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Dial tone when ringing mobile abroad
my-mate-marmite
Posts: 630
Forum Member
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Hello all,
Just a quickie. A colleague of mine is claiming he is trapped abroad due to the volcanic ash and therefore cannot return when he was scheduled to. We work in the banking sector and holidays have to be booked way in advance and unless there are exceptional circumstances, these are not usually allowed to be extended. He originally wanted to book a longer break, but was told this couldn't be authorised as too many people would be on leave at that time. He left a message for my manager saying he would not be back until the end of the week due to the ash situation and when he called his mobile back it just rang as normal and no one answered. My manager said it was odd as the dial tone was as normal, i.e. as if you were calling someone in the UK, when apparently if you are abroad the dial tone should sound a bit different. Is this true?
Thanks!
Just a quickie. A colleague of mine is claiming he is trapped abroad due to the volcanic ash and therefore cannot return when he was scheduled to. We work in the banking sector and holidays have to be booked way in advance and unless there are exceptional circumstances, these are not usually allowed to be extended. He originally wanted to book a longer break, but was told this couldn't be authorised as too many people would be on leave at that time. He left a message for my manager saying he would not be back until the end of the week due to the ash situation and when he called his mobile back it just rang as normal and no one answered. My manager said it was odd as the dial tone was as normal, i.e. as if you were calling someone in the UK, when apparently if you are abroad the dial tone should sound a bit different. Is this true?
Thanks!
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I can't be sure, but I'm not sure it would sound different. When you dial a UK mobile from the UK, you're connecting to the UK operator, not the foreign one. The UK operator then links with its foreign partner network, and the mobile phone owner has to pay for the "foreign" part of the call. A lot of people leave their mobiles on answer when they're abroad to save money.
Yes, that's what I thought.
Correct.
But it says here:
a UK mobile will give the UK ring when
- it is in the UK and turned on.
- it is anywhere and been turned off (powered off)
It only gives the foreign ring if
- it is turned on and available in the foreign country.
- it has recently been turned on, and has gone out of coverage.
after about a period of time (20mins - 1 hour) if it does not come back, it is assumed to be turned off, and go to the UK ring (as above).
That does not apply when dialling UK mobiles from the UK as you just dial the number as normal. Which means your call goes to the same entry point into the mobile network whether the recipient is in Tonbridge Wells or Timbuktu.
A chap who rang me whan I was in portugal last month knew I was abroad as the ringing tone was different. Mine's a UK mobile (Orange)
Oh okay yeah, sorry I was wrong! I just checked again and it's only foreign landlines which have a different ringing tone, UK mobiles are the same anywhere.
Maybe you have to look at it this way. When you're abroad, the full mobile connection has two stages, one to the UK service provider, and one from the UK service provider to the foreign partner. If the phone is switched off, the second stage doesn't apply, because the call will go straight to answer, therefore the ringtone will be "British". If the phone is switched on and ready to receive calls, the UK service provider will route the call to the foreign partner, and the tone you hear will be the "foreign" tone.
Though I was calling the UK, I'm not sure what people heard when they called me.
ditto when I was in France
I always know when my clients are abroad because the ring is different (calling their mobiles).
If they are in England it goes 'ring ring.... ring ring... etc'
If they are abroad it goes 'riiinnnnnnnggggg........ riiinnnnggggg.......'
That's my experience
Incorrect (unless you were referring to the fact that it's called a 'ringing tone', not a 'dial tone').
I've called UK mobiles that have been abroad on a number of occasions, and have always been able to tell straight away they were abroad due to the different ringing tone.
So to the OP, yes - hearing the UK ringing tone when trying to call your colleague would suggest that he is in the UK.. or somewhere that uses the same ringing tone as the UK!
In my experience this is correct. My mate went on holiday and I didn't realise he was away. I phoned him a couple of times without him answering, and the ring tone was significantly diffferent, which is how I realised he was abroad. At work we also get international calls which mean our phone rings slightly differently, altho that could be the way the phones are set up??
This is what happens when I call my mum in Spain.
I don't think you can really use it as proof one way or the other, to be honest....
Actually, it would only suggest his phone was in the UK, or was last turned off in the UK. It gives no hint as to where he is......
someone phoned my mobile in portugal and wondered why my ringing tone was different