Telephone numbers in the Netherlands
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Telephone numbers in the Netherlands are sequences of usually 10 decimal digits (0-9) used for identifying a destination telephone line in the Dutch telephone network. A Dutch phone number has a particular structure, consisting of an area code (three or four digits) and a subscriber number (six or seven digits). The Netherlands also has non-geographical numbers, used for services and for mobile phones. The country calling code of the Netherlands is 31, and the leading 0 of the area code is dropped when calling from abroad. When calling abroad from the Netherlands, the international call prefix is 00.
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[edit] Overview
Dutch geographical numbers consist of 9 digits. The area code consists of 2 or 3 digits (depending on the size of the area, larger areas have 2 digits, smaller areas have 3 digits), followed by 7 or 6 digits in the subscriber number. Dutch mobile phone numbers consist of 9 digits also, They start with 06, followed by 8 digits.
The non-geographical numbers in the Netherlands are 06 (Mobile phones and pagers), 0800 (Free service numbers), 084, 085 (used for VoIP) and 087 (Voicemail and Virtual Private Numbers),088 (Large companies with more than one address), 0900 (Paid information numbers), 0906 (Adult lines) and 0909 (Entertainment).
0800 numbers can always be dialled for free, even from (public) payphones; other numbers starting with 08 are not free.
The non-geographic numbers in the Netherlands (besides 06) don't have a fixed number of digits, but are usually kept as short as possible, for the sake of convenience.
Geographic numbers are allocated in blocks to different telecommunications providers. However, a telephone number from a block allocated to a certain provider may not be serviced by that provider anymore due to number portability; subscribers who switch providers can take their number with them.
The emergency number in the Netherlands is 112. GSM mobile phones may accept a different number to dial into the emergency services (such as 999, 000 or 911), depending on their firmware. Directory assistance is available from several commercial providers, on 18xy (e.g. 1888 from KPN).
01x(x) to 05x(x): geographical area codes 06: mobile phone number 066: mobile pagers 06760: internet access number 07x: geographical area codes (cities all over the country) 0800: toll free number 084: location independent (used mostly for fax-to-email and voicemail services) 085: location independent 087: location independent 088: location independent (for companies) 0878: location independent (voice over IP) 0900: premium rate, information 0906: premium rate, erotic 0909: premium rate, entertainment 112: emergency services number 14xxx(x): public authorities, where xxxx is the three- or four-digit area-code of the municipality 18xx: number information
066, 084 and 087 are often used by scammers, because they are easy and cheap to register and make identification very hard.
Previously, 06-0, 06-1000 and 06-4 were used for toll-free numbers, 06-8 for shared cost, 06-9 for premium rate, and other 06 for mobile numbers. 09 was used as the international access code before this changed to 00.
[edit] Geographical area codes
In the Netherlands, the area codes are — excluding the leading '0' — two or three digits long. Since renumbering in 1995, all regular telephone numbers have ten digits including area code and the leading 0. Larger towns and cities have two digit area codes permitting a larger number of local telephone numbers.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for the Dutch Numbering plan.
- The Independent Postal and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA ) manages the available telephone and other numbers and assigns these to telecommunication companies, as well as being the regulatory body governing telecommunications providers in The Netherlands.
- De Telefoongids KPN telephone directory, combined white pages and yellow pages
