Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: jjd@necis.nec.com (Jeff DeSantis) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cryptic Abbreviations Message-ID: Date: 8 Nov 89 20:15:21 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: jjd@necis.UUCP (Jeff DeSantis) Organization: NEC Information Systems, Acton, MA 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 500, message 4 of 9 In article , U5434122@ucsvc.ucs. unimelb.edu.au writes: >> NXX-XXXX (why 'N' ) Quoting from the second edition of: Engineering and Operations in the Bell System Copyright 1977, 1983 by Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. Page 115. "The following set of symbols is commonly used in discussing the numbering plan and dialing procedures: N = Any digit 2 through 9. X = Any digit 0 through 9. 0/1 = Either 0 or 1." Page 118 footnote 11. "Although all-number calling is now the system standard, telephone numbers have an alphanumeric tradition. Despite the personal appeal of names (which often had local geographical significance, for example, MUrray Hill 7-1234) rather than all-number codes, letters were a basic barrier to the use of the full range of dial-code sequences and numbers were commonly referred to as "2L+5N" to call attention to the alphanumeric usage. It should be noted, though, that the alphanumeric format also used the "3-4" character subgrouping." No longer quoting. I also remember as a child (mid '50s) making my first phone calls by picking up the handset, waiting for the operator to say "Number please", and replying "RE8" followed by the four digit phone number I wanted. A few years later when we got rotary dial phones, the prefix was changes to AT4, then sometime in the sixties I remember the prefix changing to 284 (no real change since AT4 is 284).