Telephone numbers in Greece

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of dialing codes in Greece. The first digit represents type of service. 1 is used for short codes, 2 for geographical numbers (3 and 4 are reserved for that purpose too), 5 is used for inter-network routing purposes (not dialable codes) and VPNs, 6 for mobile services, 7 is reserved for universal access numbers (not active), 8 for reduced fee services (like 800 toll-free, 801 local call, 89 dial-up and data services), 9 is used for premium rate services (901 premium rate, 909 reserved for adult premium rate services but not active since all adult services operate in the 901 range). All dialable numbers are ten digits, except for short codes (3-5 digits on the 1 range), 807-XXXX (seven digits) used for calling card access codes and of course numbers on the 5 range which are used for routing purposes and are not dialable by end subscribers.

Geographical area codes start with the digit 2. There are currently one, two and three digit area codes. The only two digit area code is 21 for the Athens Metropolitan area, three digit codes are used for the cities Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa, Heraklion, Kavala, Tripoli. The rest of the codes are four-digit codes.

Generally speaking the second digit of a geographical area code signifies a broader geographical area of Greece and this is how area codes are sorted in this article. Two-digit codes are used with eight-digit subscriber numbers, three-digit codes with seven-digit numbers, and four-digit codes with six-digit numbers, such that the full telephone number is always ten digits. Subscriber numbers in most areas start with 0, this is the digit that was inserted between the area code and the subscriber number in order to form the new ten-digit numbering plan back in 2002. Thus many Greeks erroneously think that the area codes include this leading 0, e.g. that Athens area code is 210, while actually Athens area code is 21 and 0 is the first digit of the subscriber number. Subscriber numbers starting with 0 are assigned to the former monopoly OTE. In bigger cities like Athens and Thessaloniki subscriber numbers starting with other digits except 0 are becoming more and more common, especially amongst business subscribers. In this case many people think that the area code is different, e.g. a subscriber number in Athens might start with 211, with people thinking that 211 is a distinct area code than 210, while in reality both numbers are in the 21 area code and the third digit of the number belongs to the subscriber number.

The country calling code of Greece is 30. The international call prefix depends on the country you are calling from, e.g. 00 for most European countries, and 011 from North America.

Country Code: 30
International Call Prefix: 00

During 2001-2002, Greece moved to a closed ten-digit numbering scheme in two stages, with the result that subscribers' numbers changed twice. For example, before the change, a number in Athens would have been dialed as follows:

xxx xxxx (within Athens)
(01) xxx xxxx (within Greece)
+30 1 xxx xxxx (outside Greece)

In 2001, a '0' was added after the area code, which was incorporated into the subscriber's number:

01 0xxx xxxx (within Greece, including Athens)
+30 1 0xxx xxxx (outside Greece)

Finally, in 2002, the leading '0' was changed to a '2' (for geographic numbers) :

 21 0xxx xxxx (within Greece, including Athens)
+30 21 0xxx xxxx (outside Greece)

Mobile phone numbers were similarly prefixed with the digit '6'.

Note that, because of number portability, for both geographical and non-geographical (mobile, toll-free, premium rate) numbers, one cannot be sure about the operator that a number belongs to. Thus for geographical numbers, one cannot be sure that a subscriber number that starts with a 0 is operated by OTE or that a toll free number that starts with 800-11 is operated by OTE, also for mobile networks one cannot say for sure if a 69x actually belongs to the mobile carrier whom it assigned to.