Mobile phones

Recently I asked about buying electrical goods, and am really grateful for all advice. Our experience of living abroad is based on 12 years in Turkey, and although have visited Spain for holidays, we are really forward to buying in the Alicante area. In Turkey any UK mobile phones could only be used for a short time before they were blocked. If you wanted to use them for a long period, the phones would have to registered at customs for an extortionate fee. Hence most people bought Turkish phones and Turkish sim cards. My question is, can I use my UK phone in Spain with a Spanish sim card, or must I buy a Spanish phone. Thanks in advance for any help.

How does the phone know if it is Spanish or English? The SIM card is the one that matters. You will, however, have to register the SIM by using your passport. You can use one with a UK SIM in it for as long as you like and, with roaming charges set to disappear completely, may not be more expensive than a Spanish SIM. 

Thank you Mariedav. As I said, my only experiences are based on Turkey, whose regulations and restrictions on many aspects of life were becoming very difficult. Hence our decision to sell up. Thank you again.

You can use any mobile phone as long it is open to all networks ,take you phone into any shop that sells sim cards and ask them to set it up for you ,all you have to do is keep it topped up ,the particular phone I use takes two sim cards so I have one  sim for the UK and one for Spain so I only have to carry one phone.

Hi Windtalker. Thank you very much, thats just the info I was needing. Really grateful