Each country has its own number system for making phone calls. Making international phone calls also requires the caller to use additional international dialing codes. United Kingdom travelers to the United States, or other individuals making phone calls from the U.S. to the U.K., must use an "exit code" and "country code" when calling the U.K. The codes create a connection to the U.K. phone system. The U.S. caller can then dial the local U.K. number to connect with a phone in the U.K.
Begin with dialing "011," which is the U.S. exit code. Each country has an exit code for international dialing. Always dial the exit code first.
Dial "44"--the country code for the U.K. Each country has a code for incoming calls that you must dial before the area code and phone number. Dialing the "44" country code allows you to call U.K. phone numbers.
Follow with the area code for the U.K. phone number. If you do not have the area code, the HowToCallAbroad website has a list of U.K. area codes by city on its "How to Call England From the USA/Canada" page. According to HowToCallAbroad, each U.K. area code has from two and five digits. If you don't have Internet access, you may dial "00" in the U.S. to connect to international directory assistanc to get the area code. Each local phone company sets its own fee of approximately $3 for this service.
Finish with dialing the phone number. A U.K. phone number has from four and eight digits. Do not dial the "trunk code" as part of the local U.K. number. A trunk code is the number that callers use in front of a phone number when dialing a long-distance number to a phone in the same country. Exclude the "0" U.K. trunk code when calling from the U.S. to the U.K. Dial "7" as the first number for a cell phone when calling the U.K. from the U.S.
