Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version VT1.00C 11/1/84; site vortex.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!vortex!lauren From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Re: Phone Numbers Message-ID: <495@vortex.UUCP> Date: Sat, 5-Jan-85 18:02:02 EST Article-I.D.: vortex.495 Posted: Sat Jan 5 18:02:02 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 7-Jan-85 03:18:37 EST References: <316@utcs.UUCP> Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles Lines: 38 OK, here's the answer. The +1 referred to by the original European message is simply a CONVENTION for indicating the country code of interest, it isn't necessarily the actual dialing sequence for calling your number from other countries, just a way of indicating what your country code is in case someone else needs it someday. Using this convention, a U.S. business card might read: +1 (311) 555-2368 The +1 isn't the 1 you dial for DDD calls, but rather just the indicator of your country code for other people who might need that information. They almost certainly would NOT simply dial that number sequence to get to you--they'd typically have their own (varying) lead-in codes to deal with as well. The problem with including the +1 on numbers routinely given out in the U.S. is that the U.S. callers, by and large, are much more unfamiliar with international dialing than European callers who use it quite a bit more routinely (natural given the relatively small sizes of the countries involved in many cases). In the U.S., adding the +1 would tend to confuse most people who never have, and never will, make an international call, since some people WOULD tend to confuse it with the "dial 1 first" code needed for DDD access in most cities here. By the way, just as an experiment, I tried to see if my local Pacific Bell operator knew what the country code for the U.S. was. They couldn't even understand what I was talking about. They said, "Call your business office, it might be different for each country trying to call you..." I then tried the same thing on one of my General Telephone lines. This operator also made the same claim, but after calling two supervisors, NYC, and two inward operators in Great Britain, finally got somebody to say that the country code was "probably" 1. So as you can see, it's pretty confused. --Lauren--