Cell phone in Spain

A couple of years ago I bought an unlocked phone on eBay. When I was in Spain in May, I went into a cellphone store (in my case Orange, though there are several) and bought a SIM card for it. The card was 9 euro with 9 euro of credit on it. They set it all up for me and all was well - took maybe 10 minutes. You could also easily buy a PAYG phone. Just make sure you have your passport with you when you go to buy it. They will want to see it. (I learned this the hard way, and had to make a trip back to my hotel for it.) You can find phones also at El Corte Ingles, a huge department store that you will see all over.

Hi Jenny, Last summer I bought a cheap cell phone from a travel store. The type of store that has a lot of wash and wear clothes, suitcases and things you may need for an African safari. (Sorry, not sure how else to describe it - it was in a strip mall and I think it was called Travelstone). Anyway.... under the glass counter they had cheap cell phones that contained European SIM cards and could be used anywhere in Europe for 5 cents/min for most countries - and it had a UK phone number. It very clearly stated that it could not be used in North America and came with very good instructions on how to set up your account online and put a desired pre-paid amount on it. They text you if you are getting low on money which is handy. We go to Europe every summer and in the past we've used my husband's blackberry but it's more expensive (and he doesn't really want to chance losing it as it has his entire life on it!). Plus if someone in Europe wanted to get ahold of us they didn't like having to phone an international number. We don't need a phone often but it's handy to have for calling the contact for apartment rentals, making reservations, and just for emergencies. The phone is lightweight and cheap and it's much easier than trying to find a pay phone (which rarely exist anymore!). Wow, long winded! The company is Roam mobility and the phone is a cheap Samsung, but you could buy fancier phones if you wanted to.
(PS - used it in both Spain and Italy with no problem, and taking it to France and Holland this summer.)

What is "best" depends on what you want to use the phone for. Are you needing to make a lot of calls, or just a few? Do you need to be called by people in the US? Are you calling the US, or just local Spain numbers? You may not need a cell at all. Yes, you can certainly get a cheap phone in Spain. Just like the "go phones" and "throwaway phones" in the US, you can get a basic model for 20-30 euros. You then add credit as needed. Just like in the US, there are phone stores, appliance stores, department stores, and convenience stores selling refill cards, and often phones too. If your carrier is T-Mobile or AT&T, you may already have a phone that will work in Europe. You would just need to contact your carrier to get it unlocked, and then buy a SIM in Spain. Because you're not familiar with SIM cards, I'm assuming your carrier is Verizon or Sprint. These don't use SIM's, and only a few of their "international" models work in Europe. If you're going to need a phone in Europe for other trips, the investment in an unlocked phone bought in the US may be worth it. To be sure it will work everywhere, you can get a quad band model. If you are not getting a quad band, you need to make sure it has the 900 and 1800 frequencies (North America uses 850 and 1900). Be careful with tri-bands; some have two North America and one Europe frequency, while some have one North America and two Europe frequencies. Otherwise, just getting a phone in Spain is certainly easier, and you can be sure it will work there. If it's locked but you want to unlock it, there are places in Spain that do this; the usual price is 20 euros or so. A locked phone can only be used with one carrier; an unlocked phone can be used with any carrier. This way, your cheap "Spain" phone could be used in another country on another trip.

Thank you all for the advice! I did look into ROAM but looks like it is only available in Canada. Sounds like a great service though! Regarding getting a cheap phone in Spain that is 'pay as you go'..could someone call me from the U.S. if they needed to (for emergencies only)? And (also if for emergencies only), would I be able to call the U.S.?

Yes, you can call the US and people in the US can call you. Receiving calls on a Spanish mobile is free, regardless of where they originate. But calling a Spanish mobile from the US is expensive (much more than calling a Spanish land line from the US). In an emergency, it may not matter. Texting from the US to Spain also works, and is much cheaper. To call a Spanish mobile from the US, you dial 011-34-6xx-xxx-xxx (Spanish numbers are all 9 digits; the first digit is 9 for land lines, and 6 for mobiles). Alternatively, from a cell phone, you can call or text to +34-6xx-xxx-xxx. For calling the US, you have to make sure this is enabled when you buy the phone (it usually is, but I've read stories where it wasn't). The rates for calling the US will vary tremendously with the plan; sometimes it's cheaper than a domestic call, and sometimes it's much more. To call the US, you dial 001-area code-number, or +1-area code-number.

I called home to the US several times with the cheap SIM I bought in Madrid, and I didn't have to tell them I was going to do that when I bought it. And yes, they can call you. Of course, you would have to email them or call them to give them the number, and they would have to remember to call the country code in addition to the number.