Local telephone service billing is different in Europe than it is in North America. Instead of paying a flat rate for unlimited local calling, in Europe you are billed by the minute (peak and off-peak rates apply) for calling from your local phone. When you receive a call there is no charge, but since your caller is paying by the minute it is considered polite to keep your conversation fairly short and to the point. It's quite possible if you don't make a lot of local calls that your local service here will be cheaper than it is in North America, and this has been our experience. This article outlines everything you need to know about local telephone service in Gozo.

Note: This page is in the process of being updated to reflect current pricing in Euros.  The Euro became the official currency on 1st January, 2008.  Many commercial enterprises are presently showing both the old currency and the new currency.  The small print will tell you that the Lm price is displayed 'for informational purposes only'

Both billed (postpaid) and prepaid residential card phone service are available from Maltacom.

You can get a traditional billed (postpaid) land line service from Maltacom. However, it's pricey as non-European Union nationals must make a refundable Lm500 deposit. Installation is Lm23.60 and then monthly rental is €5.99 plus the usual per-minute charges. Voice mail and a number of other features are included free.

Easyline is a prepaid phone card solution for residential local calling. Many rental accomodations will come with an Easyline phone service (and you can make it a condition of rental if you like). With this service you will not pay rent or receive a bill. The charges will be deducted from a prepaid Easyline/Easylineplus card which reduces in value until it is used up and a new one is purchased. Easyline works with your existing push-button phone, so you do not need to buy any special equipment. Incoming calls do not use up your prepaid minutes. Many services have 'freephone' numbers that you can call out to without using up prepaid minutes. The cards are widely available at convenient reselling locations like supermarkets and bookstores as well as online. The Easyline cards are available in values of €5, €10 and €20. Easyline cards require you to enter the card number every time you need to make a call.  It is important to note that Maltacom reserves the right to require a minimum prepaid card expenditure of €88.52 per year per phone for Easyline service.

The cable internet company Onvol offers a voice over IP product (VOIP) called Hello for an additional Lm3 per month to its broadband internet customers in Gozo (available everywhere on the island). Hello enables you to call any other local Hello customer for free. With Hello you can also buy phone cards to make VOIP calls overseas. Since the number of local Hello customers is limited and there are already so many other cheap VOIP solutions for long distance this product appears to be of limited value for most people.

Edit: I removed a sentence detailing a limitation of the Hello service in response to an email that I received recently.  Malta is a relatively small market and the main telecommunications companies are very actively competing for business.  The main two competitors both offer very good customer services.  Your pattern of usage will determine which service offers the best value.