How do I call someone from another country, who is visiting another country

[otsegoman]

Hi, I live in the US and I keep in touch with someone who lives in a different country than me, and I know about the country codes etc. I’m able to call this person’s cell phone, and phone calls always went through. But now this person is on vacation in a neighboring country and my calls aren’t going through for some reason. I get a brief automated message in another language that I don’t understand and then the call ends. Since it’s a cell phone, I figure that the number I’m dialing should be the same wherever this person goes, but I’m not sure. so my question is, should I be dialing the same country code I’ve always dialed, or should I be dialing the country code for where she currently is on vacation? does the country code in one’s number change when they go into a different country or does it remain the same? if someone could help me figure out the correct country/area code to dial, I would really appreciate it!
said person lives in Ukraine and is on vacation in Bulgaria.

[admin]

Hello,

Your assumption is correct – when people travel internationally with their cell phones the same number must be used to reach them, no matter where they are located. If they have roaming service activated the wireless provider in their country of residence will automatically forward the call to the country they are in. There could be several reasons why your call doesn’t go through:
-they forgot to or intentionally haven’t activated their roaming service (using a cell phone in roaming isn’t cheap and the cell owner pays for received calls too; for this reason some people choose to just leave the phone at home)
-they travel in a non coverage area or their cell is turned off

[otsegoman]

Thanks a lot for the prompt answer! I recently got in touch with this person online, and she assures me that she has roaming service, and that she has her cell and it has been on. I guess that leaves a non coverage area.. is there any way to find out for sure if it’s a non coverage area? (by searching online etc) or would that involve her having to contact her cell provider? Sorry, I’m not too familiar with international roaming, and such!

[admin]

Has she received calls from other people? When you enter a roaming area you receive a few text messages informing you that your phone is now connected to a new wireless provider. Has she received these messages? If you want I can try dialing the number to see if I get the same error message (just send me the number if you want to do this).

[otsegoman]

It’s very odd. I called a few minutes ago and I actually got through to her. we spoke for about 2 minutes and then suddenly one of us was disconnected. and now I’m back to square one, and I’m getting the error message again, even after trying numerous times. Do you have any idea why it worked that one time? or the disconnection? it was a really strange fluke, lol…

[admin]

Sounds like an issue on her end. There’s really nothing you can do about it. Most likely a problem with coverage or something. I know that when I travel with my cell to another country I switch it off and back on – this often solves sudden dropped signal instances.

[otsegoman]

Ah, ok, I understand. I’ll have to let her know about switching it on/off, maybe it’ll help. I’m glad I found this site, Thanks very much once again, you’ve been extremely helpful!

[Author]

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