Best cell phone in Spain?

Question

i'm gonna be in Madrid for a semester and I want a low-cost, convenient cell phone for while i'm there. i've heard a prepaid phone or one you can add minutes to with a debit card are the best.

i'm not sure yet how i'm going to make my calls home. I will probably want text-messaging, but its not essential

anyone have any experience/suggestions?

is there anything i need to know about cell phones in spain?

Answer 1

I never heard that Sprint is in Spain, but it could be possible.

Here are a few options for your pre-paid card -many also offer the possibility of a contract, but I wouldn't go for it, since you'll only be here for 6 months:

If you want very very cheap rates, then try Yoigo. They have the lowest fares, and you won't need to sign a contract. They have minimal fees and only require 6euros minimum consumption each month. Another cheap option is Carrefour, which is also quite cheap but doesn't have as many services.

If you are planning to use your cell phone for making international phone calls, I would go for HappyMovil; they have the lowest fares for calling abroad thought you can only add money to your account at very specific places. Please bear in mind that you won't be able to use this operator abroad, it only works while you are in Spanish territory -if you travelled to France, it wouldn't work in there. I have this server and works great for calling abroad, and fares for Spain are also quite cheap.

If you want to go for well-known companies, you can try Orange or Movistar. They'll offer you more services but they are a little more expensive or have time frames when calling is extremely expensive, but, as I just said, you'll have more services and more customer service locations.

What you need to know:

1. unlike in many other countries, when someone -in Spain- call you on the cell phone, your minutes will NOT go down, i.e. if you have only 1 minute, you could still be talking to people on the cell phone forever if they are the ones calling you.

2. try to get a free-cell phone, meaning that you can use it with any company. You can either purchase it -but it'll be expensive- or 'liberar' any cell phone you have or buy. It'll cost about 20 euros to do this process and after that you can use it with any company.

Hope it helps. Good luck and enjoy your semester in here.

Answer 2

SPRINT.. SPRINT... SPRINT... and MORE SPRINT.

Answer 3

At the Phone house, which is a cell phone provider they have many pre-paid phone plans available. But since you will be calling home , i would also buy local phone cards to call the u.s  like Euro Direct, Euro U.S.A etc , they are 6 euros and have between 500-600 minutes each... I have a local cell phone for my calls in Spain , and usually call my family in  Chicago ( My Home town) with prepaid phone cards. Its cheaper and they last from 45 days to 60 days..

So i think that would be a much better option for you..

Take care..

A Chicagoan Living in Barcelona..

Bcn_mimosa

Take care...

Answer 4

Definately go with Orange. The minutes don't expire for 12 months, other companies can be 3 - 6 months. If you go back next year to travel/visit/study, then you can use the same phone, have the same phone# and will already have minutes on it when you get there. Minimal recharging is 5 euros. Texting is automatic and just comes off the mintues too. You can recharge at an Orange store, the Phone House (a general cell phone place that's in all the malls) or even through ATM machines.

Also, with regards to calling home, they now have an international phone card that you can use from your cell. But it doesn't use regular cell minutes, only the card minutes. The card is an excellent deal - I've calculated that using the card a call back to the US can be as cheap as 3 centimos a minute!

Check it out, their website is www.orange.es