Seeking some advice, y’all.
My daughter is about to go to Spain to study and will be there 2 months. From what I gather, American cell phones generally don’t work in Europe. She’s been advised to purchase a basic phone in Spain. Any ideas about an inexpensive way for her to call us, or us to call her?
Is she taking her computer? I videochat with my brother in Japan – both nicer & cheaper than phone. We use ichat on our Macs, but that uses AIM. My roommate talks to her fiance in Canada and her mother back east via Skype, and another friend with a son in Canada uses Google’s video chat. International calls are expensive, and you don’t get to see the person at the other end.
When my brother and his wife last came from Japan, they rented a US cell phone through some service via their Japanese travel agent.
I believe any GSM phone (AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) should work fine. You can buy/rent a new SIM card and account when you’re there. If the phone’s not GSM (Verizon, Sprint), then rent/buy a whole phone. Mobile phone shops are located in many airports.
For international calling home, a prepaid calling card is probably cheaper than the mobile rates. You can buy one here before you go … or once you’re there, as Redwolf says below. And they work with any phone - mobile, landline, payphone. You just dial the access number for the country you’re in (Spain).
I don’t know if this is true in Spain, but when I was in Ireland I found it cheapest and easiest to buy an international phone card and just use it at pay phones. In Ireland, at least, they’re available at most news agents, and a 20 Euro card will last a couple of weeks, depending on the kinds of phones you use and the number of times you use it.
Redwolf
The video chat thing is pretty good if you can get it to work. I had trouble with the connection to my daughter who was in The Gambia, but no problem chatting with the daughter in Costa Rica. If internet is good, it’s a great tool.
Skype (non-video) works with an iPod Touch if she will have access to Wi-Fi where she is staying. It’s very cheap.
When Katherine went to France a year and a half ago, we bought her an unlocked quad band cell phone from Ebay for really cheap. All she has to do it buy minutes which last a month from a local mobile company, for about €6 maybe? I think Kate is using Orange. But it works well…if she wants to talk to us, she’ll call and let it ring twice, and then hang up. We can call her back, on her cell, with our international plan. Or we can just call her without her wanting us to first 
I’ve really been pleased with it. I like the fact that I can get a hold of her whenever I want.
Skype would be the way to go, it’s free once you’re calling another computer and she’ll have no problem getting access to wifi in Spain. On my Nokia N97 I can even make free video calls over skype with wifi in practically every cafe and bar I walk into here in Ireland at least. Wherever she’s studying will more than likely have PC’s with Internet access. If she has a laptop she can use that.
If she’ll have access to a landline phone the call card option is a good one, especially if long chats are on the agenda. I’d say have a cheapie mobile for texting and emergencies, using a local SIM card. You should check that overseas calling/texting is allowed on whatever you buy. I don’t know whether Spain is the same as the UK, probably is I suspect, but providers are no longer allowed to issue phones that are locked into one network. Connecting via a laptop - be wary of astronomical roaming charges for internet connection overseas. Homework needed!
I’m leaving on Thursday for a few weeks in Poland. The advice I got was that buying a ‘prepaid’ disposable phone over there is the way to go.
If she’s got what’s called a quad band cellphone with a SIM card she can get a prepaid SIM card in Spain and just plug it in her phone. There is a second requirement though, she needs to get her cellphone unlocked by her provider in the US. I know AT&T will unlock
cellphones for use with other providers abroad though they sometimes are a bit reluctant to do so. I am pretty sure it is the same with T-Mobile which is the only other provider I know of in the US that use SIM-card technology in their phones.
As someone else pointed out another option is to get a phone with a prepaid SIM card in Spain. Skype, etc are also very good options if she will have internet access.
Cheers,
Anders
We use public libraries for e-mailing home, not as nice as a call for sure, but it works in a pinch. A sister just got back from six weeks in NZ and I recieved an update about every other day, rubbing it in I guess. Didn’t even see a Kea
In Ireland and England, incoming calls are free. I don’t know about other countries, but if it’s the same then the cheapest way would be for you to use a calling card to call her phone. She could send you a text when she wants you to call as well. That’s the method I used in Ireland. (I bought a local SIM card and used it on an unlocked triband phone from the US.)