Spain calling - the cheaper way(s) - sorry Telefonica
It is a bit inconsiderate of friends and family not having moved to Spain as well. One realises this when wanting to stay in contact and reaches for the phone. Telefonica who kindly activated the land line (the one we bought with the house attached) has no qualms to milk the desperate.
Calls to the UK are 0.12 Euro/min peak and still 0.08 Euro/min off peak. Peak time is 8am-8pm and Spain’s Gordon Brown gets IVA/VAT on top.
There are ways around this. Dialing access numbers is legal and cheaper. The common ones start with 902 xxx xxx, get a prompt or dial tone than dial the full International number.
These are still at 0.084 Euro/min peak and 0.042 Euro/min off peak plus they say Telefonica charges a connection fee? Its 0.084 Euro per call.
Telefonica offers dial packages and with a small charge if 3.00 Euros a month call costs to the UK can drop to 0.06 Euros/min anytime.
One company has installed their own equipment here and can thus offer even better rates 0044 Spanish Homepage.
Use 901 900 499 and its only 0.034 Euro/min peak and 0.02 Euro off peak with a connection charge of 0.042 Euro.
They also offer 2p/min any time calling from the UK to Spain just dial 0844 972 0044
Having “Linea Rapida” or ADSL enables the usage of VOIP (voice over IP - the Internet for you and me) and our preferred form is SKYPE.
The software is free. If both parties have it, calls and video calls are simply free - crackly sometimes but free!
It is also possible to call landlines or mobiles by charging the account with some money and than calls to Europe are straight forward. Land line for example is 0.02 Euros/min any time with a small connection charge of 0.045 Euros.
There are lots of pre dial numbers in other countries.
In Deutschland sollte man mal hier nachschauen. Acor mit der Vorwahl 01070 war mit 1,1 Cent/min einer der billigsten.
So there is no reason not to use the phone - It just requires some more numbers.
Expat
PS Please note the prices where correct on 26.Feb.2007 - Please check before using any of the mentioned contact numbers.
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