telephone in Spain

There was a time in the late 70s when the pay phones worked too well and international students lined up to call home free or they didn;t work at all.  When it was easier to send a telegram than to find a phone that worked.  To get a phone installed in a home was almost impossible.  I got a phone in my house in Càlig when I was spending a year in the village in 1991-92 by photocopying a letter from the University asking to whom it might concern to assist me in my research.  I had asked the University secretary to add a seal with ribbons.  I sent the copy with a letter saying I would have to write about the phone company if I couldn’t get a phone.  In two weeks I had a phone.  I had been told it would be impossible as there were no more free lines that year.    I succumbed to prepaid cell phone cards when the pay phones disappeared.  I carefully added euros before I left each year so I could keep the same number.  When I returned this summer, I learned that the card for Vodaphone was no longer valid and I would need a new one, but the store didn;t have any more cards.  “Not until next week,” I was told last Tuesday after waiting in line for an hour.   I needed a cell phone for Madrid at that moment.  Down the street in another store run by the large department store El Corte Ingles.  I did get a more expensive prepaid card from Movistar, owned by Telefonica.  I hope I never have to deal with cellphone companies and jet lag at the same time again

I found out today that last winter all prepaid phone card customers had to bring documentation to their cell phone company by a certain date or their card would be invalid.  There was a fear of terrorists who used  prepaid cards.

Advertisement