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Calls can be made from landline telephones in your hotel, some large post offices, public phones at newspaper kiosks and stores (often with a sign reading "公用电话" gongyong dianhua), or from telephone booths on the street.

Dialing in hotels saves a lot of fuss, though they charge a service gee. When dialing from a public phone you should pay cash after the call is finished. To use the telephone booths a prepaid card is needed. Calls within Beijing have a standard three-minute minimum charge, and additional time thereafter is charged by minute. Both IDD (International Direct Dial) and DDD (Domestic Direct Dial) are charged by minute. Note that sometimes phone numbers in Beijing have a computerized answering service first, if this happens, most likely you can press 0 to get someone you can speak to.

DDD Calls

DDD call rates are the same anywhere in China (excluding Hong kong, Taiwan and Macao). Visitors should dial the domestic prefix 0, plus the area code and the number,

IDD Calls

There are two days to place an international call: either dial "00" to connect with the IDD telephone system, then enter the country code, followed by the area code; or dial 108-888 to place a collect call or a credit card call (may not be available from every phone/public phone; check your hotel room phone first), then press zero or stay on the line and an AT&T operator will assist you.

Telephone Cards

Calling another city or country directly is expensive but telephone cards are godsend gifts to cut down your phone costs. There is quite a variety, but they can be categorized into three groups: 201 cards, IC cards and IP cards. They are all prepaid calling cards that can be bought at stalls in supermarkets, tobacconists and newsstands in denominations RMB 10-200, often discounted. This means you can get RMB 100 worth of calls on a 201 card for around RMB 50 and a RMB 100 IP card for RMB 35.

201 cards can be used to place local, DDD and IDD calls on any landline phone that has an outside line and at any IC telephone booth. They don't have local access charge.

IC cards must be inserted into the slot in a public phone booth.

IP cards are the cheapest of all cards for long-distance or international calls and they have very low local access charge. You may see different IP cards like 17908, 17910, 17970, etc. Those numbers indicate the number you have to call to use the card. Check the expiry date on the card and remember that a card bought in Beijing does not work if you move to another city. For most cards listen past the initial Chinese instructions when you start to use the card and usually English instructions will follow.