Telephone exit codes

[Loose rivets]

Skype and others seem to commonly use + to precede the country code. Having spent an hour trying to get WhatsApp established with a pal in Ireland, I'm not sure what's going wrong. I'm dialling +353 87 XXXX XXXX That's too many digits for a mobile phone is it not? But importantly, is in standard now to use + instead of 00 ?

I've recently cancelled my Skype international as it was costing 5.99 a month for a minute here and there. It's odd how I miss this as I have no way to call Ireland to say, How about a Skype? Bizarre in this modern world, but I suppose the old telephone systems are in their death throws and fighting the system.
I'm told that when we've both got everything right, prior to the first call, he will just appear in my WhatsApp list saying he's there. Does this sound sensible?

In the absence of a schoolboy, I phoned the Rivetess, without whom I'd still be trying to turn my phone on.

[Jhieminga]

A lot of phones (of the smart variety) automatically convert the leading 00 to a + when adding a phone number to the contacts list. Whether it's the new 'standard', who knows as long as it works. Keep in mind that while your current state of residence may use 00 as an international access code, there may be other states that do not.

As for Whatsapp, to get it to work you need two things:
- install the Whatsapp app, and go through the 'setup' process. It's been a while but I think you get a text message at some point that confirms the link between the installed app and the phone/number. The app also needs to be able to access the contacts on your phone. If you've successfully used Whatsapp before on this phone, this is most likely already sorted.
- Make sure that the persons that you would like to contact via Whatsapp are stored in the contacts list on your phone. As for how to format their numbers... you'd best check that in the phone's documentation (I know, that doesn't exist anymore, but Googling 'storing international numbers in <model phone>' should do the trick).

If you've taken these steps, you should be able to initiate a new Chat in Whatsapp, just tap the relevant icon (top right) and select the contact from the list. If the person doesn't show up in that list, there may be something wrong with the way you've entered their number, or they do not have Whatsapp installed correctly on their end.
Hope this helps.

[767-300ER]

The + (plus) symbol represents your international dialing code (also sometimes called the exit code), ie in North America to dial internationally you dial 011 then you dial the country code and phone number....to dial a UK number .... +44 20 XXXX XXXX you would dial 011 44 20 XXXX XXXX...

from the UK to dial north america 613-525-xxxx , you dial 00-1-613-525-XXXX

Since each country is different, it is abbreviated to a + symbol

[Squawk 6042]

I call Ireland on WhatsApp using +353 87 XXX XXXX; that's one less 'X; than you show.

[Loose rivets]

Thanks everyone. Each post was enlightening.

Indeed, I'd got too many digits but it was just another 0 on the end so would have not affected things in the old days, but the 'smart' phone divided the number up based on being confused. That and having a confused owner did not help.

Since each country is different, it is abbreviated to a + symbol

Yes, but erm somewhere something in the phone must know what to send out . . . unless all countries agree to this new protocol.

Having made changes to my main list, I forgot about it, until feeling a pleasurable vibration on me left nipple. I grabbed the phone and there was no doubt it was vibrating* but nothing on the screen. Finally, and I still don't know how, I received a high definition picture of my pal's head and agreed to Skype on big screens where we were able to play with phones and sort out the final issues. Great, but still the logic of answering was clouded. This is when I Edited the number and allowed Notifications. One or both corrections seemed to resolve the issue, though one has to be very aware of the difference between CHATS and CALLS lists.

I now find there's no family consensus between WhatsApp and Signal. The Rivetess favours the latter, I assume because she's naturally secretive.

*Vibrations. For years I've felt vibrations from the phone. It's so feint that I'm not certain, but it is consistent in its teasing. Now I've read an article that says this is very common and that the vibration is generated in our minds because of an anticipated sensation. I find it had to believe, but stranger things . . .

[Jhieminga]

Phone number structure explained: https://tapadoo.com/what-every-programmer-should-know-about-phone-numbers/

Short summary: thanks to the GSM consortium (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSMA) we can use the + sign on any mobile phone to tell it to use the local international access code. In a similar way, dialling 112 on a mobile phone will always connect you to the local emergency number.

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!]

"Exit codes"??? what do you mean by Exit codes?

I thought this was going to be a list of the ways to get out of the dreaded VRU when calling a company. Someone somewhere has compiled a list of keystrokes that'll take yu directly to a human. Years ago, just pressing zero would do this, but they've tightened up on that a lot

Our helpline at work has a VRU and it's absolutely useless - especially as I'm technically an immigrant! I've found that just mumbling incoherently makes it realise that (i) someone is there, but (ii) they can't understand what I'm saying, so drop down into the touchtone menu

As well as mumbling, I've found that useful words are: Representative, Human, Agent and Person

[Jhieminga]

"Exit codes"??? what do you mean by Exit codes?
The numbers you need to type into your phone so that it sends out the tracking signal for the mothership to find you and then beam you up.... oops.... shouldn't have said that..... :uhoh:

[pax britanica]

I was a member of the Inetrnational Telecoms Union group that came up with a standard to allow users not operators to dial international codes and as ahs been pointed out while the country code, 44 UK 33 France etc is always going to be the same the way the domestic network worked all sorts of numbers were used to access 'international' .

At the same time this group was standardising the telephone push button pad as far as that was possible. In some countries the three letter groups under the numbers are slightly different . The key pad had two extra buttons * and # and although not used for setting up calls by users they were sued by international operators. Also some countries used ** to generate the + . When mobiles came along the EU and the GSM mobile phone governing body agreed that in Europe 00 would be the international access code but that didnt work anywhere so it was back to the plus sign meaning put your countries international access code here. it also signified it was an international number as not every country uses zero as an access code , USA for instance . trying to get a roomful of people to agree what to call ~ was a real herding cats effort

It was also supposed to be a recommendation that people would use + on business cards and letter heads but it also caused a lot of confusion. compounded by people giving their number as 44 0 7xxx xxxx

99 percent of countries need you to drop the ) but as always there are exceptions

standardisation , well the aviation business knows all about that with height in feet, runways in meters, wrights in Kg etc , nice idea to have a common set-hard to do

Soon

[kenparry]

pax:

I think I can understand what you mean, but a little spell checking would make readers' lives easier................ pretty please?