Vodafone rip Off

Hi

looking for some help and guidance about what phones etc people who are not resident all year use in Spain.

With my old Vodafone contract I was in their Passport service where i paid 75pence and the cost of the call was absorbed in my free minutes. Now that my contract is up they do not offer the Passport service but have another service in its place where you pay £3 / day for using your phone in Spain.

If like me you only use the phone infrequently but the kids etc can call up at all times then it would cost me a fortune to keep a British mobile number in use.

What do other people in a similar situation do?

I will be glad of some feedback as this "gun at head "attitute of Vodafone makes me mad.

dd

 We use a variety of means of communication.

SKYPE - We have a UK assigned number that automatically calls our Spanish landline, so the kids call for free. Costs a few cents per minute.

VIBER on a Smartphone to call friends/family with same APP

LEBARA - Paygo SPanish Mobile to call UK landlines and othe friends on Lebara for free

02 PAYGO UK - Used to do a package for £5 per month to receive calls for free, but like other operators have dropped this service. Cost I think is 11pence per minute to receive calls

Guy

 I use Giff Gaff . It is a SIM only service and is brilliant but you need your own unlocked Mobile phone  .It works on 02

In the UK I use their Goody Bag - 250 mins , unlimited internet and texts every month but this cannot be used  abroad .

When abroad I use their PAYG  SIM which has workerd out the cheapest for me ever . You can have an automatic top up once your credit limit reaches £3.00 . Fot this I use my non smart phone to ensure that I don't attempt to look at E mails etc . I also have a different phone number.

Hope this helps . I have been very impressed with this service . Heard about it from Money saving expert as the cheapest mobile phone service .

 I bought a Digimobil sim last time in Spain. 10€ to buy and 500mb of internet and 5€ of credit included (if you you in shop). You get a Spanish and Romanian?? number and calls to a UK landline 2 cents per minute. The credit only lasts 30 days, but you don't have to top up every 30 days. You need to top up at least once every 9 months before you lose your number.

They are very quick to answer questions by email and even ring you back to speed up the resolution of your problem

Well recommended.

Mark

 the mobile rates for all providers have been changed in all EU countries from July making them more accountable for what they charge for country to country connection within the EU, and therefore improving tariffs a bit.

I have spent a lot of time travelling the EU for work, driving trucks, and what we used to do was keep a mobile that only priveledged people knew, such as the work office, and our normal mobile would be turned off at Dover to stop any Tom Dick or Harry attempting to call, and being tempted to answer.

Being that people are asking what happens in Spain, as they only travel there, i would still turn off my UK mobile, but when in Spain buy the cheapest Spanish Mobile and pay as you go Sim on a spanish provider.

I would then only give this number to my son/daughter/mother/father, or other trusted confidante............this would reduce your incoming call load, and if  you need to phone out, also your call charge there too, as you wont be using your UK mobile in a foreign roaming agreement.

Hope this helps, used to save us a fortune!

P.S, dont forget to change back to the UK phone when you get back to the UK!!