Spain: Cellphones or Pay -As -You-Go Phone?

Hi! We traveled in Spain last summer for 6 weeks and will be returning again in two weeks. We bought pay as you go phones on our first day there, then added time as we ran out. We bought ours at El Corte Ingles in Barcelona, but you can find them anywhere through Vodafone and their competitor (I can't remember their name right now). Last summer we bought two simple phones got about 15E each. My inlaws bought fancier ones for about $50E and it was buy one get one free, so about $25E, they also got more time with theirs. We plan to do the same when we go back, or perhaps try to activate the ones we have from last summer. Hope this helps!
V

As with the poster above, check Vodaphone -- rental or purchase. El Corte Ingles has stores in various cities, or any of the many phone shops around...just be sure the brand is one you can chargeup with more minutes in other cities -- most likely by a credit card and the phone to call in with. I go several times, so I purchased a basic phone rather than rent each time.

Thank you Vivian and HJ. This was just what I needed to know.

Jill, Could you clarify one point...... "if it's possible to get Pay -As -You-Go Phone in Spain were you can us you own chip?" Are you planning to use the SIM card from your AT&T phone (I'm assuming that's the network you're with?) in a PAYG phone that you purchase in Europe??? If that's the case, two points to mention: 1.) If you use your "home" SIM cards, you'll be paying the $1 / minute rates, as you'll be using AT&T roaming. It doesn't matter which phone the SIM card is used in. 2.) You will ONLY be able to use your SIM cards with other phones, if the phone handsets are "unlocked"! Perhaps I misread your post?

I misspoke. I don't think we can us our SIM card here over there without paying higher fees. My husbands says ideally the best solution would be to just buy the local SIM card and put it in your current phone. That would be cheaper then buying a phone in Spain. We'll have to see if that is an option when we get there.

Jill, you can't buy a SIM card in Spain and expect it to work in your current phone unless the phone is "unlocked" to allow another company's SIM to work in it.

Have your phone unlocked here anytime. The current sim card still works, it just allows you to insert a different sim card that will also work. Start early, mine (with T-Mobile) was a giant pain to get unlocked.

Also check the fine print on the "around $1.00 per minute" international plan. That's what my old plan (can't recall if that was AT&T or T-Mobile, I've had both at different times) advertised. When I actually looked at rates, they were most often $2 per minute and in some places, like Russia or Finland, something like $8 per minute.