Resources of the Week: International Telephone Directories
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
A major part of The Day Job is finding phone numbers — for people, companies, organizations, etc. Almost always easy when it’s a U.S. number. When it’s an international number…not so easy, even with our expensive subscription databases.
I have yet to find a collection of international phone directories online that really wows me. Many of them are riddled with dead links and/or pointers to questionable pay services. But if you click through enough of them, every once in awhile you find what you need. If you happen to have a source for these that you really, really like, please share.
In the meantime, here’s a list of fishing holes for international directories.
+ 10-10PhoneRates.com: Regional tables with yellow & white pages – At first, I thought this was just a directory of calling plans. But when you click on a link for a geographic location, you’ll get a table of calling rates with individual country links at the top. Click on a country name and you’ll get a selection of links to directories.
+ AT&T’s venerable AnyWho.com offers a collection of links to international directories.
+ EscapeArtist.com: All Nations International Telephone Calling Code Search Engine – This is kind of an odd one, from a site that appear to be aimed at expatriates. Scroll down to the search box at the lower left corner and use the dropdown menus to choose where you’re calling from and where you want to call. Click “Find the Number,” and you’ll get a page with links to directories (as well as embassies, unit converters and other odds-and-ends.
+ For EU business listings, try Europages, a directory of 1.5 million companies in 35 European countries.
+ Infobel, which has been around for a good while, has one of the better collections of international directory links.
+ International White and Yellow Pages – This one has a rather barebones look to it (to put it mildly), but it’s not bad. Provider is a Norway company called Wayp Internet Group.
+ Numberway offers a comprehensive collection of links. Note the “Recent Changes” section at the bottom — an indicator that the folks behind this one are making a solid effort to keep it current.
+ PhonebookoftheWorld.com – This one is rather oddly organized. You can use the dropdown menu to find the appropriate country or — somewhat more straightforward — click the Countries or Cities links at the very top of the page. OK, I’ll admit that I clicked on the Phonebook of the Moon link, but I’ll be darned if I could figure out what to do when I got to that page.
OK, so you’ve tried all of the above sites and you struck out. Now what? Well, something that sometimes works for us is contacting a local library in the area. Librarians, as we all know well, are among the most helpful folks roaming the planet. A good place to start looking? Libweb, which “currently lists over 8000 pages from libraries in 146 countries.” The ALA website offers a list of library associations around the world. The University of Queensland (AU) has a list of national library websites.
