Chesnelay Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 We are travelling in convey to France this summer, with a shared load of babies, dogs and other fragments of the family. Do 'international-enabled' British mobile phones, receiving French 'waves' work by just dialling the mobile number or do you have to add extra numbers and omit any zero's? Trying desperately hard to ensure we don't lose contact with the other vehicles!! Any advice gratefully received! ( I have tried looking at previous posts but the computer reckons it cant cope with doing the search)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hegs Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 Generally you can use the + symbol on the phone, plus the country code, and drop the 0 from the STD code and it will work in any country including the UK. e.g. 01753 xxxx -> +44 1753 ... This is how all my memory entries look. This might be phone dependent, I've only ever had Nokia and Motorola phones.You do realize you might have to call your phone company to get international dialing and roaming enabled, and you pay through the teeth to receive calls when you are abroad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 Your mobiles should work in France as Hegs points out make sure that roaming has been enabled, a call to your provider is all that is required. However, the cost of calls is very expensive. I had a thought that as you are travelling in convoy, why not consider two way radios. Motorola for example produce at least 4 models, the cheapest T4052 can be bought for under £30 a pair. With a range of upto 3 miles (5 Kilometres), once purchased no call charges!! and licence free. I have found this website, but there are plenty more if you goggle.http://www.twoway-radio.co.uk/trolleyed/27/index.htm#Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 I would agree with the two way radio option.I would also suggest that when entering a number into a mobile phone's memory/sim card that you always enter it as the full international number 00 or + then country code then number minus the initial 0 that way it is ready to dial no matter where you find yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 I agree with the 2 way radios. What you want is almost anything which says it is PMR 446 (PMR being Private Mobile Radio and 446 being the rough frequency) as this is a European standard. Be aware, they will say they have xxx channels, but in actually fact they have six channels, each with a number of call signals. So, you may think that a channel is free and find that as soon as you start to speak somebody else pops up. However, it's not a big inconvenience if you only want to exchange occasional messages.The other thing to be aware of is the range. They say 3 miles, but this is line of sight. On a busy, bumpy road you may not get more than 1/4 mile. (I think mountain top to mountain top you can get about 20 miles).So, when you can, you use the PMR, when you can't (and it's urgent) you use the phone. I expect this has been said but I didn't read all the replies (such is my enthusiasm to recommend PMR), if you use a British mobile to call another British Mobile that may be only 10 meters away, you will pay for a call back to the UK, they will also pay for a call from the UK. You can quickly justify the cost of buying PMR (No, I do not work for a PMR manufacturer or retailer, I'm just a fan ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 Just an extra thought, I don't think it's a good idea to buy the more powerful US versions of the PMR. They are not permissable under the license free conditions, but more to the point, you only really need low power for most uses and by using a higher power all you will do is interfere with more other users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRT17 Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 SMS text messaging is excellent and costs a fraction of the price of receiving / making mobile phone calls from abroad. Just put the other persons number in your mobile "phonebook" and send messages in the usual way. You do need to organise the roaming facility before you leave U.K.Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 [quote]SMS text messaging is excellent and costs a fraction of the price of receiving / making mobile phone calls from abroad. Just put the other persons number in your mobile "phonebook" and send messages i...[/quote]mN-dE-wX-T jkL-dE-deF-T. Missed it. ******. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Just an extra thought on PMR's. I seem to recall once reading that although PMR is a european standard, there is one frequency which is allowed in the UK, but not in France. However, a quick google this afternoon has not found the article that I think I might have read in the past. Does this ring any bells with anyone else or am I just senile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesnelay Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 Thank you for all your speedy and helpful replies - we will take on board your advice - Thanks Chesnelay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Phew. I'm not senile. http://www.qsl.net/g4hbt/pmr446.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradford Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Regarding the texting between uk mobiles abroad, you will pay an additional fee of around 30p per text for use of the foreign service. I'm with vodaphone and that's what they charge.RegardsPaul Bradford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.