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From: jrc@ritcv.UUCP (James R. Carbin)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Phone numbers
Message-ID: <1452@ritcv.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 31-Dec-84 20:31:59 EST
Article-I.D.: ritcv.1452
Posted: Mon Dec 31 20:31:59 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Jan-85 04:01:14 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Lines: 69

Phil Ngai posts:

.................
>Ok, enough sarcasm. What our overseas friends seem to mistakenly
>be assuming is that Americans know that their country code is 1. 
>See, we don't have enough area codes to be unique over the world so 
>when you deal with other countries you have to specify a country code too.
>Egypt has a country code of 20, Nigeria 234, South Africa 27, etc.
>Since we invented the scheme, we have a country code of 1.
>(I think for these purposes the US and Canada are considered together.)
....................

Sorry Phil, but while I am not an expert on Telephone Companies, there are
some misconceptions in your posting.

1) The United States does not have a "Country Code," rather "1" is for North
America (although there are anomalies within Mexico.)

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

Why the need for dialing 011?  Well all area codes in North America have
either a zero or a one for their second digit.  As some country codes
are also three digits in length and some of these country codes have a
zero or a one as their second digit, it then becomes necessary for us
to distinguish between a North American Call ("1") or "overseas" call ("011").
What is the bottom line.  There exists no common algorithm for dialing the
telephone.  Our (Americans) habit of not placing a "1" in front of our 
area code I suspect comes not from a sense of elitism, but simply due to
the myriad of variations which exist in the dialing procedure.

=============
digression  1
=============
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!

=============
digression  2
=============
In the past, when I wanted to be sure that my students really understood
Backus Notation, I had them define a valid telephone number using BNF.  An
interesting task to be sure.

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

I have friends who live in an adjacent 315 area and whenever I use their
telephone, I always have to ask how to dial the number.  (How's that for
feeling like a schlep!  :-)  I don't even know how to use a telephone.)

Have a Happy New Year Phil, and perhaps someone can add to this dissertation.

as ever.

j.r.       {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!jrc