cmoore@BRL.MIL (VLD/VMB) (01/23/89)
Wasn't it as recent as 1982 when "local & nearby calling" in 415/408 was only 7 digits, even if crossing that areacode boundary? Then, the change made was to require the areacode on all calls, even local, crossing areacode boundary, so you got what New York City had until late 1980. Area 415 is apparently growing fast enough to be running out of NNX. As I recall, all or part of areas 516 and 914 (these pick up NYC suburbs) have not required 1 before area codes, nor has Pittsburgh (area 412), and several years ago I dialed "800" from 3 pay phones in Delaware (prefixes 674, 475, 478) without the leading 1. I don't know if any of these changed.
smk@sfsup.UUCP (Stan Krieger) (01/26/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0026m05@vector.UUCP>, cmoore@BRL.MIL (VLD/VMB) writes: > > ............... >As I recall, all or part of areas 516 and 914 (these pick up NYC suburbs) have >not required 1 before area codes, nor has Pittsburgh (area 412), and several >years ago I dialed "800" from 3 pay phones in Delaware (prefixes 674,475,478) >without the leading 1. I don't know if any of these changed. While the original reason (we were told) that 1+A/C calling was implemented was to open up central office codes of the form N0N or N1N, and therefore could be confined to places which needed these extra central office codes, the posting of Area Codes a few days ago that showed that almost all possible Area Codes are assigned reveals that a side effect of this will be to open up Area Codes of the form N[2-9]N. The detection of whether the first three digits is an area code or central office is being changed from looking for a 0 or 1 in the second digit to looking for a 1 as the initial digit. It's obvious we're running out of area codes, simply because new services open up more phone numbers. In the beginning, for example, there was Centrex. So, instead of a medium office building having 20 phone lines (and phone numbers), with an operator switching calls in the building, the building may still have only 20 phone lines to the outside, but could be using 200 phone numbers for each of the inside phones. And, I just saw a new service advertised; it wouldn't give any more phone lines, but it would allow homes to have extra phone numbers- a coded ring would indicate what number was being called. In this way, people would know who the call was for before answering the phone. This will create a need for more phone numbers. At least, when 1+A/C becomes the norm, about 4 times more Area Codes than are currently available will become available. -- Stan Krieger Summit NJ
tanner@ki4pv (Dr. T. Andrews) (01/30/89)
The explanation that the "1+" enable distinguishing between area
codes and exchanges is nice, but not entirely clear.
Consider North Jersey. One site I call there has an exchange of 615.
Another site I call has an area code of 615. (From here, no problem.
I supply the area code before the 615 exchange.)
In NJ but out of the local area for dialing exchange 615, what happens
when the machine dials 1+615 ... ? Does it ring through after 4 more
digits, or does it wait for 7 more? (Does it have a time-out in case
only 4 follow?)
---
...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!cdis-1!ki4pv!tanner
or... {allegra killer gatech!uflorida decvax!ucf-cs}!ki4pv!tannerron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (01/31/89)
> It's obvious we're running out of area codes, simply because new services > open up more phone numbers. In the beginning, for example, there was > Centrex. So, instead of a medium office building having 20 phone lines > (and phone numbers), with an operator switching calls in the building, > the building may still have only 20 phone lines to the outside, but > could be using 200 phone numbers for each of the inside phones. What you're describing is NOT Centrex. Centrex runs a line from the CO to each phone. You are describing the traditional PBX with DID. -Ron
cmoore@BRL.MIL (VLD/VMB) (02/01/89)
To answer Tanner: To reach the 201-615 prefix from anywhere in the 201 area (even if long distance), you would dial only 615-xxxx. This is not confused with calling area 615 in Tennessee, because that requires 1-615-xxx-xxxx. On direct dial calls, you apparently NEVER depend on timeout. In some areas, you dial (or used to dial) 1+number to call long distance within your areacode. This held for Maryland (also in 703 area in Va.) outside the DC area, but now there are N0X/N1X prefixes in the Washington DC area, so that usage of 1+number was changed to 1+areacode+number, using your own areacode. (DC and suburbs had used areacode+number for long distance, even within 301 or 703, but this also changed to 1+areacode+number.) In areas NOT having 1+number usage, the leading 1 means that what follows is an area code.
harriss@Alliant.COM (Martin Harriss) (02/01/89)
I think there may have been another reason for prefixing area codes with '1'.
On exchanges which were not register controlled, it was neccesasry to
discriminate between a local and long distance call at the beginning of
the dialled number. On a step by step strowger switch, for instance, you
would dial 1 and be stepped to the 1st level. Connected to this level
would be trunks to your LD switching center which would suck in all
the subsequent digits and route the call appropriately. This scheme would
also work for calls within your area code which were not local.
I'm not sure under what circumstances this was done, but I'm pretty sure
that it did happen sometimes. Perhaps someone on this newsgroup knows more?
Martin Harriss
{linus,mit-eddie}!alliant!harrissgoldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) (02/01/89)
tanner@ki4pv (Dr. T. Andrews) writes, >The explanation that the "1+" enable distinguishing between area >codes and exchanges is nice, but not entirely clear. >Consider North Jersey. One site I call there has an exchange of 615. >Another site I call has an area code of 615. (From here, no problem. >I supply the area code before the 615 exchange.) >In NJ but out of the local area for dialing exchange 615, what happens >when the machine dials 1+615 ... ? Does it ring through after 4 more >digits, or does it wait for 7 more? (Does it have a time-out in case >only 4 follow?) The North American Numbering Plan specifies that "1+" indicates that an area code is coming, NOT a toll call. Some telcos used 1+ to indicate TOLL coming, because stepper switches could simply cut through to a smarter toll switch when 1 was dialed. But that custom was never followed in New Jersey. If I pick up a phone in NJ and dial 907-9971, I get Teaneck. 1907 gets Alaska. Easy, no? Never a timeout. Hence 1615 will always wait for 7 more digits, while 615 will wait for 4 more digits. -----
dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) (02/03/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0039m03@vector.UUCP>, tanner@ki4pv (Dr. T. Andrews) writes: > The explanation that the "1+" enable distinguishing between area > codes and exchanges is nice, but not entirely clear. > > Consider North Jersey. One site I call there has an exchange of 615. > Another site I call has an area code of 615. (From here, no problem. > I supply the area code before the 615 exchange.) > > In NJ but out of the local area for dialing exchange 615, what happens > when the machine dials 1+615 ... ? Does it ring through after 4 more > digits, or does it wait for 7 more? (Does it have a time-out in case > only 4 follow?) A reply from North Jersey: >From anywhere in the 201 (North Jersey) area code, to anywhere else in the 201 area code, we dial only 7 digits. So if I were calling that site from here, I'd dial 615-xxxx, even though it's a toll call to Middletown from Warren. If I were trying to call area code 615, I would have to dial 1+615-xxx-xxxx. For an operator-assisted call to Middletown, NJ, I'd dial 0+201+615+xxxx. There is nothing ambiguous, and nothing requiring a time-out. If it begins with 1 or 0, it has ten more digits. If it begins with 2-9, it has six more digits. This is the dial-plan recommendation for all of the North American numering plan --- but some places don't do it yet, because they don't need to, yet. In most of the United States, 1+ is permitted, even where it is not required, for all area-code calls. (What is going away is 1+7 digits for intra-npa toll calls, as that _is_ ambiguous.) -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Swenson.PA@Xerox.COM (02/04/89)
On a local radio news report about the upcomming addition of 1+area code to ac 415, the reoprter said that this leaves area code 408 (southern part of San Francisco pennsula +) the only area in the US that does NOT require 1+area code. Is this correct? Bob Swenson Swenson.PA@Xerox.com
tanner@ki4pv (02/08/89)
) [north jersey explained: to reach number in 201, don't dial "1"]
One more question, then: can you also dial 1+201 in front of that
615-xxxx number in North Jersey? That is, can you dial your own area
code with 1+whatever dialing?
For all of my life down here, we dial 1+ to say that we want to kick
in the billing computer.
1+904+253-xxxx seems to work to call DAB
1+253-xxxx reaches DAB. preferred method.
253-xxxx can't be dialed. intercept machine after "253"
I can't comment on why it's a toll call to DAB, even though it is in
the same county. It is amusing if not relevant to note that we dial
DeBary numbers as "668-xxxx" without "1-407"; there's no charge, tho
it crosses the area-code boundary. (DeBary's still in West Volusia).
---
...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!cdis-1!ki4pv!tanner
or... {allegra killer gatech!uflorida decvax!ucf-cs}!ki4pv!tannermaine@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Dennis J. W. Maine) (02/09/89)
I haven't seen any mention of adding some reasonable hueristics to the number decoding algorithm. It seems logical that if the phone company can detect the omission of a leading 1 digit and request that you redial the number adding the one, it could also do it for you. Why would anyone enter 10 digits in a given time interval without specifying the area code. We are talking user-surly programming. -djwm p.s. Dis claimer is mine. -- Dennis J. W. Maine
ron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (02/12/89)
In 201-land, you can dial 201 calls with the area code (and 1+ of course) if you want. It's a waste of time, but it works. -Ron
root@hgcvax.uucp (Admin) (02/12/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0048m07@vector.UUCP>, Swenson.PA@Xerox.COM writes: > On a local radio news report about the upcomming addition of 1+area code to > San Francisco pennsula +) the only area in the US that does NOT require > 1+area code. Is this correct? > > Bob Swenson > Swenson.PA@Xerox.com
dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) (02/12/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0053m04@vector.UUCP>, unet!unet.UUCP!maine@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Dennis J. W. Maine) writes: > I haven't seen any mention of adding some reasonable hueristics to > the number decoding algorithm. It seems logical that if the phone > company can detect the omission of a leading 1 digit and request > that you redial the number adding the one, it could also do it for you. > Why would anyone enter 10 digits in a given time interval without > specifying the area code. We are talking user-surly programming. ... yes, but... The costs of Mr. Maine's suggestion are not particularly user-friendly, either. If the telco equipment must apply a time-out on every 7-digit call, just in case the user is planning to dial a 10-digit number, the call-setup delays incurred on every local call will be annoying to those of us who have already mastered the difficult art of dialing a leading 1 for an area code. Moreover, the increased register holding time of several seconds per call, for every local call dialed, will increase the number of registers required per central office. Registers cost money. The local rate-payer may feel that he/she is already paying enough... I certainly do! -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | att}!westmark!dave