How to Call the United States From France

Even if you plan to live it up in France, drinking Dom Perignon and purchasing expensive scents from the Grasse perfumeries, you can still save a little money by limiting your long-distance calls to nights and weekends and by avoiding making calls from your hotel.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Travel Clocks
• Travel Guides
• Telephone Calling Cards

1. Figure out what time it is in the United States. France is 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, which means it's 6 hours later in France than it is on the East Coast of the United States and 9 hours later than it is on the West Coast.

2. Dial 00, the international access code for France.

3. Dial the country code for the United States, which is 1.

4. Punch in the area code for the city you wish to call. Some examples include 310 for Los Angeles, 415 for San Franciso, 212 for Manhattan and 312 for Chicago.

5. Dial the personal seven-digit phone number.

Tips & Warnings

• You may wish to use your own calling card to place international calls instead of dialing directly. In this case, you would dial the long-distance company's access code + the are code + the personal phone number. AT&T's access code from France is 0800-99-0011; MCI's is 0800-99-0019; and Sprint's is 0800-99-0087.

• Although it may be more convenient, avoid making long-distance calls through your hotel. Hotels always add additional surcharges when placing the call for you.