How should I dial in order to call Iridium phones?

There are two ways that calls can be placed to your Iridium phone.

1. Direct Dialing – Caller places international long distance call directly to the Iridium phone. Start with the international dialing prefix for the country where the caller is located followed by your Iridium phone number. The international prefix for the US is 011. So to place a call to the Iridium phone from the US, the caller dials 011 followed by the Iridium phone number beginning with country code 8816. If you do not answer the phone, the caller may leave a voice mail message that you can retrieve later.

   When placing a direct call as described above, the caller pays for the international call, and the incoming call on the Iridium is free, and does not use your minutes. However, some long distance carriers charge a very high per minute rate for calling country code 8816. We advise that callers check with their long distance provider for the per minute rate for country code 8816 before using this method. We provide an alternate method of placing a call to the Iridium to avoid this international rate, which is two stage dialing.

2. Two Stage Dialing – The caller places a call to 480-768-2500. At the prompt, the caller enters the Iridium phone number beginning with 8816. The call is then transferred to your Iridium phone. With this method, the caller pays for the call to area code 480, which is a US number. The incoming minutes will be charged to the Iridium phone at the same rate for placing a call, or in the case of prepaid minutes, the minutes are subtracted from your remaining prepaid minutes.

Most users select Two Stage Dialing since it is normally less expensive, and eliminates each caller needing to check with their particular long distance carrier to determine the international rate to call country code 8816. Select the method which best meets your usage requirements.

Iridium’s full international number is 8816XXXXXXXX.

From another Iridium or satellite phone, dial  00-8816XXXXXXXX

From US cell phones, dial 011-8816XXXXXXXX.

From a US land line, dial 011-8816XXXXXXXX.

Please be aware that calls to Iridium phones from landlines or cellular phones are very expensive, so please check the rates with your phone company before calling.