Basic number formatting


As we all know calling is your everyday bread, so let’s take a look on how it works. To call out via 3CX you have to use a  specific number format:


00 COUNTRYCODE PHONENUMBER

 

In this case 00 represents a “+” that you would normally use on your mobile phone. You need to know country code for specific country which you can find here. (Intranet, Contact list, Country codes)

 

Example:

Let’s say you want to call to a Swedish number (+468201960).


00468201960


Instead of “+” you use 00 and as you use 46 which is country code for Sweden recipient of the call will be seeing a Swedish number calling to him (this way it’s more likely that the recipient will pick up, as he sees local number).

It is important to remember that calling a country like this will mask you your number as a local number in that country.

Disclaimer:

If there is a zero in front of the person’s number, you might need to remove that when using the country code. 
For example, if you were working a pharma role and wanted to dial the UK mobile number:

07475105747

from outside the UK, you would actually dial:


00447475105747


Different countries have different options for the way phone lines there work so if your call fails, try again either removing the 0 as mentioned above, or adding it back in if you have already removed it.


Prefixes

Prefixes can enable you display as a specific number when calling or even hide your number altogether. The important thing to mention here is that in most cases, prefixes are not needed.

Calling without a prefix will show a default number for the country you are calling, don’t use any prefix if you don’t know which specific prefix should be used.

Let's first go over how would one use a prefix, since the formatting of the number changes a little bit.


PREFIX 00 COUNTRYCODE PHONENUMBER


Let's say we want to call to a swedish number (+468201960) with prefix 5. We would dial the following:


500468201960


Here are some general prefixes and their purposes:


  • 8 - Withholds the number. Use this prefix if you want to hide from which number you are calling.
  • 4 - Backup prefix to withhold the number. Use as an alternative to prefix 8.
  • 5 - Prefix to show default UK number for any country. Our default UK number will be displayed while calling to any country.
You can find the full list of prefixes on intranet, specifically the following page:



After opening the link head to International Lines + Prefixes tab where you can find every detail about every prefix we use.


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Generally you would use prefixes to display as a number from a specific region or as an alternative calling route in case the default one does not work.

Let's take France as an example, if calling to France would not work for some reason, I would try to use the prefix 67.

If I'd want my number to appear as from the Bordeaux region, I'd use the prefix 65.

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