'+1-' in phone numbers

Every international telephone number is governed by two ITU (International Telecommunications Union, an arm of the UN) standards, E.164 and E.123.  The TL/DR is that every international phone number is made up of three parts: a plus sign: "+", a country code (a small number), and a long country-specific number that identifies the actual called party.

• The plus sign tells the telephone system that this is an international number.

• The country codes are established in a UN standard called ISO-3166.

• And the country-specific number is issued by telephone services in that country according to that country's national numbering plan.

For numbers in North America (Canada, US, and the Caribbean but excluding Mexico) the country code is 1.  So a number prefixed with '+1-' is in North America.

For example, the old directory assistance number for Los Angeles, expressed as an international number, is "+1-213-555-1212."

Note that the ITU standards for phone numbers simply ignore formatting characters like spaces, parentheses, dashes, and dots.  So a number like +1-631-555-1212 may also be represented as (631)-555-1212 or 631.555.1212 or 631 555 1212.

Why?

This website is visible globally and has regular visitors from all over the world.  People who do not reside in North America might use it and want to call businesses here.

Since the North Fork of Long Island is, at least at present, in North America, all of the numbers in our directory are identified with the leading '+1-'.  If your business uses a number that is not part of the North America Numbering Plan, please let us know and we will correct your listing.