If anyone is familiar with Earthlink (or similar U.S. ISP service) they have nationwide access numbers that can be utilized anywhere in the U.S. (even Hawaii) and it's all included in the monthly unlimited usage access fee.

Before I go on any trip (in the U.S. and Canada), I know what town I'm going to, and simply look up on the Internet what telephone number's Earthlink has in that city (like I went to Vancouver B.C. a little over a month ago and had no problems with an access number).

Therefore, when I goto Hawaii, I simply dial a local Hawaii phone number from my Hotel room (or from a family member's house) and I don't get charged any long distance phone fees - I can check email, conduct business, etc all for the $19.95 per month unlimited fee. It's great!

Is there any kind of a company in Spain (or Europe) that is similar, in that if I'm in different cities in Spain for a week traveling, or if I decide to goto Paris for the weekend, etc. that I can phone a local EU number (Paris number) to access the Internet, but am not charged any long distance fees?

While there may not be ab EU service like this, is there at least a Spanish one (so I can use any local access number in any city in Spain)?

Also, irregardless of the above, any opinions on which company in Spain offers the best (largest) 56k dial up service are welcome.

Thank you!

EDR

To my knowledge, there are currently at least 49 ISPs in Spain. I've seen a few, but they seem to be regional. I suggest an online search of ISPs in the areas you'll be staying.

Hereare a couple: www.retena.es
This is a Navarrese ISP
www.euskal.net
This is Basque, but seems to be a little inoperative at present.

For a comprehensive list check out Nic.es , the organization responsible for the top level domains for Spain (".es").

You'll find a list of ISPs in Spain .

By the way Calibasco, it seems that there a few more than the number you suggested. It seems there are 839 ISPs operating in Madrid!!!.

[ 06-18-2001: Message edited by: Antonio ]

Leave it to Antonio to know more than the U.S. Government! Way to go, Antonio! It's nice to know there's such a variety now...the information I quoted was from late 1999 if my memory serves me well. At least I was right on when I said "at least 49"..

I'll contact the CIA and let them know of the change. (Although over 800 ISPs in Madrid seems like a lot! There must be some mega price wars there!)

I didn't say there are over 800 ISPs in Spain. There are over 800 in Madrid. However, in Ciudad Real there are only 8. Most of those 800 ISPs in Spain don't resell their services to private customers. They just register themselves as ISPs so that they can hire lines directly from the telecommunications companies (which is cheaper than doing it from another ISP).

A few years ago, we had more ISPs in Spain than all the ISPs in the rest of Europe together. Whenever there is an interesting business, there are always lots of people copying the idea.

Furthermore, the internet is evolving so fast that information collected in 1999 is probably out of date.

By the way, I didn't know the number of ISPs in a country was such a secret to be investigated by the CIA.

As for the price wars there isn't such war because most people use either a flat rate connection (available only at 2 or 3 ISPs for normal 56K telephone connections) or a free ISP. Very few people use the rest of the ISPs.

[ 06-20-2001: Message edited by: Antonio ]

I've found jazztel and airtel to have the best dialup connections.

DSL service has mixed reviews as in the States, people I know have retevision or telefonica.

Also available are cable modems which you can include with your TV, I know one person whom has this and they say it's great. This is called Menta in Barcelona but it varies by city depending on the cable company.

People say cable connections are great. However, they don't offer flat rates (at least in Madrid) and you have to pay per minute of connection.

Madritel , the cable company operating in Madrid offers a kind of flat rate. You pay a fix amount of money every month but you can only download a certain number of Megabytes per month. If you transfer more than this, you have to pay per Megabyte of data transfered.