nobody@nowhere.UUCP (07/18/89)
In the past two weeks I've submitted four articles to the Digest at telecom@eecs.nwu.edu; one bounced after ten days and three are in limbo. For all the readers' electronic viewing pleasure, here they come again in one swell foop, plus a fifth I was going to submit the day I first tried mailing this compendium. I don't save Digest issues, so I cannot say who originally brought what up nor quote exact phrasing. My original submissions did, but once I had responded I deleted my copies of the inspirational texts to which I was replying. If saying that "someone spoke about a situation" without precise citation offends you, please skip this article in its entirety. 1. The moderator and the moderator emeritus were discussing the pros and cons of telco-controlled Speed Dialing and saved numbers in the memory of one's own telephone instrument. For my purposes the latter is much more useful: no setup fee, no monthly fees, larger memory capacity in most cases, and the ability to program partial numbers. If you frequently call different extensions of a business you can preprogram their common digits; if you live near an area code border you can preprogram 1+NPA to spare your fingers the labor on all your calls across the line. Try doing that with Speed Dialing. 2. The moderator stated that Dial-an-Atheist has been available since 1979 at 312-506-9200. Until 1983 all prefixes in area code 312 were NNX. Either Dial-an-Atheist doesn't date back as far as 1979 or it has had a phone number change over the course of its history. 3. Said moderator commented that, quite the opposite of David Gast's experiences in Los Angeles, published telephone numbers in metropolitan Kansas City are available from Directory Assistance at either +1 816 555 1212 or +1 913 555 1212, regardless of whether the number you request is located in Missouri or Kansas. After 708 is split from 312 this November, it appears that both +1 312 555 1212 and +1 708 555 1212 will ring at 10 S. Canal Street in area code 312, where Directory Assistance for both area codes will be handled in one place. 4. I believe it was Ilya Goldberg who asked about the assignment of default long distance carriers to telco-owned pay phones. In the parts of metropolitan Chicago served by Illinois Bell, the owner of the premises on which the public coin phone is located selects the default long distance carrier. One very curious result is that Illinois Bell pay phones outside Illinois Bell's own corporate headquarters are assigned to MCI rather than to IBT's pre-divestiture parent. 5. Finally, I had believed that 708 was to be the first geographically discontiguous NPA in the North American Numbering Plan. The city of Chicago has four cartographic holes, subscribers in two of which having service on suburban telephone prefixes. As a result, area code 708 will be in three pieces: the bulk outside the perimeter of the city of Chicago and the two islands of 708 that will be surrounded by 312. (To continue the metaphor, I live along the strait that separates those two islands. That makes it sound as though I live in a houseboat, doesn't it?) But I remembered that Liberty Island and Ellis Island are politically part of the borough of Manhattan and the County of New York, even though they are on the far side of Staten Island from Manhattan Island itself. If telephone numbers on Liberty Island and Ellis Island are in area code 212, reflecting political boundaries, instead of area code 718 to reflect geographical intuition, then 212 has been a discontiguous NPA ever since the 212/718 split back in 1983 or 1984. Do any of you New Yorkers or New Jerseyites out there know for sure? -- David W. Tamkin Post Office Box 567542 Norridge, Illinois 60656-7542 most of the time dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us or ...!attctc!jolnet!dattier dwtamkin@chinet.chi.il.us BIX: dattier CIS: 73720,1570 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN The post office box address in Norridge will be valid until August 26, 1989. Absolutely no other users of Chinet share any of my opinions on any subject.