How To Make An International Call

If you have not travelled much or you are travelling to a new country, even something as simple as making a phone call home can get complicated, very quickly. For example, if you are travelling from the US and you are used to dialling 011 before the country code of an international call, you might have a real problem on arriving in Europe where you dial 00.

Make sure you know what number you are calling

If you are trying to call a number which is written as one of the following, this is probably already an international number:

• +44 9999 999999
• 00 44 9999 999999
• 011 44 9999 999999

If you are calling a number that looks like one of the following, it is likely that it is not an international number:

• 6 999 999 999
• 08 99 99 99 99
• 01296 999 999

This will mean you will need to add the country code in front of the number. If there is a zero at the beginning of a national number you do not dial it. If you see a number written like this: +44 (0) 9999 999999, and you are calling the number internationally, do not dial the zero. If you are calling the number from the same country, you do not need to dial the country code, but you do need to dial the zero first.

Making the international call

1. Dial the IDD (for most of the world this is 00 or 011)
2. Dial the Country Code
3. Dial your destination number (leaving off the first zero if there is one)

If you get into problems, the best thing to do is dial the local operator service and ask for help.