peter%ficc@uunet.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (11/17/89)
In my previous message, I mixed up exchanges and area codes. Let's run this through again: What happens when we run out of 3-digit area codes? Do we go to 4-digit area codes, 8- or 9- digit local numbers, or split Zone 1? (And, again, I know this will take a while.) `-_-' Peter da Silva <peter@ficc.uu.net> <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>. 'U` -------------- +1 713 274 5180. "vi is bad because it didn't work after I put jelly in my keyboard." -- Jeffrey W Percival (jwp@larry.sal.wisc.edu)
macy@fmsystm.UUCP (Macy Hallock) (11/21/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0521m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> peter%ficc@uunet.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 521, message 6 of 10 >What happens when we run out of 3-digit area codes? Do we go to >4-digit area codes, 8- or 9- digit local numbers, or split Zone 1? As I understand it, Bellcore has decreed that NNX type area codes will be assigned sometime as of 1995. This opens up several hundred new area codes, and will effectively make the North American Numbering Plan ten digits for all numbers. I'm sure that at some point we may find ourselves dialing a ten digit number for any and all North American calls. With the current trend of measured services even for local calling areas (the demise of flat rate calling plans), the day may not be too far away when 1+ will lose its familiar designation of toll calling, as well. The real question is: when will we have a uniform dialing plan for the world? The CCITT cannot even agree on uniform city coding... Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet!backbone}!cwjcc.cwru.edu!ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 at tone) (Insert favorite disclaimer here) (What if I gave a .sig and nobody cared?)
deej@bellcore.bellcore.com (David Lewis) (11/21/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0521m06@vector.dallas.tx.us>, peter%ficc@uunet.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: > In my previous message, I mixed up exchanges and area codes. > Let's run this through again: > What happens when we run out of 3-digit area codes? Do we go to > 4-digit area codes, 8- or 9- digit local numbers, or split Zone 1? > (And, again, I know this will take a while.) Um, "a while" is somewhat of an understatement. NXX-NXX-XXXX has on the order of 6.4x10^9 (okay, 6.27x10^9 if you exclude N11 codes) available permutations. That, by my count, is over 6 billion possible phone numbers. Put another way, that's over 15 phone numbers for each person in North America. I don't know what the growth rate is for phone numbers, but we can do some back-of-the-envelope calculations. (Hey, I'm a systems engineer, what other kind of calculations do I do?) As of April '86 there were 14 available NPAs of the format N[0/1]X, and they were estimated to run out in 1995. That's 9 years for 14 NPAs. Err on the side of conservativism and say 2 NPAs per year. Interchangeable NPA codes will give 640 new codes, which should last on the order of 300 years. So by about 2300 we'll run out of NPAs. Hell, I have trouble getting funding to plan for 1995 -- and you want me to plan for 2300?? :-) Seriously, I feel fairly confident that by the time we run out of NPA codes, we'll have gotten ourselves to some sort of Universal Portable Communications -- a person has a single phone number which follows her/him around (or maybe two or three phone numbers -- one home, one work, one private or something). Which makes the whole problem irrelevant... David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center) "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."