Getting a phone lilne

Hi all,
I was wondering how I can apply for a phone line. I have noticed phone poles not far from us but coming down to where we are. Any suggestions?
Thanks

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I'd go into the nearest Telefonica shop with a couple of utility bills and they should start the ball rolling.

Might take some time to get connected but then again you may be lucky.

It's similar to BT here in that you can hire a phone from them, I was advised not to but when I had no dialling tone last year it took ages for the engineer to come round as they wanted to ensure I was aware that I would have to pay a call out charge if the fault was due to my phone.

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Thanks for the reply SemiJ.

There's the first problem- no Telefonica shop !!!  I expect they are only in the big towns. I will have a look in the surrounding areas and see If I can find one.
Thanks again

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Friends moved from Torrevieja to Xatavia near Valencia.  They bought a  small house on a large plot of land in a small town outside, they applied for a landline but had to wait ages for Telefonica to put in the telegraph pole, they would drive up to their house and see new poles going in but never received a call.  Later they started to get calls on their mobile but again it took ages through one problem and another, main problem was that the engineer couldn't find where they were as they live in the middle of the campo.  

Hopefully you'll be more successful on a new estate.

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Hi SJ,
I fear we are in the same boat as your feiends,we don't live on an estate, there are only 2 villas on our 30,0002m plot mine and my friends!!!  No poles, we are doomed   looks like a lost cause I suppose.

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I think your two houses are in a better set up than my friends, they live down a cart track and it's very hard to find.  You come of the new motorway and drive alongside it then go into no man's land.  They had to meet up with the engineer by the motoway and guide him to the house.  If they can get a phone then you definately can as long as a line is available.

I will be speaking to them next week and I'll try to find out how long it took from application to finish.

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Jane b & her husband now have a place near Bedar, Almeria & she's in the hills with lots of land around them. She had to have an electricity pylon put in !  We were visiting & saw them doing it, they were actually raising the height when we visited them.

She could no doubt tell you about their phone connection, she was posting in here about it & I know she told me to keep my emails plain (no links or pictures) as her satellite link was a mobile one & very expensive.

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Thanks SJ & More,
Any info is helpful.  thank you both very much.

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I am indeed still struggling with the question of communication.  Am visiting the 'old' house today and able to get on line - may be no aircon  here but I would trade that for internet and phone any day!  

The only way to contact Telefonica is via the phone.  Calls to 1004 are free from any phone but you have to hang on for hours if you want to speak to and English speaking sales person (and in order to even start the process you have to keep saying ENGLISH at the beginning of the call.  Apparently there is a Telefonica outlet in Almeria which is really Telefonica as opposed to all the shops which are just basically sales outlets for Telefonica's mobile arm, Movistar.
 
We understand that if you can get 18 people in an area with no land lines to sign a request, even if they do not want one themselves (!?) then they are obliged to supply one -how long it takes goodness only knows.  There is also a new system which comes via satellite and which is replacing the old radio phones (which have to have line of sight to a transmitter) and it is not too expensive to install but apparently although the internet quality is not too bad the phone is hopeless - very bad delay.

I have been going through all the other options, putting off the day I have to ring them because they are such a hopeless company to deal with and even if you get a line with broadband in town apparently they are not generally that good and frequently go off line - we have plenty of friends who will testify to the frustrations of dealing with them in these circumstances.

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Hi

Firstly, Telefónica is possibly the worst company in the world - we have literally shed tears over getting connections for clients in the past.

They used to install microwave radio phones in the campo, which worked well except that the second worst company in the world - Sevillana - kept blowing them up with their power surges.

So now Telefónica tend not to install these very useful boxes.

You don't need a shop - just phone 1004 and eventually they will put you onto someone who speaks English (I presume you don't speak Spanish??).

Alternatively, have a look at http://www.iberbanda.es/ - we have this and have excellent internet connection, 300 mins pcm free calls within Spain for about 40€ pcm. and other calls slightly below (surprise surprise) Telefónica's rates.

The web site will tell you if you are within an Iberbanda area.  Google it as well as there seems to be more than one site.

The alternative is a mobile phone on contract NOT pre-pay.  All of the mobile companies are fighting each other for business like ferrrets in a sack at the moment, so you should be able to negotiate a great deal.  Many Spanish - even the townies - have forsaken their land lines and only use mobiles.  Just watch the small print - if you are given a phone free or discounted from RRP then you will be tied into an 18 month contract.

Also, something quite scary to me - you have to sign a form to say who you are, where you live etc. which goes to the desk of President (Mr. Bean) Zapatero.  Why do they need to know who owns what phone?  Big brother is watching you!

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Oh forgot to say - a Spaniard told me (it MIGHT be true) that the people who anser the calls on 1004 are actually in their own homes!  No computer screen to look up your details, and when they pass you on to the 236th person they have no way of transmitting your question / problem - so you have to start ALL OVER AGAIN.

Also, they only have a fixed time to deal with your call which is why you keep getting passed around.

This could all be fantasy - but would explain a LOT.

I have spent far too much of my life sitting on the other end of the 1004 line.

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Not only in their own homes but also, I suspect, outside of Spain.  I had an interesting salescall (I think this one was actually Vodafone) from someone who I really could not understand but who sounded eastern European.  When I kept saying (in my pretty fluent Spanish) I did not understand and please could she speak a little slower she had the nerve to ask me if I did not understand Castellano.  I could not resist and told her that I understood Castellano perfectly well and if she would like to get someone who spoke it properly to ring me back I might be interested in their proposition!

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Typical isn't it!

I was singing the praises of Iberbanda and then got cut off - phone and internet - now intermittent .

In fairness, when I phoned them they knew about the problem and were working on it - a much more intelligent response than I have ever receive from that other lot. 

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I know the last post was a while ago but I just had to put my point across when I read this post.
I tried since April 2008 to get a phone line. Every time I phoned 1004 I was told different things from sorry there are no lines available in your area to sorry we cant find your details did you register under your name or passport or nie number. This went on for several months. I waited patiently and used internet cafes in the meantime. I tried again and was told they could only find my first application which I made in April and they could not use that because I had made another request after that (But why couldnt they use this application).
Anyway to cut a long story short I went into the Telefonica shop in Torrevieja and asked for a phone line and internet this was on a Thursday. The assistant told me I would have to wait then days and an engineer would ring me. Two days later on Saturday the engineer called me and installed the phone and internet. Amazing why oh why didnt I go to the shop in the first place. I could have had it six months earlier.

I also tried a company called telefonica in english they took 109 euros out of my bank account and I heard nothing for months, eventually I contacted the coastrider newspaper and they got the money back for me. 
So the simple answer is go to the shop dont do anything on the phone.

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Anyone know the nearest Telefonica shop in the Vera/Mojacar/LosGallardos area?

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There are no Telefónica shops per se.  What you see are private shops that sell Movistar mobile phones.  

To get a Telefónica line, you need to phone 1004 and talk to the morons there.  However, you should be in the Iberbanda range in that area, which is much better albeit, sadly, owned by Telefónica.

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There are indeed no Telefonica shops in the Mojácar etc area - it may be that in an area of such dense population as Torrevieja they might have found it worth their while to have one. As Max says, the Movistar shops (Movistar being Telefonica's mobile arm) are just franchises who are only there to sell phones and contracts - you can't even argue with them about aspects of your Movistar service there once you have bought it and have to contact Movistar via your phone.

There is, I understand, some sort of Telefonica headquarters in Almería city which is where you have to go if you want to make a complaint in writing about Telefonica's service.  I don't know if you can talk installation there.

If you can see an Iberbanda mast (there is one on top of the hill in Mojacar and another I think on the Cuevas mountain) you may well be better off with their service as they are cheaper than Telefonica for a phone and broadband package and in most people's experience more efficient.  However they have indeed recently been taken over by Telefonica so goodness knows what that means for their service in future.

They have an agent in Turre with English speaking staff who are pretty helpful:  they are called Servcom and you find them in Calle Cadiz, which is a couple of turns after the cemetery if you are coming from Alfaix.  They have  a free installation offer on at the moment.

The other option if you have sight of the Cuevas mountain is Indalo Channel, particularly if you are considered to be in 'casco urbano'.  If so, although you have to pay quite a lot for installation, their package is €20 a month for phone and internet PLUS Spanish digital TV, their phone call prices are low and are invoiced by the second, AND you can have two mobiles which can talk to one another for free (apart from connection charge).  The installation is between €350 and €450 depending on cabling involved but at these prices you would cover that in monthly savings vs Telefonica or indeed Iberbanda in less than 2 years.

Hope this helps!

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To find out if ou have cover in your area, go into www.iberbanda.es and click on Almería on the map.  You will then get a list of towns in Almería.  Click on yours and it will tell you if you have cover or not.

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Does anyone know whether this site www.iberbanda.es
has a English version?
Thanks.

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Don´t use Iberbanda unless is your LAST, LAST choice.

Keep calling Telefonica 1004 and if you know other people around the area ask them to do the same. They will need a minimum number of request to get the lines sorted in your area. 

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