How to Specify Your Telephone Number

This is for readers from India.

Specifying a phone number in writing (email or SMS), or verbally, is an important and an easily learned skill. The aim is to communicate the number effectively, to make it easy to dial and to remember, to enable a successful transfer to a new phonebook, and to not cause confusion.

Following these simple recommendations will save you time, will make communicating the number easy and painless, will enable automation for programs such as Skype and Google Voice, and will encourage consistency.

Pass this article on to your friends, if you like.

In Writing

If you are sending a land-line number via SMS or over email or in any digital written form, use the following notation:

• +91-11-4344-1234 (for a Delhi number)
• +91-172-444-2244 (for a Chandigarh number)
• +91-1652-221344 (for a Mansa number)

Explanation: This notation enables successful dialing of the number from anywhere in the world. It clearly separates the country code (91 for India), the city code, and the phone number. A land-line number in India is almost always 10 digits. If the STD code is two digits, divide the 8-digit phone number in two sets of 4 digits each. If the STD code is three digits, divide the 7-digit phone number in 3+4 digits. If the STD code is four digits or more, i.e. the phone number is six digits or less, specify the number as a single numeral.

Many times, you will store the number in your digital phone book and send it in a vCard format etc. Store it in a consistent way, so that when you have to send the vCard, the number is already in a comprehensible and usable format.

If you are sending a mobile number, it is easy:

Use the notation: +91-92333-12345

Do not store/specify a out-of-circle mobile number with a prefixed 0 or without any prefix at all (both are correct only for certain subscribers, and are wrong for others).

Do not specify the mobile number in a 2-4-4 sequence, or a 3-3-4 sequence, etc. Keep it simple. 5-5. It is easier to remember, takes less time to communicate, and looks elegant.

Verbally

On the phone, or in person, specify it as follows:

To a foreigner:

• For +91-11-4344-1234, say: "Country code nine one, area code one one, four three four four, one two three four" (for a Delhi number)
• For +91-172-444-2244, say: "Country code nine one, area code one seven two, triple four, two two four four" (for a Chandigarh number)
• For +91-1652-221344, say: "Country code nine one, area code one six five two, double two one three double four" (for a Mansa number)
• For +91-11-2033-4400, say: "Country code nine one, area code one one, two zero three three, four four double zero" (for a Delhi number containing zeros)

• For a mobile number, e.g. +91-92333-12345, say: "Country code nine one, no area code, nine two triple three, one two three four five"
  

Explanation: Clearly specify the country code and the area code. Do not bunch numbers numerically (e.g. don't say forty four), but you may bunch them syntactically (double four, triple four). Do not say "oh" for a zero (many people do not get it), just say Zero for a 0.

Also, many foreigners do not know that mobile numbers in India do not have an area code, so making it explicit saves confusion and counter questions.

To another Indian:

• For +91-11-4344-1234, say: "STD code one one, four three four four, one two three four" (for a Delhi number)
• For +91-172-444-2244, say: "STD code one seven two, triple four, two two four four" (for a Chandigarh number)
• For +91-1652-221344, say: "STD code one six five two, double two one three double four" (for a Mansa number)
• For +91-11-2033-4400, say: "STD code one one, two zero three three, four four double zero" (for a Delhi number containing zeros)

(instead of saying "STD code", you may also just say "zero", e.g. "zero one one, two zero three three, four four double zero")

• For a local mobile number, e.g. 92333-12345, say: "nine two triple three, one two three four five"
• For a non-local mobile number, e.g. 94122-44200, say: "zero, nine four one double two, four four two double zero". You may also say, "nine four one double two, four four two double zero, please prefix a zero when dialing."

(All phone numbers used in this article are random, except for the country code and the STD codes, which are as specified.)