Dialing overseas is a standard hurdle for making travel arrangements, staying in touch with foreign friends, or reaching out to loved ones while abroad. However, it can often be a little intimidating, especially if you are already far from home and dealing with an unfamiliar telephone system.
Identification
International dialing is a system meant to allow direct dialing from anywhere in the world to any other number in the world. Direct dialing means dialing without operator assistance or another intermediary, with everything being done automatically.
Features
Every country has a country code, including the United States. Also, most countries have a system of city/regional codes that correspond to the American area code. The following is an example of a phone number in New York City: 1-212-555-5555. The same number would look like this in New Dehli, India: 91-11-555-5555. And like this for Bern, Switzerland: 41-31-555-5555.
Considerations
To dial overseas from the United States, there is one extra step to dialing that lets the phone company know you are direct dialing an international number. Add the prefix of 011 to the number. This prefix is tacked on to the beginning of all international dialing excepting Canada. Dialing Canada from the United States is done the same as any other long distance phone call. A sample New Delhi number would be dialed as 011-91-11-555-5555.
To dial internationally from a foreign country, the procedure is the same, but with a different dialing prefix. Typically this is 00, but there are roughly 20 countries that use a prefix other than 00 or 011. Note again that the international dialing prefix is not the same thing as a country code. Once again, this dialing prefix is added to tell the telephone company you are direct dialing an international number. To dial our sample New York number either from India or Switzerland, you would still dial 00-1-212-555-5555, but from Japan it would be 001-1-212-555-555.
History
Country codes were first developed for European use in 1960 by CCITT. This list went truly international in 1964, with that system continuing (with some modifications) in current use.
Expert Insight
There are a handful of locations outside the international dialing system, or that are exceptions within it. Numbers in Antarctic stations must be dialed from their home country (for example, an Argentine Antarctic facility is dialed as if it were in Argentina). There are also remote locations, such as Pitcairn Island, that are reachable only be satellite phone due to the lack of switching stations and other elements of the international telephone dialing infrastructure.
Tags: dialing prefix, direct dialing, international dialing, United States, country code, dialing international