Call the USA from Spain

There are a number of cheap ways to Make a Collect Call from Spain to the United States to the United States; phonecards, call-through services and internet calling. This article is intended to be a brief summary of the various methods with pros and cons that can be added to as people try them out on the ground.

Steps

1. Use a phone card. Phone cards are available from most newsagents in Spain and are provided by both Telefonica (the state operator) and alternative telephony providers. The Telefonica cards are reliable, but expensive; the alternatives are cheaper, but less reliable. If you find a good calling card then stick with it. Hidden charges seem to reduce the claimed minutes by a significant degree and dialing so many numbers (access plus pin plus number) can be a hassle too.
2. Use a call-through service. Several of these services are available (for a list see The Foxy Phone Page). Call-through works simply by dialing an access number followed by your full international number. All you pay for is the cost of calling the access number. It works fantastically from a landline (great quality, very cheap) and pretty well from mobiles and payphones (although the costs vary).
3. Use the Internet. Internet calling, Skype, is the most popular free VOIP (voice over internet protocol) service. If you and the person you want to call are both registered online, and have a microphone and speaker attached to your computer, you can talk with very high quality and reliability... for free!
   • If you have a broadband enabled PC, microphone and speaker, you can call someone who just has a regular phone, for a very low per-minute fee.
4. Skype also offers paid calling facility through which one can call on any phone number through a skype number provided by skype for a nominal fee.

Warnings

• Always check services by carrying out brief (say 5 minute) test calls to check you are getting the best value for money.
• Call rates are always higher from mobiles and payphones.
• Phonecards don't always keep their promises.
• Always find out what your hotel surcharges are.

Things You'll Need

• Phone
• Phone card
• Skype account (optional); also requires microphone, speaker and computer
• Computer

Related Articles

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Call Guatemala
• Call the United States From Switzerland
• Call Italy
• Call the Philippines from the United States
• Dial International Phone Numbers from America
• Call New Zealand from Australia
• Call Scotland
• Call the UK from the United States
• Call Ireland From the United States
• Call a Foreign Country

Read more ...

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