When you want to get a phone connected then you can of course contact the telephone company. Sometimes, if you see a telephone engineer near to your villa he carries a list of new numbers around with him. He will connect you, get you to sign a contract and he will notify the telephone company. We paid no fee with the land phone, though others have paid an installation fee of 150 euros or even 250 euros for nonresidents. Telefónica is the equivalent of our British Telecom. As with any big organization their service is not always up to what we might wish for.
There has recently started up a lot of competition in the telephone industry so shop around, but as usual, it will be advisable to get recommends first. A mobile is useful, with several companies to choose from. When you get a landline a phone is provided at the same time, but a British Telecom phone will work over there. If you want to go on broadband, the main phone providers all do this, but it tends to be more expensive than in the UK, and not as easy to get sorted out if a fault occurs. There are eight numbers making up a landline and they start with the number nine. Mobiles are also eight numbered and start with a six. As with your utilities, water and electric, you should pay by direct debit, as they do not notify you if they want to cut you off. There are different mobile tariffs available, but you will find that your bills are similar to the UK.
Mobile Phones
Companies are battling to get business, so don`t go for the first deal for a mobile phone you see. If you have a phone from the UK then you will need to have it unlocked, but that’s likely to cost a lot less than buying a new mobile telephone in Spain. Fortunately the UK and Spanish systems are compatible. Shopping around pays. You will find different deals just like in the UK.As with the UK, if you do not use the mobile phone much, then opting for a pay-as-you go is your best bet. That way you only pay for what you use.
You can recharge (recargar in Spanish) your pay-as-you-go phone with more credit (saldo) at lots of places, including grocery stores, phone stores, newsagents, bank machines and with online banking.
Moviestar, Telitec, Europa, Viva, Vodaphone, Orange are just a few of the companies you can use. Of those probably Moviestar – the oldest- gives the best coverage.
What puts many Brits off phoning around for the best deals is the language barrier. To overcome that some mobile phone companies say they have customer service personnel who can speak multiple languages.
Viva, for example, have this on their website-
The Viva mobile team is made up of people from your country, who are familiar with the problems involved in using mobile communications services in Spain.
When choosing Viva mobile, simply tell us the language you require for our services, which our representatives will use with you at all times:”
Europa has this on their site-
* Europa clients call each other for FREE 24/7!
* Call UK from only 1 cent per minute (Landline), and only 7 cents per minute (Europa Mobile)!
* UK callers only pay a UK local call-rate to call you in Spain!
* Multilingual customer support in English, Spanish and French!”
Internet
The Spanish Industry Ministry promised Broadband as a right to everyone in Spain by 2011. A guaranteed connection to 1 mega in any part of the country has been promised. This “universal service”, currently supplied by Telefónica, will cover telephone connection, telephone directories, phone boxes, and a basic Internet connection, and as it will be opened up to other operators in time it ought to result in competitive rates.
The Spanish government have now put this promise of universal broadband for all on hold (that happens a lot in Spain). It now seems that the plan won’t be put into effect for a little while longer, so a lot of people in some cities, towns and villages will have to wait to get connected.