¿Me escuchas ahora?

These words will forever be remembered as what was very likely one of the most famous advertising campaigns of the 21st century.

¿Me escuchas ahora?
Can you hear me now?

Thank you Verizon Wireless.

Talking on the phone is really no big deal, unless you're doing it in a second language you're still struggling to learn.  At that point it can become terrifying, but today we'll talk about some handy phrases that will surely be helpful when the day comes you have to speak Spanish over the phone.

Talking over a landline (teléfono fijo)  isn't usually that bad, but cell phones are a completely different story.  Let's discuss some common situations, starting with the most basic:

A cell phone is a celular, or simply cel.  You'll probably hear móvil in Spain.

No te escucho
I can't hear you

OK, Oir actually means "to hear", but escuchar (to listen) is a colloquial usage and is very, very common.  But if you want to be grammatically correct, you can say:

No te oigo
I can't hear you

And is there anyone who hasn't had these problems when talking on a cell phone?

No tengo recepcion
I don't have reception

No tengo señal
I don't have a signal

Se te escucha cortado
You're breaking up

You can't  hear the other person because they're speaking too softly,  like a whisper, or, not loud enough:

No te escucho porque tu voz suena muy baja 
I can't hear you because your voice sounds low

Now let's talk about technical difficulties.

Se me acabó la batería / Se me terminó la batería / Me quedé sin batería
My battery is dead

Necesito recargar la batería
I need to recharge the battery

You can also use the verb cargar

Necesito cargar la batería
I need to recharge the battery

Ojalá que te sirva. I hope that helps.

¡Nos vemos!