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From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Washington State Running Low
Message-ID: <12010@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 10 Sep 90 18:38:22 GMT
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Reply-To: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau)
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 636, Message 2 of 11


In article <11912@accuvax.nwu.edu>, merlyn@iwarp.intel.com (Randal
Schwartz) writes:

> I think this scam of using 1+ to indicate area codes instead of toll
> calls is actually good for the phone company in two ways ... they can
> sell more phone numbers (if it wasn't for PBX DID, we wouldn't be
> running out), and people can get stuck with toll calls without knowing
> it.  A scam.

First of all, are you sure that the new dialing rules will allow you
to dial intra-NPA long distance calls as NXX-XXXX?  We've undergone a
similar number shortage here in NC, and the new rules require
1-NXX-NXX-XXXX for *all* long distance calls, both intra- and
inter-NPA.  Eight-digit dialing for intra-NPA LD (1-NNX-XXXX) has been
eliminated.  Any number that can be dialed with only seven digits is
thus guaranteed to be local.

Of course, just because all seven-digit numbers are local does not
imply that all local calls are seven-digit!  Local calling zones
straddle an NPA boundary in many parts of the country, and a variety
of solutions have been used (seven-digit, ten-digit, eleven-digit).
But this has always been a problem and it shouldn't get any worse just
because your NPA starts using NXX prefixes.

Your characterization of the 1+ dialing rules as a "scam" by your
local telco doesn't really hold water anyway -- it's Bellcore that
sets the numbering rules and assigns area codes.  And the plans for
NXX prefixes and area codes are not exactly all that new; they've been
part of the North American Numbering Plan for many years now (although
the first NXX NPA isn't scheduled to debut for another four or five
years).
 

Bob Goudreau				+1 919 248 6231
Data General Corporation
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