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SIM card and texting/calling numbers

Looking for help for this senior---going to purchase a Netherlands SIM card upon arrival in Leiden late next week. Plan to do so at shop (Vodafone) so they will insert the SIM. My question is I'm getting confused about how to text/call internal Netherlands phone numbers (we are meeting a friend who will be purchasing a SIM there later and will want to text him). I've read "drop the 0" "drop the 00s", etc. and am getting confused. Do I dial the +, then the country number (it's 31?), then the 9 digit number---what zero do I drop?

Could someone please give me an example of a Netherlands phone number and how I would text to that number with my own Netherlands number! Sorry to be so dense but this seems to be driving me nuts as I am reading about dropping certain numbers! Help! Thank you so much ( I assume the clerk at the store where I purchase the SIM will help me as well, but I've had COVID and my short term memory is shot and want to write this down!). This seems so hard to me! Thanks again!

Posted by
1588 posts

Dutch telephone numbers, whether they are for a mobile phone or a landline consist of 10 digits. All telephone numbers start with a zero. And all mobile phone numbers start with 06.
If you dial a Dutch telephone number from abroad you need to replace that first zero by 0031. However this is all irrelevant for you, as you will have a Dutch SIM. If you have a Dutch SIM card you don’t need to drop any zero. You simply dial the 10 digit number your friend will give you.
So your Dutch mobile phone number and that of your friend wil have this format; 0612345678
To dial this number with a Dutch SIM card, you type in 0612345678
Should you wish to dial this number from abroad or with your own SIM card, you type in 0031612345678