Spanish Internet access

Laptop and notebook computers have become more and more popular, and anyone who has one will likely take it along during vacations. Then, however, the question arises, how can I access the Internet in Spain? At CapCreus Online we receive a number of e-mail inquiries. We will attempt to provide a general answer.
In principle one can say that nearly all basic Internet connections are free in Spain. The only expense is the telephone charges, usually as local calls. If one opts for a connection with a fee, there are additional services such as ADSL or "tarifa plana." These options offer the convenience of a flat rate, a monthly fee with 24/7 free connection without additional telephone charges.
Anyone who wants to use the Internet only during his or her vacation, and only for a few hours, is well served by the free access. You can contact the internet service provider [ISP] while you are still at home and set up your account to be used when you arrive in Spain. However their Websites are mostly in Spanish. One solution is offered by http://www.gonuts4free.com, which may be a godsend for many CapCreus Online visitors, since the site exists in English, German and Dutch. On the home page one selects the language and the rest of the set-up can be performed in English, for example.
The following instructions will help make the installation go quickly. It is bests to load the auto install file, unzip it and then install it. The installation program can be managed easily. A small problem arises when you must choose the local telephone number for the closest node. The installation offers only Roses or Figueres, but for example not Cadaqués, Llançà or L'Escala. But a remedy exists, if you look at the FAQ's. There is indicated a telephone number, under which entrance to the Internet from anyplace in Spain is possible at the local "Telefonica" rate. We tried the service with this number and immediately enjoyed a fine, fast connection. The fees for this service appear on your phone bill as local ("Metropolitan") calls. From 8 to 18 o'clock the connection costs 0.025 euro per minute, from 18 to 8 o'clock and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays 0.020 euro per minute. Thus, for a connection of one hour during a working day one would pay 1.44 euro.

More favourable, particularly during the low-cost time, is the T-Online service www.ya.com. Here, the connection costs from 8 to 18 o'clock on weekdays 0.024 euro per minute, but costs only 0.009 euro per minute from 18 to 8 o'clock and at Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The Website of ya.com is only in Spanish, but the installation of the connection is as simple as we describe:
1. Make a new connection with the user name gratis, the password gratis and the telephone number 908274101. Finally, press Ok and the connection is ready for use, naturally only in Spain.

With both connections you should activate under characteristics the option “show connection symbol in the task line", so that you do not forget that you are connected and let it run uselessly. With a right-click on the symbol the connection can be easily disconnected.

We do not wish to express a recommendation with this article, since there are many offerers with the same services. But we hope these two options are useful to our readers to easily access the Internet in Spain.

In addition, another reader’s FAQ can be answered: The call-by-call telephone service, which we have previously described, functions excellently for a fraction of the usual costs both for local and for long-distance calls from Spain to anywhere in the whole world, but not for access to the Internet.

CapCreus online, the Web-newspaper of the  Costa Brava: www.cbrava.com