Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!telecom-request From: DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Douglas Scott Reuben) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Large Local Calling Areas (was Re: NXX Count) Message-ID: Date: 3 Mar 91 10:33:20 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 87 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 172, Message 9 of 9 Yoram Eisenstadter of the Columbia University Department of Computer Science wrote: > NYC wasn't always a single local calling area; I remember several > years ago there were parts of Queens that were local to Manhattan (25 > cents from a payphone) and some that were not (40 cents from a > payphone). I think that the PUC mandated uniform local calling rates > throughout NYC when the 212/718 split occured. I think this only goes for non-coin phones. There are still many payphones that demand 40 cents for calls within 718/212, depending on how far they are. Little Neck to certain areas of NYC (err..I mean Manhattan) are 40 cents, (and Little Neck is in Queens, NOT Nassau/516). Calls from most of Queens to Staten Island are 40 cents, although I can't say this is still true; it was two years ago. I think calls from southern Brooklyn to Riverdale (The Bronx) may also be 40 cents. I am sure about the Little Neck to Manhattan thing, though. In June, 1989 I had to make a call from Little Neck to 212-373, and to my surprise, the payphone asked for 40 cents. (They have a recording that says "40 cents please", rather than the NYTel local automatic operator coming on and saying "Please deposit 40 cents for the next 5 minutes."). This of course may have changed, but the uniform rates became effective in August, 1988 I believe, which was about four years after the split, but BEFORE I tried a lot of this out when I went down to NYC. Interestingly, some exchanges are the SAME in both area codes. I am not referring to "choke" prefixes for radio stations (955 for 212/718/516/and maybe 914), nor to special feature numbers (950, 976, 970, 540, 550). There is a "230" exchange, and you can use that from either the 718 or 212 area codes, and you get connected to the same number. I've seen this advertised on NYC busses for some sort of shelter (maybe for the homeless? I dunno ...). I think there may be other exchanges set up this way as well. I'm not sure about how this works in other area code split cases (LA, Chicago, etc.) where cities have been split up, so I'm not sure if this is unique to NYC or not. We manage to pick up WBBM-780 Chicago quite well in Connecticut in the evening, and I always hear them give some number which works BOTH in the 312 AND 708 area, so perhaps this is the same thing? (Pat?) In any event, even though the specific number (230-xxxx) may have INITIALLY been a 40 cent call before the split, they are all 25 cents now. Also, calls to 976 numbers, which are 27 (?) cents on a residence line, are only 25 cents from any NYC (or NY Metro LATA for that matter) payphone. > Note that geographically, NYC is only a small part of the LATA that > also encompasses Nassau and Suffolk counties (area code 516), > Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties (914), and the part of > Connecticut (203) that is served by NY Telephone. Which means that people in these areas of CT get FREE Directory Assistance in BOTH CT and NY! (from payphones). Compare this to the Providence/Sekonk,MA area, both served by NETel, but where you can't get DA for a place across the street unles you put in 60 cents. (It is free for Massachusetts residence phones, though...) Also, some people on or near the Queens/Nassau line get free (or untimed) service to a local Nassau communities, and to all of NYC! Neat place to set up a remote-call-forward site into/out of NYC. A friend of mine who goes to NYU but lives in Manhasset does this. According to him, it saves money, and he leaves his terminal on all day. Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet [Moderator's Note: Here in Chicago the only exchanges in common are the choke (591), CNA (796), and Phone Programs (976) exchanges. You can dial seven digits on these from 312 or 708. What is offered otherwise is *remote call forwarding* for a tidy sum. You get your number in whichever area (312 or 708) you happen to be in. If you want the same number in the other area you can have it provided it is not already taken by someone else. The number is set up on the other side to simply terminate in the CO and remote-forward to your number on your side. You pay a monthly fee plus a fee for each call forwarded, of course. Some businesses like this because it is more convenient for their customers on the 'wrong side' of town :) to reach them with seven digits and no concern about which area code to dial, etc. PAT]