Yesterday, Chris was busy skyping. Today I go back to the old-fashioned telephone. A simple device we all know how to use, until you are in a foreign country and can’t get any calls to go through…

The first telephone call between London and New York was made in 1908 and, believe me, they didn’t dial direct. As manual switchboards were replaced by direct dialing, systems were invented to differentiate between local, national and international calls.

A short primer for international calls:

To make an international call, you first need to dial the IDD Prefix (International Direct Dial Prefix) specific to the country you are in. In the US, the Prefix is 011. In many other countries around the world, the Prefix is 00. (For a complete list of IDD Prefixes, check out this site.) The IDD Prefix lets the telecom provider know that you are making an international call.

After the IDD Prefix comes the Country Calling Code. Every country has a code. For example, the US is 1, China is 86, Bolivia is 591.

In most cases, the Country Code is followed by the City or Area Code, which is then followed by the local number. Area codes in the US are all 3-digit, but in other countries, the number of digits in the city code may vary. Similarly, all local numbers in the US are 7-digit, but other countries may not have a standard and local numbers can range from 4 to 9 digits.

Putting it altogether, here are a few examples:

To call a number in the Netherlands from the US dial:

011-31-40-214-8112

To call a number in the US from the Netherlands dial:

00-1-610-552-8788

If this is too much to remember, just click on this site, www.countrycallingcodes.com, the next time you need to make an international call and can’t remember what an IDD Prefix is. The site is quick and easy to use and provides a lot of additional information. They can even help you find the correct city or area code.

As you can imagine, knowing what IDD Prefix to use when you are in a foreign country can be a real hassle, which is why telco providers came up with a nifty feature for cell phones: the + sign. The + sign represents the IDD Prefix, no matter what country you are in. I now add the + sign (plus the country code) to all phone numbers in my digital address books. That way, when I am travelling and want to call someone listed in my address book, the call goes through automatically without me thinking about the IDD Prefix. So when do I get this feature on my phone at home?

Tomorrow I’ll look at making national calls within a country. Sound easy? Just you wait and see.

(Btw, anybody out there know how this system of country codes developed? If you do, please share it, I’d love to know. I have developed my own personal legend that the US is number 1 because Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and the US was the first to have a telephone system. Telephones probably didn’t arrive to Bolivia until late, so they got a much higher number. As I said, this is probably closer to legend than to fact, since there is no country with number 2, nor 3, etc.)

Post from: EveryJoe

International Dialing