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Cheap Spanish Phone Calls

There are many ways in which to save money on phone calls from landlines and from mobiles. I've been living in Spain for over five years now and have discovered some very worthwhile money-saving phone services. This article aims to show you how to save money on your phone bills. Don't simply pick up your landline phone or your mobile and dial without reading further.

Cheap landline calls in Spain

If you live in Spain you probably have a fixed landline with Telefonica. Whilst calling other local numbers is reasonably priced with Telefonica, it can be expensive to call overseas and to make long-distance calls.

Here are some services that give you cheap international calls from your landline:

1. Localphone

Localphone give you a replacement local number for every international telephone number you dial regularly. You can store that local number in your phone and can therefore use it easily. Just register the phone numbers that you will be calling from, make a call list of the regular numbers you call and generate local numbers for them. Add credit and you will save yourself a small fortune – their international call rates are very cheap!

This service also works when calling from a mobile, I use it regularly and am very happy with the call quality and the savings. Dialing a local number from my mobile means that I can call my family in the UK for 1c a minute directly from my mobile phone. www.localphone.com

2. Talkety

Talkety lets you initiate calls from your landline phone via their website. Register online to open an account and add credit. Whenever you want to make a call from your landline, go to the Talkety website and enter the number you are calling from and your destination number. Talkety will connect the two calls and your phone will ring, meaning that you are charged Talkety's cheaper voip rates rather than your standard landline rates. (This service also works when calling from a mobile.)

www.talkety.com

3. DialAbroad

With DialAbroad you don't even have to open an account. You can simply dial an access number directly from your landline to override your landline provider, then dial the number you want to call. You will hear a message from DialAbroad confirming your connection and telling you the price per minute of your call. You will be billed through your Telefonica invoice but at DialAbroad's cheaper rates.

http://www.dialabroad.co.uk/spain/

Cheap Mobile Calls Spain

1. Localphone

Yes, Localphone again. Localphone charge the same rates whether you are dialling from a landline or mobile – you only pay more if you are calling to a mobile phone. Store local numbers in your mobile phone which connect to international number for a fraction of the cost of calling through your mobile provider network. Add credit manually or you can set up your account to auto top-up.

www.localphone.com

2. Rebtel

Rebtel is a voip calling service which lets you access cheap voip rates when calling from your mobile phone by over-riding your mobile service provider – there is no need to change your service provider or your existing number.

You need to register and create a Rebtel account and get as many friends and family to register too, because international calls to other Rebtel users are charged at the cost of a local call.

3. Lebara

Lebara is a cheap pay-as-you-go mobile phone service. They give a flat rate for national calls and cheap mobile international calls. You need to purchase the Lebara starter pack which comes with a Lebara SIM card (if you want to keep your existing mobile phone number you can). Calls to other Lebara members are free of charge and there are no monthly fees or contracts to sign.

In 2009 Lebara won The Mobile News Awards for the UK's Most Innovative Service Award, and they offer the same service in Spain. They have calls to selected countries from 1c per minute.
www.lebara-movil.es

4. Mobile Voip

Finally, mobile voip services let you make cheap voip calls directly from your mobile phone. There are now many mobile voip apps on the market, and if you have a reasonably modern mobile phone or an iPhone or iPod touch, you can download the app to your mobile and save a good deal on your call charges.

A couple of the most popular apps on the market are:

• Skype for mobile: www.skype.com

If you already have a Skype account then this is probably a good place to start, as all of your Skype contacts will automatically be available to you. Calls between Skype users are free, and with the latest Skype app that means when calling over 3G as well as using wi-fi.

• Truphone: www.truphone.com

Truphone is similar to Skype and gives free mobile calls if you are within a wi-fi area and cheap voip calls to landlines and other mobile phones. (If you live in the UK, Truphone also have a Local Anywhere service, which give you cheap calls when travelling abroad.)

Just remember that you will pay a charge to your existing mobile provider for data usage when using mobile voip services (unless you're making free wi-fi calls), but this is still cheaper than standard mobile calls, and if you have unlimited data usage with your mobile contract then you won't incur any additional charges.

There's really no excuse for running up large bills on your landline or mobile phone when living in Spain (or any other country for that matter), so I hope this article has inspired you to look into these services and save yourself some money on your phone calls.