dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us (David Tamkin) (02/06/89)
Carl Moore wrote: |On direct-dial, you apparently NEVER depend on timeout. |But on some cases of 0+, you do: |0 by itself will time out and call your local operator. |I noticed 0+number in use, according to the phone book, in 213 |area after introduction of N0X/N1X prefixes and before the 213/818 |split; only the timeout distinguished between, say, 0-413-xxxx |and 0-413-xxx-xxxx (this was just about my very first note to |Telecom!), and this is still in use, right? |The 2nd area to get N0X/N1X prefixes was New York City (then all in |212), and in late 1980 I noticed that 0+ within 212 now required |0+212+number (area code 212 was printed on the instruction card for |this). The explanation received via Telecom was that some of the |New York equipment couldn't handle the 0-xxx-xxxx stuff via timeout, |so the area code requirement was put in for areacode-wide uniformity. The official preparation for N0X/N1X hit NPA 312 on October 1, 1982. Previously, from Illinois Bell phones in metropolitan Chicago, intra-NPA calls were seven digits (and still are), inter-NPA calls were ten digits (but are now eleven), 0+ calls to other area codes were (and are) eleven digits, and 0+ calls within 312 were eight digits (but are now eleven, because the 312 must be included: neither `312' nor `708' is a valid prefix in the current, unsplit 312, so the first four digits are always unambiguous). Centel is the only other telco providing land lines in area code 312. It had always required 1+ before calls to other NPA's, but even its August, 1988, directory says that operator assisted calls within area code 312 may be placed with 0+NXX-XXXX (+timeout or #, I imagine). In the sixteen months and change that I have lived in Centel's service area, I have not yet tried placing an operator-assisted call within 312 with only eight digits; I've always dialed 0312+NXX-XXXX and that has worked just fine. However, the placement of those instructions in the directory can be taken to imply that they are valid only for the six remaining Des Plaines prefixes that did not yet have equal access as of the directory's print date (and still do not, I believe). [In northeastern Illinois Centel has five prefixes in Chicago, seven in Park Ridge, and eleven in Des Plaines; those in Chicago and Park Ridge and five of the ones in Des Plaines have equal access. Since the other six cannot get Custom Calling either -- Des Plaines customers who want Custom Calling or equal access but who have one of those six prefixes must get their numbers changed -- I imagine that they might still be on crossbar equipment.] David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us ...!killer!jolnet!dattier