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Taken from THE COASTRIDER
You could lose your mobile phone number  Something else to concern us now !
If you own a pay as you go or prepaid Spanish mobile phone you could lose your mobile number and have to re-register your phone again. In an attempt to prevent terrorists and criminals using anonymous prepaid mobile phones for communication, the Spanish government has issued a decree that any un-registered phones will be disconnected on the 1st of October.
To comply with the new registration law, pay as you go users have to verify their present address through a recent copy of the padron and a copy of their passport. If you presented both those documents at the time of purchasing your prepaid phone as most people will have done, then no further action is required. However a number of mobile phone users may have just bought a SIM card to put into an unlocked handset. Until recently it was not necessary to provide proof of address for prepaid SIM cards. Any phone number that is not correctly registered on the 1st of October will be switched of. It is believed that a grace period will exist before the telephone numbers are recycled. This is likely to effect residents that are currently out of the country and will not be returning until winter.
The move has sparked debate as to the merits of such a scheme. The idea for a register of mobile phones in Ireland was extensively reviewed by officials in the respective department. There were many complex legal, technical, data protection and practical issues to be considered. In theory, a register of mobile phones might seem like a good idea. However, once they looked at the situation in other administrations, considered the ease with which an unregistered foreign or stolen SIM card can be used and having consulted with the Office of the Attorney General and other interested parties, it was concluded that the proposal would be of limited benefit, in that it would not solve the illegal and inappropriate use of prepaid mobile phones and was not practical. One can only assume that similar issues would exist in Spain.
Sean McSeveney
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I'm really surprised no one has posted on this thread as it's the topic of chat everywhere else, well almost. What are you all going to do when your Spanish mobile or Spanish SIM card is cut off as it seems it is going to be !  We're in the position that we bought a Movistar Spanish SIM card in 2003 without being asked for our passport or anything else. Currently we likely have around 30-35€ on the card. Obviously we shall go to the Movistar shop in Guardamar where we bought it next month to ask what we must do but couldn't someone in our position currently in Spain go find out ?
Come on, I do enough for EOS, give something to me, I'm asking nicely.
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Unfortunately there's not at lot I can do as I'm not registered on the Padron.
I bought mine in 2004 but I can't remember if I showed my Passport, I did buy another one last year but don't think I showed my passport then either. I bought the second one to change the handset but still use the original sim card.
I did send off the registration card on the first phone/sim card but as I never received the 5e credit I don't think they ever registered it.
Will have to see if both sim cards work when I return, only thing I can think of is going into Telefonica with a utilities bill which proves my address.
Most non residents are not able to register on the Padron and as they are also the people who buy Pay as U Go phones it will cause a lot of problems.
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Discussed in other forums & it's been said that some went recently to buy SIMS or mobiles & JUST needed to show a passport.
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I bought a SIM card from the Vodafone shop in Vera around February time. I had to take my passport for registration purposes, but no address details.
Mark
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Hi i bought my phone last september and i did think that it was odd to have to give my passport in and the shop where i bought it they reg it for me and we got 10 euros extra so this is one thing i did right bye irene
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I've been reading on another site that people have been going into Moviestar and Vodaphone in Torrevieja to register their phones
They only needed to show their passports and some said that they only needed a list of phone numbers.
Someone got 12e credit to their account credit when they registered with Vodaphone, don't think Moviestar are though 
Don't forget this needs to be done by 1st October so could be worth doing just in case. especially if you can't remember if you did show your passport.
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I had to produce my passport in the shop, not the copy I normally carry. I didn't use the registration card though, do you think that will matter?
Mark
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As far as I know they have had their phones for some time, when I got my first phone in 2004 I did send off my registration card but never did get my extra 5 euros.
They definately said they didn't need to provide proof of address just passport. So I don't thing the registration card is needed.
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We bought our pay as you go Vodaphone sim card over the internet in the UK several years ago. Does that mean we have to register it in a Vodaphone shop in Spain? Also can anyone explain what 'the Padron' is please.
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As far as I know this only applies to Spanish phones/sims which we have bought to use in Spain.
If the sim you bought from the internet has a UK number then it's not effected by this rule at the moment. But if it has a spanish phone number then you should register it at your local vodafone shop.
A padron is where you register at the town hall as owning a property in that area. People were encouraged to sign on to the padron as more people on the register meant more funding for extra facilities etc. Also being on the Padron entitled you to vote in local elections.
In January this year rules were changed so that only residents were allowed to sign on the padron.
I suppose you could say that a padron was similar to an electrol roll here in UK. It's used as proof of your address in Spain, it's needed to enroll children into school and is only valid for 3 months from date of issue. So every year when you need to enroll the children you have to validate it again.
Can't think of anything else it's used for but then again I've never used one yet as I'm non resident 
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Thanks. Yes it is a spanish number. Fortunately, we will be out in Spain before 1st October so will be able to register it. Really glad I saw this post.
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Someone who works for another mobile phone supplier in Spain has been told that the closure date in Oct 2009 so as per usual we have conflicting information.
The Local English papers are not infalliable and even the Costa Blanca News has been known to get things wrong.
Just put it on your to do list for the next trip and read forums for the latest information.
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got this from elsewhere (post the orginal post there)
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Posted
30 August 2008 13:10 |
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yes, the anit-terrorism law that kicked in in nov. 07 requires all cell lines to be registered, however, up till now they have not enforced the already-existing lines out there to be registered. the law only provided for new lines. now they are taking it a step further and requiring the already-existing lines to be registered.
and it is not necessarily october 1st for the switch off. i have quite a few clients who have already had their numbers revoked due to the fact that they never registered the SIMs and they went unused for more than 3 monhts at a time. they are foreigners who lived outside of spain and only visited once a year or so. they have had to buy new SIM cards.
in general the law is asenine since it has many flaws...
1. you cannot now buy a pre-paid cell pack or SIM card for someone else unless you have it in your name. this makes giving a phone pack as a gift impossible unless you do not mind it being in your name forever. buying one in your name and then changing the ownership is next to impossible without sending faxes, making multiple calls, swearing on your first born, etc...
2. there is still (and always will be) a huge black market for pre-paid SIMs so the law will NOT deter terrorists from using the SIMs.
quote:
To comply with the new registration law, pay as you go users have to verify their present address through a recent copy of the padron and a copy of their passport.
that is only true if you go get one in person. if you buy on the black market, you can EASILY get an unregistered SIM card and simply register it via the cell operator website. you need not use a real passport number either. the websites will ask you for one but you can plug in ANY number there and they accept it. so, a terrorist or would-be criminal can easily provide a false name, address and all other info they require.
3. most terrorists and other criminals will use a stolen SIM card anyway (as pointed out by the irish govt. in your post above).
i work closely with quite a few cell stores (official and unofficial alike) and i can tell you first hand that the only thing the law of nov. 07 managed to do was hurt the sales of the cell operators here. vodafone sales of pay-as-you-go packs and SIMs dropped approx 30% after the law kicked in
saludos,
jer...
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Decided after all I don't like Spanish TV, that is having compared both.
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I only found out about this by accident when I went to buy a sim for a mate over in Ibiza.
I got my Movista Sim around 4 Years ago and did not need any ID at the time.
All I needed to register my old number was my Passport but any form of officialy recognised ID will do. All they are trying to do is match numbers to names... Producing an address is pointless as it could be invalid the same day or even at the time.
Only pain is you have to be in Spain and go to a Phone Shop that does your network but as I recall the cut off point is Jan 2009
Hope this helps, Andy
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I went in to register my SIM yesterday, it is painless and only took a few minutes for the guy at Telefonica to do.
He said that this applies only to pay as you go and anyone who purchased a phone/SIM before September lasy year should do it.
Spain is taking this seriously although it does not seem to be happening in other parts of Europe according to Telefonica.
Come on peeps...............do your bit, you never know it could save someone from harm.............and it could be YOU.
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 ' Do unto others as you would be done by'
Now a non-smoker ! 
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I'll be taking mine in at the end of the month when I'm over next. Will also take OH's number in to see if they can update that as well. He doesn't come out again until end of November so still not sure if that's going to be too late to register it.
So far I've heard Oct 2008, Oct 2009 and Jan 2009 as the closing date to do this. Some non residents have been trying to give this information online via Moviestar website without success as they are panicking about doing it before they miss the cut off date
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Semi,
I'll be calling back in Telefonica this coming week cos I forgot to register the other SIM card ( !!! ) so I'll check there what date it has to be done by and then post the info.
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' Do unto others as you would be done by'
Now a non-smoker !
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Thanks Karen, I'm sure a lot of people will be interested to find out how long they have to act on this.
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Hi.............I registered my phone today in Guardamar del Segura. They accept any evidence of your address and need to see your passport. It took only a few minutes. I asked when the deadline was and was told 1st October 2009. Hope this helps.
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Expat Ann
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