Pass The Phone

[Guest Alan G]

MMM Magazine page 15 July 2005 carried a letter recommending the Pass the Phone service. A telephone call would give access to a person who could communicate effectively for you with a person whose language you did not understand. Useful in hospitals or with police. The website is actually passthephone.html (not com as in the letter) However the website gives little information as to the languages covered and the cost of the phone calls, which I presume are fairly high to pay for the service. Apart from a dialogue box, to help with registration and payment of the £20 lifetime membership fee, there is only a phone number with 0034 prefix, which locates it in Spain. Ringing this number only gets a lady from BT saying the number has not been recognised. The fascimile of the membership card carries a slightly different number which does ring and starts a recorded message in Spanish with the words "Un momento" in it then silence. (By the way for 1 minute 23 seconds that cost 34 pence) Is this apparently very useful service still operating? If it is what are the charges and what languages can it cover?

[Guest Brian Ramsden]

I can't actually confirm that the service is still operating, though I have no reason to doubt this. The telephone number I have is 00 34 96 646 3413 and the fax number 00 34 96 579 4362. The web site is :- 1stps.com/passthephone.html There is no joining fee. What you do is buy a number of telephone calls - 2 for €9.95; 5 for €19.95 and 10 for €29.95. There is no time limit on these calls and they do not expire if unused. The languages covered a year ago were english, spanish, french and portuguese. They were planning to add italian to this list when i last spoke to them, in August last year. If they have gone out of business, please let the forum know. Brian

[Guest Brian Ramsden]

I can't actually confirm that the service is still operating, though I have no reason to doubt this. The telephone number I have is 00 34 96 646 3413 and the fax number 00 34 96 579 4362. The web site is :- 1stps.com/passthephone.html There is no joining fee. What you do is buy a number of telephone calls - 2 for €9.95; 5 for €19.95 and 10 for €29.95. There is no time limit on these calls and they do not expire if unused. The languages covered a year ago were english, spanish, french and portuguese. They were planning to add italian to this list when i last spoke to them, in August last year. If they have gone out of business, please let the forum know. Brian