Programming Your Mobile Phone
for International Calling
Things you should know about your phone

by Richard Cheshire, The Cheshire Catalyst
A talk presented at The Last HOPE, 2008-07-18
Notes from the talk can be found at: http://CheshireCatalyst.com/mobile.html

International Country codes
• ITU World Numbering Plan Reccommendation E.164
  • List of ITU-T Recommendation E.164 assigned country codes
  • Wikipedia version
    • List of Country Codes
• 1 - North America (followed by the Area Code)
• 2 - Africa & Atlantic Islands
• 3 - Southern Europe
• 4 - Northern Europe
• 5 - Central and South America
• 6 - Southeast Asia and Oceania
• 7 - Russia and Kazakhstan
• 8 - East Asia and Special Services (Inmarsat, etc)
• 9 - West, South and Central Asia, Middle East

Country Exit Codes
• 011 - North American Numbering Plan (NANP)
• 00 - CEPT and the rest of the world

The Plus Sign "+"
• Business Cards in the 1970's
• Mobile Phones in the 1990's
  • +1 311 555 2368 (+1 NPA NNX XXXX)
  • +44 (0) 778 148 8126 ("0"Used in the National Service)
  • +44 778 148 8126
• Wireless Carriers
  • They tell you to dial it, but not to put it into your Contact List/Addressbook that way.
  • AT&T
  • Sprint
  • Verizon, as always, Verizon hasn't got it right. (See my talk at HOPE six years ago). then again, you can't use Verizon phones overseas.

As seen on the phone - A Chinese correspondent
• In China, my number came up 001 321 xxx xxxx
• In America, his number came up 011 86 xxx xxxx
• + should be used instead so the call goes thru no matter where it's placed.

Using Phone Cards
• Dial the Toll Free Number (NEVER call it an "800" number - 888, 877, 866, 855 are also Toll Free)
• Dial the Exit Code (011) followed by the Country code and the number, as you would for an international call from that country

Other Stuff
• It is not a good idea to talk on your mobile phone while it is plugged in.
  • You should only do this if your battery is so low that you feel the call will be cut off unless outside power is provided. >
• Bluetooth headsets use low power to talk to the phone, while the phone uses higher power to talk to the towers.