Dial an international call with the following sequence:
| Exit Code | Country Code | Local Phone Number |
| connects to the international switchboard | connects to the destination country's switchboard | phone number at the destination country |
This call sequence exists for calling between any two countries, except for calling between two regions that are both in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP).
NANP regions include Canada, the United States, a majority of Caribbean regions, and U.S. territories in the Pacific.
Step 1: The exit code
The first step is to dial the exit code.
This is a code that is needed to reach international switchboard.
The exit code varies by country – in most of Europe, Africa, and Asia, it is ’00’, in the United States and Canada it is ‘011’, in Australia it is ‘0011’, in Russia it is ‘8 – wait for the dial tone – 10’.
Once this code has been dialed, the phone is connected to the international switchboard.
On cellular phones, the exit code can be replaced with a ‘+’ – this allows the user to connect to the international switchboard from wherever they are located (as exit codes vary by country).
Step 2: The country code
Once the international switchboard is reached, the next step is to dial the destination country code.
This is the unique code assigned to each country (there are some regions that share a country code, however, the process is the same)
Dialing the country code connects the call to the destination country’s domestic switchboard.
Step 3: The local phone number
Once connected to the destination country’s domestic switchboard, the local phone number needs to be dialed.
The structure of local phone numbers varies between countries – some have phone numbers as short as five digits (some special numbers are even shorter) to as long as 15 digits or more.