cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (08/30/89)
Aug. 20, 1989 Baltimore (Maryland, U.S.A.) Sun, page 2A has an article with the above subject as the title. Buesingen is the enclave, just outside the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, and about a mile from the main part of West Germany. In PRACTICE (except for such things as phones and license plates), the enclave is Swiss. But the pay phones take German coins only, and calls to Schaffhausen are 9 digits and cost 8 times as much as "domestic" calls. (A non-phone matter is that the people of Buesingen pay the higher Swiss prices for groceries, etc.--bringing such in from W. Germany would mean going thru Swiss customs--and also have to pay the higher German taxes!) [Moderator's Note: This story very much reminds me of the folks in Point Roberts, WA. They are geographically in British Columbia, Canada; politically in the United States; and can be reached by directory assistance through either 604 or 206...take your pick. The only way to travel to the rest of the United States is by a short trip of a few miles across the southern border of Canada; the kids go to school in Blaine, WA, and ride a school bus from the USA through a short bit of Canada and back into the US. In both Blaine and Point Roberts, Canadian and United States money are both common; people carry both kinds, and both are equally acceptable at most establishments. Sort of a curious place, geographically. PT]
wtho@uunet.uu.net (Tom Hofmann) (09/06/89)
From article <telecom-v09i0337m12@vector.dallas.tx.us>, by cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB): > Buesingen is the enclave, just outside the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, and > about a mile from the main part of West Germany. In PRACTICE (except for such > things as phones and license plates), the enclave is Swiss. But the pay > phones take German coins only, and calls to Schaffhausen are 9 digits and > cost 8 times as much as "domestic" calls. 9 digits are not unusual within Switzerland, neither Germany. In both countries it is about the mean number of digits of a phone number including area code. And along the borders of area codes 9 digit numbers can be required for distances of less than one mile. Buesingen is not the only place like this, anyway. Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave in southern Switzerland. To the contrary of Buesingen they are fully integrated in the Swiss telephone system. Furthermore there are several Austrian localities which belong to the German customs area. They have both, an Austrian and a German area code (which are not the same), and they even have two different ZIP codes. One of the funny things around there is that you buy Austrian stamps and pay them in Deutsch Marks. Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP