Thanks for the advice Jer. Yeah, I will very willingly toss that phone; it has caused me a lot of headaches! Soooo, let me see if I've got this right, it would just be more beneficial for me to just get a phone and plan with one of the mobile companies once I get to Madrid? If that's the case, then that's no problem. I just wanted to support your business if I could, since you've created this wonderful forum that I love so much!

First time poster - long time lurker

HiramGirl

I hope I can provide some useful advice regarding t-mobile, phone unlocking, and roaming in Spain.

I have been with tmobile for about a year now. I switched from verizon when planning my pilgrimage across spain as I wanted a hasslefree way to make emergency calls. I have the sony ericsson t68i and was able to get the unlock code and instructions over the phone direct from tmobile. Note: It did take several requests to 611 before somebody who actually knew what was going on was able to get in touch with me. Don't expect to call them up and get in done in one day.

I never got around to purchasing a sim card while in spain (checking out spainsim.com as I write this), but I did loan the phone to several germans whose phones had died. They swapped sims and had no problems whatsoever. As far as reception was concerned, I would have to say that it is far superior to that in the US. Even in the most remote areas of northern spain I had several bars. It is too bad international roaming is so expensive.

As for getting a cellular phone from a company in spain, I was under the impression that there are 2 options. Residents can get a phone under contract, nonresidents have to go the prepaid route. Perhaps other mmers could shed some light on this.

For more info, and other general advice, check out the phone section of exploreseville.com
***one last bit of advice to you and anybody else planning on moving overseas***

If you are currently under contract with your cellular carrier and want to avoid paying early termination fees, it would be a good idea to contact your service provider and inquire about the seldom-advertised-hidden-away-deep clause that permits you to terminate your contract prematurely without penalty if you are moving to an area where said company does not or cannot provide local service. I am pretty sure no company in the us also provides service abroad. I do know that both Verizon and Tmobile do have such clauses.

I hope this helps.

Perhaps I will get the chance to meet some of you this summer when I make my move to Spain for good.

hey elguapodelcamino, glad ya decided to "come out of the lurker closet" hope to meet ya this summer when your dream comes true.

thanks for the insight on the u.s. cell cos.

a few clarifications on what you wrote about cell use here...

yeah, since the phone you had on "the walk of walks" was unlocked, it was able to take the german SIM cards but those germans were also on roaming (with their german cell co.), not the ideal situation but definitely cheaper than being on roaming with a u.s. company.

quote:

As for getting a cellular phone from a company in spain, I was under the impression that there are 2 options. Residents can get a phone under contract, nonresidents have to go the prepaid route. Perhaps other mmers could shed some light on this.

well, that depends on what we consider to be "resident" and "non-resident". some see it as having or not having a "residency card", others see it simply as living or not living here. for the cell purposes, the latter is the way to look at it.

while, as you said, anyone can get "prepago" (pre-paid service - aka. pay-as-you-go), all one needs to get a contract is...

1) an address. as far as i know this needs to be a normal address, not a hotel nor hostel address. can be an office address as well since most can not tell the diff between an office address and a home one. your bills will be sent here. never looked into it but maybe even an "apartado de correos" (p.o. box) would do.

2) an account at a spanish bank. you need this for the cell line contract as billing is done via direct withdrawl from your account every month. read the thread "SPANISH BANK ACCOUNTS" for hassle free bank account opening.

so, since all one needs to open a bank account is a passport and addresses are pretty easy to come by, pretty much anyone can have a contract line.

while a very short-term visitor (tourist) will not want to go through the process of opening a bank account (as simple as it is), someone studying here for even just a few months can indeed do so and get a contract line for their cell phone.

so, imagine the cases of HiramGirl and helenhelen who will be here for a while. to get a contract line, they should first have an address (of the flat where they will stay) and then go open a bank account with their passports and that home address. then on to a cell phone shop to contract a line.

granted depending on where they go, they may run into the non-existent spanish customer service, the ever so frustrating "vuelva ud. ma�ana" (come back tomorrow) and/or the annoying "�eso es imposible!" (that's impossible!) from the spaniards at the stores they go to but if they persist, it will all come together.

warning: the cell carrier (via the store you sign the contract at) may block international calling to start until they see that you have had funds in your account to cover a few months billing. you can get around this by using the "call and connect" calling card ( [URL=http://www.europhonecards.org/call&connect[/URL] ) which uses a toll-free access # to get you into the system and then let you call back to u.s.a., canada, europe, etc... for just 14 cents/min. since the call you make is to a spanish toll free #, the international call blocking that the cell co. may use on you at first will not affect you

all in all, prepaid is definitely easier and more convenient for short stays but it all depends on how much one plans to use their cell phone. when you sign for a contract line, you are in for a 1 year or 18 month min. (depending on the cell carrier you choose here) so be prepared for that.

your calling rates (within spain) will be significantly lower with a contract plan than they will with a prepaid plan so it is up to each individual person to decide whether or not a contract is worth it for them.

saludos,
jer...

p.d. saw your website elguapo..., nice stuff. quite a few spain shots in there :cheers:

elguapo--thanks for all of the advice. Luckily I've been done with my one year contract with T-Mobile for a long time, and I didn't sign up for a new one, I've just been paying month to month, so I'll be able to stop the plan without any early termination fees. My phone isn't a tri-band so I'd have to buy a new phone before I went to Spain in order to have T-Mobile unlock it, so I might as well just wait till I get to Spain and get a plan there. It's funny because the last time I was in Spain in 2000 the cell phone craze was everywhere; I didn't know a single person that didn't have a cell phone. I remember all of us Americans thinking that was so funny, because the craze hadn't hit our little Ohio hometowns yet! Now, I can't even think of going anywhere, especially to Spain, without one!!! :jeje: I see you are from Columbus, are you studying at OSU?

Jer, I'll start preparing myself for the shock of non-existent Spanish customer service! I'm sure it will be a big bucket of fun getting this whole thing started.

quote:

It's funny because the last time I was in Spain in 2000 the cell phone craze was everywhere; I didn't know a single person that didn't have a cell phone.

multiply that by 1,000,000 and that is what it is like now. only diff. is that back then they were nearly giving phones away and now they have become much more expensive. you see, 2000 was the time when all the cell companies were fighting for clients and now since everyone has a cellphone (or 2, or 3...), they can charge ya for the handsets. now they are trying to get everyone off of pay-as-you-go and on to a contract, they make sure ��� every month that way.

quote:

Jer, I'll start preparing myself for the shock of non-existent Spanish customer service! I'm sure it will be a big bucket of fun getting this whole thing started.

you did say bucket of "fun" right :jeje:

seriously, if you learn to laugh at it and let it roll off your back, you will retain your sanity. just take it all with a grain of salt and do not let it get to you. the laziness of the spaniards that pisses off many the ex-pat when they are here is the same exact trait that makes them so easy-going and living in spain more relaxing than back in the u.s.a. for example.

� spainards are like "lentejas" (lentles), "o las tomas o las dejas" :jeje:

saludos,
jer...

The craze is even bigger now?! :jeje: Yikes! I will chalk up cell phone buying as a "cross-cultural experience"!

Just don�t buy a Nokia 3200!! I am very unhappy with it! I didn�t realise that colour screen phones go into standby mode and all I get is a black screen with the time scrolling down! I need the time, I look at a wristwatch! What I want to see on my phone screen is the strength of my signal and the amount of battery power left. My phone died on me in the middle of a very important phone call last night!!!

pd jer, that photo I sent you waaaaaaay back, cost just 20 centimos to send!

sue, i am pretty sure you can avoid that stand-by mode.

read the users manual.

all you need to do is turn off the screen saver clock.

saludos,
jer...

Please, please tell me how!! I have read, read and reread the manual and cannot find the instruction!!!!

Repeating the above, if anyone can tell me how to change my screen it would be wonderful. I have sent a question to Nokia and no answer

patience sue, patience.

there is a support page for your phone at www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,46893,00.html .

on the users manual downloadable from http://nds1.nokia.com/phones/files/guides/Nokia_3200_UG_en.pdf ...

click the "+" sign next to "5. Menu functions".
then...
click the "+" sign next to "Settings (Menu 4)"
then...
click on "Display settings".

that will open the "Display settings" section of the document on page 67 of 113.

scroll down to page 68 and you will see a topic entitled "Screen saver timeout".

in short, grab yer phone and enter the menu by clicking the "Menu" button. then "Settings" and then "Display settings". that will get you to the "Screen saver timeout" option which you should be able to turn off (deactivate).

if all else fails, go back to the shop where you bought the damn thing and have them turn the bloody screen saver clock off for you :jeje:

saludos,
jer...

by the way, you wrote...

quote:

What I want to see on my phone screen is the strength of my signal and the amount of battery power left. My phone died on me in the middle of a very important phone call last night!!!

well, the clock screen saver kicks in to do just that, save you battery power so it last longer.

also, all you have to do to get the main phone screen when the clock is there is hit any key.

i think you are better off leaving it as is.

saludos,
jer...

Thanks jer, yes, I have seen all that in the manual, but there is no deactivate choice on the menu , just a minimum tmeout you can enter.

I will just have to leave it as it is, but I hate keep picking the damn thing up, pressing buttons and staring at the screen to see what signal etc I have; think it makes one look slightly pretentious, no?

So if anyone else has a problem with only seeing a bloody clock on their mobile, this model is not for you either!!