I'm sure this has been done to death already but I'll ask anyway.

My wife and teenage sons are coming to Spain again July 10th but only for 2 months, alright for some, I have to work.

Which is the simplest way to get broadband internet on their laptop?

They do not want to use a landline, they am looking for a USB connected modem.

What they'd like is a "pay as you go" sevice if any such thing exists in Spain.

Any advice warmly wellcomed. (I wish)

I have looked for a PYG dongle in Spain without success. They are rumoured to exist on Vodaphone but not in our corner of Spain Ayamonte. Maybe in Madrid.

You can get them in most shops around here, also Vodafone wifi tinternet if you already have a Telefonica landline to swop for the Vodafone one.

As far as I know, It is only Vodafone that do pay as you go. It is very expensive though. See the attached link.
http://www.vodafone.es/particulares/...dem-usb/#/home

Hi

Cheapest contract is 45 euros a month for 18 minimum months - 800 plus euros.

PAYG mobiles available here Orange, Yoigo and Vodafone I believe. However the costs are astronomical for anything other than light usage.

Can you use an internet cafe to actually send / receive the data, put in onto a pen drive and then work on it on your laptop?

Davexf

Simyo has a USB dongle plan, 5GB transfer at 3G speeds (after 5GB the speed gets lowered to 128kbps, 2x speed of dial-up) per month for 25 euros/month. https://www.simyo.es/simyo/portal/st...data-priceplan

If your family is going to be in an area with good 3G cover it could be an option. Simyo has a 3G coverage map, I don't know how accurate or reliable it is though - I've never used 3G.

For light internet browsing 5GB should be enough, you wouldn't get far downloading films. To give you an idea if you are unsure, films are approx 700MB each so you could get ~7 films with 5GB. Web pages, on the other hand, can vary between 10 - 500KB. At 500KB (most pages are less than this) per web page, you could visit over 10,000.

Youtube could be a big drain, I don't know what the average size is per minute of video.

Unlike Vodafone, there isn't a permanence contract with Simyo, so it might be what you're looking for. The other option, of course, is to use internet cafés.

well if your laptop has wifi built in, your best bet is to find a "wifi hotspot", areas that provide free wifi, although quite how you find that out i dont know. I know the dreaded mcdonalds, and also starbucks in the UK offer free wifi, may be possibly worth checking out to see if they do in spain.?

course that wont give you wifi at home though but its a start..........

a lot of bars offer free wifi - they do expect you to buy a drink but I reckon that's a cheap price to pay!

look at
[URL="http://www.euphony.es/euphonyprod_en/public_html/internet/eudata_en.php"] they say €99 to start then €24 pm only pay on a monthly basis. but 1gb pm download limit.

Internet access in Spain is not the best - it's slow, expensive and seems to be fairly unreliable too. The going rate for a landline connection appears to be something over €40 a month for a basic connection - provided of course that you can actually GET a landline off Telefonica.

So far as a PAYG connection goes, I had to spend €69 for a dongle which gives a small (150MB) amount of connectivity. Depending on what your mobile coverage is like, you might get a fast, 3G connection with this dongle - or it might be as slow as 56kb (i.e. modem / 2G speed) - or it may vary between the two.
You can buy 1GB of connectivity for €59, which lasts 3 months (it expires either after 3 months, OR when you've used your 1GB - whichever comes first).
It might not sound like much, but you won't be spending time on YouTube or downloading movies or <cough> as the speed isn't up to it and the connection tends to die at regular intervals.. So it's good enough for a bit of light surfing, checking-in online for your flights, reading email and (of course) visiting certain forums.

USB Dongles on the major networks are readily available, but coverage is patch and tends to be in or near large population areas, for example, also you could try and see if the new offer on Vodafone UK for EU roaming at same price as UK is available on their Mobile Broadband also.
http://www.mantiseno.com/index.php?o...d=18&Itemid=21

Coverage is very patchy, we did use them at our first, temp, apartment, and got good coverage and speed, we moved to our long term apartment, and reception was abysmal, 5 mins to download a page, we gave it several days trial, but then cancelled. Euphony is orange.

Hi mikelincs,

If Orange doesn't cover, it doesn't mean Movistar or Vodafone don't - I know Vodaphone will guarantee if it doesn't work where you live in 48 hours, you can return the dongle and get your money back; (I interpreted for some friends when they bought a Vodafone dongle).
Davexf

True, but my comment was about Euphony, whoi use orange solely.

Hi Mikelincs,

Yes I agree but I was trying to be positive to the origianl post question - is there an internet broadband available. I have to admit I forgot the "Non large" players like Yoigo

Davexf