. Are you sure you were on the correct web site, not one that has been hijacked?

They have nothing to do with Cellular Abroad that I am aware of...


http://www.onspanishtime.com/

Robert, I wish it was a mistake. Makes more work for me! Apparently, the company is re-structuring. Just in case, I went to the link you provided and got the same message. In an effort to accomodate his customers, he has provided the link to Cellular Abroad. Any alternative recommendations? Thanks.

It may be just as economical to buy an inexpensive Spanish Mobile (cell) phone. Last year we paid 59 euros for a phone with some credit on it through Vodafone.

It doesn't make any sense. Cellular Abroad is a direct competitor of On Spanish Time. It would be like Hertz sending you to Avis when you want to rent a car. I'm afraid that this one smells kind of fishy.

I just heard back from "On Spanish Time" and the information on the page is correct, the office will be closed until the end of Jan.

hi all.

Robert2533 was kind enough to contact me to check if that closed till Feb. message was an error.

it is not. aside from the fact that we are taking our 4 month old (first baby) to the u.s.a. for 6 weeks, we are taking advantage of this time to restructure the company for the next busy season. this is our off-season and we normally do very little business in the winter months so it is a good time to do this.

apologies to those who looked forward to renting from us and were disappointed upon visiting the site.

as for the recommending of cellular abroad, there are a few good reasons for this.

FIRST and foremost, YES, they are our competition in some ways but we also supply them with some wholesale telecom products from spain and in this way we know for sure that they are quality and reliable products.

secondly, we have an affiliate link to their site so that we make a small commission on the people we send to them while we are closed.

third, they are the only reliable travel telecom company we can count on to get things done right.

i understand if some people think it may be unheard of to close a biz for nearly 2 months but we believe in working hard and playing hard as well, hence the much deserved long vacation.

Iregeo, not to toot our own horn or anything but you will not find any service with rental and call rates as low as ours. yes, cellular abroad is more expensive but so are all the rest. at least cellular abroad is reliable and professional, please consider giving them another look. we always recommend them (even when we make nothing on it) whenever we cannot provide services to a customer.

hope this has clarified a few things.

saludos and happy holidays,
jeremy reines
director of Onspanishtime and spainSIM

I remember looking at renting vs buying and with the deals out there renting makes very little economical sense. I recently bought a $49 dollar phone from Telestial which included $20 free airtime plus free incoming calls in several countries Spain was one of those countries) plus 45 minutes of free calls from your family/friends in the US. I suggest you look into that as an option.

www.telestial.com

Thank you Jeremy and cruisluv for the information. Oh, and Jeremy, congrats on your new little one! Happy holidays.

I think you'll find that Telestial is a little overpriced for anyone traveling in Spain, especially with that UK telephone number. The also have a connection fee of $0.25 USD. Is that a per connection (phone call) charge?

If you have an unlocked international cell phone, just pick up a sim card when you arrive in Spain.

As a very satisfied customer, I'd like to jump into this thread to highly recommend Jeremy's service for travelers to Spain, especially families or large groups.

In summer '07 we (2 parents, 2 teens) rented 2 phones, which made our 2 weeks in Spain much more manageable. With basically free calling between the phones we were free to split into 2 groups and avoid the tyranny of having pre-determined meet-up times/places. So, for example, in the morning we could head out and let the kids just call us when they rolled out of bed and were ready to meet.

Of course we also used the phones to call family in the US cheaply, phone ahead for reservations and directions, etc. Jeremy brought the phones to our hotel and met us at the airport on our way home.

If you have an unlocked GSM phone at home, it might be simpler to take your phone with you and just buy a local SIM card with minutes on it.