Cell Phone Plan by Minute in Spain?

Question

I am currently studying abroad in Madrid from the United States, and am looking into getting a cell phone for my stay here. I do not want to sign a contract with a monthly bill, so I am looking for a phone that I can pay by the minute/put minutes on. I have checked with Movistar, Vodifone, and Orange, but can't seem to get any helpful recommendations. Does anybody know of a good plan/company? Also, are incoming calls always free in Spain, even if they come from internationally?

Answer 1

When I studied in Spain, I had a Vodafone phone. I payed by the minute (though text messages were a lot cheaper) and received phone calls were free. We also would send each other "toques" or missed calls. We would let the phone ring once or twice then hang up, that way neither one of the phones was charged. My parents called me on my phone a few times and I talked for a long time without being cut off. Most of the other kids in my group had vodafone as well so our calls to each other were cheaper.

When we would run out of "seldo" we would walk into a vodafone store and give them our number plus 10-20 euros.

The only time received calls were more charged was when i took my phone with me out of the country.

I know that movistar also offers similair "plans" but i dont have experience with those phones. I would ask again for an available phone sin contracto and see what happens.

Good luck and enjoy Spain!!

Answer 2

Hello! I would definitely recommend either Yoigo -cheapest fares, they only require a minimum consumption of 6 euros per month. Great for text messaging and your fares will not change. This is a plan without a binding contract, so you can call it off whenever you want. Just stop putting money on it and you'll be great.

If you are planning to use your cell phone regularly for calling abroad, then go for Happy Movil -go to a Phone House store and they'll issue you a card and number. They have very cheap fares for calling abroad and also cheap fares in Spain -but they're not as good as Yoigo's. The only thing is that Happy Movil doesn't have any network coverage outside Spain, so your cell phone will be useless if you make a trip to France or the UK.

If you go for the bigger companies (Orange, Vodafone, Movistar), you'll get more services but not very good prices. The two companies that I mentioned before -Yoigo and Happy Movil have the same fare throughout the whole day, which is a great advantage over any other carrier. Also, you may want to know that you need a free-phone, meaning that you can use it with any carrier, in order to use these two carriers. You can either buy one or use the current one you have, after you have it 'liberado', which will be much cheaper -between 10 and 20 euros-. Look for a store in your neighboorhoud.

Last but not least, as for the incoming calls, they won't charge you if they're made within the Spanish territory. The ones coming from outside, I'm not very sure, I think they never charged me anything, but I can not tell you for sure. There might be some exceptions.

Good luck!