VisorCentral.com - Visorphone in Europe?

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-- Visorphone in Europe? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=23523)

Posted by atremorer on 05-25-2002 04:27 PM:

Visorphone in Europe?

I'm guessing that I know the answer to this one, but I'll ask anyway. Since GSM is used in Europe, does the Visorphone also work on the European GSM frequency?

Thanks,
Michael

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Michael J. Barnes
Assistant Professor
University of Miami

Posted by jotjot on 05-28-2002 04:56 PM:

gsm europe

You are correct you can use the visor phone on GSM900mhz net works in Europe. I have not tried it though. I am looking for a avenue to purchase a smart chip with European number and preferabley data service. Duration is about 2 weeks to three weeks.

Posted by atremorer on 05-28-2002 06:24 PM:

gsm in europe--really?

Wow! I was guessing that the VisorPhone was not compatible with the 900mhz frequency in Europe.

You're saying that there is a smart chip that will let you have a european number and data service? I knew nothing about that.

I'm going to be studying at Cambridge for a 2 week term and figured, if it would work, using my visorphone could be cheaper than international long-distance calls for staying in touch with people. I'm not really in need of a number in europe, but being able to check my e-mail would be great.

Have any ideas? Would I be charged through VoiceStream?

__________________
Michael J. Barnes
Assistant Professor
University of Miami

Posted by mhibler on 05-28-2002 11:46 PM:

Yes, it does work in Europe. I'm using it both in Europe and USA for a year now.

Posted by mbd26 on 05-31-2002 05:20 PM:

mhibler,

What is your call carrier? How can one go back and forth ('tween Europe and USA) making and receiving calls? Must one dial a country code? Does your phone number change? Details please!

Thanks!

__________________
-mbd26

Posted by jotjot on 05-31-2002 09:13 PM:

Europe Phone

One number voice mail international calling ability. the price can steep. swisscom

Posted by Mark Squires on 06-03-2002 09:51 PM:

It works fine in Europe. Keep in mind that you have to do a few things.

1. Call your carrier. Make sure they have activated international roaming. Voicestream activation is a hassle but free.

2. Use the phone there only for emergencies (and I used mine mostly to get email). With Voicestream, roaming charges and fairly high rates applied even if I was calling from one place in Paris, for instance, to another. It ran to about 99 cents a minute--but you don't want to start gabbing casually like on a regular cell.

3. When you get there, you switch on the phone and it searches for a network. You also have the option of telling it to find an alternate carrier, although you may know nothing about which ones to use, at least you may have a choice. There are no switches to throw; it adapts to the new GSM frequency automatically. Handspring's manual and box is amazingly uninformative about this great feature.

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Posted by nwhitfield on 06-07-2002 10:36 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by mbd26

How can one go back and forth ('tween Europe and USA) making and receiving calls?

It's GSM. It just works. You turn your phone on, it connects to a network, you dial. VisorPhone works on the US 1900MHz frequency and the 900MHz one used in the rest of the world (1800MHz is also used outside the US, but not supported by VisorPhone)

quote:
Must one dial a country code?

Depending where you are; I've explained this in the past, but I'll run through it again....

The + symbol is special in GSM; it allows you to store phone numbers and make calls with the network automatically adapting them to the current location.

Store all your numbers in the Visor in the format +country area number, eg +1 212 555 1212, or +44 20 8880 5901 (the latter is my fax line).

If you store them like this, you can dial them wherever you are. The + and country code will be replaced as necessary by the GSM network. For example, if you're in the US and dial the +44 number, you'll be connected as if you'd dialled 011442088805901. If you're in Europe, where we dial 00 for international, dial the US number and it would appear as if you'd dialled 001212.... And if you were in the UK and dialled the +44 number, it would be the same as dialling 020 8880 5901.

So if you store all your numbers in international format, you don't need to do anything different. GSM handles the magic, and you just dial.

quote:
Does your phone number change? Details please!

No, your number doesn't change. What on earth would be the point of that? Maybe you have really bonkers cell phones in the US ;-)

GSM roaming is completely seamless. People can dial my UK GSM number (+44 7973 ....) and my phone will ring whichever country I'm in, whether it's the US, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands.

Like I said at the top - it's GSM. It just works!

The only thing to beware of is that you will pay for the international leg of calls you receive while roaming (in Europe, we don't typically pay to receive mobile calls when we're not roaming). Sometimes these charges will be quite high, as can outgoing charges. The networks tend to take the view that they can fleece people who are visiting...

The person staying in Cambridge for 2 weeks could save money by buying a UK SIM from a pay as you go service, and using that - callers will pay more to reach him from the US, but it'll be much cheaper to use within the UK. Just pick up the SIM card from a phone shop, and slot it into VisorPhone.

If you go down this route, in the UK you'll need a SIM from the Cellnet or Vodafone networks, which are the two that operate on the 900MHz frequency that VisorPhone uses. The other UK networks are 1800MHz, so SIMs from them are no use in VisorPhone.

Nigel.

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