Phones in Baja California

You just never know what random thing is going to happen with your telephone.

Take Carlos for example:
Carlos, noted for his gracious manners, was awakened one morning at 3:33 A.M. by his telephone.  "Your barking dog is keeping me awake," said an angry voice. Carlos thanked the caller and politely asked for his name and number before hanging up. The next morning at precisely 3:33 A.M., Carlos called his neighbour back. "Good morning, Mr. Sanchez. I just called to say that I haven’t got a dog."

Hopefully, you won’t have a phone interruption in the middle of your sleep time. However, you may experience annoyance with the telephones in Baja California in other ways.  We hope to clue you in on some “how-to’s” so that frustration with the phone is minimized and you’ll feel more in control of your world in Baja.  Baja area codes are as follows:
Tijuana: 664
Mexicali and San Felipe: 686
Rosarito: 661
Ensenada: 646
Cabo San Lucas & San Jose del Cabo: 624
Todos Santos: 612
Buena Vista: 614
Mulege: 615
La Paz: 612
Loreto: 612

Calls within Mexico

Phone numbers, just like in the United States, are 10 digits, and you add to that for long distance:
§ 7 digits are the local number*
§ 3 digits are the area code*
§ If you call long distance within Mexico, you will also need to add two more digits, which is the long distance access code: 01.
You may encounter situations where you are calling within the same area code and it’s long distance. If so, you would dial 01, the area code and the local number (12 digits in total).

Calls to Mexico or from Mexico to US

Mexico to US
To call to the US from Mexico, you need to dial the international access code, “00” and country code, for the US, which is “1”. So simply add “001” to your 10 digit number.
Example, a call to Newport Beach, CA:
00(international access code)  1(code for the US)  949(area code) 123-4567(local number)

US to Mexico
Calling Mexico/Baja from the US, requires using the US to Mexico international access code, “011” and Mexican country code, “52”: 
(international access code) (country code) (area code) (local number)
011 52 646 123-4567

Cell Phones
Cell phones in Mexico have a special prefix: 044 is the prefix for Rosarito and 045 is for Ensenada. This is dialled before the 10 digit telephone number (area code and local number). Example: 044 661 123-456 for a local call to a cell phone in Rosarito.
Calling from the US to a Mexican cell phone requires adding a “1” after the country code(52), as follows: 011 52 1 646 123-4567.

Note of Warning: Following these guidelines above will really help make the phone function correctly for you most of the time. However, if your call still does not go through, chill out and try again later. In spite of following the above perfectly, there will gremlins that create phone havoc from time to time. It’s inexplicable, but happens, and sometimes you need to wait it out for a few hours.

*Mexico City phones have 10 digits also. However, the first 2 are considered the area code: 55. The other 8 digits are the local number.