Asymmetrical Information

So they can use 212, 347, 646, 718, and 917 (did I miss any?) as prefixes for local numbers. It's another 250,000 numbers.

That's not the reason. That's the reason you have to dial "1" and then the area code and then the number, so that the computer knows "oh, they dialed 1, so it's going to be long distance"

The real question you should be asking is why, if we have to dial the area code for EVERY number anyway, do we still have to dial that stupid "1"

Isn't it something to do with the fact that they're going to be using more than one area code in the same area eventually? You might have a 212 number but your next door neighbor might have another area code. Dialing 1 is a legacy problem.

Yep. Overlays. The same thing is happening in Northern Virginia, where the 703 and 571 area codes cover the same area, even though nobody I know has a 571 number.

Have fun!

I wonder if there's going to be a secondary market trading 212 numbers for those people who want to be seen as "Old" residents...

The better question is: why do we still have "area" codes? Cell phones work just fine -- regardless of your actual location.

The answer is that no one has thought it through. Nine digit numbers would avail us of a billion unique telephone addresses (Eight would yield one hundred million).

What we need is a formal argument that demonstrates the economic benefit of revamping our telephone switching systems.

Or, maybe someone can tell ME why the hell some people must always find a reason to whine about even the simplest changes that arise in the course of everyday life.

In the first place, I doubt you are "dialing" anything.

In the second place, pressing 3 or 4 additional digits is a big NOTHING.

Stop whining, go back to usful pursuits.

The FCC, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that 212, 646, and 917 will all be overlays for Manhattan (718 and 347, I think, for the outer boroughs).

Since the old plan of reserving prefixes with either a "1" or a "0" as the middle digit for area codes (i.e. 212, 201, 312, 617, 602) went by the wayside a long time ago, you have to dial a 1 before dialing an area code. So far so good.

However, the FCC (once again in its infinite wisdom) has decreed that in an overlay zone (like, say, Manhattan), one must dial all 11 digits (1+areacode+phonenumber) to get to any number, regardless of whether or not the phone you're calling from the same area code or not.

Why?

Well, that's because the FCC (infinite wisdom and all) believes that businesses with 917 and 646 numbers would be at a competitive disadvantage when compared to 212 numbers.

Personally, I think it would have been far simpler to go to 8-digit phone numbers: simply prefix a "2" (or other digit) to the beginning (or the end, that would work too) of all the existing numbers and move on from there. Of course, that would be too simple...

John Fembump:

Or maybe why someone can tell ME why there are spoil-sports who seem to have a problem when a group gets together for an old-fashioned bitch-fest.

You don't like it, don't join in. Perhaps some of us find it fun.

Many urban areas have 10-digit dialing; Atlanta's been 10-digit for several years now. I'm surprised it's taken this long for NYC to get there.

You can blame the FCC for this, but only indirectly. Like many other FCC decisions, they've likely passed the buck on permissive dialing and other NPA split issues down to the states. My guess, untainted by any facts whatsoever, is that the State of New York is the primary cause of that pernicious leading "1".

As an aside, when I go home to visit my Mom, the phone numbers on billboards etc look funny because they only have seven digits. Dialing seven digit numbers also seems strange now. It's astonishing how quickly new habits form, innit?

"1" is the country code to call the U.S. (Yeah! We're number one!)

The regulators who assign numbers to service provides assign them in blocks of 10,000. What with cellular providers, local and long distance providers and resellers of service a lot of providers, many of them quite small, are tying up large blocks of numbers. Ergo, seven digits is not enough. Therefore new area codes have to be created. Either those area codes can be assigned to smaller and smaller areas (there would have to be several for Manhattan alone) or they can be "overlayed," in which case you are required to dial ten digits to call your next door neighbor.

Well...USA is #1, but I believe 1 is also the country code for Canada and a few Carib nations.

"Stop whining, go back to usful pursuits."

Mmmm, I smell hot buttered troll!

Houston has been overlay for a while. First, we added 281, but enough people whined about how tired their fingers would get that they actually set the city up as a target, with the old 713 as the center and 281 in a big circle around it (with 409 around that). The downside was every business with a 713 number in the new 281 area had to get new business cards, new stationary, etc... and reprogram their PBX. Then we got 832 as a third overlay area code.

Given that there have always been 713 numbers that were long distance for each other (requiring a 1) before the overlay, I'm not sure why they don't just drop the 1 prefix for all numbers.

Oh, and someone pointed out that the 10,000 number blocks is the problem. Given that the Houston Metropolitan Area has like 3 million people, even if everyone has a cell phone, fax machine, modem, and business phone in addition to their home phone, that's only 15 million numbers, which would easily be served by 7 digits. But the numbers are divided up by prefix (the middle three digits) into areas and given to small carriers in the same size blocks.

Bolie IV

Oops... 15 million numbers would require 8 digits.

Bolie IV

Jane, it is either part of a new federal aerobic's program or it is part of an anti-terroism program to confuse terrorists new to the region.

Kate - things in my experience run as Mitchell described them; I seem to recall that I've been in a few metro areas that had 10-digit dialing for calls that were local but to another area code, and the 1 was required only for true long-distance dialing.

I think that's useful; it lets you know when a call will cost you something.

It's just another way for The Combine to bust our balls.

Norman Rogers wrote:

"What we need is a formal argument that demonstrates the economic benefit of revamping our telephone switching systems."

Our phone switching system underwent upgrade and evolutionary change throughout the 20th C.

A major design issue is, and has been for decades, that the latest Electronic Switching System must remain compatible with the most ancient mechanical crossbar switching equipment at that Central Office in the backwoods outside East Gnawbone, Kentucky.

There is more to "revamping our telephone switching system" than just issuing a software patch. Capital equipment must be upgraded. That takes time, and backward compatibility must be designed into each hardware generation.

As Dr. Johnson is said to have observed upon seeing a dancing doggie, "the wonder is not that it dances well, but that it dances at all."

We've had to dial the area code for ages in Central Florida. I'm surprised New York escaped the scourge of ten digit dialing for so long.

Portland's had an overlay for about three years now...we only have to dial 10 digits when calling around town, but if I need to call Salem (with the same 503 area code) I have to put the long-distance "1" in front of the digit stream or suffer the annoying recorded message telling me I'm a dummy for not knowing how to dial long distance.

Moreover, I've never seen a phone number with the new, overlaid area code - I can't even tell you what it is. Clearly, there was a "rush to overlay."

They ran out of numbers.

I live and work in Northern Virginia. My office uses 571 for the regular lines and 703 for the fax. Don't worry, you'll get used to it.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we've had overlays for a while. Yes, they are a pain at first, but you do sort of adjust eventually. I find it amusing that here in Arlington (817), which is between Fort Worth and Dallas, I can dial a number in Irving or Grand Prairie (972, generally), which are in Dallas County as a local call, but to call Denton (also 817), north of Fort Worth, it's long distance. **sigh**

While you do have to dial 10 digits, you generally only have to remember 8. I've seen numbers in Houston written as 7/xxx-xxxx and 2/xxx-xxxx rather than the whole area code.

Bolie IV

Sandra,

What part of Denton are you calling? Denton changed to 940 from 817 about four years ago. It was a pain as I had to make sure that everyone that had my number was updated.

This whole area is getting lousy with area codes. I have friends in Lewisville who are in 972 and another friend just a few miles away who is in 469 (Flower Mound area).

Jane, NYC was one of the first metro areas to use overlays -- have you not dialed a number in 5 years or are you merely asking the question?

It's a good question frankly because not a whole lot makes sense in telecom -- either to the outider or the insider. The good news is there are a ton of very good telecom FAQs around should give you more than enough info on why things are the way they are.

I have some info -- which may or may not be too much info and may or may not be 100% accurate, but its enough to give you a glimpse into what's going on behind the scenes.

In regards to your specific question, there is no such thing as an area code to begin with (that's just something the phone company told consumers to make things easier to remember). Actually once upon a time, area codes did reflect an "area" but it was never anything that distinguished a local call from a long distance call (or a more appropriately a rated call). Depending on rather arbitrary local rules set by the public utilities commission, long distance calls can occur regardless of any defined distancec).

What I mean by that is that some PUC's say that a local call is one that stays within two contiguous exchange (or switch) areas but not a third. Others say a local area is 40 airline miles in diameter. Others simply gerrymander the local calling area. You probably don't even notice most of this because phone companies are now allowed to have "extended local calling areas" that mask the boundaries by charging you slightly more. But local and long distance have nothing to do with number assignment...

What happened in the mid-90s to affect number assignments is a) the 1996 Telecom Act and b) Number Portability. The 96 Telecom Act promised tens if not hundreds of local telephone providers that would need numbers, so new number assignment rules were created (btw, I've seen suggestions that numbers are handed out in blocks of 10k...not entirely true. In number pooling states you can get blocks as small as 1,000). Number Portability also created the need for new number assignment schemes.

Number portability is what allows you to keep your number when you move or switch local providers. There are several stages of number portability -- starting at your local exchange, going to the local area, the state and even national portability. Originally the goal was to have a seamless national network of numbers -- a 212 could be in LA for example. However, that didn't exactly work in reality, so today, we have exchange and inter-carrier number portability. Basically if you move maybe a block or two -- or maybe a mile away you might get to keep your old number. Or if you stay put and switch carriers.

Ok, so number portability also gives us more capacity but also more combinations with which to divide up the numbers amongst carriers. If you look at the LERG (Local Exchange Routing Guide), there are probably, oh I don't know, 100-250 local exchange carriers out there? Some are physical and some are virtual...ever hear about the telecom glut?

Anyway, the point is that once upon a time a long time ago, phone numbers were catagorized by (area code) - Exchange (or your switch) and - four digit extension. Those classifications have no meaning at all today. 50 years ago when you had to ask an operator to dial your number (which she did by putting this thing into that thingy...or later a mechanical switch did this, followed by electro-mechanical, followed by digital) - you might say, "Hey Bertha, Get me Main 7347". What you were telling her ultimately became known in numbers as 634-7347 or Mai spelled out. As exchanges grew, the first set of exchange numbers usually corresponded to the spelling of the switch name itself so the Church street switch might be known by 248-xxxx.

As telephones become more prevailant and new numbers were needed, they were often as assigned in ascending order from whatever the first number set was...so Church street would get 249, 250, 251, etc.

Well as the number of telephones grew, the number of Main's and Church street switches kind of got confusing, so number assignment sort of drifted to something less logical. btw, switch names are now what Belcore refers to as CLLI (silly) names or Common Language Location Identifier. A CLLI might look like DENVCOMADS1 -- or Denver, Co, Main, Digital Switch #1. I made this up course, and DS #1 doesn't exactly mean Digital Switch #1 - - it simply means "equipment type" and there's a huge Bellcore reference book as to what all these three digit codes actually mean that I've never bothered to memorize.

Bored yet? So back to numbers, somewhere along the way a group called NANPA was formed, or the North American Numbering Plan Administrator. If memory serves, this is run under contract by Lockheed Martin. NANPA (www.nanpa.org I think) decides when area codes split, when and where overlays occur and so forth and so on.

Numbers are now seen as NPA-NXX-XXXX -- area code, exchange, that's all gone now, doesn't exist. Numbers are assigned as ten digits. Because a number is now a ten digit number not a 7 digit number, it kind of makes sense that you'd have to dial the whole thing now doesn't it?

All I have to say is just be glad you don't live in Mexico -- their numbering plan is unbelievably complex. If I remember correctly there are some 4,000 city prefixes in Mexico City alone. (I may be wrong on that, but that's the number I seem to remember).

Does anyone think telephones will adopt a system like DNS on the internet? I very seldom access a web site by its IP address, so it just struck me as strange that I still have to memorize numbers to use the phone.

Sorry - the question was not "why are there overlays?" but "why do I have to dial 1 + 212 when I'm calling from a 212 phone?"

* perform secret USWest handshake with Matt *

Jane - sorry I misunderstood your question entirely. The 11 digit dialing scenario is simply an FCC rule designed to increase number portability in overlay areas (and theoretically increase competition).

NYC simply happens to be the first metro area to have to implement the rule, but not after a long fight. This is something that started at least 5 years ago but since I am not as close to the local side of the business as I was I haven't kept up with the politics. I do know that consumer groups, utilities commissions and incumbents have fought 11 digit dialing. However, my understanding is that it has survived largely due to the technical underpinnings of the number portability plan that was decided upon by the FCC to help competition.

Mark - there are multiple efforts underway to do exactly what you suggest, check out Nuestar (a division of Lockheed) for more info -- additionally I would suggest that even a DNS name is too complex. Instead, how about simply dialing straight from your favorite instant messenger? or from your Contact database? The technology exists today that would allow you to double-click one's listing in an IM window and you would be connected to the person at their telephone of choice (whether its cell phone, home phone, office phone...whatever they choose). With PDAs, pagers, cell phones, etc becoming more advanced -- with bluetooth integration, etc, where you stand will be where your phone is located -- along with all of your contacts, speed dialing presets, etc -- regardless of whether the phone is a traditional black rotary or a state-of-the art 3G phone.

It's happening...but a little slower due to the economy and its impact on telecom. But there are great structural improvements that have occured over the past five years -- the IETF, ITU and Bellcore now listen to each other for instance. In fact Megaco or H.248 was the first joint IETF/ITU standard.

What remains to be seen is whether or not Michael Powell can truly implement a minimal regulatory environment (like he says, as opposed to what he's done) to make it happen.

11 digit dialing is a pain now, but if the right things happen within the next 3-5 years, telephone numbers for the most part will be a distant memory -- they'll still be there, but numbers will be a part of the underlying technology, as opposed to the primary user interface that they are today.

RE: "I've never seen a phone number with the new, overlaid area code" - frequently the huge proliferation of cell phones and fax machines in a given metro area causes those devices to get the new numbers.

What I don't understand is why some places use 10-digit dialling and some use 11-digit for local calls. It seems to me that the 1+ (or 0+) distinction should be reserved for long distance, so you know when you're going to be making a metered call (as opposed to a local/flat rate one).

Having said that, I guess this all gets blurred when you start fiddling with cell phones.

Jane,

Because it's easier for the phone company to require ten digit dialing than it is for them to change their systems to permit eight digit phone numbers.

We've been doing across the river here in Jersey for a year now. You get used to it pretty quick.

Jay Zilber covered this in December; This is the (verizon) article that explains it...

But it seems like the previous commentors did a good job of explaining things already.

> It seems to me that the 1+ (or 0+) distinction should be reserved for long distance, so you know when you're going to be making a metered call (as opposed to a local/flat rate one).

Like 800 numbers, aka "free" area codes? Like 976 numbers, aka "pay prefixes"? Some folks who have flat-rate long distance (perhaps only during certain times) and for some folks, some calls within the same area code are metered.

Me - I can't look at a phone and know what area code it thinks that it's in.

Managing the area codes and dialing regimes is getting tougher and tougher. You can access the planning and status documents for all of this activity nationwide at www.nanpa.com, if you're interested.

It's the same in Philadelphia. My area code is 215, as is almost every other phone number in Philly (except cell phones, which are either 215 or 267). I have to dial 215 for all calls.

ten-digit dialing in the Denver, CO metropolitan area for several years now. I suppose adding on the '1' is next.

Portland's been doing ten digit dialling (503/971 overlay) since 2000 as well... and of course, hardly any numbers in the new area code have been issued.

Grr. I still forget to dial the area code.

Area code 416 is now the city of Toronto only & all the other areas around it are 905. Fine..ten digit dialling for ten years now. "No problem" but why introduce 2 overlays a few years later.Why not just change all cell exchanges to another new area code at the time of the split or better yet forget the split since its cells that are causing the problem of number exhaustion.The best laugh is all the hoopla about the possibiltiy of having two area codes if you have a second line installed has proved to be a joke so far as the new overlay exchanges are being used for cellular companies.They caused their own problem by not rethinking their number allotments and planning ahead. So far the average guy has forgotten about all the new overlays and are confused when you give your new cell with area code 289 or 647..They think you are from another province/state.or planet..If you want confusion check out 905-509-XXXX..Its a little exchange in South Pickering West & classified as a Toronto exchange...Go figure...Bell>>anything to confuse the issue !!

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