We are coming to Spain this Friday.

Fly in to Madrid then train to Granada then road to Cadiar.

Where can I quickly buy a USB mobile internet modem, what can I expect to pay and what the procedure is?

We visit 3 times a year so am looking for "pay as you go", not billed.

Thanks in advance.

I have tried to buy a pay as you go dongle from Vodaphone, Movistar and others without success. They tell me they only do contract.

look for wireless network , wich get most hotels and any starbucks , any big chip shop

Like Jurdyr says lots of Hotels are free wifi

Won't be in a hotel, at home in Cadiar halfway up a big hill!

Trying not to get internet on contract as will only be there max 10 weeks in the year.

If you find a PAYG let us all know since a few people have looked at this as an option. They may do it in Portugal but you have to give an address in Portugal. That would be OK for us since our strongest signal is from Portugal.

I think some of the line of sight internet providors may have a deal which allows you to use them only when you are in Spain but they are not cheap anyway.

Just go in a hotel and buy a coffee. ;-))

Bad news I´m afraid. I´ve spent most of the last 2 weeks since I arrived in Madrid, trying to do the same thing. I was recommended Telefonica by a friend, but when I went into their shop I was told they only do a minimum 18 month contract for mobile broadband. They said Orange was the only company who would do PAYG or non-contract.

So off I went to the Orange shop who told me I´d been misinformed and that they insist on an 18-month contract too. The girl told me that as far as she knows there are now no companies providing the non-contract service.

I´m here longer term so I´m going to rent a room in a house with WiFi but until then, I´m reduced to going to either public net cafes and using their computers (which obviously means not having access to the info on my laptop) or spending time in places with free Wi-Fi. These aren´t as commonplace as I´d been led to believe either. In McDonalds and Starbucks apparently you´ll get 30 mins access if you buy "a meal" (whatever that means). A lot of the bars (especially the Irish bars) have free WiFi but then of course you´ll be spending money on drinks. This morning I had to walk 10 blocks and spend 5 Euros on breakfast to get access on my laptop, on an unsecured WiFi connection!

It´s a bit of a menace, to say the least. I´d been led to believe I´d be able to get casual, non-contract mobile broadband no problem, but it just ain´t so.

We bought a PAYG dongle from Vodaphone in Sevilla for 50 euros in September ... was completely useless mind you ... terribly slow and generally inefficient. Daughter tended to use internet cafes and then moved to a flat with broadband!
So they DO exist!
But that doesn't necessarly mean you will be able to get hold of one ... the Vodaphone shop I use when visiting Sevilla allows me to buy PAYG credit for my Spanish mobile phone using a credit card, but the Vodaphone shop I use in Ondara doesn't (insists on cash if you want to buy 'minutes') ...
I am now wondering if the various shops make up their own rules and regulations as they go along

I bought a PAYG data card (Voda) only last month and just plugged it in the laptop, didnt have no problems, there is one on ebay now for 70 Eur. (not sure if I can post a link) but just type in "SPANISH DATA SIM CARD" on the spanish ebay site

I paid about half that though and sold the laptop with the sim (very easily)when I was last out there, the people who bought it off me are on MSN quite often so it does still work and it worked really well for me too, even when I was staying in a pretty remote area it was ok.

I bought it in La Linea, I used it in Jerez, Sevilla, La Linea and Estapona without problem, the people who bought it off me also live in Estapona if it helps

I used the Vodafone pay as you go USB modem when I was there two years ago. They do sell them, or at least they used to. It might take a bit of effort to get one because most stores only have the contract one, but if you keep going back you will eventually get lucky when the store gets them in. They are usually sold out. According to the Vodafone site the Prepago option is still listed. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page. If you are only using it for web surfing and email, 1 GB is more than enough and should last you a couple of months.

http://www.vodafone.es/particulares/...net/modem-usb/

Buy the Unlocked Dongle in the UK before you come and then just get a Pay as you go Data only 3g sim card from MÁSmovil they can even Port over a UK sim card to the Spanish system so you don't pay International Roaming fees. But they will supply Pay as you Go Data only Sim Cards. They do do an Unlocked Dongle and Sim Card pack in their online Shop right HERE

If your out of the 3g coverage zone then they revert to GSM trafico (Pardon the pun-oh) which is slower than Dial Up.

I had no problem in buying a pay as you go mobile broadband with Vodaphone here in Murcia. I purchased it at a Vodaphone shop in San Pedro del Pinatar and have topped it up at Cartagena. The original cost was 59 Euros for the dongle with 19 Euros of usage on it. They did ask for an address in Spain, we are renting long term, so it wasn't a problem and they also need your passport for the number. The top ups are either 19 Euros, 39 Euros or 59 Euros. I have found it to be fine for what I needed, mainly internet banking and sending e mails. However if it is used for Skyping then it will soon run out.

SKYPE was the thing that really let us down with the Vodaphone dongle (being able to use it saves us a fortune on mobile phone/locutorio costs) ... also very slow on big websites such as Facebook apparently!

Thankyou all for the information, very useful