Phoning Home from Caribbean

[smurfchops]

What is the phone code from the caribbean dialling to London ? Is it something like 0044 ?

[dotty.]

sounds about right, I have phoned home from Mexico antigua and cuba and it was that i think as it is the uk code. I was on a catamaran in cuba just about to set off on an island cruise and my son rang to say he had crashed my car in the drive thru macdonalds back home, so the reception is quite good too.

[smurfchops]

Bet you wanted to know that while you were on holiday dotty ...

[dotty.]

I was abit miffed as you can imagine, he was only insured to drive it as a learner.

[237SJ]

011 44

[VHG]

Dont you have to drop the leading zero on the UK number as well?

So if you are dialling London on 0208..... I think you drop the 0 in front and just dial 208....

[SlackAlice]

International dialling code for the UK is 0044. If your dialling a 'phone' remove the initial 0 (zero) and the same with a mobile, remove the initial 0 (zero)

[237SJ]

International dialing code for the UK is 44.The code to get out of which ever country you are in varies. Is the USA/Caribbean not 011?

[Buenchico]

Are you confused by all of those answers, Smurfchops? The correct information has been provided but, in case you're still confused, I'll try to sort it out for you.

When making any international call, the first thing you need to do is to start with the number that accesses the international exchange system of the country which you're dialling from. That varies between countries. In most of (but not all of) Europe, including the UK, that's '00'. From Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago it's 011, but from Cuba it's 119 and from Haiti it's 00.

Then you dial the code for the country you require. For the UK that's always '44'

Lastly you dial the full number of the phone. In nearly all countries (including the UK) where a leading '0' forms part of the number, it should be omitted.

So, from the majority of Caribbean countries 01234 456789 becomes 011 44 1234 456789.

You'll see, from the above, that it's the first part of the international number which can be tricky. (If you're in a strange country, you might not know the international access code from that country). However most countries telephone systems now recognise using '+' (from your mobile phone) as an alternative way of dialling the international access code (so you don't need to know what that code actually is). Assuming that the Caribbean systems recognise that system, dialling + 44 1234 456789 should also work.

Chris

[craft1948]

I've only ever used the + 44 when in the Caribbean (I also racked up £97 worth from my mobile)

[Buenchico]

Well I'm pleased that you actually know why there's a '+' key on the keypad, Craft. Most people don't seem to know what it does!

[boxtops]

Thing is, with my mobile I just click on the number on the phone and it just dials it, you don't need to know the ++ etc. I've called home this way from several countries including North Africa.
Would it not be better just to buy an international calling card and go to the nearest phone box?

[bushbaby_de]

Chris - your answers are always so well laid out and explained in a straight forward way. I wish you were my teacher :)

[craft1948]

lol Chris..............32 years at BT.

[237SJ]

In my experience, if you are calling the UK to a land line you dial 01144. If you are calling a UK mobile you just dial the number.Most UK mobiles are set up with roaming agreements from foreign telecom companies so that you just have to dial the UK number.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your posts, Bushbaby & Craft ;-)

Smurfchops:
Boxtops has got a valid point there. In quite a few countries, simply dialling the number you want (or recalling it from memory) in exactly the same way as you would from the UK works. (I discovered that when, without thinking, I just pressed the usual 'memory' button to dial my friend's UK landline number, even though I was abroad at the time. The local telephone system recognised that my phone was registered to a UK service provider and routed it via that provider's system automatically).

I've since found out (by trial and error) that just dialling as normal will work from lots of countries, but not from all of them.

Chris