Why is a + needed for a phone number? What does it mean and why can’t it be omitted if the full number follows after anyway?

Question

Why is a + needed for a phone number? What does it mean and why can’t it be omitted if the full number follows after anyway?

In: Other

Answer 1

Don’t know in depth technical reasons for why, but you can substitute the + with 00.
The next 1-3 numbers usually tells you which country / continent you’re calling.

Multiple countries can have the same phone numbers, since there is only so many combinations you can make with 8-9 digits, so the country code is necessary to know which one you’re calling. Without it, it would default to the number in the country you’re calling from. That should answer if you can omit it.

Hope this helped.