Softbank Japan - International prefix calls (010) and national calls (+)

I have the same problem. I regularly need to call overseas contacts and also use SMS to communicate with many of them as well. Additionally, I regularly travel to those countries and roam. The current iPhone 3G requires me to enter overseas contact phone numbers three separate times in address book. Here is an example for a number in Seoul, Korea:

1. with the international dialing prefix - country code - city code without the "0" in front - telephone number
- ex. 010-82-2-12345678
- this is for dialing from within Japan to the international contact

2. with a "+" - country code - city code - telephone number
- ex. +82-2-12345678
- this is for sending SMS messages to international contacts

3. city code (with leading zero) - telephone number
- ex: 02-12345678
- this is the number I call when I am in Korea, and roaming

Needless to say, entering a number three different times into Address Book is a serious pain in the rear.

I have several hundred contacts like this. Is there any quick and easy way to get the iPhone to support these situations in an intelligent fashion?

Nobody has answer yet??
BEFORE IPHONE the + was working as in every country....

so where is the problem???

yr 2nd input method also works in korea to call a domestic korea number.

but i agree with the premise of yr post: even 2 times is once too many.

For reasons I cannot fathom, Japanese carriers do not handle international prefix translation at the exchange like every other country in the world. Even more frustrating is the Softbank exchange is aware when you are trying to call an international +## number and plays a recording asking you to MANUALLY prefix the international prefix.

This means mobiles in Japan have to do this instead of the exchange and while many newer Japanese mobiles (and Japanese Nokia's) have a function to handle this and turn it on or off when roaming, the iPhone in Japan doesn't.

Why not use the Smart Dialler, you can find it in the iTune Store. Its to allow us to save the prefix and then, add them in font of the phone number selected from the address book. Thus, you can add those like +, 010, etcs. A simple, yet convenient app.

Smart Dialer doesn't handle local +81 numbers: +81 is not substituted with a 0.

Take a look at "Calling Card":

http://homepage.mac.com/aamann/CallingCard.html
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=291900272&mt=8

It allows you to do '+' substitution, country code (e.g., 81) removal. With its option for automatic card selection you should be able to define a few "cards" and make all your calls work correctly.

Andreas

Calling Card works but what I think everyone is after is an application UI that mimics as closer to possible the built-in Phone application: I've successfully setup Calling Card to handle +## dialing but there is too many clicks to call contacts that aren't in favorites.

I think it would be great if Calling Card had main sections for Favorites, Contacts and Keypad (like Phone) with the calling card settings in a config section as users are most likely to be calling people rather than configuring calling card settings.

IMHO the icon is also a bit un-iPhone like 😉

Message was edited by: Pukupi

Softbank Softbank Softbank.

You cannot be serious.

How difficult can this be?

Thanks for solving this - Soon.

Maybe 3.0 will solve this.

If not, calling the Softbank Hotline and mentioning this might help. The more callers, the merrier.