Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxt.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxv!pyuxt!marcus From: marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Re: Phone numbers Message-ID: <233@pyuxt.UUCP> Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 19:36:54 EST Article-I.D.: pyuxt.233 Posted: Thu Jan 3 19:36:54 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 04:47:37 EST References: <1452@ritcv.UUCP> Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J. Lines: 35 > perhaps someone can add to this dissertation. Well, alright then, I will. I think that the 1 preceding the area code is now necessary throughout the US, and gives access to AT&T long distance service (as opposed to say another OCC), or will do in the future. I don't think it has anything to do with the country code. Furthermore, whats so strange about making the area code optional when the exchanges concerned are close to an area code boundary? Anomaly or common sense? (Note that the call would be local anyway, viz 212-718 area codes.) When we phone other countries we don't actually dial the foreign city code *au naturelle" but lop off any possible preceding code. For example, to phone Birmingham University in the UK one would dial [021] 472 1301 depending on whether you were phoning from inside or outside the Birmingham area. From here, you would dial 011 44 21 472 1301 - in other words, you would drop the 021 to 21. I use international dialling to several places in europe every now and then from different parts of the country and the only problems i've encountered are in what I have to do to make it a credit card call - not all phone companies are as advanced as each other. Seems quite simple to me... Now if we were to get onto how the phone companies name their circuit segments internally then we would have real fun trying to guess what systematic form they used... Love, -- Marcus Hand {ihnp4!}pyuxt!marcus