SMS to London on Orange network?

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DG - 06 Sep 2003 16:37 GMT

I am unable to SMS to my daughter's mobile phone on the Orange network. She
is in the U.K. for a few months. I have tried various combinations of her
telephone number such as 01144779??????? and 44779??????? as well as simply
779???????. All of these numbers result in a message sent back to me from
cingular saying "unidentified number. Call Cingular Customer Service...."
I researched this via Google and read that people ARE able to SMS to the UK
via Cingular
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=857248de.03081005
55.6887e73b%40posting.google.com&rnum=10&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dsms%2Beurope%2Bg
roup:alt.cellular.cingular%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D857248de.
0308100555.6887e73b%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D10

I called Cingular and the first said that I wasn't enabled for international
SMS. Then, when that didn't work, they said that her mobile carrier didn't
have an agreement with Cingular and I should call her carrier and ask for
help. A lot of good that will do I'm sure!

Any ideas? Anyone have recent success with texting an Orange mobile phone
from Cingular?

Reply to this Message

Peter Shifrin - 06 Sep 2003 21:49 GMT

> I am unable to SMS to my daughter's mobile phone on the Orange network. She
> is in the U.K. for a few months. I have tried various combinations of her
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> Any ideas? Anyone have recent success with texting an Orange mobile phone
> from Cingular?

Try entering the number as +447967700***. When i was in Croatia a few
months ago, i had to put the plus sign to text my friend in London.

Reply to this Message

DG - 06 Sep 2003 22:37 GMT

The + sign is on the same key as the * on my phone, so I tried that and so
far have not gotten an error back from Cingular. Of course I don't know if
the SMS ever went through either. I am on a TDMA network in Connecticut, no
GSM in my area yet. Maybe that is the problem? We'll see.

> > I am unable to SMS to my daughter's mobile phone on the Orange network. She
> > is in the U.K. for a few months. I have tried various combinations of her
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> > I researched this via Google and read that people ARE able to SMS to the UK
> > via Cingular

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=857248de.03081005

55.6887e73b%40posting.google.com&rnum=10&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dsms%2Beurope%2Bg

roup:alt.cellular.cingular%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D857248de.

> > 0308100555.6887e73b%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D10
> >
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Try entering the number as +447967700***. When i was in Croatia a few
> months ago, i had to put the plus sign to text my friend in London.

Reply to this Message

JS - 07 Sep 2003 11:40 GMT

the + is not the same as the *

You use the same key to type it, but you need to either
(Hold down the key until the * changes to a + -- typically with motorola
phones)
(hit the key multiple times in succession until the * changes to a + --
typically nokia and other phones)

> The + sign is on the same key as the * on my phone, so I tried that and so
> far have not gotten an error back from Cingular. Of course I don't know if
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> UK
> > > via Cingular

> > > 0308100555.6887e73b%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D10
> > >
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> > Try entering the number as +447967700***. When i was in Croatia a few
> > months ago, i had to put the plus sign to text my friend in London.

Reply to this Message

DG - 07 Sep 2003 14:18 GMT

I tried that (hit key quickly to get the + sign, and sent my message to
+44779xxxxxxx, but I still get an error message form Cingualr that the
number is not recognized. This must be a TDMA--->GSM incompatibility issue.
Oh well, I give up. Thanks for taking the time to offer help.

> the + is not the same as the *
>
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> > UK
> > > > via Cingular

> > > > 0308100555.6887e73b%2540posting.google.com%26rnum%3D10
> > > >
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> > > Try entering the number as +447967700***. When i was in Croatia a few
> > > months ago, i had to put the plus sign to text my friend in London.

Reply to this Message

David James Spillett - 08 Sep 2003 10:11 GMT

> I tried that (hit key quickly to get the + sign, and sent my message to
> +44779xxxxxxx, but I still get an error message form Cingualr that the
> number is not recognized. This must be a TDMA--->GSM incompatibility issue.
> Oh well, I give up. Thanks for taking the time to offer help.

You could try a web-based SMS application - there are a number around.
They usually work out cheaper than the mobile phone providers as well.
Your daughter use such a web-app to send replies back to you as well.

Of course there is the disadvantage of using the web which isn't
always as convinient as using your phone, but that may not be a
problem for you.

<plug type="blatant"> www.cheapertext.co.uk works out as low 0.04ukp
[or usd/euro equivelant] per text to many destinations, including
Orange in the UK, and it sounds like you will find it far more
reliable than your current arrangement </plug

Reply to this Message

Cingular - 10 Sep 2003 23:36 GMT

If you have a TDMA or a GAIT phone you WILL NOT be able to sent txt msgs overseas. In order to sent txt msgs overseas you need a GSM only account. Some time in the near future you will be able to send txt msg overseas from a GAIT phone. Currently this is NOT possible.

The proper way to program a number into a GSM/GAIT phone would be to include the plus before the country code.
In other words:
+1XXXXXXXXXX (for the USA)
+52XXXXXXXXX (for Mexico)
etc.

> > I tried that (hit key quickly to get the + sign, and sent my message to
> > +44779xxxxxxx, but I still get an error message form Cingualr that the
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Orange in the UK, and it sounds like you will find it far more
> reliable than your current arrangement </plug

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