International jet set

[fanf]

Next week I am going to Nairobi for AfNOG, the African Network Operators Group 2006 event. A significant part of this is a workshop teaching the technical skills needed to run an ISP. I'll be going in place of Philip Hazel to teach people about Exim.

One thing I noticed this morning is that the credit cards that I have been issued this year do not have magnetic stripes: they are chip-and-pin only! This is rather inconvenient for international travel. Fortunately I still have an older credit card with a stripe - though it is one we want to get rid of - and my bank is sending me a replacement card which might arrive before I leave.

Anyone else who is planning to travel on new credit cards should check this. Of course banks like you to warn them beforehand anyway, so that their fraud detection systems are prepared.

Comments

[fanf]

Hmm, my HSBC MasterCard also has a silver stripe, but the bank told me it isn't magnetic. Lets see what the replacement looks like.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.

Possibly, they've 'demagnetised' the stripe since 2004. It seems a little odd, though.

[techiebloke.livejournal.com]

I used my amex blue card recently in a old POS terminal that didn't do anything but mag-stripe + signature. It has a silver stripe.

I would be very suspicious of anyone from a call-center (or actually in a high street bank) telling me pretty much anything technical; the question "does the mag stripe work?" may be interpreted as "if I reeeeaaaaaallllly whine in the shop, can I sign for things rather than having to remember my PIN?" to which the easiest way of saying "No, dumbass, you'll have to remember a PIN" is to claim that the mag stripe doesn't work. It's mostly true - the mag stripe doesn't (shouldn't?) work in the UK - and has the advantage of not calling the customer a dumbass to their face.