MarthaSCran

My daughter will live in Madrid Sept.-Dec. and we will visit in November. What is the best way for her to obtain a phone? Are rates reasonable to the US? Rates reasonable for calls within Madrid and to surrounding cities?
Martha

highspirit1

For calls back to US I bought a "Eurocity" card from an internet store in Stiges, near Barcelona, - 165 US min for 6 Euros. Internet stores are on every corner. Phone card deals vary and change but that is probably the lowest.

I bought a cell phone in Spain with a "movistar" SIM and prepaid minutes. - no contract. Movistar is one of the large national cell phone companies. My plan is about .30 Euros per minute with free incoming calls which worked great all over Spain. Combine that with what is called "call back" service to the US and calls will be more than the above card but still cheaper. If you do buy a cell phone, try to get an "unlocked" phone which you can take to other countries on other trips and buy local "SIM" cards with prepaid minutes for local service to avoid roaming charges charges. I am not yet sure if my phone is "unlocked" so I may have to sell my phone to someone going to Spain and get an unlocked one for my next trip elsewhere. www.aitelephone.com/index.html and www.telestial.com have more info. ttfn

calvo

go to www.multimadrid.com-the guy who runs that website also rents phones --that site is full of information about phones

MarthaSCran

Thanks for the info! At last I understand the phone system, thanks to Jeremy's great site and several emails to him. My daughter ordered her phone at a great rate and I feel sure the delivery and instructions will be a great help. I believe this is the cheapest way to communicate to Spain--
1. Use www.BestTelephoneRates.com to buy a card with the lowest LD rates from your area (.049 per minute from South Carolina uning Talk Home PrePaid Calling Card)
2. Buy (or rent)a cell phone from multimadrid.com with vodaphone minutes.
3. Call from US to Spain (no charge to cell phone on incoming calls) at low rate.
4. For calls from Spain to US, use Eurodirect card at .035 per minute, house, hotel, or pay phone.

For cell phone use within Spain, use Vodaphone and call 4:00 pm - 6:00 am, when calls are .12 per minute.

I hope this info is correct. If not, maybe Jeremy will clear it up for us!

jerfrommultimadrid

Hi Martha, as you may have seen, I tried to "clear it up for you" with a looooooong and very helpful post but my post was deleted by the board mods

So, more or less you got the info right

Saludos from Madrid,
jer...