Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: Kenneth_R_Jongsma@hub.eecs.nwu.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Tokyo Goes to 8 Digits Message-ID: Date: 5 Jul 89 23:01:46 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 36 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 224, message 1 of 11 The following article was in tonight's local paper. It's attributed to Associated Press: Tokyo to Add 8th Digit to Phone Numbers Move over Paris, Tokyo will join you in the ranks of cities with eight digit phone numbers. Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corp. said Tuesday the change from seven digit phone numbers in Tokyo will take place January 1, 1991. Subscribers will add a 3 at the beginning of their seven digit numbers. The national telephone utility said a shortage of exchange numbers began in 1981 as demand increased for facsimile and microcomputer communications on top of demand for regular telephone lines. Some eight digit phone numbers were given to pocket pages in 1987, and in 1988 some new subscribers for regular telephone service received eight digit numbers, NTT said, but by early 1991 the shortage will be accute. (End of Article) This started bothering me when I first heard France was going to eight digit numbers a few years back. It's probably just my American Provincialism, but it seems as if "the rest of the world" is ignoring the Bell Labs studies on how easy it is recall numbers. I figured it was the French desire to different from the rest of the world, even though they had already implemented the equivilent of an area code (city codes). Now the Japanese are going that way. What am I missing here? What's wrong with a "downtown" city code and a "suburb" city code? If a country doesn't need a full up 3 digit area code, the equipment could be easily programmed for less, but the concept of an area (city) code makes a lot more sense than making everyone dial (and remember!) and extra digit. Ken @ cup.portal.com