I used to buy those cards when I was living in England a few years ago. Although they claims to offer you many minutes, they were lots of hidden charges.

First, if you use a toll-free number, then the rates are more expensive than dialing a local number and then using the cards.

Also, there were initial charges so the card was good only if you spent all the money on just one call.

I hope this kind phone cards work better in Spain. My experience in England was not very good.

For those with access to US military exchanges, they sell a card good for calling the US from Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK. Uses the AT&T access number and costs US $0.08 per minute.

I used to be a EuroCity fan. But that was back when the cards were valid for 90 days. Now they are for only 30 (unless they've changed).
I now use a card called EuroDirect, which is sold in the same kiosks. 180 minutes costs the same €6 and it is good for 45 days rather than the 30 you get with EuroCity. Same system. Same quality.

MadridMan is right, it would be dificult to beat the rates from the U.S. to Spain with 10-10-987.

From Spain to the U.S. I like www.losminutos.com You prepay on line with a C.C. and from a fixed line it's .06 Euro cents/min. and from a cell phone it's .03 Euro cents/min. plus what ever your cell phone carrier charges for local minute usage.

I'll second www.losminutos.com if you were living in Spain, but I don't think that it would be practical for travelers because you have to register the phone numbers that you plan on using ahead of time.

After plugging in the Spain->USA details, it gives the following result: The cost is 0.06 €/minute from your home phone (not for a pay-phone) and 0.03€ from your mobile phone. You can recharge your account via their website. The website is ONLY in Spanish, mind you (logical, yes).

And NOW, they're giving 10€ in calling credit when you "charge" your account to 15€ or more. FREE until January 5th, 2004. BUT, the "gift" will be taken away in mid-January. Hmph! Ahhh.... marketing. Don't'cha just love it?

It all looks good, eh? I only looked it over but didn't immediately find the information about WHEN your purchased minutes expire - if ever. Often these kinds of accounts expire within a month or two if not recharged again.

Happy Holidays!! Saludos, MadridMan

maybe that's true for the gift minutes, but the regular minutes that you pay for stay there for a long time. I used the service and loved it. Also, since phones there charge by the minute for all calls, they have a toll-free number you can use so that the number that you are calling from doesn't get charged anything. This service does cost a few more cents per minute, but at a reasonable rate.

Eurocity and Eurodirect (cards)rate comes out to 3.3 cents per minute from Spain to the States from a land line. (180 minutes for €6). Is anyone cheaper?

I just bought a Unity card for 12€ on line. I am not kidding, I get something like 2200 minutes. The drawback is that you must call from a fixed line (as opposed to your móvil). I am trying to remember the website...Oh yeah...

http://www.justlanded.com/

It'll charge you local minutes on the móvil.

I met with the people at www.justlanded.com who have a nice selection of cards which are very convenient because you can buy them on-line and all, but still Eurodirect gives you the most amount of minutes per card, has no daily usage or connection fees which most of the others do.
The thing is that you can only find it at one place near Sol on their limited operation hours of Monday to Friday from 11am to 3pm and at another place BBIGG internet on Gran Via. Limited distribution. (Check the In Madrid for more distribution points).
Then there is also a new card to use from your cell phone called "Call and Connect" for amounts of 10 euros and 20 euros which gets you prices of 14 cents a minute, but this one is relatively new so I am not sure yet where to find these.
Anyway, no matter which card you use remember to keep and eye on the expiration dates as all cards will expire 30 or so days after their first use.
Rocco.