What is the Plus ‘+’ Symbol in a Fax Number?

Last Update: August 9th, 2021

A plus symbol in a fax number (or phone number) designates the international exit code from where you are.

If you are in the same country the fax number is located, ignore the plus symbol.

Some fax machines (especially online fax and fax software) can insert the + digitally.

What the plus (+) means

The plus is the international exit code from where you are. Each country has its own way of dialing to the international switchboard, and ‘+’ in a fax number simply means ‘dial the international exit code’.

Should I dial the plus sign or exit code?

It doesn’t matter. Either works well.

If your fax software can do it, it’s slightly better to use the ‘+’ symbol, so that if you’re traveling or you share a contact’s fax number to a person in a different country they won’t have to manually change the exit code.

List of exit codes

The United States, Canada, most of the Caribbean, and U.S. Territories in the Pacific use exit code ‘011’.

The UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, India, New Zealand, most of Africa, and many countries of the world use ’00’.

Australia uses ‘0011’.

Japan uses ‘010’.

For more see our page on how to dial an international fax.