Why not use you own mobile, if you are pay as you go , like myself, i always put about £50 £60 on my phone, and it has always lasted me a fortnight, thats phoning home, and sending loads of texts, i have been doing that for the last 15 years on holiday, all over europe , and not had no problems yet, i dont know why people go on about sim cards and phone cards, because you just dont need them .

Not strictly true Nigel from a cost point of view..........not everyone wants to spend £50-60 on calls in a fortnight or simply can't afford it

Buying a local sim can save you an awful lot of money. Cyprus is a great example, the mobile call charges there are significantly lower than we pay in the UK let alone what we pay when using abroad. I've had a Cypriot sim for years which I stick in my mobile on arrival and it saves me an absolute fortune not only phoning home but making calls to other phones in Cyprus whilst I'm there

Me and my partner holidayed in the capo bay hotel in protaras, last september, i put roughly £ 60 on my pay as you go phone , i phoned my aged mother, who is nearly eighty, every other day, my partner phoned her mum and dad up in england every other day, i must have sent at least a hundred texts back to the u k, and i still had £34 left on my phone on arrival back in england, so that wasent expensive was it ? we are off abroad twice this year including puerto del carmen, in september for eleven nights, and that is what i will do again.

Regardless, that's still double what I pay Each to their own.

Amyway, getting back to the original question, whilst your waiting for one of the Lanzarote aficionados to get back to you Jonesy, you could take a look at this site http://www.0044.co.uk they sell sim cards for many worldwide countries and they come highly recommended especially where it's not possible to buy a local sim

Jonesy
We always use payphones it only costs a couple of euros,make sure everyone's ok and then get back to our holiday. Only use mobile to listen to the radio while by the pool and to phone our pick-up at Gatwick on our way home

As far as I can see, the initial cost of buying a Spanish or Global sim card cancels out the money you save on call charges - unless you are planning on making a LOT of calls or if you're going to be over there for a couple of months instead of just the standard two-week holiday.
I switch my phone off and leave it in the safe for most of the holiday - I check it every day for messages and send a few texts, but I very rarely use more than about a tenner's worth of credit.
I have actually thought about getting Spanish sim cards for myself and my teenagers, so that I can let them wander off on holiday and know that we can text each other cheaply in resort, but realistically it only makes financial sense if you're either going to be over there a while or if you're there at least 3 or 4 times a year.

Hey, i was just wondering if all networks work over in Lanzarote? Im going over in June and im missing some important birthdays so will need to make some phone calls/ send some texts out so want to make sure i will be able to do so as i had a problem with this when i went abroad last year.
Thanks,
Claire.