Phone Rant

To try and fit in with both the Spanish culture and the modern times I decided to get a cell phone or a movíl. For the past two months or so I have gone without a phone using pay phones, calling cards and e-mail. A system that was not perfect because it was a little hit or miss in small towns, but right now it seems easier than having a cell phone. I did not have a problem planning to phone or meet people at certain times, but in the interest of looking for work it is best to have a phone number. In contrast to France and Ireland it is not possible to receive calls at phone booths in the street, however occasionally I did find bars or hostels with pay phones that were also used as the establishment´s phone and could arrange to have my parents call me back. One funny incident I had was in a small town, in a bar decorated with hunting trophies I was waiting for my sister to return my call and when I picked up the phone there was a Spanish woman on the other end. She was just as surprised and confused as I was and I managed to communicate to her to stay on the line, passed the phone to a man sitting at the bar and motioned for the bar owner to come over.

Most phones in Spain still accept coins, whereas in France they do not, but generally I buy phone cards from the local tobacco stores or newspaper kiosks. On one of my first days of the trip in Paris I had to make a phone call to meet someone and because it was a holiday there were no stores to buy phone cards open and I had to ask in the street until someone let me make a call. It was actually quite difficult because I was later told people probably thought I was trying to steal their phones. I feel like I go through phone cards like candy because they are generally cost 5-7 Euros and the phone system here is ridiculously expensive compared to Canada. I was told to get a fixed phone line you have to pay an outrageous installation fee (around 120 Euros and I imagine a considerable wait time), a monthly rental fee and then pay for all of your calls. In general it is less expensive to make calls in the evening which is after about 8-9pm and on weekends and if you are calling a mobile phone it usually costs twice as much as calling a fixed phone.

So getting a new phone did not make my life easier because I was faced with a steep learning curve. First to choose a phone company, there are three big companies in Spain which are Mobistar, Vodafone and Orange. After talking to different people it seemed like Vodafone was the most interesting for me, because a lot of young people have phones from that company and most of the English teachers I have met as well. Next I had to decide whether or not to sign-up for a contract or have a card that you pay as you go and since I didn´t feel ready to commit to an 18 month plan that decision was relatively easy. This meant I had to buy a phone and I chose a simple, inexpensive one. The next challenge was learning to use the phone and it became a language lesson because everything is in Spanish. First before I could use the phone I had to charge the battery and then before I could names and numbers in the address book I had to learn how to use the number pad as a keyboard. I basically decided to go chapter by chapter through the Spanish manual and did not try to make a phone call until the next day.

The first phone calls were easy and then I learned I had used up all the credit on my phone card. Apparently I had to call the phone company to have the phone plan I requested when I bought the phone set-up. It was not a very fun experience calling the phone company because after patiently waiting for an operator as soon as they heard my accent I was transferred a few times and then cut off. This happened a few times and I finally I was able to talk to someone, but the communication was difficult not so much for the language which is more challenging via the phone than in person, but because I kept being given standard replies that did not answer my questions. In any case I got my plan set-up and the next step was the voice mail.

Having an answering service is not very popular here and I find it frustrating. The argument I have heard is that it avoids having to pay for a call when you can´t reach the person, but if I am calling someone it is because I would like to tell them something and it wears on my patience having to call them five times. In any case I somehow managed to activate the answering service without understanding what the recorded voice was telling me. The most confusing thing about it was that to listen to my new messages I somehow keep getting asked to leave a voicemail.

The next thing I looked into was trying to find an inexpensive way to call Canada. I was told about another card for the phone I could get that has almost reasonable long distance rates. When I tried to buy the card I was told that it wouldn´t work in my phone and I had the option of buying another phone or getting my phone ´freed´ or unlocked. I went to a phone-fax-internet shop accross town to enquire about this service and was told it would cost about 20 Euros, about half the price that I paid for the phone and would take 1-3 days. I decided to try it because I was told if I left my phone right away I could have it back the next day instead of having to wait three days another time. The short story is I got my phone back a week later, was told it was unable to be unlocked and that in Spain there is a popular saying called ´mañana´ or tommorrow.

So other options I am looking into are the regular phone cards that have a mobile phone access number, however the one I tried gave me a reasonable rate but terrible reception. At this point I am thinking the best option for long distance is Skype or a voice over internet program or possibly the phone booths in the locutorio shops. If anyone has other suggestions let me know.