covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert) (02/21/91)
From: Greg Monti, National Public Radio, Washington, DC
202 822-2633 Fax 202 822-2699
Date: 19 February 1991
Re: The Status of 1+703 Dialing
A couple of recent postings plus a recent {Washington Post} article
make this a suitable time to bring Telecomers up to date.
1. To my knowledge, there is NO move afoot to remove 1+703 dialing
from *toll* calls within the 703 area. A call from Arlington to
Roanoke, about 200 miles, will continue to be 1 + 703 + seven digits
when dialed in either direction.
2. On March 1, 1991, *Extended Area Calls* (which are a half-breed
between local and toll calls) from *Northern Virginia* to Prince
William County, Virginia, (and to the Arcola Rate Area [703-327] in
Loudoun County, Virginia) will be reduced from 1 + 703 + seven digits
to just seven digits. These calls were once toll but dropped into the
Extended Area rate category in mid-1988.
In Virginia, there appears to be a standard that EA calls are seven
digits. This seven-digit standard could not apply in 1988 because, at
that time, local calls from Northern Virginia to Suburban Maryland
were seven digits and about a half-dozen prefixes in Prince William
duplicated existing local prefixes in Maryland. Dialing seven digits
for both kinds of calls would be ambiguous. Once ten-digit dialing to
Maryland, even for local calls, became mandatory on October 1, 1990,
the 1 + 703 + seven digits requirement to reach Prince William County
could be lifted.
To prevent a lot of "wrong number" calls immediately after October 1,
C&P decided to wait five months until March 1, before removing the 1 +
703 requirement for Prince William. Currently, one receives a
blocking recording when attempting to dial from NVA to PW with 7D.
The recording varies according to whether you've dialed one of the
duplicated prefixes or not. (If not duplicated, "Your call cannot be
completed as dialed ...". If duplicated in local Maryland, "... you
must first dial 301 when placing this call ... this is a local call.")
Beginning March 1, the seven digit calls *will* go through to PW and 1
+ ten digit calls to PW exchanges will be blocked by a new recording
similar to the one used *from* Prince William to Northern Virginia
(which went into effect immediately in 1988), "It is no longer
necessary to dial 1 or 703 when placing this call; please hang up and
dial your call again without dialing 1 or 703."
3. On June 29, 1991, calls from Northern Virginia to the Leesburg
Rate Area (703-729, 771 and 777) in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be
dropped from inter-LATA toll rates and will become Extended Area
calls. Dialing will be reduced immediately at that time from 1 + 703
+ seven digits to just seven digits. This marks a fairly unusual
happening in the post-divestiture telephone industry because Leesburg
is not in the Washington LATA (it's in the Culpeper LATA). Calls that
were once the purview of competitive long distance carriers are being
sucked back into the purview of the local operating companies.cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (02/22/91)
Minor correction: The article says that "Once ten-digit dialing to Maryland, even for local calls, became mandatory ..." Try "Once ten-digit dialing for local calls to Maryland became mandatory ..." (Toll calls to Maryland remain 1+NPA+7D.)
irvin@northstar105.dartmouth.edu (Tim Irvin) (02/22/91)
In TELECOM Digest V11 #142, Greg Monti writes: > This marks a fairly unusual > happening in the post-divestiture telephone industry because Leesburg > is not in the Washington LATA (it's in the Culpeper LATA). Calls that > were once the purview of competitive long distance carriers are being > sucked back into the purview of the local operating companies. This brings up a point I have been wondering about. I live very close to the New Hampshire - Vermont border, in New Hampshire. The entire state of NH is one LATA, and the same goes for VT. However, my local calling area is made up of two NH exchanges, and three VT exchanges. How is it that I can call across a LATA boundary as a local call? Also, I have discovered that payphones in my exchange aren't aware of this cross-LATA local calling area. In placing a call to a VT store which is about .5 miles from the NETel PayPhone in my NH exchange I was using, I got the friendly recording telling me to deposit $2.50 for the first three minutes (or some such). I opted to drive the 1/2 mile. In related issue, my New England Telephone Directory (now simply marked as the NYNEX YELLOW PAGES and [in much smaller letters] White Pages) states in "Local and Nearby Calling" Section: -------------- IF YOU ARE CALLING FROM A COIN TELEPHONE Your local calling area also includes telephones LOCATED WITHIN THE SAME CITY OR TOWN AS THE COIN TELEPHONE, but served by exchanges other than those shown for the local calling area. Here's how to dial these calls: Dial "0" + the seven-digit number and charge the call to your New England Telephone Calling Card. When you receive your bill, call your Service Representative and ask to have the charge adjusted to the local coin rate, including overtime charges. Remember, this adjustment applies only to customer dialed station-to- station calls made with your New England Telephone Calling Card. All other calls are long distance calls and regular charges apply. ---------------- I take it they are refering to FX lines. Well, I have a few questions about this: 1. How many people actually read the "Customer Guide" at a payphone before making a call? Those that don't won't be able take advantage of this handy feature, and those that do will have to remember to call their Service Rep at month's end. 2. What happens if you are not a New England Telephone customer? I guess the tourists just get left out of this deal, unless of course NETel is providing Calling Cards to everyone worldwide, that is. 3. What do you think happens if you make one of these calls from a COCOT, and you tell the Service Rep at the end of the month that you want this $29.43 five-minute call adjusted to ten cents? (Sure a slight exaggeration -- but you get the idea). Tim Irvin Project NORTHSTAR Dartmouth College
cmoore@brl.mil (Carl Moore) (03/16/91)
Responding to article by Greg Monti (forwarded by John Covert): It is noted that Leesburg (Va.), which is in the Culpeper LATA, is being added to extended-area calling to/from Va. suburbs (Washington DC area). Notice that Herndon-Leesburg calling was already local.