Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!elroy!gryphon!vector!telecom-gateway From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Questions About Fax Machines/Numbers Message-ID: Date: 10 Feb 89 15:04:00 GMT Sender: news@vector.UUCP Lines: 39 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 56, message 6 of 7 Ron Natilie of Rutgers (NJ) writes, >The leading digit 1 is NOT part of your phone number. You should >just list the 10 digits starting with the area code. The 1 is a >dialing code that tells your phone switch that the number to follow >has an area code. It's (sic) use is not universal and will probably even > eventually go away when things get smart enough to realize how many >numbers you dial. I used to think that way when I lived in "what's a 1 for?" New Jersey. Subsequent to my emigration, New Jersey joined the 1+ world, with interchangeable codes even in my old hometown. Doing a way with 1+ would be a Bad Thing as it would require critical timing in its stead (when users don't use an "end of dial" signal such as the octothorpe). It is not Part of the Plan. Instead, the North American Numbering Plan calls for the 1+ to be universal before Time T (1996), when interchangeable area codes go into effect. The NANP is administered by Bellcore and ANSI T1S1.4 with FCC approval. While in the olden days it looked silly to see "1-800..." in listings when I didn't have to dial it (those folks across the river in NY did, of course), I later realized how beneficial it really is. Y'see, "1" is not only the LD access code, it's our country code. So internationally, our numbers really do begin with the "1"! By convention, international telephone numbers are written with a plus sign (+) in front of the country code, then a space, then the national number (bereft of access codes such as '0' which is more common than '1' for long distance, worldwide). Thus I give my number as +1 508 486 7388 while folks in the UK might give out something like +44 734 868 711. THe + translates to 011 in the USA and different things elsewhere. In most other countries, the access code is not the country code, so for instance English STD codes like 0734 are really 734 with the access code; the 0 must be dropped for international calls. But we dumb Yanks can leave the 1 on the front of the area code and even foreigners will be able to reach us. fred