Whether you’re calling across the street or across the globe, it’s quick and easy to make calls to landline and mobile phones using Yahoo! Messenger. The first thing to make sure of is that you have a funded and active Phone Out account. If you don’t, please go to the Yahoo! Voicewebsite to sign up.

Then just type the number you want to call, and Yahoo! Messenger will open the “Choose your country” window. Here you can select the country within which you’re making calls, so that you don’t have to add the country code at the beginning each time you dial a number.

If you encounter any problems, the easiest way to call phone numbers is to use the standard international dialing format:

1. Enter a “+”.
2. Followed by the country code. Here is a list of country codes.
3. Followed by the area code.
4. Followed by the local number you wish to call.

This method of dialing will always work—no matter where you are calling from or calling to—as long as you have the correct country code, area code, and local number.

Let’s walk through an example:

You and your friend live in the UK. Your pal’s number is (020) 7356 5000. What should you enter into the Messenger input box?

1. + (always start with a plus)
2. 44 (The country code for the UK)
3. 20 (The area code with the leading '0' removed. See below for more details)
4. 73565000 (The local number)

Using the above information, enter +442073565000 into the Messenger input box and have a nice chat with your friend!

Note: In this case, the leading '0' in front of the area code (020) is not included in the number. This is standard practice. If you’re unsure whether to drop the 0 or not, try the call without the 0 and then with the 0 if the first call didn't work (how’s that for insights?).

More Examples