Use the house telephone - save a fortune on mobile phone charges

We have a special landline in the villa, with a London telephone number. You can use it (if you reserve it beforehand).

This will mean that you can make calls all week without having to use your mobile phone at international rates, which of course are very expensive. I usually end up spending €80-€150 (£50-£100) on mobile calls in a week abroad, partly because people call me, and I get charged for receiving calls too, at the same exhorbitant rates.

On our London landline in Granada, I pay what I would pay if I were using a typical UK landline, or probably less: less than 3p/minute to call a standard landline pretty well anywhere in the world.

And nothing for inbound calls. Result: my €80-€150 (£50-£100) mobile bill is replaced with around £2 or £3 of fixed line call charges. If there's a group of you, you can usually end up saving as much as all your flights cost you to get to Granada.

Calls to other countries, such as the USA, Ireland, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, China, Australia are just as cheap.

Some other things it will do for you

It's not Skype ! You don't need to have a computer turned on to make or receive calls, and you can phone any number in the world.
It plugs into any of the RJ45 sockets, which are present in the kitchen and all the bedrooms and living rooms.
The London number (0207) is very handy. You can even pretend you are working in London all week. Give it to your friends or colleagues before you set off, and save them (and you) a lot of expensive bills, and awkward questions about how you're always off enjoying yourself.
You can set up the phone to forward calls onto your mobile if you don't answer it (because you're out in Granada somewhere, or skiing, etc).
When you phone someone, your "London" number will appear on their phone...so it's easy for them to phone you back.
You can pull the plug out at night !
You can get a phone like this when you get back home.

How you can get "permission" to use it

Click the box on the reservation form when you book the house, or on the visitorpages before you set off, and the phone will be enabled for your use when you arrive. We'll send you the phone number before you arrive.

Cost

About £12 (€18 Euros) + cost of calls. Credit for calls can be ordered in increments of about £10 (€15).

Call costs are low...see below.

Call charges, to the UK

Call charges, in pence/minute ex VAT. (2006)
1 min call to	day	eve	w/end
UK Local	1.72	1.18	1.18
UK National	1.72	1.18	1.18
O2-UK mobile	16.45	11.16	7.05
T-Mobile. UK	16.45	11.16	7.05
Orange-UK mobile	16.45	11.16	7.05
Vodafone-UK mobile	16.45	11.16	7.05
UK 0845	4.70	4.70	4.70
UK 0870	9.99	9.99	9.99

Ireland, USA, Australia, NZ, Canada, Es, F, D, J, China

Call charges, in pence/minute ex VAT. (2006)
1 min call to	day	eve	w/end
Ireland	2.1	1.74	1.74
USA and Canada	1.72	1.72	1.72
Australia	1.95	1.95	1.95
Spain	1.86	1.86	1.86
Spain Mobile	15.4	15.4	15.4
France	2.0	1.70	1.70
Germany	1.88	1.88	1.88
Japan	2.4	2.4	2.4
China	2.1	2.1	2.1

The above quoted rates are exclusive of VAT at 17.5% and are subject to change without notice.

1 pence = £0.01 sterling