cheap phone calls

Can anyone recommend a company that provides cheap phone calls instead of using the dreaded telefonica. living near Marbella

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Whoever you use to route your calls through, you're still going to need a line from Telefonica. 
There are plenty of providers of cheap calls. Have a look at this one, you don't have to pay any standing fees and the calls are pretty cheap. Customer service and invoices etc. in English. 
Alternatively, why not use VoIP? For €3.39 a month (incl. VAT), SKYPE are offering unlimited calls from Spain to landlines in the UK. That's a bargain!

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We paid for a yearly subscription for SKYPE calls.  It cost approx 45 euros for the year for free calls to anywhere in Europe.  This is for landlines only not mobiles.  You have to route all your phone calls through your computer and have a USB telephone/headset.  The headset cost us 3 euros from a local computer shop.  All you have to do is download skype from the internet and then sign up for the free calls.  Its great, as our skype telephone number is a UK landline number so family and friends calling us from the UK are only charged for a BT landline Uk call even though they are calling our computer here in spain.  The connection tends to be really good (most of the time), the only negative is that sometimes there can be some echoing on the call.  Also depends on your internet connection.  We are running our internet from a Movistar mobile dongle which is still pretty good and gives excellent signal, so we suppose that if you have broadband connection you will have better quality of calls.  

We would have spent more money on phone calls than what we originally paid for the subscription in the past two months!!!

Definitely 45 Euros well spent!!!!

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You can buy plenty of handsets for Skype (and other VOIP providers now). You can have a base station plugged into your router and the handset carried around the house like any cordless handset. The mobile operator 3 also has a mobile phone now that will allow you access to your Skype account and give free calls worldwide to other Skype users.

Mark

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Yes if you have got the internet connection in Spain, Skype is definately the way to go . I hate to think of the amount we spent on mobile calls prior to getting a computor set up there. Plus as already mentioned if you pay the annual subscription up front you get your own number, whereby people can ring your Skype phone as with a normal phone.

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Thanks for all the info, am checking it out. We do use Skype but only to other Skype users, didn't know you could pay upfront etc. We don't need cheap calls to/from  the U.K 
but to Spanish landlines and mobiles.keep the suggestions coming, have looked at the link Roberto is this an agent for BT or the real thing

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Don't know anything about the BT mobile thing, I only use their service for calls from my (Telefónica) landline. The call rates are cheaper than Telefónica's, whether calling abroad, or to other Spanish landlines or mobiles. 
Remember that when looking at services such as theirs (including the ADSL offers) you still need a basic line from Telefónica, at least for now. I think this will change soon, and in fact there are some companies offering ADSL with no line rental payable to Telefónica already. 
These companies basically have "bought" the line from Telefónica so you only pay them, and the line rental is either cheaper than Telefónica or it's included in your call rates. But like it or not, Telefónica still maintain the lines, so when their line goes down, it doesn't matter who your service provider is, and chances are, if you route your calls through another provider, you will way down their list of clients to attend to!

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Hi Folks,
Question. 
Spending 3 weeks in Spain from the 11th Nov. I think the way to go is to get a local sim card for the duration. If I use my own, (South African ISP), I'm in for an arm and a leg on roaming fees. Any suggestions on the best place to go. Arriving in Malaga and staying in La Cala, Costa Mijas. I know that if you buy a local card (pre paid package) here at one of the Johannesburg International Airport rip off artists, the cost is Euro10. If you buy one at the supermarket, Tesco equivilent, 50cents. (Literally).  You then simply buy a re charge .  What should I look for or Maybe, where should I look ?  

Many thanks,
Ivor

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If you are in Spain permenantly then I absolutley HIGHLY recommend Vodafone (sorry for openly advertising Justin but I have to get this one across)

Telefponica for me have been a total nightmare and a very costly lesson. Moved offices a while ago and from MAY the idiots still didnt move my fax or landline! They dod move another line and the adsl however - very useful!

So I bit the bullet and for 15 euros per month plus iva (think there is a half price 2 month offer) I have a landline form Vodafone which runs through their mobile network. SO I have a landline spanish number, which is mobile so can travel with me anywhere, free calls to spanish landlines too.

Via www.popfax.com for less than 5 euros per month I have a spanish number landline and faxes come through to the computer either for printing off or sending on, saves me so much time and money

Skype for less than 3 sterling per month I have landline calls to anywhere in europe, 10,000 minutes per month free - and even for me thats enough

Via direct telecom I have credit on my mobile to enable me to have cheap land or mobile calls in europe, great as Im always out and about on the move.

And now im looking at vodafones adsl options with better speeds than telefonica for less money and easily set up. They have kiosks and shops with english or spanish speakers too.

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Thanks Rixxy.

Will bear that in mind when we settle permanently.

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".........better speeds than telefonica......."
Whose lines do they use?
I know it's hard to tell, because the broadband speed tests available online apparently are not all that reliable, and if you try several, you generally get several different results, but it would be interesting to know what speed people are actually getting, compared to what their provider claims they are giving. 
For example, I had 1mbps with Telefonica, they increased it to 3, and now 6 mbps (unsolicited, but also no extra charge), but I have never noticed any difference, and if I run a speed check, I usually am getting less than 1mbps (just checked with this one, and got 986kbps) 
The real speed you get depends on many factors, but since Telefonica still own all the infrastrucure for landlines, I'm doubtful that other providers can genuinely offer faster speeds than Telefonica.
Or are Vodafone offering mobile ADSL?

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Exactly, its mobile adsl, no lines involved and so therefore no more blackmail by Telefonica. I have no idea how good it is but one IT guy I bumped into says he is using it with no problem at all. 

As soon as I get my modem (here we go, all teckie now lads!) and test it I will let you know

They have just launched one for in the house, again totally wireless, and with calls too.

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OH WOW GUYS HOW COOL Is this!!!!!!!!!!!! i AM SITTING AT A CAFE, IN THE sun (you know, that warm yellowy thing in the sky thet most of yuo only see whn you come to Spain hehehe) and typing this!

Yup, just collected my little stick thing from the wonderful VODAFONE. 

29 euros per month plu iva, 1st month free and 1g download permonth, there after no extra charge, just slows down a bit, in other words gets as slow as Telefonica

So when Im out on the road for the day, I can still do my emails, load up the property details etc and still MUCH cheaper than Tfonica. And I can use skype for international calls which saves a fortune

This is the life man    

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Sounds like a great alternative to getting a landline from TF. What speed connection are you getting? (run a test) Does it vary according to signal strength?

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So far so good. Seems fast and no problems as yet. It has a meter thing if you want to see what speed is available. It can go as fast as 7.2mb but seems to hover around 4ish when I look, but its just as fast as what I had and maybe Im imagining but it even seems faster!

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