If you have an Orange sim card it will work automatically but the operator will change to thelocal one whose name escapes me. Virgin mobiles will also work automatically over there as well now.

What would be the best way for mobile to mobile contact in the Benidorm area. Is it worth while using Spanish sim cards as we will only be looking to use the phones for 1 week or so. If so does the phone guy in the Indoor Market sell them.

Hi Sandie.
Yes, Andys Phones is still in the inside market.....I had mine and my hubbys phones unlocked by him and Amena sim cards put it.
There are various tariffs PAYG.....ours last 12 months before you have to "top up"....and considering we go to mainland Spain or Tenerife 2 or 3 times a year, we have no trouble topping up.
We just switch the phone off before getting on the plane, and take the "English" sim card out when we get to Spain, then insert the Spanish one, and bobs your uncle, no problems....then we do the reverse on the way back home....
We went to Tenerife with my son last year, but stayed in different hotels in PDLA....I lent my son his dads phone, so we were both using spanish sim cards, and it saved an absolute fortune phoning each other arranging when to meet up, otherwise the phone call would have been bounced back to the UK, to come back to Tenerife even though we were only a mile apart....Hope that makes sense, not very good with the techno of phones and networks.!
Changing to a Spanish network, whilst on holiday, was the best move we have ever made.... have saved a fortune in calls to the UK as well....the cost of having the phone unlocked and the Spanish sim card as paid for itself twice over already, against what we would have spent in calls had we not done it.

Sanji xxx

Looks like the Spanish sim is the fav, thanks Frank & Sanji.
XXX

Sandie

It depends on your network, orange, vodafone and virgin all work over there, saves going to the expence of unlocking and buying sim cards for the sake of a week. You can buy top ups from the guy in the market for vodafone.

But what prices are the calls.?

sanji xxx

There are certain phone networks that Andy can't unlock. My contract T-mobile was having none of it

If all else fails get a 6e telephone card as they last ages but you can only use the telefonica booths.

To send a text back to the uk averages about 40p. I'm with virgin and it costs 95p per min to make a call and 60p per min to receive a call. How much per min is it on the Spanish sim card? you don't say. By the time you have paid to have it unlocked, bought the sim and put credit on it are you saving alot?

You can get your phone unlocked at basically any mobile repairers or any market around the UK, prices vary from £5 - £10.

I think the spanish sims were about 10e but I ain't sure what the tariffs are but they won't be as steep as using a Uk phone in Spain.

Both our phones are T Mobile PAYG
Andy unlocked them and depending on how much credit you want on your phone the prices vary.
Ours cost 30 Euros to unlock and had 11 Euros credit on it.....but there are different prices, we got the lowest because we were coming home in a few days time, eg. you can pay 50 Euros for it unlocked and have more credit on your phone, also at certain times Amena have promotions.
Cost for calls.
Ring England 0.55 centimos per min....approx 36 pence
Text local 17 centimos......approx 10 pence
Text International 70 centimos ...approx 50 pence
Ring local...depending on time of day or contract 0.19 to 0.70 centimos per min.
A dam site cheaper than £1.50 a minute from Spain to Uk on the T Mobile PAYG contract I have.....and well worth the change over.
http://www.amena.com
and don`t forget if you go to Spain or the Canary Islands more than once a year....you just top it up....so it is NOT a waste of money for a week.
Besos xxx
sanji

Sorry mods as I know this has been done before a while ago but couldn't find the topic

I know that the phone shop is in the indoor market but has anyone else got a T-Mobile contract phone and purchased a Spanish sim card from this shop?. I enquired about 3 years ago in the market and didn't find them helpful at all!!. Just wondering if anyone has purchased recently?.

Fly out tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) and sick of being paying the costs on my normal contract bill. I am going to get my phone unlocked today so any help greatly appreciated!!

Merged to mobile topic Briar

Make sure it's ANDY'S phone shop you go to. There is often a queue there but I think it's worth the wait. You should have a choice of sims to buy. Vodafone ES, Amena and Movistar are the ones I can remember. I have a vodafone ES sim card and can top up anywhere. Definitely worth it IMO.

Three years ago there would have been another phone shop in the indoor market too. They were not very helpful.

I'm on Vodafone PAYG and use the Vodafone Passport Tarrif, which basically means that any call you make home will cost you 75p plus your normal home tarrif, and any call you receive costs you a flat fee of 75p. Your phone will also set itself automatically to Vodafone ES when you switch it on in Spain.

Regards Taggy

i have an orange phone, and my mates is bt, now if we were to take our phones, what will the tarriff be, even if we are both in benidorm at the same time, is it still same as phoning back to the uk?

There are certain phone networks that Andy can't unlock. My contract T-mobile was having none of it

If all else fails get a 6e telephone card as they last ages but you can only use the telefonica booths.

I have puchased these 6 Euro (sorry my euro sign won't work again ) Cards and I've found that it is possible to use them from the cpmfort of your hotel room. You simply dial the access number, the pin number and then your destination number and you are connected, and the cost of the call is debited from your card.....and not charged to your room.

Well, it worked with me, but I appreciate there are a range of phone cards to choose from and that they might not all work.....but the one I purchased from the Phone Booth in the Indoor Market did.

Opps, sorry, I've just realised this is

( How DO I get that little euro sign to work )

Try Alt Gr and €

Sarah

Nope, that does not work either. You know its very strange because I had this problem a few days back, then it seemed to resolve itself, and now its not working again. Don't you just hate computers. They are ok when they work, but when they go wrong you just want to throw them on the skip.

Anyway......mobile phones.....my advice would be to take Sanji's advice. I could not put it any better.

I bought a 5 euro card from Andy's and used it in the phone booths as well as in the hotel. You get around 2 hours in the hotel and about 1 hour from booths. There is a notice up at Andys explaining this but also warning that some of the hotels put a block on them. I would be interested to know a bit more about who gets the revenue from these cards and are they illegal to use from hotels. I found myself secretly typing in the acccess number and pin to avoid detection.
I get paranoid about things like that.

Sue

I would be interested to know a bit more about who gets the revenue from these cards and are they illegal to use from hotels. I found myself secretly typing in the acccess number and pin to avoid detection.
I get paranoid about things like that.

Thats a very good point. Obvioulsy someone must make a profit somewhere. I was not aware that Hotels were able to block access to these cards. I've used them from the phone in the hotel room and from the phones in the hotel reception and no one has ever stopped me. You do seem to get more time for your money in hotels tham what you do in the public booths and thats why I prefer to use Hotel phones.

If they were illegal I am sure it would not be possible to actually use them as the Hotel would route all outgoing calls via their switchboard, and obvioulsy they don;t do that at the moment.....well at least not the hotels I have stayed in. If they were illegal would you ba able to purchase them in the first place? (Especially from a reputable person like Andy? )

Andy is the guy to advise on all things related to calling back home.

Many thanks for all your help and replies - much appreciated!!