US/Canadian cell code connection

[stella]

I am from Australia and have tried to both text and call a US cell, but without much luck.

When i called the cell number i dialled 0011 1 405 ### ####, however the cell did not ring, instead a generic voice message from the provider said “Hello, the person that you are calling does not have a voicemail account set up for this phone.” Initially i thought this person may have had their cell turned off, but I’ve tried calling this cell a few times over the last day or so and still get the same voice message.

The person is based in Oklahoma and the cell number they gave me when i was over in the US last month was 1 405### ####, which worked as i had called it while i was over there. However i’m not sure whether they are in Oklahoma at the moment, they may be elsewhere in the US or maybe in Canada. If this is the case and they are in Canada, is that why i can’t reach them because i’m including the 405 code for Oklahoma? To reach them in Canada would i need to replace the 405 area code with a Canadian area code, or should i still be able to be connected to them regardless of whether i change the area code?

Or could it be a case they cannot receive international texts or calls from cells outside of the US?

Your help would be much appreciated, thank you!

[admin]

Hi Stella,

Replacing the OK area code with a Canadian area code won’t work. If they are in Canada and have coverage/roaming over there you should be able to reach them using the OK number. In other words, their cell number is unique anywhere they would travel. From what I know however, roaming outside of US borders is quite expensive so it is possible that they turned the phone off while over there.

The other suggestion that they can’t receive calls from outside the US is quite plausible. In the US cell phone subscribers generally pay for calls/texts received so they likely have the option to turn off receiving calls from abroad. Not many people do it but who knows.

[stella]

Thanks for shedding some light on the matter!

So is the voice message that i mentioned above the kind of message you get when a US cell phone is just switched off?

[admin]

Yes. And because the person hasn’t set up his/her voicemail you get this recording basically telling you that you can’t leave a message.

[stella]

Ok, thanks so much for your help.

[Author]

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