UK CALLING GUIDE

Calling to United Kingdom

• General Tips for Calling to United Kingdom from the US
• Instructions for Calling to Cities within United Kingdom
• Instructions for Calling to Cell Phones in United Kingdom

Making Calls while in United Kingdom

• General Tips for Making Phone Calls within United Kingdom
• Tips for Calling Internationally from United Kingdom

Making Calls while in United Kingdom

• Information About United Kingdom Telephone System
• Important Phone Numbers To Know if Traveling to United Kingdom
• Other Important Information to Know About United Kingdom
• Fun Facts About United Kingdom

There are lots of ways to save money when calling the UK, but it’s best to start by getting the basics down.

General Tips for Calling to the UK from the US

STEP 1: Dial the international access code, 011

STEP 2: Dial the UK’s country code, 44.

STEP 3: Dial the area code (2 - 5 digits) omitting the leading 0.

STEP 4: Dial the telephone number you are trying to reach (4 to 8 digits).

Still can't connect?  Ask an international operator to help you place the call.  Just dial 00.

Instructions for Calling to Cities within the UK

The UK's largest city, London, uses the 20 area code with eight-digit local numbers. The area code can be omitted when calling a UK landline from any landline within the same area code. When calling any landline number within a different area code, from elsewhere within the UK, you must include the 0 trunk digit before the area code. When calling a UK number from outside the UK, first dial your international access code (for example 011 from US/Canada, or 00 from Europe), followed by the UK 44 country code. Next dial the area code without any leading zero, and then the local number.

London would be reached by dialing 020-local-number from elsewhere in the UK, and +44-20-local-number from abroad. For a call to Bristol you must dial 0117-local-number from within the UK, and +44-117-local-number from abroad. A call to the smaller town of Bolton would require dialing 01204-local-number from within the UK, and +44-1204-local-number from outside the UK. The + represents the international access code needed to make international calls from wherever the caller is located.

Here is a full list of city (area) codes:

Instructions for Calling to Cell Phones in the UK

As elsewhere in Europe, cell phones follow the calling party pays (CPP) system; whoever initiates a call pays for it.  If you are calling a UK cell phone from within the UK, you must dial the cellular prefix prior to dialing the local number.  The cellular prefix often depends upon the service provider, but the first 2 digits are always 07, followed by 3 additional digits.  e.g. For a call to a T-Mobile cell phone, a caller from within the UK would dial 079xx-xxx-xxx. 
For calls from outside the UK to a UK cellular phone, be sure not to dial the 0 before the cellular prefix. e.g. For a call to a UK T-Mobile cellphone, a caller from the US/Canada would dial 011-44-79xx-xxxxxx. From Europe the caller would dial 00-44-79xx-xxxxxx. Within the UK that same phone would be reached by dialing 079xx-xxxxxx.