I was wondering if anyone knew of the cheapest way to call the US from Spain? Last year we used our MCI card and it was very expensive...this year we have a sprint card from Costco but it is still 80 cents a minute. Are the phone cards within Spain any cheaper? Many Thanks! Lisa

This may or may not be relevant experience (from Italy) to your needs in Spain - - but I bought a pre-paid cell phone last month, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the rates - - ranged from about 0.25 to about 0.75 a minute (variation due to the time of day, I am guessing). <BR> <BR>If you anticipate the need to make as much as 30 minutes worth of calls, this seems very economical - - and a great boon to be able to make calls ANYwhere you want - - as well as receive them. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

Yes, there are numerous calling cards on sale in Spain from shops, gas stations and newsstands. Don't buy the formerly state-owned Telefonica cards that you insert into pay phones. Buy ones that give you a toll-free 900 number to make a call. Typical call charge to US is around 70-80 pts/min (40cents). The cheapest I could find was Peoplecall card. <BR>www.peoplecall.com <BR>2000 pts card gives you 75 minutes to US at 23 pts/min (13cents). You can use it from payphones, hotel phones and cell phones.

Thanks Rex and Alec! We usually make fairly short phone calls and use email for longer correspondence...your advice is very helpful!! <BR>Lisa

Lisa, In Fuengirola there is a small shop named the Call Box it has comfortable booths. the call goes through almost instantly and the quality is excellent. The pricec of a call is VERY low. There might be Call boxes in other cities. <BR>Ron

hi Lisa, Rex, Alec, Ron and all.

ok, Alec, your peoplecall card was VERY expensive (sorry). 2,000 pesetas is 12 Euros today and if that gave you just 75 minuted back to USA, that is actually 16 eurocents/min. (approx. $0.18), not $0.13. 75min x 16 cents = 12 Euros.

800 numbers in spain are also toll-free.

the best cards to call back from spain to U.S.A. are &quot;eurodirect&quot; (http://www.europhonecards.org/eurodirect). at 3 eurocents/min., you get 200 minutes on a 6 Euro card.

Rex, calling back to U.S.A. from a spain cell is a bit more expensive than from an italian one. here the rates range between 60 and 87 cents/min. unfortunately, one needs to add the 35 cent/call international connection fee + the 16% sales tax to that so it is very expensive to call back to U.S.A.

you can get around this by combining a prepaid phone card called &quot;Call and Connect&quot; (http://www.europhonecards.org/call&amp;connect) with your spanish cell phone. the card uses a toll-free access # and avoids using the cell phone credit. you talk with U.S.A. for just 14 cents/min., no connection fees, no sales tax.

saludos,
jer...

I was in Toledo the last of March and first week of April. They have places called &quot;Locutorios&quot; where you go into a booth, dial the US number direct and when the party picks up in the US a meter on the wall keeps track of the time. When you hang up, a receipt prints out at the main desk. The cost to the US was 0.20 Euros per minute. Five minutes cost 1 Euro. Also, I found dialing direct from a pay phone was convenient and cheaper than the $.99/min that T-Mobile wanted to charge me for using my cell phone.

Do you realize you topped a thread that is almost 3 years old?

I did notice that....after I hit &quot;POST MY REPLY.&quot;

It may be three years old, but it is going to help me this summer in Spain.

hey Mike, i was the one who re-animated this thread so i think kaudrey was referring to that.

the &quot;locutorios&quot; (call centers) you refer to are everywhere in spain but a pre-paid calling card like &quot;eurodirect&quot; is a better option at 3 cents/min., plus you can use it from hotel/hostel rooms as well at the same rate. no need to go looking for a &quot;locutorio&quot;.

locutiorios cater more to latin americans who do not have as easy a time finding cheap prepaid calling cards to call back to latin america.

kaudrey, what's your point? i agree with cef1, it is never too late to help nor to help people save money.

if the message board admin did not want people posting on old threads they would have an expiration date.

saludos,
jer...