Communications

It's something important when you're outside your country. You need to talk to your family (I'm actually calling my parents more frequently than when I was studying in Spain), you need to talk to your girlfriend (well, it's actually she who needs to talk to you to be sure about your penis being still under the pants...) No, seriously, I was kidding. You need to talk to her. It's a must if you want to keep the relation alive... And you need to talk with friends also... So I'm going to talk a little about how I solve the communications problem when you're outside.

If you need to talk to your family, who doesn't know about Internet, you need to make a traditional phone call to their landlines. I knew about that, so I took a look at some VoIP services. I found voipbuster.com and lots of similar sites, with almost same conditions. It seemed to be a good alternative, as I could also use their services with my Android powered cellphone by using Sipdroid (over WiFi or 3G). But it's not so free as they claim it to be, so, if I have to pay I prefer to use Skype: 5€ + VAT a month and you can call to spanish landlines using a proved service wich works really fine, I must say. There is a limit of 50 different dialing numbers a day and you can be talking for around 6 hours everyday (enough for your girlfriend? :D)

You can also use Skype between computers, at no cost and also including videoconference, so it was a way to centralize communications and avoid having to use a different system for each person you have to call. And Skype has its own Android version available too...

So, great, with Skype you should have almost everything covered! I'm still using Google Talk to keep me in touch with some friends, as not all of them use Skype (and it's fine, I do also prefer to use GTalk with Android, better than Skype for chatting)

But you also have to communicate with people in Portugal. So I bought an Optimus simcard and got my 3G conection at a fair price by choosing Optimus Livre (with a separate Internet offer). But if you don't need Internet on your phone (or if you don't mind to pay a little more to get a little less), you must know that the most popular alternative here is to use Vodafone Extravaganza (with no cost calls, no cost SMS... my erasmus mates seem to spend the whole day on phone :D)

And... well, that's all. I hope you find this interesting if you come to this blog looking for some info about communications in Portugal. Btw, prices are about the same than Spain, maybe a little bit cheaper... you can take a look by yourselves.