There are numerous ways of contacting someone in Belgium from abroad.
On 1 December 2002, Belgacom will be discontinuing one of its services, namely "Incoming Collect Calls with Belgacom Operator." In view of the numerous alternatives available, there is clearly no longer any need for this (little known) service, which is practically never used these days: this year, only 40 calls were made over the first nine months.
There are many ways of contacting someone in Belgium from abroad.
- You can make a telephone call from your hotel, from a public telephone booth or with a GSM. Alternatively, you can send an e-mail or SMS message via the Internet. In addition, you have the following options:
- You can use a Belgacom Calling Card (prepaid or not) to make a call;
You can reverse the charges (either via Belgacom Belgium Direct or Collect Call) so that the call is paid by the person you are calling.
Those wanting to make a collect call via Belgacom Belgium Direct just need to dial the toll-free number in the country in which they are staying followed by the fixed-line number in Belgium. The system connects the call automatically and asks the person called whether he/she is willing to pay for the call. The access numbers and rates are given on www.belgacom.be or can be obtained by calling toll-free 0800 22040 (option 3). You can use the Belgium Direct Call service from more than 50 countries.
From most other countries, you can use the "Collect Calls" option. Here, you place the call to Belgium via the operator in the country you are calling from. If the person called agrees to pay for the call, the call is connected. The rate payable by the person called may be on the high side, between EUR 0.5999 and EUR 2.9995 per minute, depending on the country from which the call originates. The person called is always charged a minimum of three minutes, plus an additional charge of EUR 7.4988.
Collect calls involving manual intervention by a Belgacom operator will be discontinued on 1 December 2002. The other types of collect calls and the Belgacom Belgium Direct automated service will continue to be available to customers.
