Telephones Traditional and Mobile

Getting your Phone in the Wall:

Pick up a phone and you can reach any other on the planet. Wonderful! Leaving aside Ferdinand Magellan's sailing ships, the phone system represents the first great global networking technology. The industry's shared protocols triumphantly tie us all together. A telephone is a telephone - whether in China, the U.S., or outer Mongolia.

Unfortunately, getting that telephone you picked up in Mongolia to plug into an Irish wall is a huge problem. I am aware of 37 different telephone plug systems, and there may be more. ET may have been able to phone home to a distant planet using his home-made phone, but it's a good thing he didn't try to plug that unit into the wall.

Ireland's phone system uses United States standard plugs. The technical term for the plug is RJ11. So, modems and telephones purchased in the States can be plugged directly into the Irish telephone system without any problems. Well, almost no problems. Your modem might need a transformer to operate on 220 volt current. For more on making your electric equipment work in Ireland, click here.

So what do you do if you have loads of telecommunications equipment that works just fine, but won't fit into an Irish/U.S. phone socket? Try contacting a firm which specialises in providing adaptors. Using these handy little devices, you plug your phone from Gambia or Indonesia into one side, and the other side will fit into the phone jack in the wall. One firm with whom I dealt handled my connection needs in a timely and professional manner. They are TeleAdapt Ltd. They offer an online help desk, including problem solving connecting in hotels, offices and payphones all over the world.

Getting a Landline

Simply phone Eircom, the former national telephone company that still has a monopoly on all landline hardware. They're the company who puts up telephone poles and wires and connect them to your house. Dialing 1901 on any phone and asking for Sales or explaining your needs will do the trick. These days, your phone can normally be installed within a few working days.

If you're buying an existing home, it's often as simple as ringing Eircom and getting them to reactivate the line from their end. They give you a new phone number and you're on.

Mobile Phones:

I first stepped on Irish shores back in 1975. My future father-in-law was then assistant postmaster in an Irish town. The post office was then responsible for mail and the telephone system.

Mail was delivered at blistering speeds - overnight to anyplace in the country and within hours if the letter was local. But, phones? You put yourself on a waiting list and anywhere between 6 months and 3 years later a crew dropped by to string wires.

When my family moved permanently to Ireland in 1992, a significant proportion of our family and friends still had no phones at all. Mobile phones were exotic devices that only a few businessmen owned. Well, that situation has certainly changed.

These days mobile phones outnumber the total population of Ireland. Land line connections generally take 3 to 5 days to set up, but mobile phone connectivity takes mere minutes. Many people are choosing mobile phones over fixed lines for their homes.

You will note as you walk the streets of any Irish town that a significant proportion of the populace, predominately female, always are holding a hand over an ear. No, they aren't hiding some terrible leprosy of their aural appendages. They're just doing what comes naturally.

Spending money.

Irish mobile phone prices are typically among the highest in Europe. The darwinian response has been a populace whose thumbs are wonders of evolution. Not only can these all purpose digits grasp tools, but their wondrous dexterity enables the younger half of the population to text as fast as their tongues can wag.

Text messaging has replaced passing notes in class, and my wife's school has a growing collection of confiscated phones that were used at inappropriate class times.

Smart phones are all the rage. So, you can connect you to your email at all times or tweet to your twits content. Picture phones are standard and if you watch a bunch of teens furiously snapping deathless photos of each other you'll understand that the key use of these toys is for gatching.

Iphones are finally available from more than one operator. Google phones, the new Nokia smartphone and Androids are all available. Just remember that Ireland is a secondary market and we usually have to a wait a few weeks to months before the latest splash gadget reaches Irish shops.

Global Sim Cards

Here's a great idea. No need to buy a new phone and stump up a big lump of cash. Instead, Global SIM Cards sells Sim Cards that slot into your current GSM phone.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the accepted standard in over 100 countries around the world and is now the de facto standard in Europe and Asia. It provides integrated voice mail, high-speed data, fax, paging and short message services capabilities.

With plans starting under $20 that include a $10 call credit, it's definitely worth giving these guys a look-see. Prices are competitive with those of Irish providers. Best of all, you only need to make a purchase once every 15 months to keep the sim card active.

Free International Phone Calls!

I was amazed to find out that it's now possible to call 20 countries for FREE!

Well, it's not actually free since there is a €9.99 monthly fee, but this cost includes free calls within Ireland, cheap calls to mobile phones and discounts to even more nations.

For those of you with a land line (as opposed to exclusively working from a mobile phone) this is one of the great deals of the modern world.

Free Calls: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.

8 Cents a minute: China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and Poland

More...

Calling Ireland from International Locations

When calling from outside Ireland to Irish numbers you have to do the following:

1. Call through to the international system.
In England and Ireland you do this by dialing 00 at the beginning of your direct call. Since the system varies by country, the convention used to write international telephone numbers is to put a + at the beginning of the number.

2. Dial the country code.
The country code for Ireland is 353.

3. Dial the area code.
If there is a 0 in front of the area code, drop it if you are calling from outside Ireland.

4. Dial the number.
This stays the same whether calling internally or externally.

Example:

A Dublin number listed as 01 - 222 2222 can be reached from outside the country by dialling into the international system (00, or however your country works it), then dialing Ireland's country code of 353, then dropping the 0 in front of the Dublin area code of 01. So, it becomes +353 - 1 - 222 2222.