The Solution
Create a new Calling Card (call it Dummy say)
You can find settings dialog via the Dialing Properties box when about to make a call or as the the Phone and Modem entry in Control Panel.
For your new calling card
1) Set its rules to use an access number of 0 for each of long distance and for local calls
In both cases set the dialing steps as
- Dial the access number
- Dial the area code and number
2) Set an international rule to use an access code of 00
With dialing steps of
- Dial the access number
- Dial the country/region code, area code and number
Personally I use an area code of 0 for the Location, (as you must have one) but any value seems to work OK.
Picture Guide:
If you bring up the Dialing Properties box from its button on the New Call dialog your number string as it will be dialed is displated - as here
Here's the Dialing Properties window - it shows how the number will be dialed unless you access it from the control panel as the Phone and Modem options.
Chose Edit - and or add a new location and change the name as you wish ...
You don't need any area code rules for the UK
Here I created a new calling card _dummy (the underscore is to make it list first) which will do the trivial processing we need.
Click Edit for the newly created card so we can fill in the details
Define the local Access Number (0) in the box at the top, and then click on the Access Number button, then the Destination Number Button to define those two steps to use it
When you click Destination number you can select what parts are used in the next popup box, the local number part itself is obligatory!
We can use the same for the local calls, as it is OK to use an area code even if within it.
For international calls - make the access number value 00, and remember to specify the inclusion of the country code as part of the destination number
The Background:
These days most of us are familiar from cell phones of using numbers in local country format or or in international format, with the country code prefix shown after a +.
For example within the UK 020 5555 1234 or +44 20 5555 1234 would both refer to the same London number.
Mobile phones dial either format quite happily, but the international format will continue to work from other countries when roaming.
In the UK, like some other countries the national area code is usually stated including a leading access digit, (the 0). Indeed we would usually think of the area (or STD) code as 020.
(It is still not uncommon to see the number sometimes shown as +44 (0) 205 555 1234
and/or to see the instruction "Do not dial the leading zero on the area code when calling from abroad")
In contrast in North America, the long distance access digit is a 1, and an equivalent number in Washington might be shown as
(202) 555-1234 The "(", ")" and "-" are the usual convention for clarity to the reader.
With callers in the US knowing that they have to add a 1 as a long distance access digit if they dial from outside the DC area.
This would be dialled within the USA as 1 202 555 1234
The international format is +1 202 555 1234 , but here the first 1 is the country code for the USA (and other NANP countries like Canada).
The Problem:
So, I synchronise my phone and Outlook.
I prefer to have even UK numbers in International format, so I can call them easily from abroad.
But I get sent some numbers, or want to use special cases (such as short codes like 1471) that are not in international format.
Both kinds dial fine on my cell phone ...but Outlook and Microsoft's dialing rules don't seem to easily handle the international format. (I like to use Outlook to dial calls on my fixed line, then pick up the handset.)
No matter how I tweak the settings in the Phone and Modem Dialing rules it's very hard to make this work.
Something always seems to break,
local or special format numbers (that need no prefixes) like 1471
national format numbers (aka long distance or STD) like 020 5555 1234
domestic international format numbers like +44 20 5555 1234
international international format numbers like +1 202 555 6789
I can get domestic international format numbers to work, but only at the expense of foreign numbers not working. (That attempt was setting both "To access an outside line for local calls, dial:" and "To access an outside line for long-distance calls, dial:" to 0, but this introduces an extra 0 even when calling abroad.)
By The Way:
Unlike some locations the UK's dialing system (aka STD) means even if I call a local number using its full area code - it is still billed as a local call. So I don't need to worry about calling 555 1234 from within London, I can call 0207 555 1234.
Also, there is no need to handle special are code handling, as in some US cities where there may be two local area codes. We can always dial the full STD number.
