Spanish mobile

[PavAmber]

Hi all
New to the forum so greetings to all! We are intending to move out to the Lake Vinuela / Alcaucin area in the next couple of months once our UK sale has completed.

A quick question to those in the know... Is there any disadvantage to maintaining our UK mobile contracts rather than taking our Spanish contracts? If a Spanish contract is the way to go, any recommendations?

Thanks
Richard & Lesley

[gerryh]

Welcome to the forum and Spain.
If you keep your UK mobile and contract then all your phone calls will be subject to a roaming charge. So depends on how many phone calls you think you will make.
Whether or not you go for a Spanish contract or PAYG also depends on how many phone calls you think you will make.
If you go for PAYG it is easy to change to a contract but the reverse is not true.
Also worth thinking about is do you have a landline in the house you are moving to?
Will you want to watch UK TV via the internet?
Some companies offer good packages that cover landline, mobile phone and internet usage.
Also worth checking is how good a mobile signal, where you will be living, can you get from Movistar, Orange or Vodafone who are the three major suppliers of mobile phone coverage here in Spain. I know there is also Yoigo but they have limited coverage and use the Orange network where they don't have coverage.
There are also other places you can get mobile phone PAYG or contracts such as Hits and Masmovil etc but they all use one or another of the Movistar, Orange or Vodafone networks.
Cheers
Gerry

[jamesbowker]

I can't add more than my own experiences to Gerry's comprehensive reply. If you are on the "Three" UK network then you will be able to use your 'phone in Spain virtually as at home without any additional charges, eg if you have an allowance of 300 minutes then you will be able to make and receive calls in Spain from that allowance. The only caveat is that it is not intended to be a permanent solution and is really aimed at holidaymakers spending only a few weeks a year abroad. Three don't specify the amount of time they consider to be "reasonable" but, at a guess, you may be able to get away with 2/3 months a year in Spain, maybe it's not the time but the level of usage? You cannot tether under this arrangement, use the 'phone's data connection to connect your laptop/tablet. So if you're not planning a wired connection then a Spanish sim could be the way to go, one that allows you to tether. Obviously the most important consideration is that the network you opt for provides a signal where you are. I have had sim cards from Carrefour and Masmovil, both which use the Orange network and I have never had any issues - and I am in a rural area near Loja. MasMovil I can recommend, competitively priced with options to control how much you spend including the ability to "park" the service for €1 a month for up to 6 months a year when you don't plan to be using it. Have a look at their website - if needed they have an English version and multi-lingual support staff. Good luck with your plans.

[gerryh]

If you are on the "Three" UK network then you will be able to use your 'phone in Spain virtually as at home without any additional charges,

They chop off roaming after 2 months.
My wife has a dual sim phone. Spanish sim for normal use and a Three sim for messaging her friend in the UK.
Roaming gets chopped off after 2 months so we just get a new sim with the minimum top up on it, it lasts until she reaches the 2 months limit.
Cheers
Gerry

[jamesbowker]

Very interesting to know Three's time limit Gerry but to avoid your wife's hassle of constantly changing her Three sim why doesn't she get her friends/family/contacts all on "What's App" or similar?

All the best,

James

[alisonb]

Maybe I'm parsimonious but I think it's a bit rude/selfish to use a uk number when you're living in Spain. I know you can get good value calls, but what about people who call you from within Spain? They end up paying for an international call, or more likely, just not calling you. There's a local companŷ who advertise contact by email or uk mobile number. Why would you want to deal with a company who can't be bothered to provide a Spanish number.
Having said all that, I'm on a rolling one month contract with Hits and am quite happy with them

[gerryh]

Very interesting to know Three's time limit Gerry but to avoid your wife's hassle of constantly changing her Three sim why doesn't she get her friends/family/contacts all on "What's App" or similar?

All the best,

James

The friend doesn't have a smartphone or want one.
We use WhatsApp for everybody else in the UK.
Cheers
Gerry

[costakid]

We have a Spanish mobile for local traders and friends who live in Spain to call us on. Everything else I do on my UK mobile as I have a fantastic contract with free calls and texts to anywhere when roaming. The only thing I do not get is free data.

[Wicksey]

I am in a similar position. When I recently went through the tariffs for our Spanish Orange PAYG, my UK Virgin PAYG and the various systems I use on the computer like Skype and another VOIP company, I came to the conclusion that the UK mobile is now easiest and almost cheapest for us to use. Orange charged us 73 cents to send a text to a UK mobile which I very occasionally had to do when I was not in the house, so I have stopped using that phone for making calls and texts.

Virgin have dropped their roaming costs to 4p a minute for calls (to all phones, whether here or in the UK, landline or mobiles) and 4p a text and no charge to receive calls etc. We give out our Spanish phone number to anyone who needs to phone us back from here, but UK family can phone us on the UK phone. We make and receive relatively few calls and this system seems to work best for us.

[elusive]

If you are on contract with a uk provider and want to end it as you are moving here you will have to pay off the whats left of the contract anyway. So its gonna cost you regardless.

[PavAmber]

Maybe I'm parsimonious but I think it's a bit rude/selfish to use a uk number when you're living in Spain. I know you can get good value calls, but what about people who call you from within Spain? They end up paying for an international call, or more likely, just not calling you. There's a local companŷ who advertise contact by email or uk mobile number. Why would you want to deal with a company who can't be bothered to provide a Spanish number.
Having said all that, I'm on a rolling one month contract with Hits and am quite happy with them

Hi Alison
Point taken. As it happens I am on 3 currently as Gerry mentions with a PAYG contract. We are just looking at whether there is a cost saving either way.

[PavAmber]

Welcome to the forum and Spain.
If you keep your UK mobile and contract then all your phone calls will be subject to a roaming charge. So depends on how many phone calls you think you will make.
Whether or not you go for a Spanish contract or PAYG also depends on how many phone calls you think you will make.
If you go for PAYG it is easy to change to a contract but the reverse is not true.
Also worth thinking about is do you have a landline in the house you are moving to?
Will you want to watch UK TV via the internet?
Some companies offer good packages that cover landline, mobile phone and internet usage.
Also worth checking is how good a mobile signal, where you will be living, can you get from Movistar, Orange or Vodafone who are the three major suppliers of mobile phone coverage here in Spain. I know there is also Yoigo but they have limited coverage and use the Orange network where they don't have coverage.
There are also other places you can get mobile phone PAYG or contracts such as Hits and Masmovil etc but they all use one or another of the Movistar, Orange or Vodafone networks.
Cheers
Gerry

Hi Gerry
Really helpful thank you. I am currently on 3 PAYG so the roaming cut off is good to know. My wife is on a normal contract with Vodafone.
TV is another area of interest for us and not sure whether IPTV, Satellite or whatever is the best way to go yet.
Richard & Lesley

[elusive]

Have a look at hits mobile website and mas mobile for an idea of what you can get with a spanish mobile. Hits do a rolling monthly contract so you can stop or change it at any point .they include overseas minutes etc. They also do payg.

[markwilding]

Orange charged us 73 cents to send a text to a UK mobile which I very occasionally had to do when I was not in the house, .

Ironic really because if you sent the same message from any other country in the EU to the UK, it would have cost a little more than a message sent to a phone in Spain. In my case it would cost 7 cents

[PavAmber]

I'm assuming you can't port your number to a Spanish supplier somehow?

[elusive]

No dont think so

[costakid]

I'm assuming you can't port your number to a Spanish supplier somehow?

If you mean port across from Vodafone uk to Vodafone ES then thats not possible.

[PavAmber]

Hi again all
We have been looking at the various phone shops in (mainly) El Ingenio. We clearly need a Spanish mobile as it appears to be integral to the banking (mobile) set up.

What is a shock is the cost of mobiles, we are used to taking an contract and getting the phone pretty much gratis in the UK. That doesn't seem to be the way here or are we missing a trick somewhere? It is probably less of a problem for me as I could take a SIM only deal but my wife's phone is on its last legs and needs replacing.

Views / education most welcome!
Richard y Lesley

[elusive]

There are deals where you get a free phone or at least pay a small amount. have you looked hits mobile and maybe mas But it does seem to be more popular here to buy your own phone and then get a month to month contract. I did the same in the uk .ie a sim only after the contract had run out and although theres the initial outlay for the phone it tends to be cheaper. You can get basic smartphones for well under 100 euros

[northandsouth]

Hits completa monthly 18.90

You supply your own unlocked phone.
250 minutes international and national calls to mobiles and landlines. 2 GB data. €18.90 inc iva per month. No contract you can hop out whenever you want to.
OK no sms included but whatsapp, viber, facebook messenger etc etc have taken over from that in many respects, and it's 3G so around 10mb/s not 4G but that has never affected my mobile internet use.