Vietnam By Telephone

Placing International Calls. To call Vietnam from home or to call home from Vietnam, dial:
1. The international dialing prefix. To call from Australia, dial 0011; Canada or the US, 011; Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, or Vietnam 00.
2. The country code of the country you want to call. To call Australia, dial 61; Canada or the US, 1; Ireland, 353; New Zealand, 64; the UK, 44; Vietnam, 84.
3. The city/area code. Let’s Go lists the city/area codes for cities and towns in Vietnam opposite the city or town name, next to the symbol }. If the first digit is a zero (e.g., 020 for London), omit the zero when calling from abroad (e.g., dial 20 from Canada to reach London).
4. The local number.

You have three options: the international phone at the local post office, your cell phone , or an Internet phone, available at nearly all Internet cafes. This last option is by far the cheapest, and gets even cheaper if you buy an Internet phone card (available at cell phone stores and convenience stores; 1000-5000 per min.). Because these cards eliminate the profit made by cybercafes themselves, however, their staff will occasionally refuse to allow you to use them

A calling card is the way to go if calling from the post office. Calls are billed collect or to your account. You can frequently call collect without even possessing a company’s calling card just by calling their access number and following the instructions. To obtain a calling card from your national telecommunications service before leaving home, contact the appropriate company listed below (using the numbers in the first column). To call home with a calling card, contact the operator for your service provider in Vietnam by dialing the appropriate toll-free access number (listed below in the third column). You can also buy international “1717” or “1719” calling cards at any post office for 100,000 per 15 minutes.

Company	To Obtain A Card:	To Call Abroad:
AT&T (US)	800-364-9292 or www.att.com	1 201 2088
Canada Direct	800-561-8868 or www.infocanadadirect.com	1201 1010
MCI (US)	800-777-5000 or www.minutepass.com	1201 1022
Telstra Australia	1800 676 638 or www.telstra.com	120 061 111

You can usually also make direct international calls from the post office, but if you aren’t using a calling card, the cost per minute will probably be prohibitively high, and the staffer at the post office desk may get worried and, humorously, cut you off. Prepaid phone cards and occasionally major credit cards can be used for direct international calls, but they are generally less cost-efficient. Placing a collect call through an international operator is even more expensive, but may be necessary in case of emergency. You can place collect calls through the service providers listed above even if you don’t have one of their phone cards. Before settling on a calling card plan, be sure to research your options in order to pick the one that best fits both your needs and your destination.

Calling Within Vietnam

There are no public-access payphones in Vietnam. The most convenient way to call within the country is to use the call centers in post offices, as most Vietnamese do; give the number to the desk attendant, who puts the call through, then pay afterward based on the length of the call. Your hotel may also allow you to use the phone at their desk. The other cheap, easy option is to use a cell phone if you have one (see below).

Cellular Phones

If you have an international cell phone, it can make calling from and within Vietnam simple and cost-effective; buying a phone in Vietnam is only worth it if you’re staying for a while or planning to use the phone in other countries after you leave. Phones are available for purchase everywhere in major urban areas and start at around 800,000; use common sense and buy from reputable distributors, not street vendors. Prices vary greatly depending on model and plan.

The international standard for cell phones is GSM, a system that began in Europe and has spread to much of the rest of the world. To make and receive calls in Vietnam you will need a GSM-compatible phone and a SIM (subscriber identity module) card, a country-specific, thumbnail-sized chip that gives you a local phone number and plugs you into the local network. Many SIM cards are prepaid, meaning that they come with calling time included and you don’t need to sign up for a monthly service plan. Incoming calls are frequently free. When you use up the prepaid time, you can buy additional cards or vouchers (usually available at convenience stores) to get more. For more information on GSM phones, check out www.telestial.com, www.orange.co.uk, www.roadpost.com, or www.planetomni.com. Companies like Cellular Abroad (www.cellularabroad.com) rent cell phones that work in a variety of destinations around the world, providing a simpler option than picking up a phone in-country.

The most popular network providers in Vietnam are Mobifone and Vinaphone. Both sell SIM cards that charge a small, flat rate per day regardless of usage. International call rates vary by country, but there is a 30% discount on calls made during off-peak hours (11pm-7am, Sundays, and holidays).

Gsm Phones. Just having a GSM phone doesn’t mean you’re necessarily good to go when you travel abroad. The majority of GSM phones sold in the United States operate on a different frequency (1900) than international phones (900/1800) and will not work abroad. Tri-band phones work on all three frequencies (900/1800/1900) and will operate through most of the world. As well, some GSM phones are SIM-locked and will only accept SIM cards from a single carrier. You’ll need a SIM-unlocked phone to use a SIM card from a local carrier when you travel.

Time Differences

Vietnam does not observe Daylight Saving Time. Between the last Sunday in October and the last Sunday in March, Vietnam is 7 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT); from April through October, the country is 8 hours ahead of GMT. Similarly, depending on the time of year, Vietnam is 11-12 hours ahead of New York City, 14-15 hours ahead of Vancouver and San Francisco, 3-4 hours behind Sydney (three between March and October, four between October and March), and 5-6 hours behind Auckland.

The following table applies from late October to early April.