iPhone need +44?

SooTyLaD · 29 Jul 2008 at 16:51

just wondering... I currently have my whole phone book in international (+44) format... This was from when I was on orange and it didn't route calls through the UK so standard numbers didn't work when abroad...

So, on o2 and the iPhone do you need the +44?

tom_e · 29 Jul 2008 at 16:58

if your going to be using it outside the UK then yes you will need to keep the +44 if not then no

AdWright · 29 Jul 2008 at 17:20

That goes for international roaming on any phone.

Works fine from within the UK with +44 instead of 0, so you may as well keep it as is so that you don't need to change numbers when you go abroad

JonB · 29 Jul 2008 at 18:20

AdWright said:
That goes for international roaming on any phone.

Not true. I'm with O2 and whenever i've been roaming, calling a UK number without the +44 has got me through to who i've wanted.

peter_hutson · 30 Jul 2008 at 12:41

The iphone has a "international assist" option somewhere in the settings. When abroad it will automatically add the +44 if needed, provided it is enabled. I believe it is my default. So the +44 does not need to be added. But if you already have it on all your contacts, I would not bother removing it.

AdWright · 30 Jul 2008 at 13:00

JonB said:
Not true. I'm with O2 and whenever i've been roaming, calling a UK number without the +44 has got me through to who i've wanted.

Fair enough, you learn something new every day. I wonder how the roaming network determines that you are trying to phone a UK number rather than a local one though?

EDIT:
It appears you do need the +44

The numbers in your phone book need to have the international dialling format i.e. +44 for the UK and remove the first digit from the area code.

http://www.o2international.co.uk/BeforeYouGo.aspx

JonB · 30 Jul 2008 at 13:22

Despite what it says on their website, I've never needed too.

SooTyLaD · 30 Jul 2008 at 13:24

the plot thickens... i downloaded the iPhone manual (didn't even know there was one lol) and it says the following:

Set iPhone to add the correct prefix when dialing from another country: In Settings,
tap Phone, then turn International Assist on. This lets you make calls to your home
country using the numbers in your contacts and favorites, without having to add a
prefix or your country code.1

however, dunno about you guys but i dont have this option... the other thing is maybe in General > International there is Region Format... maybe this is it?