Blocking International Calls

If you contact your carrier to have a standard international block placed on your phone lines, you must remember that the block covers only outbound calls that require the user to dial 011. International blocks don’t block calls to Canada, the Caribbean, or any other locations in the North American dialing plan. If you see calls to Trinidad or St. Kitts, please do not get upset with your carrier; it’s not your long-distance carrier’s fault that international calls are still being completed by your employees. You should program your phone system to block the area codes you don’t want contacted. If you do not have a phone system, you can always ask your carrier to assign account codes to your phone line so you can at least identify who in your office is making the calls. (See Chapter 1 if you are wondering about account codes.)

Playing the international dialing trivia game

 Technical Stuff  The only two countries in the world with a one-digit country code are the United States (with country code 1), and Russia (with country code 7). If you call the U.S. from London, Paris, or Tokyo, you must dial the country’s international dialing prefix (which, of course, changes by country), and then 1+area code+555-5555.

Most international city codes do not begin with a 0. The exception (there’s always an exception) occurs in a few cities in Italy.

Mexico is the only country that’s been broken up by long-distance carriers into seven different pricing bands. It is now more common to rate calls to Mexico by city, cellphone, and special service. Imagine dropping a stone into a pond; each ripple is farther from the center than the one inside it. This is how Mexico was initially set up, but in reverse. The geographic areas that are easiest to reach, like Tijuana, and the border towns by Texas are Band 1. As you go farther inland, the band numbers increase, along with the cost to complete the calls.

The most expensive international calls you can make are ship-to-shore calls and shore-to-ship calls. Both types of calls are equally pricey. These calls are also commonly called Inmarsat (International Maritime Satellite Organization) calls. The rate for these calls can top $25 per minute (no, I’m not kidding) to reach a ship in the Pacific. For that price, you would expect at least a rundown of your horoscope for the week or some lucky numbers you can choose for the lotto! Or you could save your money and just take that cruise instead!