Picking up email in Ireland with a mobile phone

Hi all,

My mum is about to travel to Ireland for a few weeks and needs a way to be
able to pick up email over there.

My brother, who she is staying with, doesn't have a landline and the nearest
internet cafe is some miles away.

I have never used a mobile phone to collect emails, although I understand it
can be done somehow.

Anyway, is there a pay as you go phone we can buy that can do this?

I was thinking of just getting an Three X series on contract and lending her
that - it would be a good excuse for me to get one! If I did - would that
work over there?

Thanks in advance for any help at all. She leaves in just over a week.

Regards

Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> My mum is about to travel to Ireland for a few weeks and needs a way to be
> able to pick up email over there.
>
> My brother, who she is staying with, doesn't have a landline and the nearest
> internet cafe is some miles away.
>
> I have never used a mobile phone to collect emails, although I understand it
> can be done somehow.
>
> Anyway, is there a pay as you go phone we can buy that can do this?
>
> I was thinking of just getting an Three X series on contract and lending her
> that - it would be a good excuse for me to get one! If I did - would that
> work over there?
>
> Thanks in advance for any help at all. She leaves in just over a week.

Easiest and cheapest way IME is to use an email service with a wap
portal. I use fastmail.fm, which has a free option with less storage
etc. I just keep it bookmarked on my phone- it's quick and easy to use,
and even when roaming (which I do a lot on Tesco mobile) it's cheap. It
won't be useful for attachments and stuff, but for regular text email,
it can't be beat IMO.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
(don't email yahoo address) usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1hsszf2.83m0n2upezp8N%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...

> Easiest and cheapest way IME is to use an email service with a wap
> portal.

I used mail2web/wap to get all my onetel e mails a couple of weeks ago in
Cyprus.


--

J B

"J B" <jb@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:52bg1eF1oabn9U1@mid.individual.net...
> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1hsszf2.83m0n2upezp8N%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
>
>> Easiest and cheapest way IME is to use an email service with a wap
>> portal.
>
> I used mail2web/wap to get all my onetel e mails a couple of weeks ago in
> Cyprus.
>
>
> --
>
> J B
>

Thanks for the advice. So can you get WAP in any country - is it part of
the mobile phone signal?

Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:

> "J B" <jb@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:52bg1eF1oabn9U1@mid.individual.net...
> > "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> > news:1hsszf2.83m0n2upezp8N%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
> >
> >> Easiest and cheapest way IME is to use an email service with a wap
> >> portal.
> >
> > I used mail2web/wap to get all my onetel e mails a couple of weeks ago in
> > Cyprus.
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > J B
> >
>
> Thanks for the advice. So can you get WAP in any country - is it part of
> the mobile phone signal?

You can get GPRS WAP (which is what would be cheapest here) in many
countries- maybe even most countries with GSM signals- but it does
depend on the roaming agreements with your phone company. It's been a
long time since I couldn't get a roaming GPRS signal, despite GPRS
existing in those particular countries. I couldn't get one in Slovenia a
few months ago for some reason, and I'm sure they have it there. Also,
GPRS roaming may not be available (or work well) on all carriers in that
country, so it's worth trying another if it doesn't work on the first
network you pick up.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
(don't email yahoo address) usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1hstf5v.1k6ecy8cq5p8eN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
> Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:
>
>> "J B" <jb@privacy.net> wrote in message
>> news:52bg1eF1oabn9U1@mid.individual.net...
>> > "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
>> > message
>> > news:1hsszf2.83m0n2upezp8N%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
>> >
>> >> Easiest and cheapest way IME is to use an email service with a wap
>> >> portal.
>> >
>> > I used mail2web/wap to get all my onetel e mails a couple of weeks ago
>> > in
>> > Cyprus.
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > J B
>> >
>>
>> Thanks for the advice. So can you get WAP in any country - is it part of
>> the mobile phone signal?
>
> You can get GPRS WAP (which is what would be cheapest here) in many
> countries- maybe even most countries with GSM signals- but it does
> depend on the roaming agreements with your phone company. It's been a
> long time since I couldn't get a roaming GPRS signal, despite GPRS
> existing in those particular countries. I couldn't get one in Slovenia a
> few months ago for some reason, and I'm sure they have it there. Also,
> GPRS roaming may not be available (or work well) on all carriers in that
> country, so it's worth trying another if it doesn't work on the first
> network you pick up.
>
> --

Thanks for the help.

I went into Carphonewarehouse today and asked about this. Although polite,
the staff had no idea what they were talking about. Firstly, said the
cheapest PAYG phone would do ok, then changed his mind - had a word with his
colleagues and they tried to sell me one for nearly £100 as I would "need it
to do WAP".

I declined and checked on the interweb when I returned home, to find the one
I initially asked about would have done fine (a Motorola Razr).

Anyway, I found an old Siemens I had from a while back and went online via
the Orange PAYG sim I had forgotten about. Straight into Gmail. The only
problem was that I can only enter numerical passwords for some reason.
Changed my password via the main PC and Voila - I can access email on the
phone.

So, I can give my mum this old phone - total cost? £0! Yay!

Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:

> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1hstf5v.1k6ecy8cq5p8eN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
[]
> > You can get GPRS WAP (which is what would be cheapest here) in many
> > countries- maybe even most countries with GSM signals- but it does
> > depend on the roaming agreements with your phone company. It's been a
> > long time since I couldn't get a roaming GPRS signal, despite GPRS
> > existing in those particular countries. I couldn't get one in Slovenia a
> > few months ago for some reason, and I'm sure they have it there. Also,
> > GPRS roaming may not be available (or work well) on all carriers in that
> > country, so it's worth trying another if it doesn't work on the first
> > network you pick up.
> >
> > --
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> I went into Carphonewarehouse today and asked about this. Although polite,
> the staff had no idea what they were talking about. Firstly, said the
> cheapest PAYG phone would do ok, then changed his mind - had a word with his
> colleagues and they tried to sell me one for nearly £100 as I would "need it
> to do WAP".
>
> I declined and checked on the interweb when I returned home, to find the one
> I initially asked about would have done fine (a Motorola Razr).
>
> Anyway, I found an old Siemens I had from a while back and went online via
> the Orange PAYG sim I had forgotten about. Straight into Gmail. The only
> problem was that I can only enter numerical passwords for some reason.
> Changed my password via the main PC and Voila - I can access email on the
> phone.
>
> So, I can give my mum this old phone - total cost? £0! Yay!

Yes, it's a shame that the staff in these places are so incompetent! The
first phone I had that did GPRS wap was a T39, and I'm sure there were
models even older than that!

A silly question, but it is GPRS that you're using on the Siemens phone,
not dial-up WAP?

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
(don't email yahoo address) usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1hsvkjz.1tcu5fx1xremgiN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
> Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:
>
>> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:1hstf5v.1k6ecy8cq5p8eN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
> []
>> > You can get GPRS WAP (which is what would be cheapest here) in many
>> > countries- maybe even most countries with GSM signals- but it does
>> > depend on the roaming agreements with your phone company. It's been a
>> > long time since I couldn't get a roaming GPRS signal, despite GPRS
>> > existing in those particular countries. I couldn't get one in Slovenia
>> > a
>> > few months ago for some reason, and I'm sure they have it there. Also,
>> > GPRS roaming may not be available (or work well) on all carriers in
>> > that
>> > country, so it's worth trying another if it doesn't work on the first
>> > network you pick up.
>> >
>> > --
>>
>> Thanks for the help.
>>
>> I went into Carphonewarehouse today and asked about this. Although
>> polite,
>> the staff had no idea what they were talking about. Firstly, said the
>> cheapest PAYG phone would do ok, then changed his mind - had a word with
>> his
>> colleagues and they tried to sell me one for nearly £100 as I would "need
>> it
>> to do WAP".
>>
>> I declined and checked on the interweb when I returned home, to find the
>> one
>> I initially asked about would have done fine (a Motorola Razr).
>>
>> Anyway, I found an old Siemens I had from a while back and went online
>> via
>> the Orange PAYG sim I had forgotten about. Straight into Gmail. The
>> only
>> problem was that I can only enter numerical passwords for some reason.
>> Changed my password via the main PC and Voila - I can access email on the
>> phone.
>>
>> So, I can give my mum this old phone - total cost? £0! Yay!
>
> Yes, it's a shame that the staff in these places are so incompetent! The
> first phone I had that did GPRS wap was a T39, and I'm sure there were
> models even older than that!
>
> A silly question, but it is GPRS that you're using on the Siemens phone,
> not dial-up WAP?
>
> --
> (*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate

Not a silly question, as I have no idea! It says GPRS on the top of the
screen? I thought WAP was how the internet worked on GPRS or something?

Does this mean it won't work in Ireland?

"Mark Stephens" <no@way.com> wrote in
news:7cCwh.117782$Da2.104449@fe06.news.easynews.co m:

>
> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
> message news:1hsvkjz.1tcu5fx1xremgiN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
>> Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:
>>
>>> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
>>> message news:1hstf5v.1k6ecy8cq5p8eN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
>> []
>>> > You can get GPRS WAP (which is what would be cheapest here) in
>>> > many countries- maybe even most countries with GSM signals- but it
>>> > does depend on the roaming agreements with your phone company.
>>> > It's been a long time since I couldn't get a roaming GPRS signal,
>>> > despite GPRS existing in those particular countries. I couldn't
>>> > get one in Slovenia a
>>> > few months ago for some reason, and I'm sure they have it there.
>>> > Also, GPRS roaming may not be available (or work well) on all
>>> > carriers in that
>>> > country, so it's worth trying another if it doesn't work on the
>>> > first network you pick up.
>>> >
>>> > --
>>>
>>> Thanks for the help.
>>>
>>> I went into Carphonewarehouse today and asked about this. Although
>>> polite,
>>> the staff had no idea what they were talking about. Firstly, said
>>> the cheapest PAYG phone would do ok, then changed his mind - had a
>>> word with his
>>> colleagues and they tried to sell me one for nearly £100 as I would
>>> "need it
>>> to do WAP".
>>>
>>> I declined and checked on the interweb when I returned home, to find
>>> the one
>>> I initially asked about would have done fine (a Motorola Razr).
>>>
>>> Anyway, I found an old Siemens I had from a while back and went
>>> online via
>>> the Orange PAYG sim I had forgotten about. Straight into Gmail.
>>> The only
>>> problem was that I can only enter numerical passwords for some
>>> reason. Changed my password via the main PC and Voila - I can access
>>> email on the phone.
>>>
>>> So, I can give my mum this old phone - total cost? £0! Yay!
>>
>> Yes, it's a shame that the staff in these places are so incompetent!
>> The first phone I had that did GPRS wap was a T39, and I'm sure there
>> were models even older than that!
>>
>> A silly question, but it is GPRS that you're using on the Siemens
>> phone, not dial-up WAP?
>>
>> --
>> (*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
>
> Not a silly question, as I have no idea! It says GPRS on the top of
> the screen? I thought WAP was how the internet worked on GPRS or
> something?
>
> Does this mean it won't work in Ireland?
>
>
>

It should work fine unless your UK network blocks it on your tariff. It
will be somewhat more expensive to use roaming GPRS than in the UK.

Peter

Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:

> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1hsvkjz.1tcu5fx1xremgiN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
[]
> > A silly question, but it is GPRS that you're using on the Siemens phone,
> > not dial-up WAP?
[]
> Not a silly question, as I have no idea! It says GPRS on the top of the
> screen? I thought WAP was how the internet worked on GPRS or something?
>
> Does this mean it won't work in Ireland?

If it's GPRS, you should be fine. I asked because there is also dial-up
WAP. Well, I say that- I haven't used it in many years... It was very
expensive when used abroad (the same per minute price as roaming) and it
was also quite a flaky service. GPRS works well while roaming in my
experience. It's very useful- not just for email, you can check news
headlines, weather, train times, and so on.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
(don't email yahoo address) usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
> Mark Stephens <no@way.com> wrote:
>
>> "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:1hsvkjz.1tcu5fx1xremgiN%d4g4hd@yahoo.co.uk...
> []
>>> A silly question, but it is GPRS that you're using on the Siemens phone,
>>> not dial-up WAP?
> []
>> Not a silly question, as I have no idea! It says GPRS on the top of the
>> screen? I thought WAP was how the internet worked on GPRS or something?
>>
>> Does this mean it won't work in Ireland?
>
> If it's GPRS, you should be fine. I asked because there is also dial-up
> WAP. Well, I say that- I haven't used it in many years... It was very
> expensive when used abroad (the same per minute price as roaming) and it
> was also quite a flaky service. GPRS works well while roaming in my
> experience. It's very useful- not just for email, you can check news
> headlines, weather, train times, and so on.
>

Agree the costs could add up when roaming abroad. The network with the
most reasonable roaming GPRS charges at present look to be Virgin.
Failing that, perhaps it would be cheaper to get an Irish SIM for the
phone and then there wouldn't be any roaming charges (although I guess
you want to set things up for you Mum before she goes so this might not
be an ideal solution).

Alan