Cingular cell phone service - International calling question

Author

International calling question

S. Gione

2006-01-11, 5:48 pm

Would appreciate info on the proper procedures using a U.S. Cingular phone
overseas.

From what I understand, calling back to the U.S., 001+AreaCode+Number is the
sequence ... is this correct?

My confusion is calling within the UK to a UK number.

Is it: 011+44+number (as if calling from the U.S. to UK)

Or is it: 00+44+number (UK to UK)

TIA

Wirelessjuan

2006-01-11, 11:48 pm

Check out this link on Cingular's website. It should help answer your
questions.

http://www.cingular.com/shop/roaming/roaming_info

S. Gione

2006-01-12, 2:48 am

Thanks for the reference, but the page does not seem to answer the dialing
sequences.

"Wirelessjuan" <wirelessjuan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1137028497.352106.308340@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Check out this link on Cingular's website. It should help answer your
> questions.
>
> http://www.cingular.com/shop/roaming/roaming_info
>

kc5fm

2006-01-12, 5:48 pm

S. Gione wrote:

>
> Is it: 011+44+number (as if calling from the U.S. to UK)
>
> Or is it: 00+44+number (UK to UK)

It is neither. It's +01144number. To get the Plus Sign, press and
hold the Zero key.

Your US phone, overseas, will operate as it does in the US (except I
think my daughter said the ring changed). Don't forget your charger
and current adapter. <G>

Additionally, your phone must be "turned on" for overseas calling. I
did this when my daughter went to Africa through the UK this summer.

This feature is also turned on/off so that you can call or not call
overseas from the USA side. I keep my phone turned off for
international for two reasons. 1) If it's lost or stolen, I want to
minimize my losses (even with the insurance) and 2) using Cingular for
international calls is too expensive. Call 611 from your phone to get
the service activated. Activation is free but costs for service are,
again, not cheap.

Personally, I use KallCents to call overseas from the USA.
http://tinyurl.com/crv49 lists a number of dial around services one can
use. All are reliable but I use KallCents because they offer the best
rates for where I call most.

While I am happy that my daughter took her cell phone with her, I was
happier when she used the calling card I got for her. The calls in the
UK to USA using the calling card were about a nickle a minute compared
to 99 cents per minute on the cell.

One other tip is calling your voicemail is NOT free when you go
overseas. I checked on this before my daughter went. I was given a
number that could be used locally to check her voicemail for her and
text message the information to her. While Cingular assured me that
the call would be free, indeed, it was not. If I remember right, they
even charged for checking voicemail when the phone was turned OFF.
Check your bill when you return to USA. Cingular was helpful in giving
me credits for the calls, after the fact.

Let me know how more I can help.

Lloyd Colston, KC5FM
http://ld.net/?kc5fm

Steve

2006-01-13, 11:48 pm

In GSM, the plus is used to remove the need for International Dialing codes
which are specific to a given country. If you would be travelling
throughout Europe, you'd never be able to remember the International Dialing
prefixes for Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK etc. I don't mean the
country code (44=UK, 1=US/Can, etc), I mean what you start with to tell the
phone system you want to dial another country.

In the US its 011
In other countries it can be 001
or possibly just 01 etc.

So the GSM standard has the plus sign to eliminate the problem.
You press and hold the zero and the + appears.

So if you are in the USA and have a GSM phone and want to call the UK, you
dial +44 33 22 8811...
But if you are on a wired network in the USA you would dial 011 44 33 22
8811
(you never dial + 011 or + 001 etc. The plus solves the 2 or 3 digit
international code problem).

Here's the best part, ALWAYS put the plus sign in front of everything you
store, even numbers in the USA.
Everything in my phone has it. For example a NYC phone number is stored as

+1 212 555 1212

Now when I go to another country, I just dial from phone memory. And when
in the USA, the GSM network ignores the plus.

The GSM system is truly a global system where the international dialing was
factored in from the early days.

--
Steve

"kc5fm" <kc5fm@ureach.com> wrote in message
news:1137068185.370331.5580@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> S. Gione wrote:
>
>
> It is neither. It's +01144number. To get the Plus Sign, press and
> hold the Zero key.
>
> Your US phone, overseas, will operate as it does in the US (except I
> think my daughter said the ring changed). Don't forget your charger
> and current adapter. <G>
>
> Additionally, your phone must be "turned on" for overseas calling. I
> did this when my daughter went to Africa through the UK this summer.
>
> This feature is also turned on/off so that you can call or not call
> overseas from the USA side. I keep my phone turned off for
> international for two reasons. 1) If it's lost or stolen, I want to
> minimize my losses (even with the insurance) and 2) using Cingular for
> international calls is too expensive. Call 611 from your phone to get
> the service activated. Activation is free but costs for service are,
> again, not cheap.
>
> Personally, I use KallCents to call overseas from the USA.
> http://tinyurl.com/crv49 lists a number of dial around services one can
> use. All are reliable but I use KallCents because they offer the best
> rates for where I call most.
>
> While I am happy that my daughter took her cell phone with her, I was
> happier when she used the calling card I got for her. The calls in the
> UK to USA using the calling card were about a nickle a minute compared
> to 99 cents per minute on the cell.
>
> One other tip is calling your voicemail is NOT free when you go
> overseas. I checked on this before my daughter went. I was given a
> number that could be used locally to check her voicemail for her and
> text message the information to her. While Cingular assured me that
> the call would be free, indeed, it was not. If I remember right, they
> even charged for checking voicemail when the phone was turned OFF.
> Check your bill when you return to USA. Cingular was helpful in giving
> me credits for the calls, after the fact.
>
> Let me know how more I can help.
>
> Lloyd Colston, KC5FM
> http://ld.net/?kc5fm
>

S. Gione

2006-01-14, 5:48 pm

Steve - this is a great response. Provides and easy solution for all the
questions I had.

Thanks

"Steve" < nr4p@NOJUNKearthlink
.net> wrote in message
news:hcZxf.9093$M%4.942@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> In GSM, the plus is used to remove the need for International Dialing
codes

> which are specific to a given country. If you would be travelling
> throughout Europe, you'd never be able to remember the International
Dialing
> prefixes for Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK etc. I don't mean the
> country code (44=UK, 1=US/Can, etc), I mean what you start with to tell
the
> phone system you want to dial another country.
>
> In the US its 011
> In other countries it can be 001
> or possibly just 01 etc.
>
> So the GSM standard has the plus sign to eliminate the problem.
> You press and hold the zero and the + appears.
>
> So if you are in the USA and have a GSM phone and want to call the UK, you
> dial +44 33 22 8811...
> But if you are on a wired network in the USA you would dial 011 44 33 22
> 8811
> (you never dial + 011 or + 001 etc. The plus solves the 2 or 3 digit
> international code problem).
>
> Here's the best part, ALWAYS put the plus sign in front of everything you
> store, even numbers in the USA.
> Everything in my phone has it. For example a NYC phone number is stored as
>
> +1 212 555 1212
>
> Now when I go to another country, I just dial from phone memory. And when
> in the USA, the GSM network ignores the plus.
>
> The GSM system is truly a global system where the international dialing
was
> factored in from the early days.
>
> --
> Steve
>
> "kc5fm" <kc5fm@ureach.com> wrote in message
> news:1137068185.370331.5580@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
>

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