[comp.dcom.telecom] 800-800 Prefix

cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (05/20/91)

I just found a motel chain's toll free reservation number listed as
800-800-xxxx.  This is the first N0X/N1X prefix I have seen listed for
800 "area".  (But in 900, there was a 900-410-NASA many years ago.)


[Moderator's Note: There is also 900-410-TIME (same as 202-653-1800)
which gets the Naval Observatory Talking Master Clock.   PAT]

Ken Weaverling <weave@brahms.udel.edu> (05/21/91)

In article <telecom11.382.7@eecs.nwu.edu> cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes:

> I just found a motel chain's toll free reservation number listed as
> 800-800-xxxx.  This is the first N0X/N1X prefix I have seen listed for
> 800 "area".  (But in 900, there was a 900-410-NASA many years ago.)

Prime Computer has had 800-800-PRIME for at least six months now. It
is their customer service number.


Ken Weaverling    weave@brahms.udel.edu

elm@cs.berkeley.edu (ethan miller) (05/21/91)

In article <telecom11.382.7@eecs.nwu.edu> Carl Moore (VLD/VMB)
<cmoore@brl.mil> writes:

> I just found a motel chain's toll free reservation number listed as
> 800-800-xxxx.  This is the first N0X/N1X prefix I have seen listed for
> 800 "area".  (But in 900, there was a 900-410-NASA many years ago.)

I called a car rental company today at 800-800-XXXX.  Is this the only
case of an area code which has an exchange of the same number (ie, the
only area code which has xyz-xyz-XXXX numbers)?  Who does 800-800
belong to?


ethan miller--cs grad student   elm@cs.berkeley.edu
#include <std/disclaimer.h>     {...}!ucbvax!cs.berkeley.edu!elm

Nick Sayer <mrapple@quack.sac.ca.us> (05/22/91)

elm@cs.berkeley.edu (ethan miller) writes:

> I called a car rental company today at 800-800-XXXX.  Is this the only
> case of an area code which has an exchange of the same number (ie, the
> only area code which has xyz-xyz-XXXX numbers)?  Who does 800-800
> belong to?

Sprint. 800-800-KUOP has been our college radio station's pledge line
for a couple years now.


Nick Sayer    rapple@quack.sac.ca.us  N6QQQ    209-952-5347 (Telebit)  

"Sander J. Rabinowitz" <0003829147@mcimail.com> (05/23/91)

Ethan Miller made the following inquiry in Telecom #385:
 
> I called a car rental company today at 800-800-XXXX.  Is this the only
> case of an area code which has an exchange of the same number (ie, the
> only area code which has xyz-xyz-XXXX numbers)?  Who does 800-800
> belong to?
 
800-800 seems to belong to US Sprint (judging from the recording I got
when I dialed 800-800-0000).  As to whether it's the only instance of
an xyz-xyz number, I've found that 213-213-xxxx is a valid phone
number, and many others are theoretically possible as the use of
area-code like exchanges increase.
 
 
Sander J. Rabinowitz | sjr@mcimail.com -or- | +1 615 661 4645
Brentwood, Tenn.     | sander@attmail.com   |       8-)

joes@uunet.uu.net> (05/25/91)

I was under the impression that one couldn't have a prefix be the same
as an AC.  Isn't there some "fluke" in telco equipment that prevents
having a 0 or 1 as the second digit of the prefix?


techbook.com      |  TECHbooks Employee; I work for  |
Joe Stein         |  TECHbooks, but,  the views and  |
                  |  opinions are my own.


[Moderator's Note: There is no 'fluke' that it cannot be done. For
many years -- like more than a half-century? -- it *wasn't* done,
mostly as a way to avoid confusion for callers and telco operators
alike. Of course, 'way back when', they did not assign the same prefix
code in adjacent area codes either. There were so many four-digit and
seven-digit convenience-for-the-community dialing arrangements which
extended across state lines and area code boundaries it became
impossible to keep up with. And with the growing shortage of workable
codes, those special dialing arrangements became an extravagance the
network could no longer support. Until around 1970, northwestern
Indiana in the 219 area served by Illinois Bell dialed anywhere in 312
with just seven digits and vice versa.

And on the southern edge of Chicago -- on the Indiana side -- sat
little Whiting, population 8000, and a manual phone exchange until
the middle 1960's. From Chicago, we dialed '911' and waited ... after
five seconds or five minutes the operator would come on the line and
respond by screaming "Whiting!!"  in your ear ... and you'd ask for
six-oh-nine if you wanted the Walgreen Drug Store, or one-two-three-four
if you wanted the recorded announcment giving the movie schedule at
the Hoosier Theatre. For Standard Oil you could ask for two-one-one-one
but saying 'Whiting Refinery' worked also,; they'd plug you into the
refinery operator either way. I made the last manual call in Whiting
the night of the cut, and the first automated call a few seconds
later, at 2:00 AM that morning.  Until the Hoosier Theatre closed a
couple years ago their number remained 219-659-1234.    PAT]