What do you do as a tourist visiting the country? You can call from the Michael In our series "America for Tourists," today we will cover how to make phone calls in this country. First of all: How do you call into the country? You have an American phone number that looks like (415) 642-4321. The digits in parentheses are the so-called area code, the prefix. The last seven digits represent the phone number. The hyphen mainly serves as a visual separator, and sometimes you can also deduce the neighborhood from the three digits before the hyphen.

By the way, according to scientific studies (the Bild newspaper always writes "American researchers have found out"), seven digits are the maximum that the human short-term memory can retain--ideal for hearing the number and writing it down immediately. When asked for their phone number, people quickly recite the numbers, with a short pause instead of a hyphen.

Every American phone number looks like this. It doesn't matter whether the person lives in Hawaii, New York City, or somewhere in the mountains. To the smart ones among you who might argue that in large cities, numbers might run out, I firmly respond: Then there are simply two or more area codes, as is the case in New York City, where 212 and 646 are common.

We were at the phone number (415) 642-4321. From Germany, you dial 001-415-642-4321, as the international dialing code for America is 001. If you are in the same city as the person you are calling, you can omit the area code and just dial 642-4321. But be careful: This doesn't work in some rural areas where an area code often covers large regions.

What do you dial if you are in the USA but not in the specified city? Correct, you include the area code. But, be careful: you must prefix it with a 1. Whether from a payphone or a private phone, the area code must be preceded by a 1, otherwise it won't work. In this case, the number is 1-415-642-4321. It's actually crazy, but that's how it is. Only the newer mobile phones can do it without the 1. By the way, 'Handy' is a German word that no one here associates with phones; here the word simply means 'practical'. Mobile phones are called 'cell phones' in the USA.

The equivalent of the toll-free 0130 numbers in Germany are the so-called 1-800 numbers here. These are numbers with the area code (800), which, as explained above, must always be preceded by a 1. Recently, 1-877 and 1-888 numbers were also introduced, which are also toll-free. The equivalent of the German 0190 number in America is 1-900, which is known for high charges. By the way, the 1-800 numbers do not work from abroad. If there is no additional "normal" number, the only option is to call one of the American telephone companies (such as AT&T) and pay with a credit card.

A typical American invention is the telephone number letters. As shown in Figure 1, each number key on American phones is assigned three letters of the alphabet, with only the keys 1 and 0 remaining free. The purpose of this exercise: Companies can choose numbers that form meaningful words, making them easier to remember. If a radio advertisement, for example, said "Sign up for a tandem parachute jump today! Call 1-800-759-3483!" no one would likely remember the number. Instead, it says "1-800-SKYDIVE," which even the dimmest person can recall.

hotel, but they charge an arm and a leg. Most of the time, they not only demand a service fee before the call even starts, but the rates are also much higher compared to what you would pay with a private phone. Especially the luxury hotels sometimes charge astronomical prices that leave you speechless.

The other alternative, making calls from phone booths using coins, is advisable at best for local calls, which usually cost 35 cents (although local calls in the USA are free if you have your own phone!). I still clearly remember my first vacation in America: When I tried to call Germany this way, a telephone operator intervened and kindly informed me that I would need to insert something like six dollars and eighty cents in coins for the first three minutes. Just imagine: The largest commonly used coins here are quarters, so you would have to carry around 28 of them! Outraged, I hung up. Incidentally, this led to me not calling home for 13 weeks, which later caused tumultuous situations, but I digress.

When using a public phone booth and wanting to make a local call, you pick up the receiver, insert 35 cents (the phones accept nickels, dimes, and quarters), and dial the seven-digit number -- that's it. On the other hand, if it's a long-distance call, you dial 1, the area code, and the number after picking up the receiver. Then an automated voice will prompt you with something like "Please deposit 80 cents." Once you insert the required amount, the call goes through. Sometimes, you even have to dial the area code (and pay the long-distance rate) when you're in the same area code region. You quickly figure this out by first trying it as a local call; then an automated voice will explain how to do it correctly.

By the way, here in America, there is always an "operator," a telephone operator, in case you don't know what to do next. If you dial just a 0, a lady from the local telephone company answers, offering friendly advice or connecting calls.

In public phone booths, the most amazing things can happen: Christian Huber and I once experienced something in a phone booth at the airport. Shortly after a call -- the receiver had been back on the hook for some time, and we had sat down on a bench -- the phone suddenly started ringing. We laughed, but when it still hadn't stopped after the tenth ring, we answered it out of curiosity. It was the telephone operator, who informed us that a few cents were still owed for the last call -- which we then, quite shocked, promptly inserted.

But, as I said, I advise against making phone calls with cash from a public phone. It's better to buy a so-called prepaid calling card (for example, from MCI) at a supermarket or a small convenience store. You pay around twenty dollars and nowadays you get phone units that allow for about 200 minutes of calls to Germany--unbeatably cheap. You take the card to the nearest phone booth, pick up the receiver, and dial the 1-800 number without inserting any money. Then a friendly voice asks for the card code, which you also enter, and you can start making calls. As mentioned, you don't need a "card phone," as such a thing doesn't exist in America. This way, you also outsmart the hotel phone scammers, because the 1-800 number usually doesn't cost anything there either. In exceptional cases, a connection fee might be charged, so be sure to carefully read the brochures lying around in the hotel room, otherwise, you might face unpleasant surprises, especially in expensive business hotels (e.g., Hyatt). And usually, you have to dial a number (e.g., 9) from the hotel room before you can make an outside call.

To call Germany from the USA, by the way, you need to omit the "0" in the area code after the international dialing code 01149. So if you want to call the Munich phone number 089/523540, you simply dial 01149-89-523540, whether from a public phone or a private line.

For help in an emergency, you can call the number 911, which corresponds to the German 110 number. You don't need any money to call 911, and you can report traffic accidents, fires, and assaults.

If you don't have any money or a calling card on you but absolutely need to call someone, you can make a "collect" call, which means the recipient pays the charges. This only works within the USA and goes like this: At the payphone, you dial 1-800-COLLECT (or 1-800-CALLATT, which stands for "Call AT&T," the telephone company), and the automated voice will prompt you to enter the desired phone number. You can also record a short message that will be played to the recipient (e.g., "Hey, it's me, Michael, don't leave me hanging!!"), so they can decide whether to accept the call and cover the cost. If they say "yes," the call goes through.

If you ever get stuck, you can always call the "operator" by simply dialing 0. This doesn't cost anything, even from a payphone. However, if the operator offers to dial the number for you, you should decline, as that would actually incur an additional charge.

Phone booths, by the way, usually have their own number, which is displayed on the device. This way, you can make a brief call to someone with little money, give them the number, and ask for a callback. You can reach directory assistance by dialing 411 for local area numbers. For other area codes, it's 1 + area code + 522-1212, but be careful, as this may incur charges.

If you have a private telephone line, you distinguish between the local provider and the one for long-distance calls. In our area, the local telephone company is called Pacific Bell. You pay them about 19 dollars a month as a basic fee, which includes all local phone calls. So, if we make calls within the city or connect to the internet via a modem, it costs nothing. Nada. Njet. Zilch. This naturally leads to a different attitude towards the internet here -- you are online all day long.

For long-distance calls, you choose from a range of providers, known as long-distance providers. The official ones are AT&T, MCI, and Sprint. When you register a phone, you have to choose one of these three. These companies compete in ways you can hardly imagine. Since we are with AT&T, we often receive calls from MCI, who repeatedly try to entice us to switch to them. In America, companies are allowed to call private phone numbers to sell things. This usually happens in the evening, around 8, when most people are at home. You then hear things like: "Did you know that we can offer you a much better deal than AT&T? With us, it only costs 17 cents a minute to call Germany!" Conversely, AT&T sends letters to customers of other phone companies, offering $100 in cash if they switch to AT&T.

But be careful: If you don't watch the fees like a hawk, these companies will gladly rip you off. Paying the regular rate is considered amateurish. You always have to negotiate a special rate with the telephone company. Calling Germany for one minute costs about a dollar with AT&T's standard rate--a sky-high price. We negotiated a special deal where we pay an additional $3.95 per month as a fixed fee but only 17 cents per minute to Germany, and 9 cents on Sundays! Not to mention the discounts during a full moon and low tide in the ocean.

The local magazine "Money" (comparable to the German magazines "Capital" or "Der Geizhals") recently conducted a test where three people with monthly phone bills of $25, $50, and $70 were asked to call their phone companies. They were instructed not to mention any specific offers but simply to ask if there was a way to make it cheaper. Promptly, they were offered plans that reduced their phone bills to $9, $15, and $32 per month. It's all a matter of negotiation.

The phone bill always breaks down exactly how much you have saved through all the special deals (you can be in X different savings programs at the same time; I believe we are currently enrolled in two). For us, it says: Your bill is $44.16. You have saved $457.63. No joke, in Figure 15 you can see a copy of the bill! Those were, of course, highlights of negotiation skills -- don't try this at home, kids, we are trained professionals!

By the way, American phone bills are meticulously itemized, showing when you called which number, how long the conversation went on, and how much it cost. The bill is usually four to six pages long, includes dozens of opaque taxes and fees, and you need at least a high school diploma, if not a doctorate in business administration, to make sense of it. For example, a basic hookup costs about $19 per month. Exactly eleven (11) different items are itemized: The largest portion is the "Residence Flat Rate Service," the basic fee that includes all local calls at a fixed price. Then there are things that, to be honest, I don't quite understand, as I am not a certified business economist. Perhaps one of the appropriately educated newsletter readers can help me out: From "Number Portability Svc Charge" ($0.34), to "CA High Cost Fund Surcharge" ($0.27), to "State Regulatory Fee" ($0.01), I file the whole thing every month under "Clear rip-off, but I'll get it back from you elsewhere.

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Fitness
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  	The Lassen National Park
  	California Wine Tips
  	Earthquakes