Calling Canadian toll-free numbers from Asia

[beenthere]

Does anyone know how to dial a 1-800 # to Canada from overseas – specifically Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan. It seems unlikely to dial the IDD + country code + 1-800 etc. Also, if I have to use the Cdn’s regular (not toll-free) number, can I still IDD and reverse the charges or do I need to use an operator for that?
Thanks

[admin]

Hello,

First of all I want to make a correction to what you wrote: you would dial IDD + country code + 800 ??? ???? (example: calling a toll free number from Vietnam to Canada: 00 + 1 + 800 ??? ????).

Depending on the settings made by a company/individual to their toll free service you may/may be not able to dial it from abroad. However, even if the owner of a toll free number has not blocked incoming international calls, calling this type of number from abroad will not be free. See this page for additional info https://www.howtocallabroad.com/qa/toll-free.html .

As for placing an international collect call without calling the operator – it is possible if you find a provider who offers this. A similar service you may find useful is International Callback. This however requires sign up by the person receiving the calls. Basically you create an account and list the foreign numbers you will be receiving calls from. This way calls from those numbers will be charged on your callback account. Here’s a website offering callback info/services: https://www.unitedworldtelecom.com/

I hope this helps.

Dan

[beenthere]

Hi Dan,
Thanks for the response. For the “toll-free” numbers it was very helpful for you to let me know that they wouldn’t be toll-free from abroad. I was enquiring mostly about emergency situations – if my VISA got stolen or I had a banking problem and wanted to call my bank back home — where I might not have the funds to actually IDD myself.
Thanks for the info.

[admin]

Since you can not call toll free from another country, the only way you can do this is by subscribing to a monthly billed service that would cover for calls made in these situations. The service being post paid you would not need to pay for the calls at the time of dialing. The callback service I mentioned in my previous post is a good example (all you need is access to a direct dial line). There are also monthly billed calling cards that work from abroad with toll free access in the country you’re in.

Dan

[Author]

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