All my credit cards have customer service numbers to be used outside the States that say, "call collect". With all the other complications of international calls, I'm not sure how to do that... I haven't made a collect call in years, but it used to be that the first digit was "0" rather than "1". "1" is also our country code. Normal calls from Europe to US are as follows: 00 1 xxx xxxx, does anyone know how to call collect, I sure can't figure it out and need help.
Thanks,
Tom
Thank You Michael, your reponse was exactly the information I wanted... I've saved the instructions for the four countries I'll be visiting on my Ipod.
One more little planning detail taken care of, thanks this site and the experts who lend their experience.
Tom
Well I can tell you from personal experience how NOT to do it. If you call from a pay phone do NOT use the numbers posted all over it entitled "CALL CHEAP TO THE USA"...I did that and the rate was totally astronomical.
Now I just use my cell phone.
All the US Telco companies have toll-free European numbers you can call and make collect calls to the US. You can find those numbers in Rick's guidebooks. In addition if you're bringing along a laptop you can use Skype to make cheap internet calls. Skype will accept US toll-free numbers from anywhere in the world, but you will have to pay for the call.
As to Skype, which I love, I'm leaving that behind along with my laptop and taking my new Ipod touch equipped with "Truphone" which does let me make calls, so long as I have an internet connection, for 6 cents a minute. I've read Rick's guide books on international calling, and I'll just get an international phone card when I'm there. I only plan to call home if I have some kind of emergency, so calling is a low priority for me. Nothing I've read in the guide books describe how to make a Collect call though. I suppose calling has become so inexpensive no one cares any more about the "reverse the charges" method.
Usually you can call from the post office where they have phone cabins. You give them phone number you want to call collect and when they connect and verify that the call will be accepted they send you to take your call in the cabin. To do it from the public phone or private one you probably have to go through operator.
Here are the AT&T instructions on how to make collect via their European toll-free access numbers:
http://tinyurl.com/c98643
AT&T wouldn't place a collect call for me from France to a Emergency Assistance number from Allianz Global Assistance.
