covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 06-Dec-1990 1036) (12/06/90)
From: BETTY::GMONTI Subj: Worldwide Toll Free Code According to an article in _Network World_, there's a move afoot in Western Europe to implement a worldwide toll free numbering plan. The need for such a plan was raised by Hans Fraasen of an ad-hoc carrier committee examining international toll free calling. Apparently, the problem in the European Economic Community is that continent-wide television ads must list a toll-free number for each country from which the advertiser accepts calls. The confusing list of numbers must be displayed on the screen so viewers can write down the correct one. Fraasen proposes that the concept of a toll free area code in each country be expanded one level to a toll free "country code." There wouldn't actually be a "toll free country" just like there is no specific land area in the US where "area code" 800 resides. Fraasen proposes that the toll-free country code be 800, followed by 7 digits. That should hold the planet until more than 10,000,000 numbers are needed. From the UK, it would be dialed as 010-800-XXX-XXXX. From the US, it would be 011-800-XXX-XXXX. From France, 19-800-XXX-XXXX. The only thing a consumer would have to add to the number would be his country's international access code. Using 800 has two advantages: it's not currently used as a country code and it's familiar to dialers in some countries as "the toll free area code." After studying the matter, Fraasen's group will make a recomendation to the CCITT. They expect approval in two years and implementation about one year after that. Not mentioned in the story: whether individual international 800 users could restrict their +800 number to being dialed only from certain countries or only from certain area codes within those countries. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work +1 202 822-2633
goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) (12/11/90)
> Fraasen proposes that the concept of a toll free area code in each > country be expanded one level to a toll free "country code." There > wouldn't actually be a "toll free country" just like there is no > specific land area in the US where "area code" 800 resides. Fraasen > proposes that the toll-free country code be 800, followed by seven > digits. That should hold the planet until more than 10,000,000 > numbers are needed. It's a good idea, but I hope they don't limit themselves to just seven digits. I believe that the CCITT's recommended maximum number length (including country code) is twelve digits, so why not leave room for expansion by permitting up to nine digits after the +800? Another interesting issue is the allocation of numbers. Unless CCITT wants to get into a situation analagous to Bellcore's role in the US as the official registrar of 800 prefixes among the various LD carriers, it might want to just use country codes as the next level after the +800. I.e., toll-free calls to France would all be dialled to +800 33 <something>. Each country could then decide for itself how it wanted to allocate and handle its portion of the +800 number-space. This also makes it easier for each local or national telco to route +800 traffic; they need merely look at the destination country code (33) and ship the call off to that country (France) for final routing. The only routing that, say, Ireland would need to worry about would be for its own incoming (+800 353) calls. The above scheme actually handles the number length problem as well: the more populous a country is, the shorter its country code is, thus leaving more digits available for the +800 numbers it owns. The smaller countries have 3-digit country codes, so +800-CCC-XXXXXX leaves one million possible +800 numbers for *each* such country. In contrast, the bigger countries have two-digit codes, and therefore could have ten million +800 numbers apiece. And the NANP and the USSR would each get one hundred million possible +800 numbers. Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA