• NEW CME's: ADD INFO HERE -
    As you search for a cell phone & provider, post your findings here for others to see

  • Phones -
    Landlines: The phone in your room (if there is one) will not automatically be connected; you
    have to set up an account with a phone service. A landline will cost at least £10 a month and
    more for additional services (like voice mail). You get free calls within Cambridge, but there are
    charges for calling long distance numbers and mobile phones. A special internet phone service is
    offered through some colleges which enables you to make really cheap calls but requires an
    internet telephone. The initial setup is quite high (~£80), so over all, the service may not be
    economical over the course of one single year in Cambridge.
    Mobile/Cell Phones: The majority of people in Cambridge have mobile phones. Mobiles may
    be a bit confusing at first, but nothing you can't figure out. If your US phone comes with a sim
    card, you might be able to use it in the UK; check with your US provider to find out more about
    this. It will more likely be the case that you'll need to purchase a new phone once in England. To
    start, you purchase a phone, which may come with a specific service or provider (Orange, O2,
    Vodafone, and BTCellnet are the most common), or if you buy it from a generic phone store
    (Phones4U, The Carphone Warehouse) you'll be able to choose your provider. There are two
    kinds of plans you can get: monthly charge or "pay-as-you-go". Monthly charge plans are like
    those in the US, while for pay-as-you-go, you put money on the phone (kind of like a phone
    card) and you only pay for the time you spend on calls you make (not on calls you receive- those
    are free). If you spend a lot of time on your phone, the monthly charge plans tend to work out to
    better per-minute rates than the pay-as-you-go plans, but remember that you'll be leaving before
    the contract expires, meaning you'll end up paying for up to three months of bills when you
    aren't using the phone. Most CME students choose the pay-as-you-go plan.
    It costs different amounts to call landlines (least expensive), other mobiles of the same service
    (cost varies), and mobiles of different services (most expensive). It also matters what time you
    are calling (peak, off-peak, or weekends). As it is cheaper to call people who have the same
    mobile phone service, when you're going to purchase a phone you should ask your friends what
    service they use so maybe you can use the same one. (Many past CME students have used the
    Orange and Virgin networks; of course, offers are bound to have changed, so check before you
    buy.) In addition to receiving calls free, you also receive text messages (called SMS—Simple
    Messaging Service) for free. The cost to send a text message varies, but is typically around 10p,
    or there are some websites you can use to send free text messages (a good one is: http://www.cbfsms.com).
    Your best bet to choose a good plan is to check around at the various phone providers in
    Cambridge to see what each has to offer. T-mobile and O2 are both by Lion's Yard, while
    Phones4You, The Carphone Warehouse, and Orange are all on Market Street.
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    UK mobile phones won't work back in the US (because they use different frequencies), so you
    probably don't want to spend too much on one. Regarding the issue of taking your phone
    outside of the UK, your plan might have something called "roaming," which means you can use
    it in Europe, but it will cost a lot if you do (and it will no longer be free to receive calls). If
    you're planning on calling the US frequently, you may want to invest in a landline, because
    international calls on a mobile phone will be much more expensive than from a landline. If you
    talk to your parents a lot and you have a mobile in Cambridge, you should convince them to call
    you because it will be free for you on your mobile. From the US, there are different services
    they can use to call you. One that has been known to give very good rates for calling UK
    mobiles from the US is 10-10-987 (30 cents for the first minute and 3 cents for each minute after
    that). If you want to call the US you need to dial 00 (the international prefix) +1 (US country
    code), and then the area code and number. To call Britain from the US, you dial 001144 then
    your number without the first zero. (For example if your Cambridge number is 01223 123456,
    someone from the US should dial 001144 1223 123456.)
    You may also be able to use Internet phone services that allow you to place and receive calls
    with your computer. People who plan to call home frequently should investigate this option. The
    most popular service is probably Skype (http://www.skype.com), which offers a free download.
    Computer-to-computer calls are free; additionally, you can set up an account and use your
    computer to call the US, mobiles in the UK, or anyone else, for very low rates (usually about
    $0.03 a minute). The clarity of the calls is very high, and all you'll need is a microphone (many
    computers have these built-in) and speakers. Some colleges, though, put a limit on the amount of
    bandwidth you're allowed to use, and that may limit your ability to take full advantage of Skype.
  • E-mail -
    You will be given a Cambridge e-mail address, which will be your initials and then a number,
    followed by '.cam.ac.uk' (ex: ab123@cam.ac.uk). All Colleges have computer rooms, which
    can only be accessed by members of that College. For more about computing in Cambridge, see
    section 2.5 below. Your Cambridge email can be checked through Cambridge webmail at https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/ or you can set up Eudora, Outlook, Mulberry or another mail
    program on your computer. One important thing to realize: email has a different role at
    Cambridge than it does at MIT. That is to say, it is not as widely or frequently used, so don't be
    surprised if people are slow replying to your emails.
  • Post -
    Your address, along with that of anyone else in your College, will just be the name of your
    College, maybe the street name, then "Cambridge", and then the postcode, which varies
    throughout Cambridge. You can find the exact address on your College website if you want to let
    people know before you leave or if you want to mail anything to your College administration.
    Example:
    Stephen Hawking
    Gonville and Caius College
    Cambridge, England
    CB2 1TA
    When mail comes into the College, the porters sort it into peoples' pigeonholes or mailboxes.
    This is where you'll also get announcements and flyers about events and other things going on in
    Cambridge.
    14
    The Cambridge University mail system (UMS) is free and operates during term, similar to MIT's
    interdepartmental mail. Simply write the name and department/college of the recipient, and drop
    it in the UMS box (located in your department and in colleges - ask your porters). If you want to
    mail something nationally or internationally, you have to go to one of the many Post Offices. The
    most convenient branches are (a) across from Trinity on Trinity St, (b) across from the
    Engineering Department on Trumpington Rd, and (c) St. Andrew's street near Lionyard and
    across from Bradwells Court. Mailing internationally is rather expensive, with the prices
    depending on the weight of what you're sending. Visit the Post Office website for rates and
    other information: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po. Postcards to the US are 47p.
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