Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!telecom-request From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: NXX Count (1-15 Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 91 04:35:00 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 52 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 166, Message 11 of 12 steve@wattres.uucp (Steve Watt) writes: > On a somewhat related note, I'm curious ... how many area codes are > there out there (like PacBell territory in 408) that don't require a > 1+ for *any* call, local, long-distance, or otherwise? Only part of the 408 area code (San Jose metro area) does not require a '1' for long distance. Within the last few years, '1' has been made permissive; that is you may dial it if you like and you will not mess up your call. The area south of the Santa Cruz mountains starting with Los Gatos on Hwy 17 and Morgan Hill on Hwy 101 MUST use a '1' for long distance. Also, the entire Monterey LATA (which is 408) must use the '1'. > I once heard a rumor that 408 was the last area code in the NANP > that allowed 10 digit (real 10 digit, not 1+ten.) dialing ... is > PacBell that slow? Is it PacBell that's slow? As much as it pains me to say it, the reason that a '1' has never been required is because this area was one of the early DDD-capable locations. In the original manifestations of DDD, a '1' was not specified. The switch (usually a #5 crossbar in that day) would recognize the second digit being a '1' or '0' and process the call accordingly. This was easy for a common control switch. When the Bell System wished to expand DDD into older offices and to the independents who had SXS equipment, some method had to be employed to "tell" the switch up front that this was to be a long distance call. In those offices when you dialed the '1', you were simply connected to a toll office or another CO which could accept the ten digit number. In most of the sixties there were many areas that required the '1' while others (mainly metro areas) did not. As "informal prefixes" became necessary, the '1' was introduced to those areas that had heretofore not required it. Back to 408. The office that serves my home (#5 crossbar) has had the "pure" form of DDD since 1956. In that time, there has not been sufficient consumption of prefixes to require the '1'. About four years ago, when the CONTAC adjunct was installed, the '1' became permissive -- but not required. As I was growing up, long distance never required a '1' except in the neighboring independently served communities. (Los Gatos -- Western California Telephone Company -- required a '112'.) When I move back to North Carolina for a brief time I found that the '1' requirement was ubiquitous. As the prefixes in 408 run out, the San Jose area will join everyone else in the dialing of '1' before each long distance call. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !