phone number information

800 and 888 areacodes

In the USA, the 800 and 888 areacodes indicate toll-free numbers. They may not be called from outside the USA. Many of the companies listed here with toll-free numbers also include another number which may be called directly from outside the USA.
(See the last paragraph)

So-called 'Normal' form phone numbers

Phone numbers have a so-called 'normal' form, and the numbers listed in these Web pages try to follow the standard, which looks like:

+Country code (city code) local-number

Note that the country code for the USA is '1', and we generally use the term "area code" instead of "city code".

Calling a Foreign country from the USA

To call a foreign number from within the USA, you must dial:

Access code + 01 + Country + City + local-number

Where the access code determines your long distance service company. For example, 011 is AT&T. The 01 after the access code signals that an international number follows. For example, to call the Moto Guzzi factory in Italy (from the USA), call:

011 01 39 341 709111

AT& offers up-to-date lists of country codes and city codes online.

Calling a USA number from a Foreign country

Use the information provided by your local phone company, or you may use AT&T directly (which has two advantages — lower cost and the ability to dial the 10-digit USA number directly). To use AT&T visit their Web page at http://www.usa.att.com/traveler/tools/downloads.jsp to find out the local access number for AT&T in your country. This will be a local phone call which will give you an English-speaking operator with whom you can place the call. You will need a local phone company phone card (or an AT&T Universal Card) to bill your call. You may even make collect calls to the USA in this way.

For example, the local AT&T access number in Germany is:

0130 0010

There are similar access numbers for other USA long distance carriers, like Sprint and MCI. You can visit their websites for the details...