The 21st-Century Traveler

Telephones

To call Croatia from another country:

1. Dial the international access code: 011 from the U.S.; 00 from the U.K., Ireland, or New Zealand; or 0011 from Australia.

2. Dial Croatia's country code 385.

3. Dial the city code. For Zagreb, for example, that is 1.

4. Dial the number.

To make international calls from Croatia:

1. Dial the access code 00.

2. Dial the country code (U.S. or Canada 1, U.K. 44, Ireland 353, Australia 61, New Zealand 64).

3. Dial the area code.

4. Dial the number.

For example, if you wanted to call the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., from Croatia you would dial 00-1-202-588-7800.

To call from one city code to another within Croatia: Dial the Croatian city code, including the zero, followed by the phone number.

To make a local call within a Croatian city: Dial the phone number. No codes necessary. Local calls cost about 5kn ($1) per minute.

For directory assistance: Dial 988 if you're looking for a number inside Croatia country, and dial 902 for numbers to all other countries.

For operator assistance: If you need operator assistance in making a call, dial 901 if you're trying to make either an international call or if you want to call a number in Croatia.

Toll-free numbers: Toll-free numbers in Croatia start with 0800. Warning: Calling a 1-800 number in the United States from Croatia is not toll-free. In fact, it costs the same as an overseas call.

Prepaid Phone Cards: To use a prepaid phone card, call the service, key in the code on the back of the card, and call the number. It's a good idea to have a prepaid phone card for emergencies because Croatian pay phones don't take coins and you'll need a card to use them. You can buy prepaid cards in denominations of 50, 100, 200, and 500 units at most newspaper kiosks, at post offices, and at some tobacconists. Calls are based on unit-per-minute rates, and the farther away you call, the more each unit costs and the faster you use up your units.

In Zagreb, you can buy prepaid cards at Nexcom, Zavrtnica 17 (tel. 01/606-03-33); or at Voicecom, Ilica 109 (tel. 01/376-01-23: www.voicecom.hr). Free 0800 access.

Cellphones

The three letters that define much of the world's wireless capabilities are GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), a big, seamless network that makes for easy cross-border cellphone use throughout Europe and dozens of other countries worldwide. In the U.S., T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular use this quasi-universal system; in Canada, Microcell and some Rogers customers are GSM, and all Europeans and most Australians use GSM. GSM phones function with a removable plastic SIM card, encoded with your phone number and account information. If your cellphone is on a GSM system, and you have a world-capable multiband phone such as many Sony Ericsson, Motorola, or Samsung models, you can make and receive calls across civilized areas around much of the globe. Just call your wireless operator and ask for "international roaming" to be activated on your account. Unfortunately, per-minute charges can be high -- usually $1 to $1.50 in Western Europe and up to $5 in places like Russia and Indonesia.

Note: If you have a GSM-equipped phone with an activated roaming feature, your phone will adjust to the city's prevailing carrier automatically.

For many, renting a phone is a good option. If this is your choice, we suggest renting a phone before you leave home because there are no phone rental opportunities in Croatia. Be sure your rental works with Croatian providers. North Americans can rent a phone before leaving home from InTouch USA (tel. 800/872-7626: www.intouchglobal.com) or RoadPost (tel. 888/290-1606 or 905/272-5665; www.roadpost.com). InTouch will give complimentary advice on whether your existing phone will work overseas; simply call tel. 703/222-7161 between 9am and 4pm EST, or go to http://intouchglobal.com/travel.htm.

Buying a phone for overseas use can be economically attractive, as many nations have cheap prepaid phone systems. Once you arrive at your destination, stop by a local cellphone shop and get the cheapest uncoded/unlocked phone you can find. You'll probably pay less than $100 for a phone, a starter calling card, and a SIM card. Local calls may be as low as 10¢ per minute, and in Croatia, incoming calls are free to you. You can replenish your calling card at news kiosks and at some convenience stores in Croatia.

Croatia has 4 mobile phone providers: T-Com (www.t-mobile.hr/eng/1/10-00-00-00.asp) and VIP: (www.vipnet.hr/cw/show?idc=8748940) have the biggest networks. Their SIM cards start at 150kn ($28), but just 100kn ($20) of that applies to minutes. Note: If you buy a phone package from one of Croatia's providers, you also must buy its service and you get a coded or "locked" phone that does not work with other providers' SIM cards.

Internet/E-Mail

Without Your Own Computer -- Croatia is a "wired" country. Cybercafes have been a fixture in larger cities and most resorts for a long time, and now many smaller towns have them, too. In addition, hotels increasingly make at least one computer available for guest use, even if it is the computer at the front desk. We have even seen stand-alone coin-operated computers that allow connection to the Web. To find cybercafes in Croatia, check www.cybercaptive.com and www.cybercafe.com.

Most major airports have Internet kiosks that provide basic Web access for a per-minute fee that's usually higher than cybercafe prices. Check out tourist offices, some of which offer computer stations with fully loaded software (as well as Wi-Fi).

With Your Own Computer -- More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hotspots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or that charge a small fee for usage. Most laptops sold today have built-in wireless capability. To find public Wi-Fi hotspots at your destination, go to www.jiwire.com; its Hotspot Finder holds the world's largest directory of public wireless hotspots.

For dial-up access, most business-class hotels throughout the world offer dataports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in Europe now offer free high-speed Internet access.

Wherever you go, bring a connection kit of the right power and phone adapters, a spare phone cord, and a spare Ethernet network cable -- or find out whether your hotel supplies them to guests. Tip: If you expect to charge your laptop, be sure to carry a converter and a two-pronged Continental plug. Croatian electrical current is 220V 50Hz voltage.