Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Message-ID: Date: 1 Dec 89 18:39:31 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Reply-To: goudreau@larrybud.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC Lines: 55 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 545, message 1 of 7 In article dan@sics.se (Dan Sahlin) writes: >This is a summary and some conclusions to answers to my question: >"Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US?" >John R. Levine came with the only relevant answer: >> Actually, 00 is your long-distance company operator. The traditional AT&T >> way to get international directory assistance is to call the operator, >> hence dial 00 (or, I suppose, 10288-0). >As no other numbers start with 00, it would be very simple in the US to >start using it as the international prefix. >Just like for numbers starting with 0, a timeout could be used to >distinguish between calls to the long-distance company operator and >the international prefix. Thus the US could then follow the >international recommendations for international prefix (i.e. 00), >instead of having 010 which is not used anywhere else in the world. Actually, 010 is the international prefix in the UK, not the US. Here in the North American Numbering Plan, we use 011. And is it actually true that someone (presumably CCITT) officially *recommends* using 00 as the prefix? >I am dreaming the day when I can pick up a telephone anywhere in the >world and dial home, always using the same number. Now many people >avoid international calls because of all irregularities. I think the >international traffic would increase, making all changes in the >network quite worthwhile for the telephone companies. > Dan Sahlin, dan@sics.se > Sweden As someone has already pointed out, there are a lot more people and phones here in the NANP (US, Canada, much of the Caribbean) using 011 as the prefix than there are in Europe using 00 as the prefix. If such a change is really needed (and I don't agree that it is), it sounds like *you* should change to conform to the majority, not us. (And no, I'm not advocating such a change, I'm merely pointing out the absurdity of the rationale.) Americans are often accused of being rude and provincial, of lacking respect for the peoples of other countries simply because those others do things in different (read "wrong") ways. But lately, I've observed the opposite phenomenon in this forum: the bashing of things American just *because* they're American. That kind of behavior is just as bad as "ugly American" behavior. Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA