How to Dial Internationally
Start with the access prefix
From a landline or mobile plan, dial the international access prefix for your country first: 00 is common in Europe and Asia, 011 is used in North America, and some carriers accept + directly from mobile phones.
When you write a number with a plus sign, your phone converts the plus into the correct local prefix automatically. For a saved contact, +49 30 1234567 works both at home and abroad.
Add the country code and drop the trunk zero
After the access prefix, dial the destination country code, then the area or city code without its leading trunk zero. A London number written as 020 7946 0958 becomes +44 20 7946 0958.
Countries such as Italy use the leading zero as part of the area code, so Italian mobile and landline numbers keep that zero after +39. When in doubt, use the number exactly as the recipient shared it.
Example: calling Japan from the United States
To call a Tokyo number from the United States, dial 011 for the US international prefix, then 81 for Japan, then 3 for Tokyo, then the eight-digit local number. The full sequence is 011 81 3 1234 5678.
On a mobile phone you can usually replace 011 with + and dial +81 3 1234 5678. The country code lookup page for Japan includes +81 as the code and links to this guide.