Dialling 999 on a foreign mobile in the UK... do you get through?

Lit_Up

I rent out rooms to tourists and I am writing down the house rules. I want to say, that in an emergency they should dial 999 or 112. Problem is, will that work for them on a non-UK simcard? Most of them use their native phones as they're only here for a few nights.

[Deleted User]

Lit_Up wrote: »

I rent out rooms to tourists and I am writing down the house rules. I want to say, that in an emergency they should dial 999 or 112. Problem is, will that work for them on a non-UK simcard? Most of them use their native phones as they're only here for a few nights.

I'm not 100% sure as I haven't tried it, but if their mobile works in the UK they will be picking up one of the UK Networks as a carrier and I therefore believe that it may well work. This website offers some advice :

http://www.tourist-information-uk.com/guides/tourist-information-advice/telephones-mobile-phones/

grumbler

AFAIK, if a handset is compatible with UK frequencies it can make calls to emergency numbers even without any sim card. I guess it'll be the same with a foreign sim without roaming.
Surely no problems if roaming is enabled.

silo24

Without getting too technical, the use of 999 or 112 on a mobile phone is not just dependant on the country you are in, but also on the phone itself and the network that you are using.

Many mobiles will accept 999/112/08 emergency numbers and will make an emergency call. Most handsets are able to understand a list of pre-programmed numbers and recognise them as an emergency call attempt and make the call appropriately.

Not usually one to reference Wikipedia, but this entry is quite well written :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_telephone_number#Emergency_numbers_and_mobile_telephones

If in doubt though, i'd always recommend 112 for mobiles as this can give the operators more info at the time of call, such as cell id and rough geographic location. It is also a European standard.

simax

grumbler wrote: »

AFAIK, if a handset is compatible with UK frequencies it can make calls to emergency numbers even without any sim card. I guess it'll be the same with a foreign sim without roaming.
Surely no problems if roaming is enabled.

You cannot use a sim-less phone to call 999/112 in the UK. You can in most other countries though...

tomjonesrules

simax wrote: »

You cannot use a sim-less phone to call 999/112 in the UK. You can in most other countries though...

From experience, I can confirm that it is possible.

DUTR

tomjonesrules wrote: »

From experience, I can confirm that it is possible.

I will try it now, as I'm semi confident I have tried it in the past and a sim card was required

Right then just tried it with my K850i, took the sim card out and dialled 112, 999 and 08, although the display was initially showing insert sim card, it allowed the numbers to be dialled and then you get triple tone and the line drops, attempting to dial any other number just fails without an attempt to connect to the network.

NFH

I understand that when you dial 999, 112 or 911 from a mobile, it doesn't actually make a call to those dialled numbers. Instead the phone recognises (probably from the SIM card) that those digits are for an emergency call, and the phone signals to the network that it is making an emergency call. Therefore you could dial 999 in the US with a UK SIM card or dial 911 in the UK with a US SIM card.

I've dialled 112 in France from my UK mobile and got through without a problem.

simax

The UK networks have barred this facility as they need to trace the call and without a sim this isn't possible.

I did try it once in the Irish Republic and it did ring with no sim card in. (I terminated the call immedaitely before it was answered though...)

So yes, the GSM system allows it, but it is network dependant. A new facility was introduced a few years ago that allows you to connect to *any* UK network in the event of making an emergency call should you have no signal on your home network. This was introduced as a workaround.

jayme1

simax wrote: »

A new facility was introduced a few years ago that allows you to connect to *any* UK network in the event of making an emergency call should you have no signal on your home network. This was introduced as a workaround.

have they recently turned that back on? that function was turned off years and years ago as they were scared it would lead to more prank calls, so even though people thought it was turned on it actually wasn't.

matrix999

I can confirm it will connect through to the Emergency Services.

I previously worked in a 999 control centre and when someone dials 999/112 from an international mobile it would display on our screens with the full international mobile number, so for example if someone used a German mobile it would display 0049XXXXXXXXXXXX etc and we would connect the call to the appropriate Emergency Service by saying the exchange name connecting an international mobile.

HTH