Hi guys,

I’ve just been speaking to my ‘customer service’ team at Vodafone in the UK - with whom I have had a company contract for SEVEN YEARS - and they basically cant do anything for me in Spain, such as transfer me to a local tarrif or suchlike.  THey can only offer me ludicrous overseas rates for using phone on existing Uk contract!  Which clearly isnt going to be a lot of use when I move out at the end of Dec.

So I am starting from scratch and would appreciate any advice on the best provider for a fairly high-use package, voice and data, that will be both local and UK calls and texts.  And ideally with whom I could communicate in English for now!  Has anybody got any experiences they could share, both good and bad, to help me choose wisely..?

thanks in advance

Mx

In spain get it from Movistar, at the moment best at unlimited plan, roaming support,etc. Vodafone seems to be quite limited at only 1 email account and data exchange, and from friends i know orange fails a lot.

pm if you need more info.

Thanks vrey much for that Pieter, I will definitely check out Movistar

Pieter Vos - 19 September 2008 01:47 AM

In spain get it from Movistar, at the moment best at unlimited plan, roaming support,etc. Vodafone seems to be quite limited at only 1 email account and data exchange, and from friends i know orange fails a lot.

pm if you need more info.

Only proviso on this statement is that I think that Vodaphone 3G coverage is better, Movistar can be a nightmare to deal with if you need support , or a billing problem(after all the are telefonica)

Cheers Mike, I am yet to hear much good about Telefonica but I am sure I will end up having to deal with them in some form or other once we move.  I guess it’s part of the price of the sunshine…

Maya x

uploading and download data when roaming out side you phone company country is 21.00 euros (for fist time log on to there roaming company ) and 7 euros per MB after, its the biggest ripp off in Eu and worldwide get N95 for nokia and you can wifi aswell

now here one every day you phone PDA has log on roaming thats 21 euros

i seeen bill from 100 euros to 1400 euros

becarful on iphones Pda and any outher phones that used data

Telefonica is land line company and are ok but movistar are cellphone company like vodafone movistar are own by telefonica like 02 in uk

get you self NIE no here spain and get a deal with then i pay 99 euros per month with movistar and could go to 149 euros some times

with all the dsl lines, phone lines ,cellphones , sat links , the bill comes to 3,500 euros per month here
jurdy

Thanks Jurdy,

I know the roaming costs a bomb as I currently pay that rate when visiting!  Though I heard something on the news earlier that the networks are getting punished for their rip off monopolies and may have to make their charges more reasonable in future.  I will check out deals very carefully when I arrive and see what I can find, thanks for all the advice

Maya x

there main companys in spain and now supermartets aswell have there own networks shared off the main companys
like Carrefour , Eroski , Hipercor El Corte Ingl?s

Further cut in EU roaming charges

The European Commission announced plans today for a further reduction in mobile phone roaming charges in EU member states.

Under the proposals the cost of sending a text message would drop from 29c to 11c.

If approved by member states and the European Parliament, the cap would take effect on 1 July, 2009 and would exclude sales tax.
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Currently, sending a text message from another EU country outside a European mobile phone user’s home country costs 29c on average, 10 times the price of sending a message domestically.

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding also wants to stop the practice of mobile phone operators charging people by the minute for calls - rather than by the second.

Eager to build on the success last year of capping the price of mobile phone calls while abroad in Europe, the EC wants to ensure that consumers do not pay too much for other services as well.

Consumer groups across Eu have welcomed the move.

The Luxembourg EU Commissioner said that rounding to the next minute led to users being overcharged by 20% for something they have not even consumed.

‘That’s why billing by the second is going to be required,’ she told German magazine Der Spiegel.

France, Lithuania, Portugal and Spain already have legislation in place that requires operators to charge by the second.

The practice of rounding up call durations to the minute undermines the effectiveness of EU caps on the price of making and receiving calls while abroad, which is known as roaming.

One EU official told wire services that under the new rules, billing by the second would only apply after the first 30 seconds of a cross-border telephone call in Europe, leaving operators free to charge a fixed rate for calls last only a few seconds.

The package presented today also includes plans to drive down the cost of using mobile phones or other devices to surf the Internet while abroad using mobile phone networks.

Ms Reding’s has struggled to gain support for her other big telecommunications reform which would see the creation of a European super-regulator.