Domestic Calls

You can make domestic calls from normal card pay telephones on the street and in telephone offices. The cards cost US$ 1.40 per 30 units at telephone offices and around US$2 from vendors, newsstands and any­where else advertising cartoes telefonicos. Cards for 20, 60 or 90 units are also some­times available.

Local calls (within the city you're in) cost only one or two units. Just dial the number without any area code. To make a local col­lect call dial 9090, then the number.

For calls to other cities, dial 0, then the code of your selected long-distance car­rier, then the two or three digits represent­ing the city, followed by the local number. You need to choose a long-distance carrier that covers both the place you are calling from and the place you're calling to. Car­riers advertise their codes in areas where they're prominent, but you can always use Embratel (code 21) or Intelig (code 23) because they cover the whole country.

City codes are thus usually given in the format '0xx digit digit', with the two x's representing the carrier code. As an example, to call from Rio de Janeiro to the number tel: 219-3345 in Fortaleza (city code o 0xx85) in the state of Ceara, you dial 0 followed by 21 or 23 or 31 or 85 (the codes of the four carriers that cover both Rio and Ceara), followed by 85 for Forta­leza , followed by the number 219-3345.

A long-distance call usually eats up five to 10 phonecard units per minute.

To make an intercity collect call, dial 9 before the 0xx. A recorded message in Portuguese will ask you to say your name and where you're calling from, after the tone.

International Calls

Brazil 's country code is 55. When call­ing internationally to Brazil , omit the initial 0xx of the area code.

International calls from Brazil typically cost about US$1 a minute to the USA or Canada and US$1.75 a minute to Europe or Australia (20% less between 8pm and 6am daily and all day Sunday).

The regular card pay telephones found on the streets are of little use for international calls unless you have an international call­ing card or are calling collect. Most pay telephones are restricted to domestic calls, and even if they aren't, a 30-unit Brazilian phonecard may last less than a minute inter­nationally.

Without an international calling card, your best option is to find a posto telefonico (telephone office - nearly every town has one), where you pay in cash after you finish talking. You can also call from your hotel, but do establish costs beforehand.

For international a cobrar (collect) calls, dial 000107 from any phone. This only works to some countries. Alternatively, you can get a Brazilian international operator by dialing 000111 or 0800-703-2121. Failing that, you need to locate a phone that handles international calls. Home Country Direct services get you through to an operator in the country you're calling, and will connect the collect call for you. For most Home Country Direct services, dial 00080 followed by the country code (for North 16 for Sprint; for Australia , dial 0008006112).

Mobile Phones

Celular (mobile) phones have eight-digit numbers starting with a 9, and calls to them run through your phonecard units much faster than calls to regular numbers. Mobiles have city codes like normal phone numbers, and if you're calling from another city you have to use them.