Zip and area codes

[1995hoo]

Semi random, semi-rant area code thoughts.

- To flesh out the original area code deal, the middle number did have to be a 1 or a 0 and the other two could not be.  They also designed it so you dialed less.  Think about a rotary dial.   Roughly the most populated places got the smallest number of clicks, with the smallest (212) going to NYC, followed by 213 for LA, 312 for Chicago, 412 for Pittsburgh, etc.  While the longest number of clicks went to the most remote places ending with 902 for Atlantic Canada.

Don't forget the "lowest" area code of all - 201 - in North Jersey, home to many of the old (pre-diverstiture) AT&T operations.

....

201 isn't really the "lowest" area code in terms of the original scheme. It's numerically the lowest, but don't forget that on a rotary phone the zero is located at the far end of the dial. Dialing "201" is a longer process than dialing "212" or "213" because for the zero you have to rotate the dial all the way around and then it takes ten "pulses" or "clicks" as it rotates back, whereas with the "1" it's a short rotation and a single "click."

[Doctor Whom]

As a side question, what are the largest cities than no longer have their original area codes?

A largeish one is Baltimore, which lost 301 in 1991.

[kphoger]

If we had just duplicated the middle number (i.e. 201 becomes 2010 in four number system), then used the rest of the numbers (i.e. when out of 2010 numbers, start using 2011, then 2012, etc) you effectivly multiply the number of phone numbers in each area code by 10, and no place yet would be out of numbers.

This is similar to the current favored proposal for future expansion of the NANP.  The current industry recommendation is to turn 555-123-4567 into either 5550-0123-4567 or 5551-1123-4567.

Where did you find that?  The information that I've had since the 1990s is for the expansion being done by adding a '9' into a new position 2 in the area code portion of the number ('NPA' becoming 'N9PA'), thus allowing for a transitional dialing period as I posted above.

Mike

Sorry, the information I was using was out of date (2001—2003).  I thought it was strange, because I also remembered seeing that the current proposal was to insert a 9 into the second position.  But, now that I'm looking at sources, what's the date on the proposal to insert the 9?  I'm having trouble finding any source at all from later than 2003.

I believe the system I described above does allow permissive dialing as well, because the first digit of an exchange is never a zero or a one.

[cpzilliacus]

Semi random, semi-rant area code thoughts.

- To flesh out the original area code deal, the middle number did have to be a 1 or a 0 and the other two could not be.  They also designed it so you dialed less.  Think about a rotary dial.   Roughly the most populated places got the smallest number of clicks, with the smallest (212) going to NYC, followed by 213 for LA, 312 for Chicago, 412 for Pittsburgh, etc.  While the longest number of clicks went to the most remote places ending with 902 for Atlantic Canada.

Don't forget the "lowest" area code of all - 201 - in North Jersey, home to many of the old (pre-diverstiture) AT&T operations.

....

201 isn't really the "lowest" area code in terms of the original scheme. It's numerically the lowest, but don't forget that on a rotary phone the zero is located at the far end of the dial. Dialing "201" is a longer process than dialing "212" or "213" because for the zero you have to rotate the dial all the way around and then it takes ten "pulses" or "clicks" as it rotates back, whereas with the "1" it's a short rotation and a single "click."

That's correct.  "212" is lowest in that context (since "211" was not available). 

Though I have to think that North Jersey got area code "201" thanks to the folks from AT&T being involved.

[cpzilliacus]

You  are in West Virginia, right?  Aren't there some parts of the state where a call to an adjoining state is a local call (not that it matters with cell phones, because it usually does not).  Examples could include Bluefield, W.Va./Va. and Ridgeley, W.Va./Cumberland, Md.

Yes, and this is how they acomplished it back before you had to dial an area code.   Please don't nitpick me on the numbers, I am working from memory.

Understood.  I appreciate your comments and thoughts.

Let's take Bluefield.  Yes, you could (and can) call locally from anyplace in Mercer County, WV to any place in Tazewell County, VA.  So Bluefield, WV phone numbers were 325 in the 304 AC.  Bluefield, VA phone numbers were 326 in the 703 AC.  BUT, there was no 325 phone numbers in the 703 and there was no 326 numbers in the 304.  Thus the system knew what you were doing, even if you made an out-of-state, but local, call.

That was essentially how it worked (on a much larger scale) in metropolitan Washington, D.C. (which for many years, had three area codes).  From my home in Silver Spring, Maryland, I could dial numbers in the 202, 301 and 703 area codes, and after the (Baltimore/Eastern Maryland 410 area code was created, many exchanges in the 410 area.

They did this all over.  In WV every town up and down the Ohio and along the Potomac was like that, plus Bluefield and Williamson, at least.  Obviously this "wasted" a lot of numbers, since a prefix code would be "used" for two area codes.  I don't think this was uncommon, I seem to remember that Cincinnati was like that (numbers did not repeat between the 513 and 502 and you could make a local call from Covington to Cincy with only 7 numbers) and I am sure that lots of other places like St. Louis and Memphis and so on were too.

I have a vague memory of calls from Thomas and Davis, W.Va. to Oakland, Md. (in the 301 area code then and now) being local.  That was a long time ago, but is quite possibly even true today.

[The High Plains Traveler]

As a side question, what are the largest cities than no longer have their original area codes?

A largeish one is Baltimore, which lost 301 in 1991.

San Diego has changed twice, since it was originally part of the 213 area code (one of the three 1947 California originals). Within our memory it was part of 714 and was split off, I would guess, in the 1980s as 619.

[MDOTFanFB]

As a side question, what are the largest cities than no longer have their original area codes?

Detroit's satellite cities of Ann Arbor, Flint, Monroe and Port Huron were originally all under the 313 area code when the area codes were first created. Then in late 1993, Flint and Port Huron lost 313 in lieu of the new 810 area code and in late 1997, Ann Arbor and Monroe similarly were placed in the new 734 area code (as was my neighborhood), leaving only Detroit, it's enclaves and some bordering suburbs with the 313 code.

[pj3970]

In WV, we have to dial the area code + number for any call, even if its local or not. I have one cell with a 681 area code and another one with the original 304 area code. The reason was that 681 was overlayed on 304, now both area codes cover the entire state

[ghYHZ]

..............................While the longest number of clicks went to the most remote places ending with 902 for Atlantic Canada. 

Remote?? Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island share 902. The other two Atlantic Provinces have their own: New Brunswick 506 and Newfoundland & Labrador 709**.

And just today a new 782 area code was announced for NS and PEI. There had been talk that the new code would have been applied to one or the other.......but like 902, it will be jointly shared.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/10/01/ns-pei-new-area-code-782.html

(**NL split from NB in the early "˜60s and they split from NS/PEI in the '50s)

[mgk920]

I note that in the past couple of years, Canada has been eating up more new 'World Zone 1' area code numbers than has the entire USA.  This is likely because Canada has not (yet) implemented 1000 number block assignments, giving full 10K blocks to service providers.  Has Canada even implemented cross-carrier number portability yet?

Mike

[6a]

I was told by a BellSouth customer service lady that Atlanta has the largest local calling area in the world - you can call a small part of Alabama as a local call.  It was weird moving to a place like you describe, where only a couple miles can make the difference.

Both Denver and Phoenix would greatly beg to differ. You can make a call from Longmont to Castle Rock (freeway distance about 60 miles) and it's still local. A call from Buckeye in the far West Valley to Apache Junction in the far East Valley (freeway distance close to 70 miles) is also a local call.

I did find a thing on Wiki to back the nice CSR lady up;

The area is the world's largest toll-free calling zone spanning 7,162 square miles (18,549 km2),[11] has three active telephone area codes, and local calling extending into portions of two others. 404, which originally covered all of northern Georgia until 1992, now covers mostly the area inside the Perimeter (Interstate 285). In 1995 the suburbs were put into 770, requiring mandatory ten‑digit dialing even for local calls under FCC rules. This made Atlanta one of the US's first cities to employ ten-digit dialing,[12] which was begun by BellSouth the year before the Centennial 1996 Olympic Games. In 1998, 678 was overlaid onto both of the existing 404 and 770 area codes. Mobile phones, originally only assigned to 404, may now have any local area code regardless of where in the region they were issued. Area code 470, the newest area code, was overlaid with 404 and 770 in the same fashion as 678. The local calling area also includes portions of 706/762 and a small area of 256 in Alabama on the Georgia border.[13]

Although from your descriptions, those other cities aren't far off.

[agentsteel53]

I haven't thought about local vs. long-distance calls in nearly 10 years.  are they still relevant?

the only time I think twice before dialing is an international number.

[ghYHZ]

There might be an International Boundary between them.......but there are numerous communities especially in New Brunswick and Quebec that enjoy local calling with their US counterpart across the line:

http://www.localcallingguide.com/saq.php

[6a]

I haven't thought about local vs. long-distance calls in nearly 10 years.  are they still relevant?

the only time I think twice before dialing is an international number.

I know there is a distinction here, but I rarely call anyone from home these days.  The only reason I keep a home phone is crappy cell reception in my area, but it would be nice in my book if they went with the flow and did a nationwide calling thing.  It really is rather outdated.

[Duke87]

Mentally, I don't think of calling Canada as an international call. They share the same area code system with us and the same country code (+1), after all.

Of course, mentally, I don't really think of Canada as being a foreign country either. It's impossible for someplace that I can drive to in less than six hours to be "foreign".


That said, I haven't a damned clue how one actually makes a phone call to someplace overseas. I've had to dial such a call only once in my life and all I remember is that A) it required pressing a lot of other numbers before dialing the "number" itself, and B) I had to try it a few times before I got it right.

[agentsteel53]

heh, I can be in Mexico in half an hour, but that place remains foreign to me.

[empirestate]

As a side question, what are the largest cities than no longer have their original area codes?

NYC (the boroughs of Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, to be exact)?  They all started as '212', but that now only covers Manhattan.

Mike

Technically not all of Manhattan, even–the Marble Hill neighborhood is in the 718 area code because it's on the mainland, even though it's part of the borough of Manhattan (this for historic reasons due to the Harlem River having been re-routed).

Yeah, but since 212 still does exist in NYC I wouldn't count it. The boroughs aren't cities in their own right.

I recall a Seinfeld episode where Elaine was distraught about getting a phone number with a 646 area code instead of 212. At the time I kind of rolled my eyes, but then in 2001 when I bought my house I suddenly felt the same way when I realized there was a possibility of getting a 571 number instead of a 703 (though ultimately it wasn't a problem and I got my 703 number).

Indeed, that used to be a big deal. Folks in my line of work used to pay for an answering service so that they'd have a 212 number if they didn't have an in-town address, because being local to Manhattan was seen as a critical qualification. When cell phones became more common, 917 became acceptable as well because it was also NY-centric and showed that you were savvy enough to have mobile connectivity.

Now that cell numbers can be ported across carriers, it has become perfectly fine to have a number with an area code from anywhere in the USA, because so many people still have the cell number from wherever they used to live. The importance of 212 is now a lost vestige of the old days. (It's still important, however, for major companies to have impressive Manhattan addresses, just not so much for individuals.)

[vdeane]

heh, I can be in Mexico in half an hour, but that place remains foreign to me.

Canada itself doesn't feel foreign to me, but Quebec specifically does.  Must be the language difference.

[1995hoo]

I haven't thought about local vs. long-distance calls in nearly 10 years.  are they still relevant?

the only time I think twice before dialing is an international number.

It depends on your home phone service. We used to have to pay long-distance, but then when we got Verizon's fiber-optic service that went away and they don't charge for long-distance. Not everyone has that sort of option, though. (When we had to pay long-distance we used our mobile phones instead for those calls whenever possible.)

....

That said, I haven't a damned clue how one actually makes a phone call to someplace overseas. I've had to dial such a call only once in my life and all I remember is that A) it required pressing a lot of other numbers before dialing the "number" itself, and B) I had to try it a few times before I got it right.

In the US, you dial "011" followed by the country code and the applicable phone number (which may include a city code or other region-specific stuff). You'll often see Europeans write phone numbers in a form such as +44 (0) 20 7493 8181 (that's the main phone number for the Ritz London). In the US you dial "011" where the plus sign is. The plus sign is used because different countries use different prefixes. If you were calling internationally from the UK, for example, you would dial "00" instead (example: +1-202-675-6287 means that from the UK you'd dial 00-1-202-675-6287 and you'd reach the Washington Nationals' main number), whereas from Cuba you would dial "119." The plus sign is intended to mean "use the appropriate international access code from your country."

[kphoger]

I dial long-distance numbers all day long at work, calling customers about their appointments with the cable guy.  One time, the contact number listed was a Saskatchewan number; I wonder if my company got chrarged an international call for that one.

By the way, what's up with the crazy numbers on your caller ID when you get a Skype call?  Sometimes they're something like 12553 or something.

[agentsteel53]

+44 (0) 20 7493 8181

what's the significance of the (0)?  is that an indicator that there are 10 digits coming up, not 8?

similarly, does 20 work analogously to a US area code, 7493 an exchange, and 8181 the individual phone?

[1995hoo]

+44 (0) 20 7493 8181

what's the significance of the (0)?  is that an indicator that there are 10 digits coming up, not 8?

similarly, does 20 work analogously to a US area code, 7493 an exchange, and 8181 the individual phone?

I'm not entirely certain this is correct, but I believe the "0" is used there the way we use "1" here, that is as a trunk code to tell the system you're calling long-distance. Apparently it's a British custom to use parentheses to denote a number that some callers will need to use but others will not. So if I were calling the Ritz Hotel from Virginia, I'd dial 011-44-20-7493-8181, but if someone in, say, John o' Groats were calling, he'd dial 0-20-7493-8181.

From what I understand, there is no single answer to your question about the area code and exchange because the area code formats vary around the UK. Some cities, such as London, have a three-digit area code (020) followed by an eight-digit local phone number. But other cities, such as Bristol, have a four-digit area code (0117 for Bristol) followed by a seven-digit local number. But then there are some other places that have either five- or six-digit area codes and four-, five-, or six-digit local numbers. Confusing, isn't it?

Apparently the use of the (0) thing is deprecated but is very common anyway. It's not recommended because it's confusing to people calling from abroad who don't know what it means. So if your phone number is 020 7493 8181 and you need to give that number to someone in another country, the recommended format is +44 20 7493 8181. But a website like the one for the Ritz London, for example, is displaying a number that might be used by people from the UK as well as foreigners, and so apparently that's why this format is ubiquitous. From what I understand they've changed the area code and phone number formats several times over the years, which might explain why they need to clarify it even for domestic callers.

BTW, some mobile phones will let you insert the plus sign when you dial a number. On an iPhone, for example, hold down the "zero" key. If the device is programmed properly it will interpret the plus sign as telling it to insert the appropriate code.

[english si]

similarly, does 20 work analogously to a US area code, 7493 an exchange, and 8181 the individual phone?

020 is the area code, the 7 is just there (upthread I gave a bit of an explaination of this, 7 was central London, 8 was outer London), as it's a big city 493 would have been the exchange (a quick internet hunt and it's HYDe Park), not that we use them anymore, 8181 is the individual phone.

I'm not entirely certain this is correct, but I believe the "0" is used there the way we use "1" here, that is as a trunk code to tell the system you're calling long-distance. Apparently it's a British custom to use parentheses to denote a number that some callers will need to use but others will not. So if I were calling the Ritz Hotel from Virginia, I'd dial 011-44-20-7493-8181, but if someone in, say, John o' Groats were calling, he'd dial 0-20-7493-8181.

Sounds correct, but we'd ring 020, not 0-20. And spaces not dashes. Actually, I'd imagine that unless the person in JoG was a pedant, he'd ring 02074 938 181, or 0207 4938 181 (the first as most codes are 5 numbers, and the second as many Londoners still think they have 7-digit numbers, not 8-digit. Southampton people often write their code as 02380, when it's just 023 but the pre-2000 numbers had the code change and the 80 put in front) - not that where you put the spaces matters in the practicalities.

From what I understand, there is no single answer to your question about the area code and exchange because the area code formats vary around the UK. Some cities, such as London, have a three-digit area code (020) followed by an eight-digit local phone number. But other cities, such as Bristol, have a four-digit area code (0117 for Bristol) followed by a seven-digit local number. But then there are some other places that have either five- or six-digit area codes and four-, five-, or six-digit local numbers. Confusing, isn't it?

All have 11 numbers though, and I believe 6 digit codes have been eradicated. Certainly phone books list the '6-digit' codes as 01xxx x.

It's really not very confusing - at least in terms of ringing people, though people do format numbers incorrectly and do things inefficiently (like always using the area code in 02x areas)

Apparently the use of the (0) thing is deprecated but is very common anyway. It's not recommended because it's confusing to people calling from abroad who don't know what it means. So if your phone number is 020 7493 8181 and you need to give that number to someone in another country, the recommended format is +44 20 7493 8181. But a website like the one for the Ritz London, for example, is displaying a number that might be used by people from the UK as well as foreigners, and so apparently that's why this format is ubiquitous. From what I understand they've changed the area code and phone number formats several times over the years, which might explain why they need to clarify it even for domestic callers.

But all 'real numbers', rather than services like operators (counting emergency services 112/999 and IIRC 911 works too in that) begin with 0 - that's not confusing - they always have. We have the 0 in brackets as we struggle to remember +44 is the British international code.

London split in 2 in the 6th of May 1990 (from 01 to 071 and 081) - in part because it was running out of numbers, but mostly about the next change. PhONE day, where landline codes all got a 1 as the second digit happened (and Bristol, etc got their 011x codes) was 16 April 1995 (so London became 0171/0181. On 22 April 2000, 'The Big Number Change' happened - this was and will always be, the last massive change - non-geographic numbers all moved to 07xxx codes (some moved on 28 April 2001), the numbers for fixed local charge rate (ie local everywhere) moved from 0345 to 0845 and the 02x codes started up.

The only change we'll now have is the expansion of the 02 areas - we've done both the messy job of adding an extra digit into codes and the messy job of introducing new codes that didn't match the changed pattern (01xx/01xxx)

BTW, some mobile phones will let you insert the plus sign when you dial a number. On an iPhone, for example, hold down the "zero" key. If the device is programmed properly it will interpret the plus sign as telling it to insert the appropriate code.

Only some? mine have always had this feature. In fact AFAICT, mobiles in the UK will save any number from an incoming phone as +44 {ten numbers}, rather than have the zero.

A further bit of trivia - in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Irish 028 numbers are 048 numbers.

[1995hoo]

....

BTW, some mobile phones will let you insert the plus sign when you dial a number. On an iPhone, for example, hold down the "zero" key. If the device is programmed properly it will interpret the plus sign as telling it to insert the appropriate code.

Only some? mine have always had this feature. In fact AFAICT, mobiles in the UK will save any number from an incoming phone as +44 {ten numbers}, rather than have the zero.

I would wager that the VAST majority of Americans would have absolutely no clue what to do if they saw a phone number beginning with the plus sign. Consider that the State Department estimates that only about 30% of Americans even have a passport. An international number written by most Americans is invariably written in the format 011-[country code]-[etc.], such as the 011-44-20-7493-8181 I listed earlier. The "011" is needed to tell the person what to dial because most people wouldn't know otherwise. I think my iPhone is the first one I've had that would insert a plus sign, although frankly I've never paid a lot of attention to it, and most of my calls to the UK were made at the office when I worked in downtown DC and I needed to call our London office (so I just dialed five digits).

BTW, regarding the hyphens, we don't actually dial a hyphen. We just use them when we write the phone numbers: 555-1212 means you dial those seven numbers and the hyphen is there just to break it up to make it easier to read and remember.* So when I inserted the hyphens in that British phone number I wasn't suggesting they're actually dialed, I was just using them to help emphasize which digits the domestic caller would dial as opposed to an international caller. Hence, 0-20 to emphasize the difference from 011-44-20.


*The way the phone number is written is starting to vary more these days too. Traditionally you always saw either 703-555-1212 or (703) 555-1212. Some people use a slash–703/555-1212–but that's never been all that common. Nowadays there seems to be a growing fad to use periods instead: 703.555.1212. I'm not sure where that started. I rather dislike it because I think it makes it look too much like an IP address instead of a phone number. Then of course you have various "vanity" numbers where people write them in other formats either for fun or for marketing reasons. I knew a guy in college who wrote his phone number as 979-HATE (that's 979-4283). I knew another guy who wrote his as 9-SPERM-9 (that's 977-3769).

[agentsteel53]

I would wager that the VAST majority of Americans would have absolutely no clue what to do if they saw a phone number beginning with the plus sign.

even I had not know 100% correctly what it meant.  I had thought "+44" was, simply "country code 44", and the + wasn't a mnemonic for "dial a prefix".

then again, I'm used to enough corporate systems, that I figure that sometimes I just have to dial a prefix and that's that.  Several European countries have prefix 00, which I learned while borrowing a cell phone to make a call to my US credit card company.  ("stop deactivating my card every 6 hours, you callous bastards!  I am a valued customer - I pay my bill in full every month ... oh, I get it now.")