"Roger Mills" <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:688e73F2r8jeaU1@mid.individual.net...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> Victor Delta <none@nospam.com> wrote:
>
>> I live in Dorset and mobile reception in some parts of the county is
>> pretty ropey to say the least. In any location, however, some
>> networks are better than others - but overall no single network is
>> perfect.
>> My question is therefore is it possible to get a SIM card or whatever
>> in the UK which enables one to 'roam' i.e. automatically switch
>> between the networks and take the strongest signal. This is what
>> appears to happen when one is abroad.
>> Any suggestions please - especially if they don't cost the earth?!
>> TIA
>> V
>
> It may not come to anything but, interestingly, BBC Parliament was showing
> something relevant last night. A Conservative MP is trying to use the
> 10-minute Bill procedure to initate legislation which would encourage (but
> not compel) mobile phone companies to set up inter-operability
> arrangements to address just this issue. The analogy was drawn of
> cashpoint machines - where you can use Bank A's machine to draw money out
> of your account with Bank B.
>
> Similarly - it was suggested - if you have a mobile phone with Operator X,
> you should be able to access the network via Operator Y's mast if X
> doesn't have one in a suitable place. It was suggested that this would
> actually save money for the operators - who could pay for bandwidth on
> rival networks rather than extending their own infrastructure.
>
The Swiss have had this kind of internal roaming for years
They saw it as a civil defence need

Steve Terry