Telephone and Fax

Every city has a general information service (tel: 1080) that provides everything from phone numbers and train and air timetables to exchange rates and the latest football scores. It even provides marriage counselling or bedtime lullabies for your child – no kidding! You can usually be connected to an operator who speaks English or French.

Domestic Calls

Phone numbers in Hanoi and HCMC have seven digits. Elsewhere around the country phone numbers have six digits. Telephone area codes are assigned according to the province.
Local calls can usually be made from any hotel or restaurant phone and are often free. Confirm this with the hotel so you don't receive any unpleasant surprises when you check out. Domestic long-distance calls are reasonably priced and cheaper if you dial direct. up to 20% by calling between 10pm and 8am.

International Calls

Charges for international calls from Vietnam have any phone in the country; just dial 17100, the country code and the number.
International and domestic long-distance calls can be made at hotels, but it's expensive. A cheaper alternative is to make these calls from the post office, which have handy displays telling you the cost of the call.
Reverse charges or collect calls are possible to most, but not all. Western countries including Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

Mobile (Cellular) Phones

Vietnam is putting a lot of money into its cellular network. Vietnam uses GSM 900/1800, which is compatible with most of Asia, Europe and Australia but not with North America.
If your phone has roaming, it is easy enough, if expensive, to make calls in Viel-nam. Another option is to buy a SIM card with a local number to in Vietnam.
Rival companies Vina Phone and Mobi Phone battle it out in the mobile-phone market with gimmicks galore to attract new customers. Both of these companies have offices and branches nationwide.
Be aware that mobile-phone numbers in Vietnam start with the prefixes tel 0903 or  0913, and cost more to call than a local number.

Fax

Most post offices and hotels offer fax ser­vices. Hotels charge considerably more than the post office.