OK, I purchased my tri-band unlocked gsm phone and a Virgin Mobile sim card on ebay. Now I want to create some entries in my phone's phonebook so I can make calls back to the US when I visit the UK. How do I enter US phone numbers onto my UK speed-dial list?

Is it the same as it would be if I were calling a UK number from the US? For example, would I put in 011 01 555-555-5555?

Thanks!

To call the USA from anywhere in Europe, you dial 00, then 1 (country code for US), then the area code and number.

Have fun!

001-44-area code-number

ha! sorry for repeating!

Most mobile phones have a key that says +...on the nokia phones I have it is found on the same key as *....in mobile phone technology + represents the international code...on the nokia phone to access + you press the * key twice in sucession, on others you hold down the key where + is till + appears in the window.

To call the phone number 555 555-5555 you would enter +555 555 5555 with the plus sign representing the international code wherever you are (it is actually 00 in the UK so you could also dial 00 1 555 555 5555 with 1 being the country code for the US and Canada (Canada does not even warrant its own country code, all part of the North American phone grid!)

If you were using your mobile to call from the US to a number in London (some international phone plans are fairly cheap) say 0207 341 5269 you would dial +44 207 341 5269 and the technology would recognize + for the international code 011 in the US....

Or just enter +1 followed by your area code and rest of the number. To get +, press 0 and keep your finger on the key until it changes to +.
So (212) 123-4567 would be entered as +1 212 123 4567.

OK, my phone has the + key. So I would enter +1 555 555 5555 and it should work correctly?

Absotively posilutely.

Actually, believe it or not, if you enter + before all entries you put in your phone's memory, even if you switch sim cards say to a US sim card and use the phone domestically, it will dial the number properly. Often times you see advertisements on foreign web sites with the + sign listed first such as +44 (0)207 555 3249 the + sort of indicating the next entry is the country code!

GREAT! I get it now. You guys are fantastic! Thanks a lot.