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How to recognize US numbers

joooeey
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

Many of my friends use US numbers here in Vancouver for which I get charged exorbitant long-distance charges. How can I recognize U.S. numbers, so that I know that this call will be expensive?

2 REPLIES 2

Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

Hello Joooeey,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  Firstly, do your friends have mobile plans from the US? If they do, then the area code of their phone numbers would reflect a US number. Additionally, if they do have a US number, you would have to dial them using the international dialling format.

 

  The proper international dialling format from Canada is 011 followed by Country Calling Code followed by Area Code followed by phone number.

 

 or + followed by Country Calling Code followed by Area Code followed by phone number from anywhere.

 

  If they don't have mobile plans from the US, the it can be a little more difficult. Many people use apps or other online services which can provide local or US numbers. If they use a US number, then the area code trick above should also work. However, depending on the app or service they use, a seemingly local number can also incur long-distance charges. It's because the calls have to route through the app's or third party's servers which are often US-based. So those calls would be local calls forwarded via their US servers (long-distance). If this is the case, it is not possible to distinguish which numbers would incur long-distance charges. You would have to ask your friends if the phone numbers they have provided are Canadian mobile/landline or via an app or third party service.

 

  If your friends are living in Vancouver, I think it's unlikely they would continue to use their US mobile plans (unless they are only visiting) because they would be considered roaming. Even if their US plans include roaming, I'm doubtful any Canadian provider would allow indefinite roaming.

 

Hope this helps Smiley

 

Cheers


joooeey
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

Thanks that really helped! I'm from Europe and always save the full numbers including country code to make it easier to call from abroad. There I never had an issue because it's very clear that every number with the same country code is national and with a different one is long-distance. Here there's not really anything like that (short of memorizing which North American area codes are Canadian, US, etc.)

So I'll resort to the ten digits then. That always gives me a clear warning.

 

I come across many people who live in Vancouver and have a standard American phone plan...