General information
How often is the site updated?
Carrying out a Search
To find the Country that relates to a particular dial code
To find the dial code for a specific Country
Making International phone calls
How do I call someone who has gone abroad?
How do I call home when I'm abroad?
Other Phone Book Products
What is 118505?
The International codes section of The Phone Book online allows you to find the dialling code for a particular Country along with the codes for the major Cities within that Country, or the Country that relates to a particular dialling code.
We also provide additional useful information about every Country. This includes background information about a Country such as Capital City, currency, language and national flags. We also provide time zone information and details of what the various telephone tones sound like when making calls to and within each Country. Where available, we will also provide a link to a directories website that provided telephone numbers for businesses and people within that Country.
How often is the site updated?
International dialling codes are changed from time to time. Our data will be updated to reflect these changes once we have confirmation of the changes that are made.
Select the International codes link to carry out a search.
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To find the Country that relates to a particular dial code:
- Select the ‘a location by dial code’ radio button above the search field
- Select the down arrow at the right hand end of the search field. A list of Country dialling codes will be presented with the Country name shown to the right of the code.
- Select the code that you want to view the Country information for that code.
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To find the dial code for a specific Country:
- First select the ‘a dial code by location’ radio button above the search field. Next select the down arrow at the right hand end of the search field. A list of Country names will be presented. Select the Country name that you want to view code information for.
- If you know the region where the Country is located, select the region name (eg. ‘Asia’). From the list presented back, make a further selection of the Country you are looking for (eg. ‘Thailand’). The Country & dial code information will be shown, with links to other pages of useful information such as ‘Time Zones’ and ‘Dial Tones’.
- If you know the Country name you can also select this from an alphabetical list of Country names. Simply select the letter of the alphabet you require and then select the Country name from the list shown.
This type of search can be useful if you are unsure of the spelling of the Country name and the region in which it is located. - If you want to return to the first search page for International codes at any time, select the ‘Country directory’ link to the right of the search field.
There are several ways to search for dial codes -
Making International phone calls
How do I call someone who has gone abroad?
To make an international call all you need to do is:
- Dial the International Access Code of the country you are calling from, e.g. from the UK this is '00'
- Dial the Country Code for the country you are calling to e.g. for the USA this is '1'
- Dial the Area Code (if there is one) e.g. for San Francisco this is '415'
- Finally, dial the phone number of the person you want to call
So to call someone in San Francisco you should dial 00 1 415 and the number of the person you wish to call.
How do I call home when I'm abroad?
Many countries including the UK quote an initial '0' in the area code when telephone numbers are given out e.g. London is quoted as 020 and High Wycombe is 01494.
This initial '0' should not be dialled when calling from outside that country, so to call someone in High Wycombe from France, you would dial 00 (International Access Code) 44 (UK country code) 1494 and the person's number.
There are some exceptions to this rule:
When dialling Italy and former USSR countries, the initial '0' must always be dialled.
When dialling area codes in Finland, Iceland or Turkey neither the initial '0' nor the initial '9' should be dialled."
For further information on Country and area codes, refer to the relevant Country pages within our International codes section.
What is 118505?
118 505* is the International voice Directory Enquiry service from BT. Features include searches for businesses and people outside of the UK. We also provide International dialling code information for most major cities and Countries around the World. Onward connection can be offered to many Countries.
