To think she's in the UK

[Courtney555]

Anyone who has a bit of tech knowledge greatly appreciated here....

My friend is abroad. Been there since Weds due back tomorrow morning. I've called her mobile a couple of times, got the international dial tone, as per normal.

Today, called at lunch. International tone still. She's told me again she's flying back in the morning. I called her just now to double check flight time and it's ringing with a standard UK ringtone like the phone is in the UK?

Does this mean she's in the UK now? She's a really good long term friend with no reason at all to fib. There's literally no reason why she'd tell me she was back tomorrow morning instead of tonight (it's like 14hrs difference) so can this happen by accident? Google is not helping.

I know she's on EE. Could the phone have picked up a UK network out there (Cyprus) and that's why the dial tone has changed this evening.

I hope this is a common occurrence with phones, I'm just a bit "hmmmmm" because since it's rung like it's in the UK she hasn't read my WhatsApps or returned the call.

Please tell me you've had experience of this to put my mind at ease. I know it's really none of my business at the end of the day, but I'd like to know if she could still be legitimately out there and it's just the phone playing silly buggers.

Thank you in advance...

You know when you say that people moaning about the "drama" (at work, at the school gates, with the neighbours..) ARE the drama, well.. I give you the OP.

Could not illustrate the point any better

Takes own advice... Will also leave Crayola for said posters to make their own gold star badges wink

Brava 👏OP.

Tbh I can see both sides of this and the way some posters have made up their own stories on what might have been going on has been quite entertaining ( je suis la ring ring takes the thread imo 😂). I can also understand why someone who wants to know the answer might be asking for different reasons to the one you’ve explained. A lot can get misunderstood in the written word.

Anyway, thanks for the update. It sounds like a misunderstanding in lunchtime being departure time and not arrival time.

This thread was most entertaining. OP is a real firecracker, and rose to the bait every time😊.

I hope she and her friend have an epic reunion and trust is firmly restored to their intense relationship😊

May I answer your question based on my experience rather than opinion. I am in Spain, my OH works between here and UK, in telecomms. I contact him several times a day, wherever I am and I can get both UK and International tones when he is in Spain. The tone is generated by the network and it randomly differs in my experience, it maybe a call mobile to mobile, via Whattapp, to his cloud phone or One phone divert.
In short, yes you can get a UK ringing tone when calling a mobile in the EU

If you know her parents can't pick her up why not ask her parents her flight times. If she definitely wanted you to do it she would have told you details as soon as she knew parents were unavailable. It's her responsibility to arrange it.. Just chill.. You're looking after house for a friend.. Now she's got you doing shopping for her and worrying about pick up! All this calling on holiday seems too much

I think you can ring a UK phone when its in another country and get a UK ringtone. I was in abroad for work this week and had a call from an agent in the UK. I said I was in Poland and he said "oh! It didn't sound like it I didn't get an international ring tone.. " i said "well i am definitely in Poland!" It felt like he didn't believe me, but it was true.

Better off asking google

Glad to hear all it is sorted and you were panicking over nothing.

‘Because it's a seriously long round trip and I'm child free tonight. If a UK ringtone meant 100% she was in the UK, my response would be "I'll collect you tonight instead, as it's tricky finding someone to have DS for 5hrs+ tomorrow and you're physically back now"’

I don't get this. You thought she might have randomly arrived in the UK tonight instead and you would make the 3 hour drive to get her while she waits at the airport?

I don’t understand this either. Can someone clarify?

Not adding much to this but I regularly get an EU style ring sound when I call my boyfriend who is definitely in the uk ( sometimes in the very same house if I call to find his phone 😂)

This thread is a great read.

I’m honestly a bit gutted she didn’t sneak home meet a mysterious person and dance round her luggage in London 😂

But what did I expect? Oh very much this. It's the MN twats class of 2019. It's exactly what you have to expect on any thread now. You virtually need Crayola for them. It is what it is.

And yet you're the one asking them for advice?

OP I actually think your reaction is the anomaly here.

Most people would have reacted with “huh, weird” rather than immediately leaping to the assumption that your “friend” was back early and lying to you so she could have a night out in London.

For what it’s worth, I’m old old mumsnet - from back in the days of Pom bears and cutted up pear...and the reaction back then would have been that your original post was batshit crazy as well

You virtually need Crayola for them

I’ve drawn a pretty picture of a crazy lady using Internet forums to stalk her long suffering “friend” who is dancing in a nightclub in central London whilst dragging a massive suitcase, pretending not to be back from holiday.

It’s really good

There are two parts to Cyprus - the (Turkish) north (on Turkish networks) and the (Greek) south (on Cypriot networks). It does sound different when you ring the same phone from the UK depending on whether it is in the north or the south but I can't remember which one is which. Sometimes if you even get too near the border the phone can pick up the signal from the other side. If she is anywhere near the border this is probably what has happened.

Oh and if she is flying out of the north (Ercan) there will be a stop-over somewhere in Turkey, so that could also possibly be why.

Glad it's all ok OP and that you didn't make a tit of yourself on here by being patronising and over the top oh wait........

Did we get an answer about the "thing" that op had seen at her absent friend's house ?

@AnyFucker, nope. We were ant allowed to know. And OP has not been house sitting just driving past and having a glance.

Aren’t*

She saw her own flash light reflected in the window?

OP will be along in a moment to call us all illiterate again.

There used to be (could be still is) a large UK Army base in Cyprus.
If it's still there, could that have made a dial tone sound uk based?

@Fatshedra I can confirm that there is. My DSis's DSS joined the army and spent 3 years there before coming back to the UK this year. I might well ask my DSis if they experienced that.