Hi everyone,
I am going to be studying in Madrid and will be living near retiro. I was wondering how much per month would a phone line cost in Spain in the Apartment. How much per month, how much is setup and how much a basic phone would cost. I am interested as my friends or parents would like to be able to get in touch with me. Thank you so much for you knowledge.
Geoff

Hello,

There are several telephone companies.
The bigger is Telefonica and their site is at:
http://www.telefonica.es
Searchig the site, I see that the installation cost is 110.59 and the monthly
payment is 17.32 . You must add the IVA (16%)
to these prices. Besides this, you must also
pay for every phone call.

The other possibility is auna cable ...
http://www.auna.es/weblogic/webco/wc/WCini
instalation is cheaper, 60€ and the cost per month similar but it's not avalaible in all the streets, you will have to check it.

Do what EVERYONE does, purchase a cell phone each. As a non-resident, you can only purchase a "movil" which requires you to "recharge" your account, but that is very easy, every tobacco store, film place and department store, etc. sells little cards for 10, 15 and 20€. You call the number on the card, input the code number and bingo! your credit is updated. Besides, you never miss a call, and never have to use a pay phone, can call international long distance too. The mobile system here in Europe is much more advanced than it was in the US when I left in 2000. "Try it, you'll like it!" Besides, any new friends will automatically ask you for your "movil" number.

Telefonica is a huge ripoff, can take months to get installed, horrible service. If you want a DSL line, check out ya.com. Its a better deal. Also there are other phone companies competing with Telefonica, which is run by the government. I highly recommend staying away from Telefonica based on personal, awful, experience.