Network Questions

Ben1900

20-05-2004

on my way to and back from France last weekend, i had my phone with me and have some questions to ask

1. on the way there (Friday night), sort of half way, my phone picked up a network called "Simmin", where does this network operate?

2. on the way back, (Saturday night), a similar thing happened, with my phone picking up a network called "Gsy-Tel" (i think that was it's name), where does that one operate?

3. on arrival there (Saturday morning), mine and my dads phones connected to French networks (noth are Nokia, 3510i and 8310 respectively and are both on Vodafone), but mine had picked up Orange F, while his picked up SFR, i then got a text msg from Vodafone UK, "advising" me to change to SFR, which i had to manually do.... what would cause that?

dj1471

20-05-2004

Originally Posted by Ben1900:
“on my way to and back from France last weekend, i had my phone with me and have some questions to ask

1. on the way there (Friday night), sort of half way, my phone picked up a network called "Simmin", where does this network operate?”

Um, Iceland! Apparently.

Quote:
“2. on the way back, (Saturday night), a similar thing happened, with my phone picking up a network called "Gsy-Tel" (i think that was it's name), where does that one operate?”

As the name suggests, Guernsey.

Quote:
“3. on arrival there (Saturday morning), mine and my dads phones connected to French networks (noth are Nokia, 3510i and 8310 respectively and are both on Vodafone), but mine had picked up Orange F, while his picked up SFR, i then got a text msg from Vodafone UK, "advising" me to change to SFR, which i had to manually do.... what would cause that? ”

Not sure what you're asking. You got a text from Vodafone telling you to change network probably because they either own or have some special deal with SFR for roaming.

Nic_3

21-05-2004

Originally Posted by dj1471:
“Um, Iceland! Apparently.

As the name suggests, Guernsey.

Not sure what you're asking. You got a text from Vodafone telling you to change network probably because they either own or have some special deal with SFR for roaming.”

Similar situation in Spain with 02 - they will let you use telefonica's network as a "first choice", but allow you onto others - they text you asking you to change over to telefonica's network (which is more expensive). However, I've forgoten the names, but like thee fact that I still got Gib-tel for a good 20 mins after leaving Gibralta!

brundles

22-05-2004

Originally Posted by Ben1900:
“3. on arrival there (Saturday morning), mine and my dads phones connected to French networks (noth are Nokia, 3510i and 8310 respectively and are both on Vodafone), but mine had picked up Orange F, while his picked up SFR, i then got a text msg from Vodafone UK, "advising" me to change to SFR, which i had to manually do.... what would cause that? ”

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that henerally the phone will lock onto the strongest signal that the operators roaming setup will allow, but some phones can come pre-configured with preferred (read biggest profit margin) roaming partners. Is there any difference in the way the phones were bought? Contract vs Pre-pay vs Sim Free etc?