Do I need to dial 886 (outgoing code I think) before I dial the UK number ? I have to when I dial mates in South Africa.
So, Do I ?
No. You need to dial 002 (better still, 012 – its cheaper) followed by 44 for UK, followed by the UK number.
Errr … that’s actually what I meant !!
I got me numbers mixedup - must be something in the beer
If you call 002, then it costs 14 NT a minute (1.4 NT every 6 seconds) to call the UK from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm Monday to Friday and 8:00 am to 12:00 noon on Saturdays. At all other times, the price is 13.3 NT per minute (1.33 NT every 6 seconds).
I’m not sure about 012, but I think the price is just a little cheaper than 002.
But a much cheaper way is to call 0951-300-888. Then you will hear a recording which will say “Please enter the number you wish to call, followed by the pound sign.” Then enter 002 followed by the country code, area code, and phone number, and then followed by the pound sign. (In American English, it’s called the “pound sign”, but I think it’s called the “hash key” in British English.)
Just a few seconds after you hit the pound sign (hash key), you will be connected. “0951” numbers are supposed to be pagers (beepers), so you will be charged only 4 NT per minute, and your phone bill will say that the call was a call to a pager (“hu4 jiao4 qi4” in Chinese.)
You can use 0951-300-888 to call most countries in the world for only 4 NT per minute. There’s just a few countries that don’t work. So far, the only countries that I’ve found that don’t work are India, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma.
In case anyone’s curious, I found out the price to call the U.K. using “012”. It’s cheaper than “002”, but still not as cheap as 0951-300-888.
If you dial “012” instead of “002”, then the price to call the U.K. is 9.6 NT per minute if you call between 8:00 am and 11:00 pm Monday to Friday or 8:00 am to 12:00 noon on Saturday. At other times, the price is 8.6 NT per minute.
Note that if you dial “012”, the price increases only once a minute, but if you dial “002”, the price increases once every 6 seconds. But, since the price per minute dialing “012” is more than 30% cheaper than dialing “002”, as long as you talk for more than about two minutes, dialing “012” is cheaper than “002”.
But 0951-300-888 is only 4 NT per minute, which is much cheaper than either “002” or “012”.