dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer) (08/21/89)
Once I heard someone say that the country code for the Soviets happens to be 7 because of James Bond (yes, the famous British spy, also known as 007). Can someone tell me whether this true, or is it the other way around (i.e. Ian Flemming chose 007 as 7 was already the country code for the Soviets)? In fact, this leads to some more trivia questions, like: 1. When were the country codes established ? 2. Who did this and based on what rules ? 3. Why do America and Canada share the same number, and why is it 1 ? 4. How come some countries have a single digit country code, some have a two digits sequence (like PR China, which is probably big enough to have a 1 digit number), and some countries have a 3 digits prefix. 5. Are there any countries with a 4 digit country code ? 6. What happens when a new country is created (:-) like a "thuisland" or home-land in South Africa (you known, the countries South Africa makes and states that they are independant countries, but the rest of the world thinks differently) ? Do they all get new numbers ? 7. What happens when two countries join to one bigger country ? Like what happend when North & South Vietnam joined ? Do they use the North Vietnam country code number, or do they use two different numbers ? (The same might happen when the North & South Korea and East & West German get united, or maybe this will prevent them :-), or when Hong-Kong and Macao become part of the PR of China). Please note that I am only curious about telephone country numbers thus *NOT* about any involved political item (especially 6 & 7). -- Dolf Grunbauer Tel: +31 55 432764 Internet dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl Philips Telecommunication and Data Systems UUCP ....!mcvax!philapd!dolf Dept. SSP, P.O. Box 245, 7300 AE Apeldoorn, The Netherlands [Moderator's Note: I think the longest country code has to the one for the Vatican; it is six or eight digits, of which the final digits simply appear to be appended to the code for Italy. PT]
wnp@attctc.dallas.tx.us (Wolf Paul) (08/24/89)
>[Moderator's Note: I think the longest country code has to the one for the >Vatican; it is six or eight digits, of which the final digits simply appear >to be appended to the code for Italy. PT] Right, and if you are in Italy, all you dial is these final digits: It is in fact simply a separate area code within Italy, technically speaking, although for political reasons it may be identified as a country code. The same scenario holds for some other small countries and their so-called country codes. Wolf Paul -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: {texbell, attctc, dalsqnt}!dcs!wnp DOMAIN: wnp@attctc.dallas.tx.us or wnp%dcs@texbell.swbt.com NOTICE: As of July 3, 1989, "killer" has become "attctc".
wtho@uunet.uu.net (Tom Hofmann) (08/24/89)
From article <telecom-v09i0316m01@vector.dallas.tx.us>, by dolf@idca.tds. philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer): > 5. Are there any countries with a 4 digit country code ? > > [Moderator's Note: I think the longest country code has to the one for the > Vatican; it is six or eight digits, of which the final digits simply appear > to be appended to the code for Italy. PT] The seven digits for the Vatican (3966982) are composed as follows: a) 39 (the country code for Italy) b) 6 (the area code for Rome) c) 6982 (an exchange within the Rome area code) A problem that arises here is that we use the notion "country code" in two different manners: a) telephone-system code (all calls within one telephone system can be dialed without international access code) b) proper country code (all international calls starting with this code end in one and the same country) One telephone system can provide several countries (e.g. U.S.A. and Canada); the involved countries have no proper country code. In some cases, however, a small country covers exactly one area code of a telephone system. Liechtenstein e.g. has area code 75 within telephone system +41 (Switzerland). The Vatican covers only an exchange within an area code. For these countries a proper country code can be determined: telephone-system code + area code (+ exchange). For Italy, however, there is no proper country code (+39 covers Italy, the Vatican, and San Marino). When we say country code we usually mean telephone-system code (+1 e.g.---USA and Canada have no proper country codes), and these codes are in fact limited to three digits. Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP