International Telephone Calls Using Wired Phones

The telephone may be used for two-person synchronous communication or in a multipart conference call. Using a telephone to make long-distance and international calls involves using international telephone numbering conventions.

Calls within North America and the Caribbean

The telephone companies in North America use the North American numbering plan (NANP) that includes the United States, its territories, Canada, Bermuda, and sixteen Caribbean nations.

Wired telephones are connected physically to a local switch that can handle up to ten thousand connections represented by the last four-digit numbers in a telephone number from 0000 to 9999. Each switch is identified by a three-digit number such as 555. A local telephone number consists of the switch number and one of the ten thousand four-digit numbers such as 555 0112. This system can provide up to ten million different unique phone numbers,^[1]
but it does not have the capacity to provide service to billions of people.

The switches are grouped into areas and assigned a group number or area code. Area codes in North America were assigned at a time when numbers were converted to a sequence of electrical pulses by inserting your finger in a rotary disc—the dial—and pulling it to a stop on a phone like the one shown in Figure 6.29 “Rotary Dial Telephone”.

As a spring returns the dial to its original position, it opens and closes a set of electrical contacts to create a series of pulses that match the number dialed. Because it takes longer to dial higher numbers like 8 or 9, area codes that could be dialed quickly like 212 and 213 were assigned to densely populated areas like Manhattan (212) and Los Angeles (213). Higher numbers were assigned to rural areas or to newer areas. As a result, it is difficult to determine where a telephone is located by its area code. Do not assume that numbers with similar area codes in North America are located in the same time zone—they may be thousands of miles apart. To initiate a call to a different area code, the number 1 is dialed first. This is the national direct dialing (NDD) code for NANP members.

Calling from North America to a Country outside the NANP

To make an international call from an NANP member such as the United States to another country, you need to provide two codes: the international direct dialing (IDD) code and the country code. The IDD code for the United States is 011. For example, if you wanted to place a call to a number in Rio de Janeiro, you would enter 011 55 21 xxx xxxx, where 011 is the IDD code for the United States, 55 is the country code for Brazil, 21 is the area code for Rio de Janeiro, and xxx xxxx represents the final seven digits of the number.

Calling to North America from a Country outside the NANP

If you traveled to Rio de Janeiro for a meeting and wanted to call back to a number in the United States from a local phone, you would have to look up the IDD code for the local service provider in Brazil. In Brazil, there is a different code for each of the five phone companies. The IDD for Brasil Telecom is 0014.

The IDD and the country code are not simply reversible. The country code for the United States is 1 (not 011), so you would enter 0014 1 xxx xxx xxxx, where the last ten digits are the area code and telephone number in the United States.

Reading the Phone Number on a Business Card in North America

It is commonly understood in the United States that you do not enter the hyphens, parentheses, spaces, or periods that are used to make a telephone number more readable and that you dial 1 first—even though it is not included—for a call destined for a different area code. For example, if the phone number on the business card shows (555) 222-1111, you know that you would enter 2221111 if you are calling from within the 555 area code^[2]
or 15552221111 for a call from a different area code, but you would not attempt to enter the parentheses, space, or hyphen. Spaces are used in some instances in the following discussion to make the numbers easier to read in this text, but it will be understood that they are not entered when dialing the number.

Reading the Phone Number on an International Business Card

Unlike those countries participating in the NANP, other countries use different numbers for the national direct dialing (NDD) code and the country code. They might use a different number of digits for the area or city code. A business card from a team member in Rio de Janeiro might be +55 (0)21-xxxx xxxx where 55 is the country code and 0 is the NDD code. To call this team member from the United States on a wired telephone, you would enter 011 55 21 xxxx xxxx, where 011 is the IDD for the United States, 55 is the country code for Brazil, and 21 is the code for Rio de Janeiro.

Notice the zero between 55 and 21 is not included when calling from outside the country. This is the NDD code that is used for calls between areas within the country. For example, if you land in the airport at Sao Paulo, Brazil, and want to call the person in Rio de Janeiro from a local phone, you would enter 0 21 xxxx xxxx (without the spaces) where 0 is the NDD code—like 1 in the United States—and 21 is the area/city code.

Finding International Telephone Codes

1. Open a word processing document. Save it as Ch06PhoneStudentName.doc. Use the .doc file format.
2. On the first line, type Chapter 6 study documentation by and then type your name. Press Enter to move the insertion point to the next line
3. Open a web browser and go to http://www.kropla.com. This site provides information on international dialing codes.
4. Near the middle of the page, click the International Dialing Codes link.
5. On the CountryCode.org page, in the Country column, scroll down and click Brazil. A list of country codes and city codes is displayed next to a map of the country.
6. Use the browser’s Back button to return to the CountryCode.org web page. Add the address for this page to the Project Management folder in your browser’s favorites or bookmarks.
7. Switch back to the browser. In the Country column, scroll down and click one of the country names other than Brazil.
8. Capture the screen that shows the country’s code and map, paste it into a blank document, and then save the document as Ch06Exercises6.5.doc.

Making International Telephone Calls Using a Mobile Phone

To place an international call to a country outside the NANP using a mobile phone, you use the plus sign (+) instead of the IDD code. For example, the number of the British Museum is +44 (0) 20 7323 8000. To call this number from a wired phone in the United States, you would dial 011 44 20 7323 8000. If you make the call from a mobile phone, you dial +44 20 7323 8000. Notice the plus sign takes the place of the IDD code.

Finding the Plus Sign on a Mobile Phone

Wired phones do not have a plus sign on their keypads, but recent model mobile phones include a method to dial a plus sign. Unfortunately, the method varies by brand of telephone.

International Telephone Calls Using a Mobile Phone

1. Open a web browser and go to http://www.howtocallinternationally.com. This site has a step-by-step demonstration of how to make calls using wired and mobile phones.
2. At the right of the page under Shortcuts, click From a mobile (cellphone). The How to call internationally from a mobile (cellular) telephone page displays. Read this page.
3. Scroll down to the video and click the play button.
4. During the video, when a telephone number with a plus sign is displayed on the cell phone, pause the video and capture the screen.
5. Paste the screen into Ch06PhoneStudentName.doc.
6. Switch back to the browser window and then watch the rest of the video.
7. Add a link to this web page in your browser’s favorites or bookmarks.
8. Capture a screen that shows the links to CountryCode.org and Howtocallinternationally.com in the Project Management folder in your browser’s favorites or bookmarks and then paste it into the Ch06PhoneStudentName.doc.

   Element	Best	Adequate	Poor
   File name	Ch06PhoneStudentName.doc	Ch06PhoneStudentName.docx	Different file name or incompatible format
   Choose the correct dialing codes for making international telephone calls	Title; screen capture showing the country code and map of one of the countries other than Brazil	Same as Best	Incomplete or used Brazil
   Identify dialing techniques used with cell phones to make international telephone calls	A screen capture from the video on how to enter a plus sign on a cell phone; a screen capture that shows the links to CountryCode.org and Howtocallinternationally.com in the Project Management folder in the favorites or bookmarks	Same as Best	Cell phone screen capture does not show a plus sign or shows only one of the two required sites in the bookmarks folder

9. Save the file and submit it as directed by the instructor.

Using a Spreadsheet for Practice

1. Navigate to the location where the student files for chapter exercises are located and then open 6.3.3_PhonePractice.xls. Save the file as Ch06PhonePracticeStudentName.xls using the Excel 2003 file format.
2. Use the skills you practiced in this chapter and in previous exercises to answer the first question in cell C2. You are allowed to open a browser and refer to websites for assistance.
3. Notice that if you type and enter the correct answer, in exactly the format indicated, the cell background turns green, as shown in Figure 6.30 “Background Turns Green If Correct”.
4. Observe that column D is hidden. It contains a set of correct answers. The spreadsheet’s conditional formatting feature is used to change the background color if the cell content matches the hidden answer.
5. Use your web references and personal knowledge to answer the remaining questions. Place the answers in column C. If some of the answers do not turn green, check your work. If you cannot determine the error, move on to the next question. Answer all the questions, even if some of the answers are wrong or do not match the reference answer exactly.
6. Select columns C through E. To accomplish this, you may click and drag the column headings from C through E, or you can click the column C heading, hold the Shift key, and click the column E heading. Columns C, D, and E are selected, even though column D is hidden, as shown in Figure 6.31 “Columns C, D, and E Selected”.
7. Move the pointer onto either column, then right-click. On the shortcut menu, click Unhide. The answers in column D are displayed.
8. Locate any answers that are still displayed in red. Compare your answer to the reference answer. In the Analysis column on the same row, analyze and explain why your answer did not match the reference answer. Use this opportunity to correct misunderstandings.
9. Save the spreadsheet. Check your work to assure that it is complete using the following table:

   Element	Best	Adequate	Poor
   File name	Ch06PhonePracticeStudentName.xls	Ch06PhonePracticeStudentName.xlsx	Different file name or incompatible format
   Select the appropriate times and methods for making international calls	All incorrect answers are analyzed; the cause of the error correctly identified	All correct	Analysis does not correctly identify the cause of the error

10. Save the file and submit it as directed by the instructor.