davec@uunet.uu.net (Dave Close) (11/09/90)
In the Dallas/Fort Worth area of North Texas, two area codes are adjacent. The Dallas metro area is a part of the 214 area code; the Fort Worth metro area is a part of the 817 area code. Neither metro area completely occupies its area code. All phones in each city have unlimited toll-free calling to all other phones in the same city. The phone system recognizes that many folks in Dallas and Fort Worth have a frequent need to call the folks in the other city. It is possible to obtain a "metro" number which is considered a local (non-toll) call from and to all other numbers in both metro areas. Until two years ago, metro numbers in either city could be reached from both cities by dialing only seven digits. (Many businesses did not bother to mention their area code in advertising.) Now it is always necessary to dial the area code when calling from one side of the metro area to the other. However, a zero or one prefix is only required when the call is a toll call. Metro numbers, which still exist, are reached with 10 digits; non-metro numbers require 11 digits. If you attempt to call a metro number by dialing all 11 digits, you get a recording which says, "We're sorry. It is not necessary to dial a one or zero when calling this number." The message is misleading because what it really means is, "...It is not PERMITTED..." In effect, a caller must know whether a call is a toll call before dialing, or suffer the inconvenience of redialing. IMHO, the first two words of the recording couldn't be more accurate! The situation is slightly complicated for exchanges on the boundary between the cities. Those phones can make toll-free calls to adjacent non-metro exchanges on the other side of the line. So a call from a non-metro exchange in downtown Fort Worth (not on the boundary) to a non-metro exchange in Grand Prairie (just across the line toward Dallas) requires 11 digits. A call from any exchange in Arlington (on the boundary toward Fort Worth) to that same exchange in Grand Prairie requires 10 digits and fails with 11 digits. The use of a leading one or zero to distinguish a toll call is at least consistent. When calling from within the metro area to outside the metro area but still within the same area code, it is necessary to dial all 11 digits. I've encountered other places that used the leading digit to distinguish toll calls but I thought it was being phased out. I think that it is an overload on the leading digit for it to both introduce an area code and distinguish toll calls. Dave Close, Shared Financial Systems, Dallas My comments are my opinions and may not be shared by Shared.
cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (11/10/90)
responding to Dave Close <central!central!davec@uunet.uu.net>: >However, a zero or one prefix is only required when the call is a >toll call. What do you mean by "zero"? Pay phones in Delaware, Maryland, and nearby have instruction cards suggesting 0+ for LOCAL calls if you are out of change. The only difference among these cards is that if the area has NNX prefixes only, it'll say 0+number, but if the area has NXX prefixes it'll say 0+areacode+number. In Dallas/Fort Worth area, 214 has NXX prefixes and is just now being split to form 903, with Dallas metro area remaining in 214; 817 has NNX only as far as I know, but it has (right?) the same instructions for toll and 0+ as does 214, for the sake of area-wide uniformity (like "statewide uniformity" for 201/609 in New Jersey). In Washington DC area (now requiring areacode + 7D on local calls crossing areacode boundary, apparently similar to what you have in Dallas/Fort Worth area), at least on the pay phones you can optionally add the leading 1+; this, by the way, would help you out if you are bringing in a programmed phone from an area where the DC area was long distance. But you are saying I cannot put in the leading 1+ if the call in Dallas/Fort Worth area across areacode line is local. >I think that it is an overload on the leading digit for it to both >introduce an area code and distinguish toll calls. I'm not sure what you are talking about. With or without local calls across an area code boundary, you should NOT have your own or nearby area codes as prefixes! This reduces confusion for advertisements, word of mouth, etc. going across areacode border, and makes it possible to drop the leading 1+ for out-of-areacode local calls which can no longer be just seven digits.