Hi Elise,
Sorry for the late reply – I wasn’t sure what to answer. I know exactly what you’re talking about, but since I don’t live in the US I didn’t know for sure the answer to your question. Someone I know who lives in the US said that yes, this feature has been implemented over ther also. I will further investigate and if there are any doubts I will let you know. It is possible that not all US wireless carriers allow dialing this way.