Telephones in Amsterdam

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Telephones

Area & Country Codes

The country code for the Netherlands is 31. The area code for Amsterdam is 020. To call an Amsterdam number within Amsterdam, you don't need the city code: just dial the seven-digit number. To call Amsterdam from elsewhere in the Netherlands, dial 020 at the start of the number. In addition to the standard city codes, there are three other prefixes used: public information numbers starting with 0800 are free phone numbers, but the information lines with the prefix 0900 are charged at premium rates (35¢ a minute or more), and 06 numbers indicate mobile (cell) phones.

When dialing a Dutch number from abroad, you drop the initial zero from the local area code, so someone calling from New York, for example, to Amsterdam would dial 011 + 31 + 20 + the seven-digit phone number. From the United Kingdom, dial 00 + 31 + 20 + phone number. When you are dialing from the Netherlands overseas, the country code is 00-1 for the United States and Canada, 00-61 for Australia, 00-64 for New Zealand, and 00-44 for the United Kingdom. All mobile and land-line phones in Holland are 10 digits long (some help lines and information centers, like the rail inquiry line, have only 8 digits), with most area codes 3 digits and phone numbers 7 digits. Generally, Amsterdam phone numbers are composed of a three-digit area code and a seven-digit phone number. Venturing out into Holland, you'll find most phone numbers in the provinces comprise a four-digit area code and a six-digit phone number.

Directory & Operator Assistance

To ask directory assistance for telephone numbers outside the Netherlands, dial 0900/8418 (calls are charged at EUR 1.15 an inquiry). For numbers within the Netherlands, dial 0900/8008 (calls are charged at EUR 1.15).

To reach an international operator, make a collect call, or dial toll-free to a number outside the Netherlands, dial 0800/0410; to speak to a local operator, or make a collect call within the Netherlands, dial 0800/0101.

Public Phones

Since hotels tend to overcharge for international calls, it is best to use a prepaid telephone card, or telekaart, in a public phone. When making a call, listen for the dial tone (a low-pitched hum), insert a phone card or credit card, then dial the number. Phone cards work only in booths affiliated with the card's company, so Telfort cards work only in orange Telfort booths, found on station platforms, and within towns; KPN cards can be used only in KPN booths, screened by green-edged glass.

Since the increase in cellular phones, the number of phone cells, or phone booths, is decreasing. At every railway station there are pay phones, either in the ticket hall or on the platforms. There are clusters of pay phones around pedestrian squares, but the railway station phones are all Libertel, and you can use only a Libertel card or coins, whereas the pay phones out on the street are KPN Telecom, where you need to use another card. Awkward, yes -- and the reason is that the stations are the property of the NS (Nederlandse Spoorweg, or Dutch Train System), and so they have their own contract with Libertel, whereas public ground is owned by the government, which has a contract with former state firm KPN. The newest KPN phone booths also accept credit cards.

To make a call, lift the receiver, wait until you hear a dial tone, a low-pitched constant hum, then insert the appropriate card or coins. Dial the number, and as soon as your correspondent picks up the receiver, you are connected. To make an international call, dial 00, followed by the country code, then drop the first 0 of the area code.

Telfort phone booths and public phones found in bars and cafés accept coins from EUR 0.10 to EUR 2.

Off-peak rates apply Monday-Friday 8 PM-8 AM and all weekend. Phone cards in increments of EUR 5, EUR 8, and EUR 10 (approximately) can be bought from VVVs (local branches of the Netherlands Board of Tourism), post offices, train stations, newsstands, and tobacconists.