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From: gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Realities of IDDD [moved from net.news]
Message-ID: <833@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Jan-85 01:43:09 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.833
Posted: Wed Jan  2 01:43:09 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 04:35:45 EST
References: <1452@ritcv.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Amdahl Corp, Sunnyvale CA
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[ I'm trying to move this to net.misc as I don't know of an
  appropriate newsgroup ... ]

> 2) To place a long distance call from Rochester to a location outside of
> North America utilizing IDDD service of AT&T, you must first dial ""011"
> next the "country code," next the "city code (if one exists)" followed by 
> the "local number."   whew!! :-)   011 is designated by the Telephone Company
> as, "The International Area Code."    quote, unquote

My phonebook calls it "International Access Code".  And who/what is
"the Telephone Company" anyway?  (it was one year ago today ...).

> Realistically how many of us place personal phone calls utilizing IDDD?
> 
> Scenario:   You call your friend in Leningrad  011-671-812-999999  and get
>             a wrong number:  Call the credit operator for instant credit.
>             Now yah gotta be kidding me!

Last time I called the USSR (remember the krevax affair ...?) the
US Overseas operator said:
	"There'll be about a 2 hr wait."
me:	"Why?"
him:	"Because their phone system is very slow."
me:	"Oh."

On another occasion I was trying to make a collect call to
Palo Alto, CA, from Paris, France.  It went something like this:

me:	"Parlez-vous anglais?"
him:	"Yes, I speak English."
me:	"Oh, good.  I am trying to make a collect call to the United
	States."
him:	"You will have to wait 45 minutes."
me:	"Why?"
him:	"We are very busy."	(this was about 6:30 PM local time)

(I ended up dialing direct anyway, which was immediate).

I never took it seriously before that we have "the best phone system
in the world."  Now I believe it!

> 3) Even within the "Country Code" of "1," there are dialing anomalies.
> For example, just east of Rochester, the area code changes from 716 to 315.
> For people living near Rochester but in the 315 area code, all of the following
> are legitimate for calls for them within the 315 and 716 area codes.
> 
>                    555-9999      LOCAL call within 315 area code
>                  1 999-9999      LONG DISTANCE call within 315 area code
>                716 700-9999      LOCAL call within 716 area code
>              1 716 999-9999      LONG DISTANCE call within 716 area code

This is not exactly true; the reason you have cross-area-code calling
like that is because all the prefixes in the two area-code regions
are distinct: there can't be a 315-999-9999 and a 716-999-9999.
Such dialing used to be possible between the 415 and 408 area-codes
in the Bay Area but they ran out of prefixes and now the area-code is
required between the two regions.
-- 
Gordon A. Moffett		...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam

37 22'50" N / 121 59'12" W	[ This is just me talking. ]