I recently came across a site that listed questions that people are asking, according to Google. I was surprised to see that one of them was how to call Canada.

Canada’s international calling code is the number “1″ without the quotes, of course.

If you are calling from the US, you simply put 1 in front of the area code followed by the seven digit number you are trying to reach. For example,  you would call 1+area code + xxx-xxxx.

If you are calling from an country other than the United States, you may have to precede the number 1 with a code specific to your own country.  To get code, you can contact your local telecom service provider. Alternatively, check out this web site that contains the information you need about calling Canada from almost anywhere:

How to Call Canada.

But truly, the most affordable way to call Canada, or any other long distance number, is to use a VoIP technology like Skype.

Skype offers you unlimited calls to landlines, plus various other features.

To use Skype, you subscribe for free and then install a piece of software on your computer. I believe you can also get Skype for the iPhone.   In any case, once the software is installed correctly, you can talk to any other Skype subscriber completely for free — no matter where they live or where you live.

If you want to call a landline rather than Skype to Skype, you can purchase a package of pre-paid minutes. The rate per minute will vary, depending on where you are calling. However, the charges will be considerably less than you would pay using international long distance services.

For instance, I once phoned from Vancouver, Canada to Israel, using Skype to a land line. We spoke for about thirty minutes, and the call cost me $7.00  If the other person had been a Skype subscriber, it would have been a free call. I have also spoken Skype to Skype to a subscriber in Japan — for absolutely no charge.

In case you are thinking that the connection would be jerky and of poor quality — not at all. The connection was considerably better than I typically get phoning across the city with my mobile phone.

If you’re calling Canada from an international destination, and if you have access to a computer or an iPhone — then a VoIP technology like Skype is just plain good common sense.

Go, Skype, Go!