will be spending the next six months on the Canary Islands. obvioulsy i’ll be wanting internet access to check emails and while away the hours in the sun whilst i’m not riding.

is it generally cheaper to have a smartphone connection/contract than a dongle stick for the laptop?

what is there in terms of smart phones that do the basics (i.e. email, internet sufring, videos (youtube, vimeo), oh, and making calls) at a reasonable price. having had a quick glance online the prices seem to range from 150€ to 600€.

does anyone have any info on spanish internet/phone providers? as said, i’ll be there for six months so don’t want a year long contract.

cheers

no-one?

It’s siesta time!!

I used my HTC Hero in spain for a week, was fine although being on a UK contract meant data charges were large compared to a native service.
It can be plugged into a laptop for tethering so effectively acts as a dongle too.
They’re probably coming down in price now as the newer HTC Android phones have been released for a little while… The G1 probably does the same tethering job, and will definitely be cheaper.
Some PAYG SIMs are very reasonable over here for data (3 network, for example), dunno about Spanish equivalents though.

You can get payg dongles, Vodafone (vodafone.es) for example has some: http://www.vodafone.es/idioma/ingles/internet/modem/

The other main operators are Movistar and Orange, it’s a pretty competitive market and they have similar deals.

Most of the smart phones are on minimum 18 month contracts, I don’t think any of them are shorter. If you brought your own I think you can sign up for a data tariff (for example Orange Delfin) without an 18mth clause, which you could then use tethered to a laptop – but I’m not entirely sure, and you might need a bank account.

Personally I’d get a USB modem if I really needed permanently available internet, or a smart phone and head to Starbucks etc. and use their WiFi if not.

Siesta over!

I think for any contract phone you’ll need tarjeta de residencia and a bank account. You will be able to get a bank account without a problem, BBVA does accounts for foreigers and the Canary Islands might be more flexible regarding seasonal work and residency cards.

Regarding calls, you’d be best getting a dongle and using Skype or whoever, that’s the set up I have and it works fine for calls. I also have a BlackBerry for receiving sending email and don’t use it for internet.

For 6 months I would think PAYG is the way forward or as mogrim says look at your usage and decide if you NEED the internet and can you get your internet fix for the price of a coffee.