Daniel_Williams

Hi

A friend of mine asked me to call him; he gave me his number which I will put here:

014 (4) 416 56##

(The last two numbers I leave out to preserve his privacy, but replace ## with something like 16, 94, etc...)I wish to dial this number from Canada (similar rules from US I'd expect).

When I dialed Monterrey last year, it took me awhile but I figured it out eventually
011-52-81-8342-4806, was the hotel I was staying at for example. Even that was confusing because my guidebook only gave the 8 digit number (8342-4806), the white pages here in Canada gave 8 as the city code for Monterrey, so I kept thinking the number was 011-52-8342-4806 (011 international, 52 Mexico, and I thought that first 8 was the city code for Monterrey, although I also tried 011-52-8-8342-4806)...maybe you can see my confusion here. It took finding hotel listings in Monterrey on the internet with the (81) code for Monterrey to figure it out. I know now calling my hotel Mexico City was 011-52-55-5###-####, again confusing because the White Pages lists the city code for Mexico City as 5 when it's actually 55 followed by the eight digit number.

*Sorry for that rant* MY PROBLEM... my friend's number he writes as 014 4416 56##, I dial 011-52-014-4416-56##, operator error, I try 011-52-14-4416-56##, operator error. I discovered the code for Saltillo is 84, so I try 011-52-84-4416-56##; I get some woman but not my friend! (Could that 014 number be for cell phones only?) I'm at a loss and Bell operators have generally been useless in helping me out (I even had to figure out how to call Monterrey on my own last year even though I tried the operator!).

IF any of you experienced travellers have suggestions, please let me know!

Cheers, DAN

Dude

Doesn't the country code- 52- come first? Then area code, city code, and number.

Daniel_Williams

Hey Dude

Thanks for the tip... but I'm not sure I understand what you meant. For calls in Mexico 011 international code always comes before the Mexico country code 52; this worked phoning Monterrey and Mexico City.

Anyhow, maybe to help me understand what you mean, if you could write the numbers you would dial to phone 014 (4) 416-56##, that would help.

Cheers and thanks! DAN

Jean_Valjean

You have to dial:

011 52 844 416 56##

I believe that your friend omitted the 8 that comes after the 52.

Jean_Valjean

Oops... just realized that you've tried this already!!

It doesn't look like a cell phone... Stupid question... are you sure that this is in Saltillo? Maybe it is in other, smaller town in Coahuila?

All phone numbers in Saltillo should be

011
52
844
plus 7 numbers...

Daniel_Williams

Thanks Jean Valjean

I will try again what you wrote. That was the only number combination that I actually got through to Mexico. One possibility is that I dialed the *wrong number* for the last few digits of his number and that's why I got a woman who was not my friend. He phoned me in Canada (I was not in) and this time he did not omit the 8. His address is listed as Saltillo.

DAN

Santa_Claus

If you ever get hung on how to dial a phone number, why not ask the telephone company operator directly? Waiting for a reply on a message board would be Santa's last resort...

Merry Christmas!

Daniel_Williams

Thanks for all the advice.

I got through to my friend...
011-52-84-4416-56## was correct. I must have misdialed last time when I got the woman.

Santa, I did try the operator last year when I wanted to phone Monterrey... they told me the code was 8 for Monterrey as does the White Pages I have. This was not helpful to me since the number I wanted to phone was 8342-4806; I needed to phone 011-52-81-8342-4806. The -81- was the part that the operators I spoke to seemed ignorant of. Maybe Canadian operators are generally uninformed on how to phone Mexican numbers... that is what brought me to this site, hoping for some hands-on experience. And I actually got the help I needed from good Jean Valjean!

Cheers! DAN