4/27    Anyone from the Beijing area here?  My mother-in-law is on a trip
        there.  She bought a SIM card there and put it in her cell phone.  She
        said the number is 1XXXXXXXX (total 9 digits).  What should I dial on
        my home phone in order to call that number?  I tried 011-86-1XXXXXXXX,
        but I always got a tone that sounds like a busy signal.  Thanks.
        \_ Try removing the leading 1. Many include the long distance dialing
        prefix like we would say 1-510-...
           \_ If '1' is not the area code, do I need an area code before the
              eight remaining digits?
        \_ Don't use a cell phone if you are. Most cell providers require
           that you activate international dialing. Try using Skype, if all
           else fails.
        \_ Telephone number in China are 8 digits (7 in the US).
           Large cities have 2 digit area code, most other cities have
           3 digit area code. So a normal phone in BJ would be
           011-86-10-aaaa-bbbb. GSM cellphone usually have 3 digit
           area code, so it's usually in the form
           011-86-???-aaaa-bbbb. (??? being 138/136, etc). But some
           cellphone (not GSM) uses local area code (Xiao-Ling-Tong).
           Try 011-86-10-XXXX-XXXX (take the last 8 digit of the
           number she gave you. If it's a real cellphone, it should
           have 11 digits.