Dialing Guide

How to call any country

Exit codes, country codes, area codes, and phone number formats. Pick a country for step-by-step instructions.

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The anatomy of an international number

Every international call has the same four parts in the same order, and knowing which is which resolves nearly every failure: the exit code, the country code, the area or operator prefix, and the subscriber number.

The exit code belongs to the country you are calling FROM. It is 011 from the United States and Canada, 00 across most of Europe, Asia and Africa, and 0011 from Australia. It is not a property of the destination, which is why the same foreign number is dialled differently from two different countries — and why an instruction that starts with 011 is wrong for most of the world.

The country code belongs to the destination. One to three digits, assigned by the ITU, and the one part of the number that never changes.

The area or operator prefix identifies a city, a region or a mobile network. In most countries it is written with a leading trunk digit when dialled domestically, and that digit is dropped when dialling from abroad.

The subscriber number is the rest. Its length is fixed by the national numbering plan, so a number one digit short is a typo rather than a shorter valid number.

The plus sign, and why it is better than any exit code

On any mobile, pressing and holding the 0 key enters a plus sign. A number dialled as +44 20 7946 0958 works from every country in the world without you knowing that country's exit code, because the network substitutes the right one.

That also makes the plus the correct way to store a number. A contact saved in full international form dials correctly whether you are at home, travelling, or on a foreign SIM, and it survives being exported to another phone. A contact saved in local format is only meaningful inside one country.

The exception is a landline, which has no plus key. There the exit code has to be dialled, which is what the per-country tables here are for.

The five mistakes that account for most failed calls

The trunk prefix was left in. Dialling +44 020 7946 0958 fails. The leading zero belongs to domestic dialling only. This is the most common failure by a wide margin.
The wrong exit code. An American instruction beginning 011 does not work from Europe, where it is 00. Using the plus sign avoids the whole question.
The country code was missing. A number copied from a local website looks complete and is unusable from anywhere else.
A digit out in the country code. +261, +262 and +263 are three different countries. A wrong country code does not fail cleanly — it connects, to a stranger, and bills. Every dialling guide here lists the codes most plausibly confused with the one it covers.
Calling a mobile expecting landline pricing. In most countries a mobile costs more to reach, sometimes several times more. The leading digits tell you which you have before you dial.

When to call, not just how

A technically perfect call to someone asleep achieves nothing and still costs the connection. Each dialling guide carries a table showing what the clock reads at the destination when it is mid-morning, early afternoon and evening in five common calling cities, so the arithmetic is done for you.

For a personal call the useful window is roughly 09:00 to 21:00 local at the far end. For a business call it is much narrower — mid-morning local, Tuesday to Thursday, has the highest answer rate almost everywhere, because it falls after the day has settled and before anyone has left.

Time zone offsets are not fixed. They change several times a year as each country enters and leaves daylight saving, and the hemispheres shift in opposite directions, so the London–Sydney gap moves through four values across a year. The planner reads today's offset from your own device rather than quoting one written down in an article.

Bottom line

An international number is exit code, country code, area or operator prefix, subscriber number. The exit code belongs to where you are; everything after it belongs to where you are calling.

On a mobile, hold 0 for a plus sign and store every foreign number in full international form. That removes the exit code question entirely and prevents the most common failure of all — the domestic trunk zero left in place.

Frequently asked questions

How do I call another country?

Dial your own country's exit code, then the destination country code, then the number without its trunk prefix. On a mobile, press and hold 0 for a plus sign instead of the exit code — the plus works from every country and removes the need to know any local exit code.

What is an exit code?

The digits that take a call out of the country you are dialling from: 011 in the United States and Canada, 00 across most of Europe, Asia and Africa, 0011 from Australia. It belongs to your location, not the destination, which is why the same foreign number is dialled differently from two different countries.

Do I need to remove the 0 from a phone number?

Yes, when calling internationally. Most countries prefix domestic numbers with a trunk digit, usually 0, that is not part of the number itself. Dialling +44 020 7946 0958 fails; +44 20 7946 0958 works. This single mistake causes more failed international calls than everything else combined.

What does the + sign do in a phone number?

It tells the network to substitute the correct exit code for wherever you are. A number stored as +44 20 7946 0958 dials correctly from any country in the world, which is why full international form is the right way to save every foreign contact.

How can I tell whether a number is a mobile?

By its leading digits. Most countries reserve separate blocks for mobile and fixed lines, and that boundary is not portable between operators, so it stays reliable. The exception is the North American Numbering Plan, where an area code says nothing about line type at all.

What happens if I dial the wrong country code?

The call usually connects — to a stranger in another country — and bills. Codes like +260, +261, +262 and +263 belong to four different countries, so a single wrong digit does not fail cleanly. Each dialling guide here lists the codes most plausibly confused with the one it covers.