Telephone compatibility

[cathgates]

I know this may have been asked many times before, but as I'm in t6he middle of deciding what is being packed, what is being chucked away, and what is coming on the flight with us, as the movers are here Thursday and Friday, canj someone please be so kind as to confirm whether uk landline phones will be of any use in Nz?
Thanks

Cath XX

[Karen]

We bought ours over in the hope they would work and they did!! Both now replaced but they lasted about 2 yrs before we had to replace them. They were Binatone cordless phones with an answerphone which also kept the original message.

[IanW99]

I know this may have been asked many times before, but as I'm in t6he middle of deciding what is being packed, what is being chucked away, and what is coming on the flight with us, as the movers are here Thursday and Friday, canj someone please be so kind as to confirm whether uk landline phones will be of any use in Nz?
Thanks

Cath XX

Technically all landline phones used in NZ should have a 'telepermit' so if yours doesn't then it isn't meant to be used.

However, NZ uses the same BT connector as the UK, so apart from the fact that you will need to change the plug / use an adapter if its mains powered it will almost certainly work without problems.

Ian

[Jon-and-Lou]

We are using our UK telephones here, and they work just fine.

[cathgates]

Thanks all for the replies, I thought I'd read sometime in the past that this was the case

Cath XX

[Mgee]

Hi, a very, very late comment on this thread:

Codless phones have different frequency allocations in different countries, just like any other radio equipment. This means that even if your phone appears to be working fine in the new country, it could still be disturbing other services. In the best case, this can be just slight disturbance to your neighbours TV, radio or remotely controlled garage door, but in the worst case you could be disturbing emergency service radio traffic with potentially tragic consequences. You can also be prosecuted if you use illegal radio equipment (including cordless phones), especially if it causes dangerous situations. Also local telephone operators are likely to get really angry if you disturb their mobile phone services by using an illegal cordless phone.

If you take your cordless phone from the UK (or any other country) to NZ, always check with the local authority if you can use or phone or not. The UK and NZ follow different radio frequency allocation schemes, so there is a real danger that your phone can disturb other RF traffic as in the NZ it is trying to use a bandwith that is not allocated for cordless phone traffic. There are different standards and types of cordless phones, some of which are ok to use in NZ, so the fact that someone else's phone is fine still doesn't mean that your phone is ok.

Some services that can potentially be disturbed by your cordless phone are: airline and air control traffic, local mobile phone services, emergency services' radio traffic, emergency beacons, television and radio transmissions, baby monitors, walkie-talkies, all remotely controlled products (toys, garage doors, even car locks) etc. etc. In NZ it is most likely to be Channel 1 TV, but other disturbances are possible as well.

More info in http://www.rsm.govt.nz/cms/compliance/consumers

Mgee
who just happens to work for the telecom sector and also be a radio amateur

[sophiedb]

Yup, we found this when we brought our handheld radios (used for bike-to-bike intercom) back to the UK from Australia. Worked fine between each other, but didn't work with anyone else's radios for the simple reason that the frequency was used for something else. We stopped using them pretty sharpish, because we live close to an airport.. it might not disturb them, but then again it MIGHT

[Mgee]

Some of the risks are mostly theoretical, but because there might be human lives involved, I wouldn't take even the theoretical risk. Also if you notice that your cordless phone has been damaged in any way, take it to a repair shop before you use it.