Cheap Phone Calls from Spain
There are many ways to make cheap phone calls from Spain. This page is focused on saving money on international phone calls from both mobiles and landlines. Services such as Rebtel are usually much cheaper than paying to include international calls in your Spanish mobile package, particularly if you buy a pack or subscription.
I’ve been living in Barcelona for many years now and have discovered some good telecom services giving cheap phone calls from Spain. So how do you save money on your phone bills? Please don’t just pick up your phone and dial without reading further.
Cheap international phone calls from Spain
Many people don’t bother with a landline these days, but you do get slightly cheaper rates using the companies listed below when calling from a landline compared to a mobile phone. However, the call rates from mobiles are so cheap it’s not worth getting a landline if you don’t already have one.
Whilst calling local and national numbers is reasonably priced with Spanish providers, and often free if included in a contract with a monthly fee, it can be expensive to call internationally on a regular basis.
Most mobile contracts include a certain amount minutes. These free minutes don’t include international calls though, so there’s still a need to watch the price of dialling internationally. Paying an additional fee to add international calls to your mobile phone contract is an option, but using an override provider, such as Rebtel, is a more economical option.
Here are some recommendations of phone services that give you cheap international calls from your landline and mobile.
1. Rebtel
Rebtel makes international calls affordable and straightforward, so you can stay in touch with friends and family members abroad. They offer cheap international phone calls to mobiles and landlines. What’s more, their high-quality connections don’t require an internet connection. The system automatically finds the best phone line to connect calls through, and analyses traffic to provide competitive rates.
Download the Rebtel app (available for iOS and Android), register and create an account, then either add credit or buy one of their subscriptions. You can buy a subscription for the country that you call most frequently, and this is by far the best way to obtain cheap international calls. For example, a six month subscription to call the UK gives unlimited calls for that period for only €23. Calling with Rebtel can be made very easy by allowing the app to access your contact list.
If you don’t have a smartphone or are using a landline, you can still benefit from Rebtel’s cheaper calls. Register first via their website then you can use their shared local numbers. These local numbers aren’t available in every country, so check the Rebtel website first. They also offer calling cards as another way to make international calls.
You can add credit or top up using the Rebtel app or website, or set up automatic renewal for a subscription. A very useful service is their international mobile top-up which allows users to send mobile credit or to recharge other phone numbers in other countries. So you can give credit to a family member who lives overseas.
Benefits of using Rebtel:
- It’s cheap and easy to use.
- There’s a travel mode available, so you can still use the service in other countries.
- Rebtel supports calls to an extensive list of destinations all over the world.
- Get as many friends and family to register too, because all app-to-app calls are free.
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2. MyTello
mytello is another over-ride calling service with an app that let’s you easily make much cheaper international calls from your mobile. You can also use the mytello service from a landline. There are no contracts, basic fees or hidden costs. This service beats a lot of the prices from the other cheap calling services to several countries. I personally haven’t used this service, but the prices offered make it worthwhile mentioning here.
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3. Localphone
Localphone.com give you a replacement local number for any phone number worldwide. You can store this number like any other number in your phone, as it will always be valid for the original number you allocated it to.
Register your phone numbers (the numbers that you will be calling from), add the regular numbers you call to your Localphone contacts and local numbers will be generated for them. Add credit and save money on your calls.
Localphone have apps for Android phones and for the iPhone. This makes it much easier to dial because you can access your Localphone contacts easily, import contacts from your phone contact list, or dial directly via the Localphone dial pad. The app includes wi-fi calling too.
Localphone used to be my preferred service, but I’ve recently switched to Rebtel as their rates are now cheaper to the countries I dial. However, Localphone still offer significant savings on international calls, and the country that you dial most regularly should decide which of these two services you use. Both services give their rates online.
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4. 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. This is the same service they offer in Spain. They have calls to selected countries from 1c per minute.
