i hope someone out there can help me with this,i would like to know how much a mobile phone costs in spain and how dear are the calls? I currently have a Nokia 3310 and Siemens C45, could i take one of these with me and buy a local sim card? Would i need to get it unlocked before i leave the UK? Any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I am not sure about the UK... But going from the USA, you would have to first, make sure it operates on the 1800/900 frequency. Next, it would have to be "unlocked." Than you should be able to buy prepaid SIM cards in Spain. How long are you going for? If you are going to be there for a couple of months, I would suggest just buying, or renting a phone when you get there.
I you are just going for a vacation, you could also just use payphones. They are plentiful in Spain, much more so than in the USA (at least in my experience here in the north). Good Luck!

Thanks for your reply, we have planned a long holiday with view to settling over there, and we need to have a contact number for our families in case of emergency, we realise that it will be a lot cheaper using public phones than mobiles its more a case of having a number so that we can be contacted on until we are settled.

Carol - get a cell phone in Spain - then call family/friends with your number. Saves you a ton of cash! Try using the search function tying in CELL PHONE. Tons of info including various company rates, etc.

Tried to paste in the link and it didn't want to work - Search - then Shopping catagory - Cell phone shopping is vcery current

MM - when I edited this half got erased????

You mobile phones from the UK should work if they are dual band, just make sure you unlock them before you come. This will mean paying some money to the network. However, depending which network and tariff you are on the phone may be unlocked already.

There are three networks in Spain:

• MoviStar,
• Amena and
• Vodafone/Airtel.

Any of which would be good for you to be contacted from the UK.
You can buy SIM only packs in Spain. I am not sure of the price, but it is not that expensive. I would definitly recommend getting a Spanish mobile number as roaming from the UK can be
VERY expensive and if you are here for longer than a week, it is best to have a number that you can be contacted on.

I currently have an Amena and a Movistar phone service and there is the posibility of setting some of the option to use English on the menus.

Most if not all mobile numbers start with 6xx xxx xxx.

Text messaging also works internationally so you can text from Spain to the UK.

If you get a pay as you go, you can recharge at various locations: petrol stations, phone shops, etc.

Don't forget that the Spanish charge a cost for establishing a call, so even if it a free number you will still be charged a small fee. Unlike America there is no fee for incoming calls.

Hope this helps.

669 622 344

You can also recharge a prepay cell phone at the thousands of ATM (bank machines) "cajeros automaticos" throughout Spain.