Telephone & Postal Services

Telephone
Postal Services

Telephone Calls

It cannot be guaranteed that you have a phone in your place of stay because a lot of people use mobile phones. If there is a phone in your apartment, you should talk with your flatmates and find out about the billing system of the company they use. Telekom Austria, for instance, sends out bimonthly phone bills where the individual calls are not itemized.

In Austria, local phone calls are not free as in the USA!!

If there is no phone in your apartment or if the line has been cut off, it is probably best to buy a mobile phone. Your mentor will have more information. There are also two types of public phone in Austria. One takes only coins, the other only phone cards. You can purchase phone cards ("Telefonwertkarten") at any post office and at the tobacconist's ("Trafik").

Country Codes and Rates

A list of country codes as well as the rates can be found on the first pages of any telephone directory. Generally speaking, it is cheapest to phone between 8pm and 7am during the week and on Saturdays, Sundays and official holidays. Another convenient possibility is to use phones on which you can be called back at the central post office or at some more recently installed public pay phones. Such phones are marked with an "R" (Rückruf). There are also several phone shops in town that have very cheap rates for calling overseas. You will get more information during orientation.

The area code for Graz from within Austria is 0316, from abroad it is 0043-316

Post Offices

There are post offices throughout Graz which are open Mon.-Fri., 8am - noon and 2 - 6pm for letters, parcels, telephones, telegrams etc. Most post offices are closed on the weekend (Sat./Sun.). Also, there is no mail delivery on the weekend. The "Bahnhofspostamt" (post office at the train station) has extended opening hours and is also open until 3pm on Sundays. Post offices generally also offer fax services and EMS (Express Mail Service).

Parcels

The gross weight of one parcel may not exceed 20 kg and must fit certain (fairly generous) dimensions. Prior to mailing the parcel, you will have to fill out various forms and itemize contents. Please be sure to use strong boxes, string and wrapping paper. You can obtain boxes from the post office or from food stores.

More information here (German only)