OT: Canadian mains sockets?

Electricaly, Canada and the US are the same. Their power "grids" are interconnected and they use the same plugs, etc.

That would be (nominally) 127 volts, which is often referred to 120 or 115 or in the old days 110 volts 60 Hz (cycles per second).

As for UK mobiles, it depends upon twothings. UK mobile networks are GSM, using 900 and 1900 mHz and a 3g (third generation network) all of which are incompatible with the Canada. Many newer high end phones are multi-band and have 4 band coverage, or work with both 3g networks.

Before you start you need to determine if your mobile is compatible with the Canadian GSM networks.

The second issue is when you get there, will you have service? Even if your phone company has the same name as a Canadian one, they are not the same company, so your company has to have a roaming agreement with a Canadian company.

Roaming is expensive, and rates of $3 to $5 a minute are not uncommon. If someone calls you on your mobile, they have to call the UK (at their expense) and then you pay for the cost of forwarding the call to your mobile in Canada.

Contact your company and find out what their roaming agreements are, which networks to roam onto (and which to avoid) and the costs involved. Here Orange Israel has a call back arrangement which cut the cost of a roaming call from the EU from $5 a minute to under $2, but it was still expensive.

Once you know what networks to use, look at their coverage maps. You can find the maps and any other information you need at

I have no idea of what you can get in Canada, but I found that you can buy a reconditioned AT&T phone in the US for $10 and get unlimited incoming (you pay for them too) and outgoing calls anywhere in the country for $3 a day. You may be able to find a similar service in Canada.

If you find one, please post a followup or email me, so I can keep a record of it.

There are companies which rent phones to travellers, if you are going to be there for several weeks it may be worth it. You should be able to find one in the UK.

Another option, which is often overlooked is to take a cheap netbook or wifi phone with you and call people when you have wifi or internet access. You can buy wifi phones which use the SIP or SKYPE protocol, or just bring a laptop or netbook with a headset. Netbooks are often better as more places such as hotels and people's homes have wired access but not Wifi.

SIP is used for VoIP services such as Vonage, SKYPE is obvious. Skype has a deal where you can get incoming calls and lots of outgoing calls for around $20. It's slightly over $5 a month, but you have to buy 3 months at a time to get an incoming number. Or you can get a UK number and forward your mobile to it. If you are traveling around, it may not be useful, but if you are spending most of your time at one location and they have broadband Internet, it may just be what you are looking for.

If you already have Vonage or any other VoIP service contact them and ask about either taking your "box" with you, or using a laptop.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM

Geoff,

Many thanks for that fast and very thorough reply - a solid basis for follow-up.

I take it the mains plug pins are always the flat type, just two, with no ground/earth pin?

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

"Terry Pinnell"

** Strangely enough, you are not the first person to have this issue:

See:

You will find 2 and 3 pin outlets in Canada.

..... Phil

They are either one of three kinds. Two flat plugs of equal size, two flat plugs one larger than the other (polarized) and two flat plugs with a round ground pin. The round ground pin is slightly longer so it makes contact first and forms a triangle with the other pins (like the UK plug).

The difference is AFAIK that the UK electrical code does not allow for ungrounded plugs, the Canadian (and US) allows for "double insulated" devices to have two pin plugs. Double insulated devices are those either in a nonconductive case for example a telephone charger in a plastic box, or a second layer of insulation inside a metalic case.

That's an example. There is probably also an adaptor without the ground pin for those devices that have a plastic ground pin because there is no connection, but they need one to be sold in the UK.

Avoid the ones that look like a little oval of plastic with two pins sticking out, they tend to fall off. Since US/Canadian plugs do not have the saftey insulation at the back end of the plug, grabbing them the wrong way could be dangerous.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM

It does - plenty of wall warts etc have a plastic earth pin. It's just that the standard '13 amp' socket has shutters to prevent inserting anything other than an approved plug.

--
*When I\'m not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded *

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I'm Canadian living in Ontario.

I also lived in Germany for 8 years. I visited some relatives in the UK nice country friendly people.

If you use the same round outlet plugs that they use in Germany you can buy adapters for your plugs. Just make sure they can operate off

120VAC, 60Hz, nominal.

As far as phones go it may be cheaper to get yourself a cheap phone here rather then paying the roaming cost that was already mentioned. Usually someone has them on sale. Or leave it at home and just use landlines. Your on vacation do you really want your cell phone with you.

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson"

** The rules for "double insulation" or " class 2 "' appliance are not quite so easily summed up.

Basically class 2 means:

1. There is no safety ground conductor in the AC power lead.

1. Sufficient, good quality insulation exists between live parts and any metallic part that can be touched by a user.

2. No single point or predictable insulation failure can cause any metallic part contactable by a user to become live.

Lots of details go into making these rules effective - particularly in relation to the design of any AC supply isolating transformer inside an appliance.

..... Phil

Nope, there will be ground pins (which accept two pin plugs) on all sockets you are likely to come across in a commercial (hotel/motel) environment. The only places you are likely to not see a grounding pin is in old(er) houses which pre-date the ground pin requirement. These are the exception.

Yes, U-Ground plug.

On 7/2/2009 2:54 AM Terry Pinnell spake thus:

As others have pointed out, you may encounter both 2- and 3-pin sockets. You can easily accommodate 2-pin sockets by carrying a simple grounded socked adapter, available everywhere.

[note post trimming]

--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

Thanks Hammy, appreciate the advice.

Walking holiday on mountain trails...

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks all, grateful for those responses.

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

If you go walking in Australia (and maybe Canada) you may well need a SatPhone because the coverage away from main centres is not that great.

Canada is bigger than Australia and so you will be surprised by the distances sometimes.

John G.

No it wouldn't. The spec is officially 120V. 127V is found in Mexico ( uniquely I think ).

Graham

-- due to the hugely increased level of spam please make the obvious adjustment to my email address

Nonsense. "Double insulated" i.e. Class II equipment is perfectly legal in the UK but requires at least a 'false' plastic earth 'pin' to open up the safety shutters preventing ( particularly child ) access to the live and neutral terminals. I did actually electrocute myself as a kid through curiousity with the previous standard of un-shuttered UK mains plugs.

Graham

-- due to the hugely increased level of spam please make the obvious adjustment to my email address

uniquely I

Are you actually in the US? or have ever been there?

The spec may say 120 volts, but the nominal line voltage is higher, usually around 127 volts.

As an example, the spec for the UK is 230 volts, but every time that comes up in discussion here, someone mentions that they measure their voltage at

240. It seems while the spec is 230, there is enough variation allowed to permit the UK to operate a 230 volt EU spec network without actually changing the voltage.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM

The mains supply in the EU is required to be 230V +/-10% = 207V-253V.

Prior to 2008, many countries restricted supplies further, so that the voltage wasn't more than 10% from the historical value. Countries which used 240V restricted supplies to 230V -6%/+10% = 216V-253V = 240V -10%/+6% while 220V countries used 230V -10%/+5% = 207V-242V = 220V -6%/+10%.

Since 2008, the supply voltage can theoretically be anywhere in the

207V-253V range, so it could be as much as +/-15% from the historical value. However, given that the power stations and distribution systems haven't changed, this doesn't occur in practice.

Products sold anywhere within the EU are required to tolerate the full

207V-253V range (this was an issue for some of the early microwave ovens; those designed for 240V produced significantly less power when run at 220V).

"Nobody"

** Tolerate = what ??

I say it means they do not fail to work nor become damaged.

It does not mean performance must be unaffected.

(this was an issue for some of the early microwave ovens; those designed for 240V produced significantly less power when run at

220V).

** So what ??

An incandescent lamp will produce far more light at 253V than at 207V.

Even a simple heater will deliver 50% more over that range.

..... Phil

Eeyore wrote: I did actually electrocute myself as a kid through curiousity with

I certainly hope not Graham, as technically, you would be dead! As the definition of word is death by electric shock. It`s a common mistake tho.

Ron