South Africa changed its numbering plan in 2007 so that every number in the country would be the same length. Compared with most countries, where mobile and landline numbers differ, that single decision makes dialling from abroad unusually simple.
Nine digits, and a zero that goes
Every South African number is nine digits long after the leading zero, whether it belongs to a landline in a farmhouse or a mobile in a taxi in Soweto. Since 16 January 2007 the plan has been closed, which means you always dial the full national number rather than a shortened local one.
The leading zero is a trunk code. It tells the South African network that what follows is a national call, and from outside the country the country code does that job instead. So the rule is the same as everywhere else, and it applies to every number here without exception: keep the +27, drop the zero.
Landlines
Landline numbers carry an area code, and the codes are geographic. Cape Town is 021, Johannesburg is 011, Pretoria is 012, Durban is 031, Gqeberha is 041, and Bloemfontein is 051.
One quirk is worth knowing if you are reading an old directory. The codes were allocated when South Africa had four provinces rather than nine, so several of today’s provinces share numbers that were designed for a map that no longer exists. A number that looks like it belongs to one region can sit in another, and a printed telephone directory from before the change will send you to the wrong place.
For a visitor this is mostly trivia. Where it matters is when you are given a number over the phone and want to check you wrote it down correctly: if the area code is one you recognise, you probably did.
Mobile numbers
Mobile numbers begin with 06, 07 or 08, and the ranges have widened over the years as more networks were licensed. Old advice that a South African mobile always starts with 08 is out of date, and the prefix no longer tells you which network you are calling.
Because the numbers are the same length as landlines, there is nothing special to learn. The same nine digits, the same dropped zero, the same result.
Why the prefix no longer identifies the network
South Africa introduced mobile number portability in November 2006, which means you can change network and keep your number. The prefix ranges still mostly follow their original owners, but they are no longer a reliable guide.
This matters in one practical situation. If you are buying a local SIM and trying to work out which network has the better signal where you are going, the number someone gives you tells you nothing about their network. Ask instead, or read what the coverage actually looks like across the country.
Calling without a voice line
With a data only travel eSIM you have no South African number, so nobody can ring you on one. That is the trade for a cheaper plan and an instant setup.
What you can still do is call out, over an app, to any ordinary South African number. WhatsApp in particular is close to universal here for personal and business use, and many guesthouses, tour operators and even some restaurants treat it as their main channel. If you are arranging a transfer or checking a booking, a WhatsApp message will often get a faster answer than a phone call.
For incoming calls, keep your own line switched on and leave data on the travel eSIM. Running two lines at once explains how the phone decides which line does what.
If the number will not connect
Three checks, in order.
The first is the zero. A South African number is nine digits after the country code, and the most common mistake by a distance is leaving the trunk zero in front of them, which offers the network ten digits and a number it cannot place.
The second is the length. Because landlines and mobiles are the same size here, a number that comes out too short or too long is nearly always a typing error rather than a different kind of number, and the widget above shows what it made of what you entered.
The third is the country code. South Africa is +27, which sits close to several neighbours in a long list, and a slipped digit will reach somewhere unexpected rather than failing outright.
One more thing worth knowing, and it is not a dialling problem at all. During a power cut the network in that area can go down with the grid, so a number that answered this morning may be unreachable this evening through nothing you did. What load shedding does to a trip covers that side of it.
Before you call
One timing note. South Africa keeps the same offset all year, two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, and does not change its clocks. If you are calling from Europe or North America, the gap shifts twice a year when your own country changes and South Africa does not, which is worth checking before you promise a call at a particular hour.
If the data side of the trip is still open, an eSIM for South Africa covers it, and what a SIM card costs here is the comparison to read before you decide to buy on arrival.