A portable communications device receives from a user a first sequence of symbols that includes a phone number that corresponds to a destination number for a call (302). If the first sequence of symbols includes a predefined universal international access code symbol followed by the phone number, the device sends an address message corresponding to the first sequence of symbols to a communications network (304); and if the first sequence of symbols does not include the predefined universal international access code symbol followed by the phone number, the device determines a second sequence of symbols that correspond to the destination number (306), including the predefined universal international access code symbol if the portable communications device is presently located in a country other than the home country of the portable communications device, and sends an address message corresponding to the second sequence of symbols to the communications network (314).