International numbers confuse the address book?

[pjac]

According to an article on The Register, and seemingly confirmed in the readers' comments, there are some issues in the iPhone's handling of international phone numbers.

Specifically, and I quote:

This reader does a fair amount of long-distance calling, so his address book is packed with international codes. "I have all my contacts saved with the international direct dial (e.g. +44 12345678)," he explains. "When I receive a call from 012345678 (being a UK number received when in the UK), the iPhone fails to match that number to a number within my contacts list."

But there's more. "When I'm outside the UK and it shows as 004412345678 (if in US) or 4412345678 (when in continental Europe)," he adds, "it also fails."

His only option is to triple the size of his contact list. "The only solution at the moment is to have the following entries in my address book: (m) 012345678, (m) 004412345678, (m) 4412345678."

Is this really the case?

I don't own an iPhone (but am thinking about it). I also use my phone internationally (in the UK and Europe), and most of my phone numbers are defined with the full international prefix (starting with a + then the country code), although some are simply UK specific. If the iPhone couldn't cope with this when trying to identify incoming calls etc, it would be a real pain

 

[firstrest]

No, not the case. Works fine on my phone. Many numbers in my address book are in international format, mainly +44 and +31, they show the contact name when I am called within the country.

 

[Barman91]

i posted a fix for this a couple post back

 

[pjac]

Oh yeah, this thread. I did search, but didn't find that. Cheers - but having to use a 2rd party hack is nasty

 

[HotblackDesiato]

No need for a fix, as there is no problem to fix.

 

[Oh-es-Ten]

I also have never had this problem with any of my contacts (on any version of the firmware either) - I always like to use the numbers with country codes as much as possible and there is never any problem with the iPhone not displaying incoming calls correctly. As mentioned above, I don't think there is an issue here - except perhaps with someone's address book data somehow.

 

[pjac]

So you have no problem with phone numbers like +44 141 300 4950 or 0141 300 4950 (an Apple store - just an example) both working with caller ID when you are called in the UK? Have you even used your phone in Europe or elsewhere?

I haven't done much digging, but it seems like some people have reported issues - perhaps this depends on the local phone company when roaming, and the precise settings of their network.

 

[Carnivor]

I have all my numbers setup in +44 1234.... format, and no issues, went to france a couple of weeks back and had no problems contacting ppl back in the uk.

 

[mouchoir]

I don't have this problem at all. My numbers are all set up +44 XXXXXXXXX also.

Does this only seem to affect Jailbroken phones, or does it happen to locked phones as well?

 

[rayward]

My phone's unhacked and the international calling works perfectly. Calling from here to furriners and calling from furreign places to here all work without hassle. I have the international call assistant turned on, which is a must.

The only wrinkle I have found is that, when overseas and receiving a call, it displays the correct contact details but the number posted in the recents list does not work. I have to go to that person's contact page to call them back.

 

[pjac]

It sounds like things aren't as bad as I had feared

The only wrinkle I have found is that, when overseas and receiving a call, it displays the correct contact details but the number posted in the recents list does not work. I have to go to that person's contact page to call them back.

This is always going to be tricky - when you are overseas how the local phone network presents the incoming number may vary (e.g. with the local international dialing prefix included, or with a plus).

It does sounds like Apple are currently missing a few corner cases, which will be a pain for anyone roaming internationally.

 

[pjac]

It sounds like things aren't as bad as I had feared

Unless you need to use three digit international codes that is! See this thread.

I'd guess its all fine with North America Numbering Plan codes, and most western countries with their 2 digit codes - as I expect they'd get the most testing.

But outside "the west", it looks like most country codes are three digits! e.g. Wikipedia or http://www.kropla.com/dialcode.htm