Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 15:10:01 GMT From: Charles Bryant Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Dublin Number Expansion Message-ID: Organization: Datacode Communications Ltd, Dublin, Ireland Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu 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 266, Message 3 of 16 Lines: 22 With our bills Telecom Eireann customers have got a leaflet giving the first stages of the 01 area number expansion plan. Last year the first stage expanded numbers starting with 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 70 and 79 adding a 6 on the front. This put Dublin in the unusual position of having numbers both six and seven digits long in the same calling area (does anywhere else have variable length local numbers?). From April 8th all numbers starting with 69, 8 will have a 2 added to make them 269 XXXX and 28X XXXX. By 1994 all numbers will have been changed to start with 2, 4, 6 or 8. By experiment, I verified that the 2 is currently optional. It makes me wonder why British Telecom split London from 01 into 071 and 081. Why not just add a digit? And if eight digit numbers are too long, why not split into 017 and 018 leaving more room for expansion. Or even split 01 DXX XXXX into ten areas 01D DXX XXXX removing the need for the tables to convert old number to new area. Charles Bryant (ch@dce.ie)