Reliable callback wanted (Spain)
 

Hi,

a friend of mine in Spain has a very expensive private landline provider (40ct/min).
There is no GSM/UMTS-coverage too and they don't have a PC access in that place.

Therefore we look for a reliable and cheap callback solution. English support appreciated. Any idea or experiences?

Where does your friend want to call? Which destinations?

Landline within Spain, spanish mobiles, Gibraltar, England mostly. Rest of the world sometimes.

Do a search here on the forum for callback and you will find some threads and providers mentioned.

I've done that esp the thread on pbxes.
My friend is an old lady, it must be a ***s i m p l e*** and reliable solution.
I need suggestions. :)

Check with her telecom provider the costs for calling 902, 905 numbers. Those alow calls
to many worlwide destinations.

These are callthrough numbers. You dial the 902 number first and then the international destination (or spanish mobiles)

It is easy to use, even for older people

Thanks, that I will do, it is an additional way.
For her mobile I got her Betamax (dialnow.com, rynga.com) but this we cannot trigger from the landphone. But the rates are sooooo wonderful.....

Any idea how to trigger?

What landline provider in Spain charges 40c/min? I presume that the rate to call a spanish fixed line number? That is outrageous! Calling "fijos" in Spain is inclusive on almost all plans from all providers these days. (Even telefonica). So for most people, using the 91 gateway numbers of Betamax clones (e.g. Dialnow and Rynga) is a great way to make international calls for very cheap or in most cases free! I even use one of these for Spanish mobiles as through that I pay 5c/min to mobile but my line provider charges close to 15c/min. Still nothing close to 40 though!

Are you sure she is paying that? Is she living in a hotel or nursing home or shared private exchange? If so I really can't believe the skanky bastards who control the rates she has to pay. But if she owns the line, tell her she needs to change provider. If not she should get a new line installed. Its only around 12euros a month including free calls to landlines all over spain. I can give some advice for that! However I presume you have talked all this through?

Unfortunately, Betamax do not do callbacks that are triggered by a missed call and CLI. However there are a number of other providers with 0044 and 001 triggers. These are a bit of a pain though, as the number is long, and being International, sometimes the triggering call gets charged by a few seconds. I don't know why, but thats a problem on the Spanish end. As far as I know there are no triggers with Spanish DID's.

I will investigate, maybe she was not right. She told me that it's not possible there (it's a Finca near Ronda/Malaga) to get a "normal" provider, therefore she has to accept these apocalyptic rates of a special private provider.
The number is 952872xxx if that is of help to you.

The area code is right for the area. Corruption and fleecing of foreigners is a BIG problem down there. There is that general theory that you can tell an expat anything and it will be believed. Problem is that in so many cases that is exactly the case.

There are some local gated expat communities where instead of getting a normal telefonica line you get a private extension a bit like in a hotel. This still gives you an incoming number but there are some advantages like free calls within the compound and a personalised concierge. It is often falsely marketed as being better value especially if you will be away for long periods in a year like many expats will be in Spain.

As long as she proves that the property is hers (owned or rented) she can get her own private line put in! Of course that will not be the problem but the community will do anything in their power to stop this. Also it is highly likely that the fat cigar smoking and BMW driving president of the community, as well as the mayor of the village is in cahoots with Telefonica who will state that it is impossible to get a new line put in as the area is not cabled or some other excuse. Unfortunately Spain is Spain and corruption is still a disgusting problem.

But does she really not get any GSM signal on any of the networks? At least movistar should be there! Apart from a few offbeat farms and mountain refuges zero GSM coverage is almost impossible these days in most parts of the peninsula that have a few built houses. If she can get at least some signal, a GPRS trigger with the easy to use VOIP client from Voipbuster will be the best by far. You can set it up so that it permanantly dials her home number, and she can select her calling party from a small contacts list.

:), will see how it ends. I've been there in that house with my airBalticcard and a N5000 and a N8310, there is definitely no signal. 20m outside you get a weak signal from i.e. Vodafone.

I was also thinking about another mobile and an external antenna to plug in, but I don't have any experience with this. Which mobile? Which antenna? That's the reason why I wanted to go for callback......

In that case, it is worth making use of that landline resource if she has it. Enlinea and Call Back World are a bit useless these days I think. A few months ago there was a post here* about a new UK based callback provider. Their rates were good. I suspected that they used Betamax even though they were not themselves Betamax. I think the trigger was some nice easy to remember UK number like 0044 123456.... I cannot find the post now but a bit of looking around will probably bring it up. Maybe it is worth a trial of putting 10 pounds on or something.

* It might have been on foneforum.co.uk. I do not remember. I remember the company as they also claimed to have an access number for India that they refused to publish on their website. There was some discussion about that.

I fianlly tracked those down! The ones that were talked about were Nyxfone.com and talkbacktele.com. I have not tried either personally, but I think the first had very decent rates.

Checkout this link: Cell phone signal, Mobile Booster, Mobile Phone Booster, authorised dealer distributor new delhi, deepak javherani, General Electronics & Telecommunications

I guess when you search google there must be other units like this. Cellphone booster.

Thanks a lot ! That could be another interesting solution.
Does anybody have experience with this?

Are they legal in Spain?

Thanks Petkow, that Nyxfone looks great! Until now this seems to be the best solution. :):):)

Nyxfone problems
 

I created a Nyxfone account and made some attempts.
Too many failed. Balance check and SMS sending ("Account is not actíve") does not work.
Customer service answered quickly, but was not helpful.
They just ignored the problems with balance and SMS.

Any other suggestions with similar rates????

Sorry to hear that! I presume you have also looked at the two USA based callback "dinosaurs":
Enlinea International Telephone Calling Overseas Dial Direct Discount - international callback,direct dial,international long distance,toll-free forwarding, local newspapers, local weather, dictionary, translator calling card and VoIP services
Callback World - callback service for country to country calling

By the way, I know it sounds obvious but do you have any idea if she can call Spanish 900 (freephone) numbers? If so an account based service maybe a good option.

Also I think it was asked before but there are loads of gateways (even to UK mobiles) using special 901 and 902 numbers. As the rates to call these are supposed to be fixed (by Spanish law AFIK) they maybe cheaper than what she is paying for standard rates.

I suspect Nyxfone fails due to unreliable outbound CID generated by the local carrier.

Both CallbackWorld and Enlinea provide dedicated trigger number based callback which is not affected by missing or invalid oubound CID.

On second thought, you may want to give StanaCard a try. They assign a Madrid proper (landline) number to each of your international destinations.

Unfortunately I think this will not solve it as part of the problem is that it allegedly costs 40c/min to call a Madrid landline.