In order to make an international phone call, there are several bits of information you need to begin.

You must first know the international call prefix. This code allows you to dial outside of the country you are calling from and is unique for each country. Once you pick up your phone and hear a dial tone, you dial this code. This step and each following step are illustrated toward the bottom of the page.

The next digits you dial are the international country code of the country you are trying to reach. In some countries, the country code varies depending on whether you are calling a mobile phone or a fixed phone. Some counties have different country codes based on geography. The country code can be anywhere from 1 to 3 digits.

After dialing the country code, you must dial the area or city code. This too can be anywhere from 1 to 3 digits and narrows down your call to a smaller geographic region within the country you are calling.

Finally, you dial the local number and you are then finished dialing. Here is a summary of all the steps:

Step 1: Dial International Call Prefix

Step 2: Dial Country Code

Step 3: Dial City Code (area code)

Step 4: Dial Local Number

So let's say you are trying to call a local number in Sao Paulo, Brazil from Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. In this example we will say the local number is 987-6542. We know that 011 is the internal call prefix when dialing from inside the USA. The country code for Brazil is 55 . The city code (or area code) for Sao Paulo is 11 . This is all the information we need. To make the call, we would dial

011 55 11 2345678

As you can see we dial the international call prefix 011, followed by the country code 55, then the area code 11, and then the local number 987-6542. It's that simple.