Telephone numbering in the Americas
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[edit] North America
[edit] North American Numbering Plan
Country Code: 1
International Call Prefix: 011
In the United States (including its territories), Canada, Bermuda, and 16 Caribbean nations, area codes are regulated by the North American Numbering Plan. Currently, all area codes (officially called numbering plan areas) in the NANP must have 3 digits. Despite being one numbering plan, the cost of calling numbers in the NANP (both from inside and from outside) can vary wildly depending on which country of the NANP the code is in. As a result, great care is needed on the part of a caller to avoid unexpectedly large bills.
Not all area codes correspond to a geographical area. Codes 8xx (excluding 811 and 899) with the last two digits matching, such as 800, 888, 877, 866, etc., are reserved for toll-free calls. Code 900 is reserved for premium-rate calls (also known as dial-it services, although such services also exist in some places on a local basis using a particular three-digit prefix following the area code, often "976" or "540"). Area code 710 is reserved for the United States Government. Area code 600 is reserved for national Canadian services.
Mobile phones are allocated numbers within regular geographic area codes corresponding to or close to the subscriber's home or work location, instead of within a distinctive subset of area codes (e.g. 07xxx in the UK) and all the extra costs of mobile telephony must be borne by the mobiles owner (unlike in many countries where calling mobiles costs significantly more than calling landlines). Local number portability (LNP) applies across landline and mobile services. In some regions, customer can port a landline number to mobile service and vice-versa.
Dialing plans vary from place to place depending on whether an area has overlays (multiple area codes serving the same area) and whether the state requires toll alerting (a leading 1+ for toll calls.) The NANPA web site includes dialing plan information in their information on individual area codes.
In areas without overlays and without toll alerting, including much of California, Illinois, New York (excluding New York City, see below), and New Jersey, calls within an area code are dialed as seven digits (7D) and calls outside the area code as 1 followed by 10 digits (1+10D). Most areas allow permissive dialing of 1+10D even for calls that could be dialed as 7D. The number of digits dialed is unrelated to whether a call is local or toll. In some places, local calls to other area codes are 1+10D, in others they can be dialed as 10D without the leading 1.
In areas with overlays, local calls are all dialed as 10D. (In New York City, the preferred form is 1+10D but 10D also works.) In areas without toll alerting, all calls to numbers within the caller's area code and overlay codes serving the same area can be dialed as either 10D or 1+10D, while calls to other area codes must be 1+10D. In areas with toll alerting, all toll calls must be dialed as 1+10D.
Most areas permit local calls to be dialed as 1+10D except for Texas which requires that callers know which numbers are local and which are toll, dialing 10D for all local calls and 1+10D for all toll calls. The current profusion of dialing plans is quite confusing, and it appears likely that all areas will converge on 1+10D even in places where other forms are permitted.
Mobile phone users in North America are not generally required to dial 1, but do need to dial 10D for calls within the North America numbering plan unless:
- Calling from an area without an overlay, and
- Within the home area code of the mobile telephone
[edit] Mexico
Country Code: 52
In 1999 Mexico introduced the following new prefixes for use when making long distance calls from telephones in Mexico:
00 - international direct dialing (00 + country code + nat'l number)
including USA and Canada.
01 - domestic direct dialing (01 + area code + number)
02 - domestic operator dialing (02 + area code + number)
09 - international operator dialing (09 + country code + number)
including USA and Canada.
These codes are not used when calling Mexico from other contries. Such calls should be dialed using whatever international call prefix (such as +, 00, or 011) is required when making international calls from the country where the call originates.)
Mexican area codes are 3 digits long, except for Mexico City (55), Monterrey (81), Guadalajara (33) and their respective outlying areas.
Likewise, local numbers are 7 digits long, while Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara use 8 digit numbers. 8 digit numbers are commonly written two ways:
xxxx xxxx xx xx xx xx
When dialed within its local area, calling-party-pays mobile phone numbers have a designated prefix: 044 - mobile phone (044 + area code + number) For example, when calling within area code 33, a Guadalajara mobile phone would be dialed as: 044 33 xxxx xxxx This prefix is dropped when the number is dialed from another city in Mexico and the domestic prefix 01 is used since calling-party-pays calls can only be made when the mobile subscriber is being called from the same local area. This regulation changed since November 8, 2006, enabling calling-party-pays nationwide (prefix 045). However, some telco operators have refused the new scheme. Outside the country, mobiles are dialed in the same way as regular lines: +52 33 xxxx xxxx
It is common to see businesses with multiple lines on the same telephone exchange list their alternate lines without repeating the common numbers. For example, "(55) xxxx xx10, 19, 22 y 24" would signify a series of lines in Mexico City:
(55) xxxx xx10 (55) xxxx xx19 (55) xxxx xx22 (55) xxxx xx24
[edit] Central America
[edit] South America
[edit] Argentina
Main article: Argentine telephone numbering plan
Country Code: 54
International Call Prefix: 00
[edit] Brazil
Country Code: 55
International Call Prefix: 00 xx
In Brazil, long distance and international dialing requires the use of carrier selection codes, after the trunk code or international access code. The places where these codes are inserted are shown here by "xx" Some of these codes are:
- 15 for Telefónica
- 21 for Embratel
- 23 for Intelig
- 31 for Telemar
Area codes are distributed geographically (See List of Brazilian area codes for a list). National dialing is prefixed with 0 (the trunk code) followed by the carrier code (see above) then the area code and the number. For example, to call Rio de Janeiro from another city in Brazil, one would dial the trunk code '0', a two-digit code, the area code '21' and the subscriber's number. Consequently, a Rio de Janeiro number would be displayed in Brazil as
0xx21 nnnn nnnn.
A few areas use nnn-nnnn in lieu of nnnn nnnn, such as Natal (the area code for that state is '84', in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in northeastern Brazil. However, this practice will be phased out in 2006.
Mobile phone numbers are within the normal area codes but prefixed with the digit '7', '8' or '9'. They generally have eight digits (including the 7/8/9). Exceptions exist in Brasilia.
[edit] Colombia
Country Code: 57
International Call Prefix: 00
Bogotá: 1
Medellín: 4
Cali: 2
Pereira: 6
Armenia: 6
Manizales: 6
Cartagena: 5
Santa Marta: 5
B/manga: 7
Cucuta: 7
Tunja: 8
Leticia: 8
[edit] Ecuador
Country Code: 593
The Numbering Plan as defined by the national regulator can be found in: Fundamental Numbering Plan.
Mobile: 9 Azuay: 7 Bolivar: 3 Cañar: 7 Carchi: 6 Chimborazo: 3 Cotopaxi: 3 El Oro: 7 Esmeraldas: 6 Galapagos: 5 Guayas: 6 Imbabura: 6 Loja: 7 Los Rios: 5 Manabi: 5 Morona Santiago: 7 Napo: 6 Orellana: 6 Pastaza: 3 Pichincha: 2 Sucumbios: 6 Tungurahua: 3 Zabora Chinchipe: 7 Ambulance Service: 101 Fire Dept: 102 Emergency: 101 International access code: 00
[edit] Peru
Country Code: 51
Most area codes in Peru changed on 1 March 2003, providing an area code for each region (national subdivision).
Peruvian area codes are 2 digits long except for Lima (area code 1).
Also on that date, '9' was prepended to existing mobile numbers. Mobile subscriber numbers are now 8 digits in Lima (+51 1 9xxx xxxx) and 7 digits elsewhere (+51 xx 9xx xxxx).
- 103 is the telephone information number
- 105 is the Police Emergency Number
