Scotland

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Communications

You should experience no problems with communications either within Britain or calling from abroad; the only difficulty you're likely to encounter is queues at the post office. The mail service is quick and generally efficient, public payphones are numerous, and the outlets offering internet access are ever increasing.

Phones

Most public payphones are operated by BT and, at least in the towns, are widespread. Many payphones take all coins from 10p upwards (minimum payment 20p), although an increasing proportion only accept phonecards, available from post offices and newsagents displaying BT's green logo. These cards come in denominations of £3, £5, £10 and £20; many phones also accept credit cards.

Inland calls are cheapest at weekends and between 6pm and 8am on weekdays. Reduced rate periods for most international calls are 6pm-8am from Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. A cheaper way to call is from one of the number of independent telecom centres, though you're likely to find these only in the major cities.

Throughout the guide, every telephone number is prefixed by the area code, separated from the subscriber number by an oblique slash, which can be omitted if dialling from within the area covered by that prefix. However, some prefixes relate to the cost of calls rather than the location of the subscriber, and should never be omitted: numbers with 0800, 0808 and 0500 prefixes are free of charge to the caller; 0845 numbers are charged at local rates and 0870 up to the national rate - irrespective of where in the country you are calling from. Beware of premium-rate numbers, which are common for pre-recorded information services - and have the prefix 09; these are charged at anything up to £1.50 a minute. Mobile phone numbers are prefixed 07.

Mobile phones

More and more people are taking their mobile phones with them when they travel, but it is always worth checking with your phone provider to see if your phone will work abroad, and what the call charges will be. Unless you have a tri-band phone, it is unlikely that a mobile bought for use in the US will work outside the States and vice versa, with many only working within the region designated by the area code in the phone number i.e. 212, 415 etc. Most mobiles in Australia and New Zealand use GSM, so should work well in Britain, where most mobile phones use GSM, too - though it's still advisable to check with your provider before travelling.

Operator services

Domestic operator tel 100

International operator tel 155

Domestic directory assistance tel 192 (20p from payphones, otherwise 36-42p)

International directory assistance tel 153 (minimum 20p from payphones, otherwise £1.50; charged according to length of call)

International calls

To call Britain from overseas dial the international access code (011 from the US and Canada, 0011 from Australia and 00 from New Zealand) followed by 44, the area code minus its initial zero, and then the number. To dial out of Britain it's 00 followed by the country code, area code (usually without the zero if there is one) and subscriber number. Country codes are as follows:

Australia tel 61

Republic of Ireland tel 353

New Zealand tel 64

US and Canada tel 1

Email

A useful way of keeping in touch while travelling is using one of the free internet email sites that can be accessed from anywhere, for example YahooMail and Hotmail - accessible through www.yahoo.com and www.hotmail.com. Once you've set up an account, you can use these sites to pick up and send mail from anywhere that provides internet access - cafés, hotels, libraries, etc. You'll find internet cafés (£3-5/hour) in the major towns and cities; some public libraries now offer free access, but you'll need to book this in advance.

Mail

Virtually all post offices are open Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-12.30 or 1pm; in small communities you'll find sub-post offices operating out of general stores; these are open standard post-office hours, even if the shop itself is open for longer. Stamps can be bought at supermarkets and newsagents, as well as from post office counters, in books of six or twelve. A first-class stamp for letters and postcards to anywhere in the British Isles currently costs 27p and should - in theory, at least - arrive the next day; second-class costs 19p and takes from two to four days. Airmail weighing less than 20g (0.7oz) to European countries costs 37p and elsewhere overseas from 45p for 10g, and 65p for 20g. Pre-stamped airletters conforming to overseas airmail weight limits of under 10g can be bought for 40p from post offices only. For more information about Royal Mail postal services, call 08457/740740.