One more simple cell phone question
 

My daughter will be flying alone to meet us in Italy. She will have her cell phone with international roaming. My husband will have his cell phone with international roaming. If she needs to contact us, for instance, if she gets stranded in Frankfurt, what numbers will she dial? To sum up, a US number cell phone calling another US number cell phone, but both in Europe.

Normally, you dial the international access number (key in + that covers all countries), then 1 for US and the cell phone number, dropping the first 0. But many cellphone networks (certainly those in Germany) correctly recognize the roaming phone's origin (US in your case) and allow you to dial a US number without international prefix.

Alec...

It works slightly different in the USA...there is no lead 0 on US phone numbers ot indicate to the switching equipment it is a US call...the answer is simple...simply dial + 1 area code number...as noted sometimes the equipment will note that it is a US call to a US number but why bother...it never hurts to put the +.

BTW...this will be expensive (not that I am saying you shouldn't do it)...your daughter will pay the international roaming charge rounded up to the next minute and you will pay the international roaming rate rounded up to the next highest minute but as noted if you are just doing it once or twice, so what.

Her cell phone is provided by her employer. She asked about getting it unlocked so she could buy a prepaid sim card in Italy, and was told not to worry about it, they would put her on an international roaming plan. Nice, huh? And my husband travels internationally for his job, so his is also paid for. So the answer is 1 plus area code plus number?
Thanks!
deb

Deb - you usually actually need a + sign, then the 1, then area code and number. On my blackberry -I get the + by pressing and holding the 0 down.

+1 234 5678900

thanks so much. I didn't know anything at all about the + on a cell phone!!
Deb

You can also dial 001+AC+the number

Yup you most certainly can....00 is the recognized code for international calls throughut most of the world except, what a surprise, North American where it is 011.

The nice thing about GSM code + is that it works on cell phones when in Europe (to call the USA dial + 1 212 555 1212) and it works the other way when using your cell phone in the USA to call say London you dial + 44 20 7555 1212 if the British number is listed as 020 7555 1212 with 44 being the country code for the UK and as Alec noted, in this case, you drop the lead 0. (or you can dial in the US 011 44 etc.)

The nice thing about + you don't have to worry where you are...incidentally it never hurts to add the plus if you are within the same country so on the phones I use to travel I enter all phone number with the +.