Telephone and Internet

Payphones are plentiful and easy to use. There are three principal methods of direct payment for calls, and at least a couple of options for collect. The first thing is to ensure that the line in which you are standing is waiting to use a phone that accepts your payment option, because not all the phones provide all of the services. The main difference is that some phones accept only plastic whilst others accept only coins, and a third category will accept both.

All phones provide an operator service through which you can call collect. You will easily find a phone that accepts all major credit cards, but a cheaper option if you have several calls to make may be to buy a Phonecard from any of the newspaper or book stores. These cards are sold in 20, 50, 100 and 200 unit options, with each unit costing 10 pence. Coin operated phones accept £1, 50p, 20p and 10p coins, and return any wholly unused coins at the end of a call. It follows, therefore, that you should not use higher value coins for a short call because you will get no change.

Instructions for the use of public phones are prominently displayed, and usually are written in at least three languages. There are also full lists of International and UK national dialling codes by each phone. Other major phone nets such as AT&T can be accessed through the operator. None of the public phones will accept incoming calls.

Fax phones are available in each of the Terminals, and are most easily used with a credit card. Fax messages can be received and sent at little more than the cost of a voice call. UK Telecom provide facilities for not only sending and receiving fax messages, but also for gaining access to the Internet via a ComPoint socket. E-Mail can be sent and received, all under the often bemused gaze of less technical passengers who have nothing else to watch whilst drinking their coffee!