Calling in Brazil

You got your SIM card, you put credit on your mobile phone, and everything’s all set for you to make a call. Not so fast… do you know the numbers you need to dial for international, local and long distance calls in Brazil ? 

International Calls with Brazil

1. Calling to Brazil from abroad

Let’s start with the easiest case. To call a Brazilian number you have to dial :

00 + country code + regional code (without the 0) + telephone number with 8 or 9 digits

Country code : 55

Principal regional codes :

Belem : 091

Belo Horizonte : 031

Brasilia : 061

Fortaleza : 085

Florianopolis : 048

Manaus : 092

Recife : 081

Rio de Janeiro : 021

Salvador : 071

São Paulo : 011

2. Calling abroad from Brazil

When you are calling abroad from Brazil, you will have to dial :

0 + operator code + country code + telephone number

Example to call France from Brazil : 0 21 33 1 45 56 78 89

0 : number required to dial to make a call that will leave the country

21 : operator code

33 : country code (in this case France)

Calling from Brazil to Brazil

If you want to make a call in Brazil there are four separate cases :

1. I’m in São Paulo and I want to call a number in São Paulo

From São Paulo to another São Paulo number, you just have to dial the phone number of your correspondent (8 or 9 numbers). This is a local call.

Example of São Paulo to São Paulo : I dial 91234 5678

2. I’m in São Paulo and I want to call Rio

This is when things start to get complicated. You are going to have to dial 14 digits to make your phone call. This is a long distance call, which means that the telephone number you are calling is outside of the region where you are. Therefore you will have to use the operator code and the local area code before the number.

Example of São Paulo to Rio : 0 15 21 12345678

0 corresponds to the number that will let you make a call to a different state and 15 corresponds to the operator code. The operator codes allow you to make long distance calls. There are different operator codes depending on your service provider: 41 for TIM, 21 for Claro, 15 for Vivo and 31 for Oi (no really, it’s easy…)

21 corresponds to the area code for Rio, also called the DDD. Each state has their proper area codes.

3. I’m travelling in Rio and I want to call a Rio number

You will only have to dial the 9 digits, like when you call São Paulo to São Paulo, as it is a local call.

Example of Rio to Rio : 91234 5678

4. I’m travelling in Rio and I want to call São Paulo

This is like case 2; it’s a long distance call : your chip is from São Paulo and you are going to call Rio. Therefore you will again have to dial the 14 digits.

Example of Rio to São Paulo : 0 15 11 12345678

0 to leave the state

15 the operator code for long distance calls

11 the area code for São Paulo

Making a collect call in Brazil

You have no more credit or your battery died?

Take any phone and dial 9090 + the number you want to call.

Same concept as a collect call in other countries, you’re correspondent has to accept (or not!) the call and they will pay for it.

Knowing how to make a ligação a cobrar can save your life…