French telephone numbers

[mustbjones]

Please help me as I am very confused. I have a reservation with a French hotel that is (33) 1/43xxxxxx. How does one dial a number like this? Also, another is (0033) (0)5 xx xx xx xx. Again, why the brackets around the zero? Thanks.

 

[jdpiguet]

If you are inside France, use 0x yy yy yy yy.
If you are outside, use 0033 x yy yy yy yy (you may have to replace the first "00" by the local international prefix...) .
If you are using a mobile phone anywhere, use +33 x yy yy yy yy

Buen Camino, Jacques-D.

 

[jmcorrigan]

Judging by the American flag you use, you would dial 011 33 x yy yy yy yy from the States. In Europe (but outside France) you use 00 33 x yy yy yy yy and in France all numbers have the single 0 prefix, as the previous response mentioned 0x yy yy yy yy.

 

[David]

The '0' in brackets is dropped for calls from outside the country (all european countries are the same) and included for calls from within the country.
Use your code to get international then the country code for France which is 33

So - a French number 0545 662 366 is what you dial in France but from outside the country you dial
your international code (in the uk it is 00) then 33 then 545 662 366.

The ringing tone is different, it is one long tone repeated. :wink:

 

[mustbjones]

How do I find out what the international code is for the US?

 

[mustbjones]

Sorry for the obvious question. I see from a previous post my code is 011. Is this correct?

 

[NicoZ]

How do I find out what the international code is for the US?

The country code for Canada and the US is 01. I guess Ma Bell started counting.

011 is the North American long distance code.

If you're asking about calling the US from France it should be something like

0001 area code phone number

Of course it's early and I should be in bed :roll: so hopefully somebody will correct me

 

[jmcorrigan]

No, to call the US from France, you dial 001 then the area code and number. Ex.: 001 212 555-1212. It will be the same from Spain. "00" is the international dialing prefix and the country code for the US is just "1".

 

[JabbaPapa]

Most countries that you phone to from abroad require non-dialling of the initial (0) in the area code of any individual phone number, including France, but this is not universally true, and you should consult your telephone directory for dialling procedures for each individual country.

Not dialling the first (0) is an atavism from the old mechanical dialling systems that has persisted into the digital age, though some countries have actually done away with it.

The first (0) in the (00) code for an international call as well as in any local area code such as (011) was actually used to tell the mechanical phone system that this was not a local call -- it's the second (0) in (00) that told it that the call was international -- whereas the (11) in (011) told it that a specific area within the national grid was being requested.

The initial (0) in (011) for an international call was left out because you had, in fact, already dialed it by having dialed (00) -- even though you need the individual country code between (00) and (11).

 

[mustbjones]

When is the + sign necessary?

 

[JabbaPapa]

When is the + sign necessary?

Never.

It's used as a stand-in for the international access code, which is usually (00), but this actually varies somewhat from country to country.

So +33 (for France) means you need to dial 00 33 then the French number (omitting the first 0) from a country where the international access code were (00) ; but if the international access code were, say, (99) instead, then you'd dial 99 33 etc.

 

[mustbjones]

So, for the US it would be 01133 for France and 01134 for Spain? Thanks.

 

[David]

and you can use the plus sign on a mobile phone instead of the 00.
Of which - if you are taking a mobile with you you need to re-enter your address book numbers in international format if you wan't to phone any of them from Europe.

 

[brawblether]

When is the + sign necessary?

Never.

I'm not convinced that's true. I have tried called overseas numbers on my mobile and have had to use the + rather than the numbers themselves. Mind you, that was some time ago, these days I just use video calling.

 

[Sixwheeler]

I have always understood that the + sign is an abbreviation for 00 which is the international code for access to international phone dialling. I have found that putting the + sign in on some cell phones appears as 00 but not always. Check as you dial. Good Luck.

 

[JabbaPapa]

When is the + sign necessary?

Never.

I'm not convinced that's true. I have tried called overseas numbers on my mobile and have had to use the + rather than the numbers themselves. Mind you, that was some time ago, these days I just use video calling.

OK, I can see that some mobile phone software might convert the + to the international dialling code, which makes sense, though I was unaware of this. Thanks. That's useful info !!

But that's still an ad hoc conversion of the + into the international dialling code, it's just being done automatically by the mobile rather than manually by the person making the call.

(BTW I live a few hundred yards from one International border, and about 10-12 miles from another, so these are questions of daily life for me )

 

[jmcorrigan]

@mustbejones, yes, 01133 for France and 01134 for Spain if you are dialing from the US. And in my experience, smartphones, at least, do understand a "+" in front of a number and will dial accordingly. I have been traveling between the US and France for a decade and my contacts have always been coded with a "+", and that way, I don't have to think about the issue, I just call that particular person/business and the phone takes care of the international dialing prefix (or not) for the country I'm in, and whether to drop leading zeroes from phone numbers (or not).

So, as an example, I can have a contact in the States with the phone number coded as "+1 (212) 555-1212". When I am in the States, but not in New York City, the phone just dials 12125551212. If I am in New York City, the phone just dials 5551212. If I am in France, the phone dials 0012125551212. I can also have a contact in France coded as "+33 (0)5 51 50 10 15" and when I dial that number in France it dials 0551501015, but in the US it dials 01133551501015. Magic