We have Rick's book " Italy 2017", but still a bit confused about calling collect to US using our US iPhone. This would be necessary to report lost or stolen credit cards or to call travel insurance co. Thanks for your help. Yancey Robertson
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5836 posts
Travel companions in China had a AT&T US plan enabled for use in China. It took them most of the trip and the aid of our Chinese guide calling China Mobile to figure out that the phone behaves as if it is still in the States. When they tried calling California from China with the US international access code it didn't work. To call a California number in China they just needed to dial 1+Area Code+ 7 digit number.
Check with your phone plan for instructions.
Posted by
Atlanta
4877 posts
Many companies to whom you would need to make a collect call will give you a U.S. number such as you listed. While this may or may not work for you (depending on phone, its' international sending / receiving capabilities, and carrier) this works for us. We use Verizon and both phones have international capabilities. Put the number in your contact list. If needed just go to that contact number and hit "send". The phone takes care of all the exit codes and country codes hoopla. Again, this may or may not work for you. As a general rule toll free U.S. numbers can not be dialed from Italy. I have seen (but can not locate just now) a number that one can call in Italy to get access to a system that will let you call toll free U.S. numbers. In addition, Visa and MasterCard both have toll free numbers that can be dialed within Europe. It might take a bit of digging to ferret them out, but they do exist -- I just don't have them handy right now. Also, if you have service with Verizon, ask for advice about this only with the folks in their international department. The people in the regular stores and regular customer service numbers simply do not know about the international stuff.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32835 posts
if you use skype you can call a US or Canadian toll free number free of charge and not worry about the collect bit. Obviously the number in your question is not a toll free one though.....
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32835 posts
do you have a problem now or just planning?
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Leaving very soon for Italy. Want to know how before getting there.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32219 posts
In my experience, making a collect call from Europe is somewhat difficult and cumbersome. Good luck finding an English-speaking operator!
The easiest solution is to just dial the "calls outside North America" number and don't worry about a few bucks for the call. My roaming plan includes a "free" bucket of minutes so I'm not concerned about short calls. In the case of stolen or lost credit cards, time is of the essence!
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
Install the Google Hangouts app on your phone, so you can just call for free while on WiFi or with mobile data: +1-603-308-1373 . You don't have to call collect - just call the regular phone number if you need to, with Hangouts.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9101 posts
AT&T has local access numbers in most countries around the world which allow you to connect to an English speaking operator in order to arrange a collect call:
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8473 posts
I always ask my bank for a non-toll-free number to call in case of emergency overseas, when I call to inform them of the trip. This would be a number I call and ask them to call me back. I program this into my phone contacts so my smartphone can figure it out. I have had to do this once. Just keep in mind the time difference.
Posted by
Houston
3519 posts
Most options for making collect calls are based on using a land line. While they may work on a cell phone, you will not escape the per minute usage charges you get billed while in a foreign country. Just dial the number directly if calling from your US-based cell phone.