For Expats

How To Dial A Colombian Landline From Your Colombian Cellphone

When I first moved to Colombia, I didn’t understand why every time I would try to dial a landline it would never go through. I would always get some automatic voice telling me this number didn’t exist.

Was I that inept that I was unable to dial a simple phone number? I sure felt like it!

I could always dial from landline to landline. But never from my cell phone. That’s because for some very logical reason, you have to put a regional code before the number!

Every region here in Colombia has a different code you need to enter when dialing a Colombian landline from your cell phone.

It can get a little complicated so bear with me.

It will always be: 03X + the landline number.

In Bogota it will always be: 031 + landline number.
Other regions can be: 032 / 033 / 035 + landline number.

It’s like a country code you have to dial within the country. A bit stupid and unnecessary if you ask me, but so are a lot of things here in this country.

To determine the exact number you need to dial, you can figure it out as there will be a number within the landline that’s separated from the rest.

For example: (57) (6) 8877117
Country code: 57 = No need to dial this
In this case, the number 6 is the number you should use.
So from your cell phone you will dial: 036 8877117

Example: (1) 7420410
How to dial from your Colombian cell phone: 031 7420410

Example: (4) 363 16 55
How to dial from your Colombian cell phone: 034 363 16 55

Example: (571) 749-9855
How to dial from your Colombian cell phone: 031 749-9855

The 57 is just the country code. You only use the 1 afterwards.

A bit confusing but I hope I’ve somewhat made sense of how to dial a landline from your Colombian phone.

If you still have issues, don’t hesitate to let me know and I’d be glad to help you out!

bogotastic

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