Living abroad for one year

lawyerhelen

My daughter is moving to Spain for 1 year as part of her university course. What is the cheapest way to keep in touch by phone. Many thanks , she and I both have 3 phones and they say 34 pence to ring out and 15 pence to receive. My daughter can talk for anything up to one hour per day !!

ivinsp

which network is she with? payg or contract? If she is with o2 payg then she can pay £5 a month for chosen country Spain and not pay to receive incoming calls

nafe

Will she have a computer and a net connection? If so, have you considered Skype? Completely free, you can even do video chats and as long as you're both using Skype it'll never cost you a penny.

jaz23

I have just lived in Spain for a year for my MA in Translation and Interpreting (Barcelona to be precise) and was also in C!diz in 2006/2007 on my year abroad as part of my Spanish and Italian degree. I have to agree that phone costs are extortionate abroad, despite the fact that calls made between EU countries are going to be reduced soon. I woudl suggest she gets a pay-as-you-go Spanish mobile (there are enough companies out there: Vodafone, Orange and Yooigo just to name a few) or failing that, perhaps a better option might be to get a Happy Mobile (these are cheap mobile handsets whcih gives you a set number to ring from, and for which you can buy international calling cards, which work out cheaper both for the person making the call as well as for the person receving it).

I'm sure if you looked on the Internet for a bit you'd find a lot more useful information which would help you, and to comment on what a previous poster as just said, Skype and MSN Messenger are fantastic alternatives to speaking on the phone, as both have webcam and microphone facilities incorporated into them.

Take care,

Jordan

lawyerhelen

Many thanks to everyone whom replied to my query. She is on mobile 3 at the moment but I am going to cancel this as it doesn't seem to be a good deal, with her change in circumstances. Thank you for the tip re skype and the buying of a spanish mobile , I will certainly be looking at this . THanks for your help , I didnt know where to start.
Helen