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From: central!central!davec@uunet.uu.net (Dave Close)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Digit Overload in Dallas/Fort Worth
Message-ID: <14499@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 8 Nov 90 23:19:36 GMT
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Reply-To: davec@shared.sfs.UUCP (Dave Close)
Organization: Shared Financial Systems
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 802, Message 7 of 12


In the Dallas/Fort Worth area of North Texas, two area codes are
adjacent.  The Dallas metro area is a part of the 214 area code; the
Fort Worth metro area is a part of the 817 area code.  Neither metro
area completely occupies its area code.  All phones in each city have
unlimited toll-free calling to all other phones in the same city.

The phone system recognizes that many folks in Dallas and Fort Worth
have a frequent need to call the folks in the other city.  It is
possible to obtain a "metro" number which is considered a local
(non-toll) call from and to all other numbers in both metro areas.
Until two years ago, metro numbers in either city could be reached
from both cities by dialing only seven digits.  (Many businesses did
not bother to mention their area code in advertising.)

Now it is always necessary to dial the area code when calling from one
side of the metro area to the other.  However, a zero or one prefix is
only required when the call is a toll call.  Metro numbers, which
still exist, are reached with 10 digits; non-metro numbers require 11
digits.

If you attempt to call a metro number by dialing all 11 digits, you
get a recording which says, "We're sorry.  It is not necessary to dial
a one or zero when calling this number."  The message is misleading
because what it really means is, "...It is not PERMITTED..."  In
effect, a caller must know whether a call is a toll call before
dialing, or suffer the inconvenience of redialing.  IMHO, the first
two words of the recording couldn't be more accurate!

The situation is slightly complicated for exchanges on the boundary
between the cities.  Those phones can make toll-free calls to adjacent
non-metro exchanges on the other side of the line.  So a call from a
non-metro exchange in downtown Fort Worth (not on the boundary) to a
non-metro exchange in Grand Prairie (just across the line toward
Dallas) requires 11 digits.  A call from any exchange in Arlington (on
the boundary toward Fort Worth) to that same exchange in Grand Prairie
requires 10 digits and fails with 11 digits.

The use of a leading one or zero to distinguish a toll call is at
least consistent.  When calling from within the metro area to outside
the metro area but still within the same area code, it is necessary to
dial all 11 digits.

I've encountered other places that used the leading digit to
distinguish toll calls but I thought it was being phased out.  I think
that it is an overload on the leading digit for it to both introduce
an area code and distinguish toll calls.


Dave Close, Shared Financial Systems, Dallas
My comments are my opinions and may not be shared by Shared.