How to call another country

How to dial an international number

Every international call has the same three parts, in the same order. Here is a London number, dialled from abroad:

1. 1. The exit. Tells the network the call leaves the country. On a mobile it is +. On a landline it is your country's exit code.
2. 2. The country code. One to three digits that pick the country: 1 for the US and Canada, 44 for the UK, 91 for India.
3. 3. The number. The local number, usually without the 0 it starts with at home.

What the + really means

The + is a stand-in for "whatever the exit code is where I am right now". Your mobile fills in the right one automatically. That is why a contact saved as +44 20 7946 0018 works whether you are in New York, Tokyo, or London. To type it, hold down the 0 key.

What is an exit code?

An exit code is the number you dial first to make a call leave your country. It is also called an international prefix or international access code. It depends on where you are calling from, not where you are calling to: 011 from the US and Canada, 00 from most of Europe and much of the world, 0011 from Australia, and 010 from Japan.

You only need it on a landline. On a mobile, the + does the same job everywhere, which is why + is the one to remember.

Popular routes, step by step

The exceptions that trip people up

• Italy keeps its 0. Landline numbers keep the leading 0 from abroad, so Rome is +39 06. Mobiles start with 3.
• Argentine mobiles need a 9. Add 9 after +54 and drop the 15 that the number has at home.
• The US and Canada share +1. So do many Caribbean countries. Calls between them need only 1 and the 10-digit number.
• Mexico dropped its prefixes. The old 01 and 044 went away in 2019. Numbers are 10 digits after +52.
• Some countries have carrier exit codes. From a landline in Brazil or South Korea, the exit code depends on the phone company. From a mobile, + avoids the question.

Before you call: what will it cost?

Knowing what to dial is half of it. The other half is not paying too much. Calling abroad on a normal phone plan, or while roaming, can be expensive. Two cheaper routes:

• App calls over data. Free when both people use the same app. Abroad, a travel eSIM gives you the data.
• Prepaid calling minutes. For real phone numbers, landlines, and businesses that are not on an app. See calling rates by country.

Our guide to the cheapest way to call abroad compares every option with real prices.

Keep reading

Sources

• ITU: Dialling procedures (international prefix, national prefix, and national number)
• Telephone numbers in Italy (leading 0 kept since 1998)
• Telephone numbers in Argentina (mobile 9 prefix)

Checked on 2026-09-28. Example numbers use ranges reserved for fiction.