My daughter is studying abroad in Spain and was issued a cell phone by the program. She is living where she has no internet access so we cannot do Skype. Does anyone know an inexpensive way to call a cell phone in Spain from the US?
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
If you are calling from the US to Spain, you may want to get a calling card. Someone once mentioned Vonage, which you can call to Europe for cheap or free. That way it won't cost you as much.
Most European cellphone companies offer free incoming or top off the fees for incoming calls. If your daughter has that plan, for you to call her would be ideal.
Posted by
Hyattsville, MD, USA
32 posts
You can also use Skype to call her cell phone. It just costs a few cents a minute, and the way it works is that you set up a Skype credit account, use your credit card to deposit money in it, and then you can call any phone number (land line or cell phone) from your Skype account. You might want to check, though, that there won't be any extra charges on her end for receiving that kind of call. I think Verizon wireless charges extra for receiving calls made on VOIP (over the internet).
Speaking of Verizon, if you have Verizon as your home provider (I do) you can sign up for $4.00 a month and 10 cents a minute to call Spain. Then cancel the plan when your daughter gets back. Here's the link: http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/Templates/Products/ProductDisplay.aspx
It's the international choice plan with city rates.
Hope that helped!
Liz
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Be careful of the details of any of these long-distance services, since charges to call cell phones in Spain are ALWAYS higher than land lines. Skype, for example, charges about 30 cents a minute. You could try one of the several companies that have sprung up that use VOIP to bridge calls...you enter your number and their number, their computers make the connection, then your phone rings and the connectio is made. dingaling.ca for example, charges about 17 cents a minute, U-S. Those long distance pre-paid phone cards may be your best bet, at approx. 11-13 cents a minute. Beware, though, of recurring "maintenance charges" or "connection fees" that can quickly eat into your $$ balance on the card. Verizon and other phone companies in the U-S will also charge you more than their posted rates for calls to mobile phones...contact them first to see what their rate is to cell phones.