Sophie
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Your daughter has moved to Montreal for a year, a cousin lives in Chicago, or you need to confirm a booking with an American host. You type in the number you were given — often written as (312) 555-0147 — and nothing goes through, or the message does go through and the bill comes as a shock. For North America, two things settle everything: the number is written +1 followed by the ten digits (area code included, with no added 0), and the text almost always goes out outside your plan, even when your offer advertises "unlimited texts."
Updated 25 October 2026.
How do you write a US or Canadian number to send a text?
You need to write +1 then the ten digits of the number, with no required spaces, no parentheses and no intermediate 0. A number written (312) 555-0147 becomes +13125550147. The first three digits are the area code, the next three the central office, and the last four the line. The +1 is the country code for the North American Numbering Plan, shared by the United States, Canada and some twenty Caribbean territories.
That is what makes North America simpler than Europe: there is no national prefix to drop. In France, 06 loses its 0 and becomes +33 6. In the United States, the area code is an integral part of the number and never changes.
| What you're given | What to dial | Result |
|---|---|---|
| (312) 555-0147 | +1 312 555 0147 | Delivered |
| 312-555-0147 | +1 312 555 0147 | Delivered |
| 1-312-555-0147 | +1 312 555 0147 | Delivered (the 1 is already the country code) |
| +1 0 312 555 0147 | — | Rejected (stray 0) |
| 00 1 312 555 0147 | Works on most networks | Prefer +1 |
00 is the international exit prefix used in France and across the European Union. It works, but it is tied to the country you are calling from: if you travel to the United States yourself, the local exit prefix becomes 011. The +, on the other hand, is universal: your phone automatically converts it into the prefix of the network it is connected to. So save all your foreign contacts in + format, once and for all. We covered this in detail in our guide to the international format of a foreign number.
Does a US area code tell you where someone is?
No, not for a long time now. The area code (212 for Manhattan, 415 for San Francisco, 514 for Montreal) tells you where the line was opened, not where its owner lives. Number portability has been in force in North America since the early 2000s: an American who moves from New York to Austin keeps their 212 for life, and many treat it as a badge of belonging.
The practical consequence: you cannot infer from an area code that a message will be delivered quickly, nor which time zone the person is in. For texts, it has no bearing on cost — your French carrier's rate is the same across all of +1. For a call, however, it is better to simply ask about the time zone: between Newfoundland and Hawaii there is more than a six-hour gap.
One case deserves attention: some Caribbean territories share the +1 code (1-809 for the Dominican Republic, 1-876 for Jamaica, 1-868 for Trinidad and Tobago). They are not billed like the United States by every French carrier, and a few +1 codes have historically been used for premium-rate scams. If an unknown +1 number contacts you, the instinct should still be to check the area code before calling back or replying — a topic we covered in the article on texts received from abroad and who pays for them.
How much does a text to the United States cost from France?
Anywhere from a few tens of cents to more than half a euro per message, depending on the carrier and the plan. The key point: an "unlimited texts" plan in France practically never covers texts to a foreign number. Unlimited texts means texts sent from mainland France to a French number. As soon as the recipient is on +1, the message switches to an "international text," a line item outside your plan on your bill.
Three situations need to be distinguished, as carriers bill them differently:
- You are in France and the recipient has a US number → international text, outside the plan in virtually all offers.
- You are in the United States roaming with your French SIM → some premium plans include "United States and Canada" in a roaming allowance; otherwise, non-EU rates apply.
- You are in France and the recipient is a French person travelling in the United States → this is a text to a French number, so it is included in your unlimited texts. The recipient pays nothing to receive it either, as a matter of principle since receiving charges were abolished.
| Situation | Usual billing |
|---|---|
| Text from France → +1 number | Outside the plan, "international text" rate |
| Text from the United States with a French SIM, to France | Depends on the non-EU roaming option subscribed to |
| Text from France → French mobile located in the United States | Included in unlimited texts |
| Text received from a +1 number | Free to receive, in France as in the EU |
Rate cards change several times a year and vary with how old your plan is. The only reliable source is the pricing information sheet for your own plan, available from your customer account with Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile or your MVNO. Carriers are required to publish these rates: look for the "international rates" or "from France to abroad" section. Before an intensive exchange with a North American contact, this is the five-minute habit that avoids a nasty surprise on the next bill. Our article on texts and data outside the European Union explains how non-EU billing works.
Do some carriers include North America?
Yes, but subject to conditions, and only on specific plans. Historically, several high-end offers on the French market have included the United States and Canada among their destinations "included from France" or within their roaming allowance. These inclusions are almost always capped (number of texts, number of days per year) and do not necessarily cover both directions. To find out whether yours does, look for one keyword in your contract: "included destinations," followed by the list of countries.
If the allowance runs out or does not exist, texts revert to per-unit pricing with no warning. Carriers do in principle send a threshold notification text for roaming data; for international texts sent from France, that alert does not exist. A weekly check of your usage in your carrier's app remains the only safeguard.
What free options are there for texting a US mobile?
Four routes, in order of reliability:
- RCS or an internet messaging app. If your contact uses Google Messages with RCS enabled, or iMessage on an iPhone, the message travels over data and costs nothing beyond your gigabytes. RCS between Android and iPhone is now interoperable, which changes a great deal for transatlantic exchanges: we explained it in RCS versus SMS in France. The limitation: both parties need an active data connection, and RCS never reaches a phone that is switched off with no network — unlike a text, which is stored and then forwarded.
- An online text-sending service. You compose the message in a browser and it goes out to the
+1number without going through your plan. That is what our text-sending page allows; per-message pricing is detailed on the pricing page. - Hotel or home Wi-Fi. When travelling, texting over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) lets you send from your French number without a local mobile network, provided your carrier allows it from abroad. All the nuances are in our guide to sending texts over Wi-Fi abroad.
- A temporary local number. For a stay of more than two weeks, a US or Canadian eSIM often costs less than the equivalent in international texts. Careful: the texts sent to your French number then become invisible if the French line is deactivated — a trap detailed in Local SIM abroad: your French texts are lost.
For a long stay, a type A/B US plug adapter is one of those purchases not to forget: North American outlets run on 120 V and your USB chargers accept that, but the plug will not fit the socket without an adapter. A 10,000 mAh power bank is also handy: in an airport or on a long-distance bus, a phone at 4% stops receiving anything, and a text delayed by a dead battery looks exactly like an undelivered text.
Why does my text to a US number never arrive?
Five causes dominate, and the number format is only the first.
- The number is a landline or a VoIP number. In the United States, many business numbers are VoIP lines that do not accept texts. The message leaves your phone, your carrier bills you for it, and it vanishes at the recipient's end. We devoted a full article to sending texts to a landline number.
- The "international text" option is blocked on your line. Some offers, in particular capped plans and lines for minors, disable international communications by default. Unblocking can be requested from the carrier, often free of charge.
- The recipient filters international senders. US carriers apply aggressive anti-spam filters to inbound traffic from abroad. An isolated text generally gets through; a series of identical messages sent to several recipients may be blocked upstream.
- The recipient's phone is out of network coverage. The text is then held by the message centre and forwarded later. How long it is kept varies by sending carrier, as explained in Texting a switched-off phone.
- You are waiting on a delivery receipt that means nothing. On an international route, the receipt at best indicates that the message has left your network — not that it has arrived. That is the subject of our article on international delivery receipts.
Useful rule: if a first text to a
+1number gets no reply within 24 hours, don't resend it five times. Check the number format first, then ask your contact through another channel (email, messaging app) whether they do receive texts from a foreign number.
Do MMS and long messages get through too?
Texts almost always do; MMS, far less often. Sending a photo to a North American number depends on MMS interconnection agreements between your carrier and the destination carrier, and those agreements are considerably less universal than for SMS. An undelivered international MMS is sometimes converted into a web link, sometimes lost with no notification. For a photo, the safe channel remains an internet messaging app or an email. Our article on MMS not received abroad details the causes.
As for length, the 160-character rule applies in exactly the same way internationally: beyond that, the message is split into several concatenated texts — and billed just as many times. At an international rate, a 300-character message therefore costs double. Accented and special characters bring the limit down to 70 characters per segment, which multiplies the bill without your noticing. Writing without accents when texting abroad is not fussiness: it is a measurable saving. The principle is explained in Why the 160-character limit for a text message?.
If you write to North America regularly, a paper address book in which to note the numbers you have already converted to +1 format saves you retyping the country code every time — and an English-French phrasebook remains useful for exchanges with US customer service, which in the United States is often handled by text.
Frequently asked questions
Which country code do I use to text Canada?
The same one as for the United States: +1. Canada shares the North American Numbering Plan. Montreal uses 514 and 438, Toronto 416 and 647, Vancouver 604 and 778. So you write +1 514 555 0147.
Do my plan's unlimited texts cover the United States?
No, unless your pricing sheet explicitly says so. Unlimited texts apply to messages sent from France to French numbers. A text to a +1 number is an international text, billed per message on most offers.
Should I write 001 or +1?
Both work from France, but +1 is preferable: it stays valid whatever country you are sending from, whereas 00 is the European exit prefix and becomes 011 in North America.
Does receiving a text from a US number cost anything?
No. Receiving texts is free in France and across the European Union, whatever the origin of the message. Only sending is billed. Do be wary, however, of texts inviting you to call back an unknown number.
Can I text a US mobile without an international plan?
Yes, via RCS, an internet messaging app or an online text-sending service. The conditions and the destinations covered are detailed in our FAQ.
