All of this makes me realize how lucky we are here in the U.S. to have fairly cheap telephone options. I am on a mobile calling plan with free unlimited calling on weekends, free calls to other people with the same service provider, etc.--plus 800 weekday minutes (split between my husband and me) for about $70 a month (that's for two mobile telephones).

We have dropped long distance from our home telephone and just use the mobiles for long distance calling. And of course, we have free local calling (which for me includes four regional area codes in an enormous 5-county metropolitan area) on our fijo. I think we spend under $90 a month, total, for all our calling--and we are on the phone a lot, with family spread out over about 6 other states.

I wonder why there is such a difference in the price of phone service in Spain (and the rest of Europe)?