Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: shared!shared!davec@uunet.uu.net (Dave Close) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: 215 Area Code Loses "1" per Newspaper 'Reporter' Message-ID: <15624@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 22 Dec 90 05:36:09 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Shared Financial Systems, Dallas, TX Lines: 41 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 900, Message 2 of 11 In article <15542@accuvax.nwu.edu> Randal L. Schwartz writes: >I guess living in an area where 1 means long distance gives me the >advantage at understanding these statements. For those of you who >haven't had "1" mean long distance, taking those statements out of >context from the newspaper article must have looked really funny. And >since the general population *for that area* has it firmly entrenched >that "1 means long distance"... that's indeed what they are losing! >(I'm still baffled at what the "1 means long distance" people do when >a differing area code is *not* long distance. Do you dial the "1" or >not? Around here, if it's a different area code, it's definitely long >distance.) This relates to a message I posted a month or two back. Here in DFW (north Texas), toll calls always start with a 1, free calls always start without a 1. This includes inter-area code calls: a free call from Dallas to Fort Worth is dialed 817-xxx-xxxx, NOT 1-817-xxx-xxxx which is only used for toll calls. Obviously this reduces the number of possible exchanges in each area slightly. SWB's solution to the problem in PA: Instead of dropping the 1 for intra-area code calls, they require you to dial your OWN area code. A toll call from Dallas to a far suburb in the same area is dialed 1-214-xxx-xxxx. Personally, I prefer the PA solution, but SWB's works. My primary complaint is that I have no way to determine --reliably-- before calling, if a number is a toll call. Therefore, I dial 1+number (with or without area code) and hear, "We're sorry, it is not necessary to dial a one or zero when dialing this number." Sorry, indeed! Why not let the call go through anyway? -- Dave Close, Shared Financial Systems, Dallas davec@shared.com vmail +1 214 458 3850 uunet!shared!davec fax +1 214 458 3876 My comments are my opinions and may not be shared by Shared.