Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Path: utzoo!decvax!bellcore!ulysses!ucbvax!telecom
From: GUMBY@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (David Vinayak Wallace)
Newsgroups: mod.telecom
Subject: How many digits?
Message-ID: <8603060708.AA05827@ucbvax.berkeley.edu>
Date: Wed, 5-Mar-86 01:14:45 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8603060708.AA05827
Posted: Wed Mar  5 01:14:45 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Mar-86 22:16:50 EST
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 9
Approved: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu

In several countries they are in the process of changing the number of
digits in a phone number -- from four to five, five to six, or six to seven.
Since we're running out of area codes, I started to wonder how much
it would cost to make telephone numbers eight digits long.  For ease of
changeover assume a flag day on which everyone has, say, a zero appended
to their current phone number.  How much would it cost the phone companies
and how much would it cost everybody to change their COBOL programs?

any guesses?