Moving next week I need to get on-line. As always in Spain I am on the receiving end of conflicting advice. Two professionals say choose Telefonica. Yes it is a bit more expensive but the reliability is as good as it gets here.
I am with Telefonica already and I pay them about ?70 a month inclusive of telephone calls and 24/7 broadband. If my memory is right you also pay about ?120 for the initial set up.
My new shop-owning neighbour advises Vodaphone ?dongle? service. The 24/7 broadband connection deal costs him ?29.95 a month. No hardwire. He showed me how he just carries the dongle with him like a bunch of keys. He plugs it into the main PC at work, his laptop at home. He is perfectly happy. He uses his mobile for calls.
He says it is a no-brainer. I tend to agree   ?  until the next person says, ?Ah but ??????  I am asking the audience. Thanks. Mike

Well, with the dongle you’ll see slower speeds (much slower response times, which are mostly relevant only for gaming and video, etc) and wouldn’t be able to set up your own wifi network to enable multiple devices to connect simultaneously (unless there’s a work around).

How about if you just need to check emails daily and update a joomla website every couple of days? Is a dongle appropriate? bearing in mind that we can’t get telefonica adsl….

Hi Emma,

Getting the dongle from the Vodaphone shop was easy; friendly and supportive. Signed up, picked up ... plugged in. There were a couple of teething problems but that was mainly my unfamiliarity with the new system. Just stick the dongle in the port; click the Vodaphone icon and moments later you’re up and running.

Advantages? Totally mobile. Now on my fourth day I am convinced that fixed lines are history. It os a no brainer. They can’t compete with a radio receiver device the size of a cigarette lighter. Perfect too for the campo where there’s fixed line issues. You can take both your stack or your laptop anywhere; it’s as mobile as a mobile phone.  ... or from room to room, country to country.

Down Side? ???? Not much difference in speed though I mostly e-mail and browse on-line media. Cost: The 24/7 BB deal is ?39.95 a month. 3g, which they say I am unlikely to top unless I download lots of music, films, games. I don’t.

I do miss the landline phone that came with the ?75 a month Telefonica package but I think there are some comparable mobile offers on so when I am less distracted ... . Mike

Hi Mike,

Great advice thank you

I have had a contract mobile with Vodafone for around 4 years now and have never had a problem with them, so I trust the company which is a good start!

I think I may head into one of their stores and have a chat about whats on offer…

I also need 2 landlines, 1 for phone and 1 for fax… so I’d better start getting sorted!

Em

I thought the one line would handle everything, Em   ...  including phone / fax. Don’t go overspending unless it is a busy office you’re going to be managing.
Yes, I do miss the landline phone but don’t use it that often. It would have been an expensive indulgence to pay about ?125 for installation and an extra ?30 a month. My next task is a mobile phone SIM card, which allows comparable priced phone calls to the UK. Mike

Hi Mke, where would I find one of those SIM cards, which mobile phone shop ? or another place perhaps?

interesting discussion, im looking into the exact same problem, i am on vodafone in uk, moving to barcelona, i already have a “dongle” in uk through vodafone and use it all the time when im away from the office and on the road, so would rather have a “dongle” in spain too if its easier, i only use internet for email and basic internet use.

but my main problem with the phone has always been which tariff or company to use, i will be spending at least 7/10 days of the month in the uk, but, when im in spain, with my business, i will still be having daily contact with the UK, all my clients are in the UK, so need a good tariff for calls from spain to uk, from a mobile, i cant really have a landline number

so interested in what you said about a SIM

andrew

On reflection, and after ten weeks Vodaphone dongle connection the service isn’t as good as Telefonica’s fixed line. Maybe the telecommunications industry still have some way to go for parity. It is very slow and unless you really don’t have a choice then the Vodaphone dongle is a quick fix but a slow service, if that makes sense.

Sorry, the other poster. I missed that one. Any phone shop will have SIM cards but as in all things they usually stick to one or two, which presumably offer them the best commission.

One other generalisation. Where’s the watchdogs on this one? You can’t check a service out, such as Vodaphone, until you have tested it to see if it lives up to their promises. But you do have to sign up for eighteen months. So you go for it, sign your eighten months away, and only then find their service is crap and you would like to test another’s system. Wait eighteen months? Hardly good for the industry - or the customers.

Hi all,

I’ve been using the Vodafone dongle for a few weeks now, it is slightly slower than telefonica but all else is good, and seeing as I can’t get telefonica adsl where I am, it’s just fine!

When I bought the dongle, we were chatting about the fact that I can’t get adsl and the guy in the Voafone store said that we could cancel the dongle at anytime, should telefonica release adsl in my area….