Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!telecom-request From: hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net (Toby Nixon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: The Correct Way to Write Your Phone Number Message-ID: Date: 25 Feb 91 00:46:46 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA Lines: 33 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 158, Message 1 of 13 In article , telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: > I have always wondered why people write phone numbers with parenthesis > around the area code, as though it were incidental to the entire > number, i.e. (311) 555-2368? The correct way to write the number is > with dashes and no parenthesis -- or dots if you prefer -- in this > format: 311-555-2368, or 311.555.2368. Actually, Pat, you should look at CCITT Recommendation E.123, which specifically addresses the issue of how telephone numbers should appear in printed material. The recommended format has SPACES between parts of the number (country code, city/area code, exchange, station), with a "+" preceeding the country code. The use of parenthesis surrounding the city/area code is specifically permitted when it is desirable to indicate that portion of the phone number that is optional when dialing from within the local area. Use of dashes or periods is optional, as well, and specifically stated as being to accomodate national conventions (i.e., Ma Bell always used dashes, and who is the CCITT to say they can't?) One notes, for example, that CCITT Recommendation T.30 specifies that the only characters valid for inclusion in a facsimile phone number field (TSI/CSI/CID frame) are the digits zero through nine, space, and plus. Many fax machines do indeed support the entire ASCII/IA5/T.50 character set, but only those twelve characters are mandatory. Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer | Voice +1-404-840-9200 Telex 151243420 Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax +1-404-447-0178 CIS 70271,404 P.O. Box 105203 | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon AT&T !tnixon Atlanta, Georgia 30348 USA | Internet hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net