The problem of area codes

[kphoger]

Multi area code for one single city is pretty uncommon outside NANP. Outside NANP, telephone numbers will be adding one digit, instead of crazily introducing new area codes.
Multi area code makes people need to dial and say three more digits EVERY TIME you need to dial or say a number.

Mexico does this by using two-digit area codes for its three largest metro areas, and three-digit area codes for the rest of the country.  But the rest of the phone number in those three metro areas is eight digits instead of seven.  For example:

(81) 8058-1948 = a Burger King in Monterrey, Nuevo León
(844) 485-3689 = a Burger King in Saltillo, Coahuila

This is really no different than assigning area codes 810 through 819 to Monterrey.  And, in fact, that's exactly what it is.  Area codes are assigned geographically by region in Mexico.  Monterrey is in the 800s region anyway.  Same with Guadalajara, which has area code 44 and is in the 400s region anyway.  Same with Mexico City, which has area code 55 and is in the 500s region anyway.

I actually prefer that area codes not be assigned geographically by region.  It's harder for me to keep similar numbers straight in my head.  So, for example, the town I travel to in Mexico has area code 842, and the state capital has area code 844, but I can never seem to remember which is which.  Yeah, it's clear that both of them are in the same region, but that doesn't help me figure out what area code to put in my cell phone when trying to dial a business if the sign I'm looking at only has the last seven digits displayed.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

The same practice is seen in Spain, most notably Madrid and Barcelona. They get assigned two digit area codes instead of the usual three digit ones. The rest of the phone number then has 7 digits instead of the usual 6. This also affects the format of the phone numbers, which are written 91 xxx xx xx (91 = Madrid) as opposed to the usual 974 xx xx xx (974 = Huesca). I despise that format, and I prefer to write every number in the same one for consistency sake, thus putting the first digit of the rest of the phone with the area code: 91x xx xx xx.

In the last few years some provinces using three digit area codes have started to run out of numbers for land lines, and thus have gotten assigned another starting with 8, e.g. 876 for Zaragoza complementing 976 (Huesca still has room on its 974, and thus 874 isn't available yet). And unlike in the NANP, in Spain cell phones have a different, non-geographical range starting with 6 (and most recently 7 too), so the "traditional" area codes aren't depleting that fast.

[1995hoo]

For those around before the cell phone era, they probably remember their town had specific exchanges that everyone had. In my town, it was always 609-468-xxxx, which was enough to satisfy 10,000 residents and businesses and were reused after someone moved away or otherwise didn't need that number.  After the area grew, people started getting second lines for their teens, etc, they also incorporated 609-464-xxxx.  Then fax machines became a thing, eating up more numbers.  Today, I imagine many of those numbers go unused because they're specific to Verizon's Landline Blocks, and fewer and fewer people have landlines.

It was less than ten years between (1) my hometown having four-digit dialing and (2) our family having a cell phone.

I was born in 1981;  in the fifth grade, if I needed to call my mom at work, I simply had to dial 3211.  Moreover, every phone number in town began with (913) 626-3xxx or (913) 626-9xxx–so every number we ever actually had to dial was 3xxx or 9xxx.  It switched to seven-digit dialing in the early 1990s.

As I've noted in other "area code" threads, I grew up in the DC area. We always had to dial seven digits, but we had a possibly unique situation in that for many years, the city and the immediate suburbs in Virginia and Maryland had things set up so you didn't need to dial the area code for cross-jurisdiction calling even though you were calling a number in a different area code. That is, for example, when I was a little kid we lived in what the post office considers Annandale, Virginia (near Fairfax Hospital, for those who know the area), and my father worked in downtown DC. We had a 703 area code; my dad's office had a 202. My mom could call him at work by simply dialing ###-####, seven digits with no area code. The way that worked–and the reason it ultimately had to be eliminated in 1990–was that no exchange was repeated across area codes. If, for example, your phone number in Virginia was 698-####, nobody in DC nor in the close-in Maryland suburbs could have a 698- number (although someone further out in a part of Maryland that required a long-distance call presumably could, as back then all of Maryland had the 301 area code). You can easily see why that system eventually broke down and had to be eliminated.

Our younger forum members would probably shrug and say "no big deal." Nowadays that would be true, but remember that in 1990 an awful lot of people still had rotary phones, and remember that all three area codes contained a zero (the number that required the longest twist of the dial). In that sense, adding the requirement to dial the area code was a non-trivial nuisance–and, of course, there was no speed-dial or one-touch dialing on most rotary phones made for home use.

What I do not remember is where the line was between local and long-distance in either Virginia or Maryland. Back then, 703 extended all the way down to Cumberland Gap. Obviously Roanoke was a long-distance call. I seem to remember Leesburg being a toll call charged at less than the normal long-distance rate. Setting aside that younger forum members will think the idea of long-distance calling sounds like something from ancient times, what I find interesting about that is the idea that Leesburg was not part of the local DC area because it shows how times have changed and the area has grown. Leesburg, which is about 33 miles from DC, was considered way out in the sticks when I was a kid. It was the type of place your father might decide to visit on a Sunday drive. Nowadays it's just one of the more distant suburbs (not even really an "exurb").

[Hobart]

Multi area code for one single city is pretty uncommon outside NANP. Outside NANP, telephone numbers will be adding one digit, instead of crazily introducing new area codes.
Multi area code makes people need to dial and say three more digits EVERY TIME you need to dial or say a number.

Historically, the people administering the NANP would split area codes based on region; for example; Chicago's 312 area code was split off into 708 and 312, and then further into 773. This would continue to enable 7 digit dialing in the area code in most places.

What happened afterwards is that in the nineties, these splits became extremely common because of fax machines and modems and stuff, and people started to have to change their phone numbers every few years at the will of the system, to much cost and inconvenience, so they just put overlays on so everyone could keep the same number.

Then, every jurisdiction using the 988 office code (3 digits after area code) had to either reassign those numbers or adopt ten digit dialing because that number became a code for the suicide hotline, sometime shortly before 2020.

As someone whose parents were relatively late adopters of cell phones, and who witnessed the transition of the 708 area code from 7 to 11 digit dialing (need a 1 in front in 708), I really don't mind dialing the four extra digits if it means my phone number doesn't have to change every five years, or if someone can quickly access the suicide hotline when they really need to. Sure, the NANP is problematic, but this solution is the least problematic. A better numbering system would have been the best solution, but it's a little bit too late for that.

[1995hoo]

^^^^

Another factor was that area code splits became impractical because the area codes would cover such a minuscule geographic area.

[Poiponen13]

Maybe this phone number system would be better:
All numbers are 10 digits long, with trunk prefix 0 and nine numbers. The first one, two, three or four numbers after the zero are the area code. The possible formats are: 0A LLL LL LL, 0AA LLL LLL, 0AAA LL LL and 0AAAA LLLL.
Larger cities have shorter area codes and smaller cities have longer area codes. The trunk prefix must be dialed with domestic calls, but not after international calles. The examaple is:
LLL LL LL (within New York)
01 LLL LL LL (within US)
+1 1 LLL LL LL (outside US)
This could be expanded to 11 digits when exhaustion occurs.

[hotdogPi]

We already have a good system in place. As for expanding to 11 digits, we've already thought of that, which is why area codes can't have 9 as a middle digit.

[jeffandnicole]

What I do not remember is where the line was between local and long-distance in either Virginia or Maryland. Back then, 703 extended all the way down to Cumberland Gap. Obviously Roanoke was a long-distance call. I seem to remember Leesburg being a toll call charged at less than the normal long-distance rate. Setting aside that younger forum members will think the idea of long-distance calling sounds like something from ancient times, what I find interesting about that is the idea that Leesburg was not part of the local DC area because it shows how times have changed and the area has grown. Leesburg, which is about 33 miles from DC, was considered way out in the sticks when I was a kid. It was the type of place your father might decide to visit on a Sunday drive. Nowadays it's just one of the more distant suburbs (not even really an "exurb").

We had a relatively small area for free calls, and most of those free calls were in towns to our North, South & West.  We were on the eastern side of our area.  If we called one town over to the east, that was a toll call.  However, that town also shared the same zip code as my town.  So we could be calling a number in the same zip code, yet be charged for the call.

[ran4sh]

About the "random"  way to assign new area codes after 1995, when the ones with 0/1 in the middle exhausted:
It's better to assign new area codes based on geographic. For example, 220-289 for New England, 820-879 for the Pacific, 950 to 989 for islands

Absolutely not

[ran4sh]

Maybe this phone number system would be better:
All numbers are 10 digits long, with trunk prefix 0 and nine numbers. The first one, two, three or four numbers after the zero are the area code. The possible formats are: 0A LLL LL LL, 0AA LLL LLL, 0AAA LL LL and 0AAAA LLLL.
Larger cities have shorter area codes and smaller cities have longer area codes. The trunk prefix must be dialed with domestic calls, but not after international calles. The examaple is:
LLL LL LL (within New York)
01 LLL LL LL (within US)
+1 1 LLL LL LL (outside US)
This could be expanded to 11 digits when exhaustion occurs.

The problem with phone number systems with different numbers of digits, is the system has to somehow distinguish when a user has dialed a complete number or not, which is not an issue in systems like the USA/NANP where phone numbers have a specific number of digits

[1995hoo]

The problem with phone number systems with different numbers of digits, is the system has to somehow distinguish when a user has dialed a complete number or not, which is not an issue in systems like the USA/NANP where phone numbers have a specific number of digits

As I recall, this issue was also part of the reason why it became necessary to dial "1" to place a long-distance call–that initial "1" told the system that what came next would be an area code, rather than a local exchange. I remember I once had a work phone number on local DC exchange 310 and on a couple of occasions I got wrong-number calls from people who were trying to call Los Angeles and forgot to dial "1" first.

[ZLoth]

The biggest problem in moving from a seven-digit dialing number to a eight-digit dialing number is the equipment compatibility and if the backend software can support eight digits. This not only applies to the telecommunications providers (both mobile and landline), but also office PBXs as well. There is also the associated cost of printing new stationary and updating contact information.

We already have a good system in place. As for expanding to 11 digits, we've already thought of that, which is why area codes can't have 9 as a middle digit.

And, as Las Vegas learned, you cannot have three consecutive digits as an area code. Las Vegas learned that in 1997 when they wanted area code 777.

[Big John]

The biggest problem in moving from a seven-digit dialing number to a eight-digit dialing number is the equipment compatibility and if the backend software can support eight digits. This not only applies to the telecommunications providers (both mobile and landline), but also office PBXs as well. There is also the associated cost of printing new stationary and updating contact information.

We already have a good system in place. As for expanding to 11 digits, we've already thought of that, which is why area codes can't have 9 as a middle digit.

And, as Las Vegas learned, you cannot have three consecutive digits as an area code. Las Vegas learned that in 1997 when they wanted area code 777.

Or more specifically, the last 2 digits can't be the same as that is reserved for other purposes, including toll-free numbers.

[kphoger]

The problem with phone number systems with different numbers of digits, is the system has to somehow distinguish when a user has dialed a complete number or not, which is not an issue in systems like the USA/NANP where phone numbers have a specific number of digits

It already does that.  The phone system knows that, when you call the health and human services hotline, you're not dialing a 7-or 10-digit number starting with 211.

[GaryV]

The biggest problem in moving from a seven-digit dialing number to a eight-digit dialing number is the equipment compatibility and if the backend software can support eight digits. This not only applies to the telecommunications providers (both mobile and landline), but also office PBXs as well. There is also the associated cost of printing new stationary and updating contact information.

There would be a tremendous IT cost to everyone who keeps track of phone numbers. It would rival Y2K.

[1995hoo]

The biggest problem in moving from a seven-digit dialing number to a eight-digit dialing number is the equipment compatibility and if the backend software can support eight digits. This not only applies to the telecommunications providers (both mobile and landline), but also office PBXs as well. There is also the associated cost of printing new stationary and updating contact information.

There would be a tremendous IT cost to everyone who keeps track of phone numbers. It would rival Y2K.

From what I've read, it sounds like the effort of reprogramming the Pentagon phone system prior to the 1990 advent of having to dial the area code for inter—area code local calls (703 to 202, etc.) in the DC area was a major undertaking. I can only shudder at the thought of how much more work changing the entire phone number structure would involve.

[geek11111]

Multi area code for one single city is pretty uncommon outside NANP. Outside NANP, telephone numbers will be adding one digit, instead of crazily introducing new area codes.
Multi area code makes people need to dial and say three more digits EVERY TIME you need to dial or say a number.

Historically, the people administering the NANP would split area codes based on region; for example; Chicago's 312 area code was split off into 708 and 312, and then further into 773. This would continue to enable 7 digit dialing in the area code in most places.

What happened afterwards is that in the nineties, these splits became extremely common because of fax machines and modems and stuff, and people started to have to change their phone numbers every few years at the will of the system, to much cost and inconvenience, so they just put overlays on so everyone could keep the same number.

Then, every jurisdiction using the 988 office code (3 digits after area code) had to either reassign those numbers or adopt ten digit dialing because that number became a code for the suicide hotline, sometime shortly before 2020.

As someone whose parents were relatively late adopters of cell phones, and who witnessed the transition of the 708 area code from 7 to 11 digit dialing (need a 1 in front in 708), I really don't mind dialing the four extra digits if it means my phone number doesn't have to change every five years, or if someone can quickly access the suicide hotline when they really need to. Sure, the NANP is problematic, but this solution is the least problematic. A better numbering system would have been the best solution, but it's a little bit too late for that.

This is why the long distance call prefix 1 should be changed to 0, to release the 1XX area code and local phone numbers starting with 1 to be special service number, like 988.

[ZLoth]

This is why the long distance call prefix 1 should be changed to 0, to release the 1XX area code and local phone numbers starting with 1 to be special service number, like 988.

Not technically feasible. Plus, +1 is the country identifier for both the United States and Canada.

[1995hoo]

I haven't tried it in many years, but does dialing zero still get you the operator? If so, that's a reason geeknumber's latest suggestion wouldn't work. The reason I don't know is because obviously in the USA you dial 011 as the prefix for an international call, so it's not quite as simple as it was in the old days.

[kphoger]

I haven't tried it in many years, but does dialing zero still get you the operator? If so, that's a reason geeknumber's latest suggestion wouldn't work. The reason I don't know is because obviously in the USA you dial 011 as the prefix for an international call, so it's not quite as simple as it was in the old days.

Not on AT&T, with whom 0 and 411 no longer work on digital telephones as of January 2023.  I don't know about other carriers.  However, before that time, it was possible to dial 0 for the operator and to dial 011 as a prefix for international calls.  I have distinct memories of doing both in the 1990s.

[bing101]

Multi area code for one single city is pretty uncommon outside NANP. Outside NANP, telephone numbers will be adding one digit, instead of crazily introducing new area codes.
Multi area code makes people need to dial and say three more digits EVERY TIME you need to dial or say a number.

Common in places like LA and New York to have a single city get multiple area codes. Also there are overlays like in San Francisco with 415 and 628 or Sacramento for 278 and 916.

[Scott5114]

Not just major cities either–Oklahoma City has 405 and 572. (I have yet to encounter a 572 number in the wild, however.)

[Henry]

Before new area codes were added in the 1990s, this would've been a great idea, but now I don't see any need for it.

How would the 8-digit numbers have been set up anyway? XXX-XXXX, XXXX-XXXX or some other variant?

[MikeTheActuary]

Before new area codes were added in the 1990s, this would've been a great idea, but now I don't see any need for it.

How would the 8-digit numbers have been set up anyway? XXX-XXXX, XXXX-XXXX or some other variant?

FWIW, my UK phone number is in the format:  +44 (0)28 95xx xxxx

Meanwhile, the French format their numbers as: 0x xx xx xx xx  (or +33 x xx xx xx xx)

[kalvado]

Before new area codes were added in the 1990s, this would've been a great idea, but now I don't see any need for it.

How would the 8-digit numbers have been set up anyway? XXX-XXXX, XXXX-XXXX or some other variant?

FWIW, my UK phone number is in the format:  +44 (0)28 95xx xxxx

Meanwhile, the French format their numbers as: 0x xx xx xx xx  (or +33 x xx xx xx xx)

I wonder if this has anything to do with language and regional reading of numbers.
In US "1234" goes as "one-two-three-four", so dashes  and spaces don't matter that much. If there is a tradition of saying "twelve-thirty four"  or "one hundred twenty three - four" that may affect notation a lot.