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When do I actually dial 1?

Started by mmd, February 23, 2011, 02:15:12 AM

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Greg G.

With my POTS line, I have to dial a 1+area code if I'm dialing outside my area code.  With the PBX, I also have to dial 9 first. 
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

rp2813

I know that here in 408 we were one of the last in Pacific Bell's territory to start having to dial 1+Area Code, which happened within the last 10 years, I'd say.

I thought that dialing 1 was mainly a practice required in outlying areas in the beginning, but its necessity seemed to spread over the years.  I think when the original North American Dialing Plan ran out of Area Codes that had a 1 or a 0 for the middle digit, it became necessary to expand the need to dial 1+Area Code so the three digits after the 1 were differentiated from a possible matching local prefix.

Just a guess on one motivating factor. 

But I have never dialed a 1 when using a cell phone.
Ralph

deedubya3800

Since the entire United States is local from my Verizon Wireless phone, a 1 before the number is never necessary, but perfectly allowable. Area code + 7 digits gets me anywhere. But if the number I'm dialling has the same area code as the MDN of my phone, I can omit the area code, not that I ever do just for habit's sake.

From home in Tennessee (where there are no overlays), we have permissive 10-digit dialling, which is to say we can dial local calls as area code + 7 digits, but it's not necessary. I always do because I've discovered that calls connect a full four seconds faster that way. All long distance calls require 1 + area code + 7 digits, even if the area code is the same.

Owain

As far as mobile phones go, isn't it just easier to save the entire number in full international format starting + then the country code?  Then it works regardless of wherever your phone is.

deedubya3800

Quote from: Owain on March 12, 2011, 01:50:11 PM
As far as mobile phones go, isn't it just easier to save the entire number in full international format starting + then the country code?  Then it works regardless of wherever your phone is.
That is a valid point. I never travel outside the United States, so it's never been an issue for me, but my phone is World CDMA/GSM compatible so I could take it with me if I did, and that could be useful.

GG


On a PRI circuit from a PBX, the PBX has a variable for how long it pauses before sending the dialed digits down the signaling channel (D channel) to the CO. 

Typically I set this for four seconds. 

If you dial a # at the end of a phone number, you bypass the time variable and the digits are sent immediately. 

It seems to me that something similar is in effect at COs whereby when they see the leading 1, they accumulate 10 digits and route the call, but without the leading 1, they wait for a time-out, and 4 seconds would make sense for various reasons (for example it's the pause between rings in the North American standard ringing cadence, so it seems "natural").

1 is also the country code for the US.

Seems to me the sensible thing to do is go to universal 1+ 10-digit dialing.

However if I ran a rural telco, I'd put 5-digit local dialing into effect one way or another, this by way of reinforcing the sense of geographic locality.  Thus, 3 digits = service calls such as directory assistance, telco business office, and emergency.  5 digits = local dialing.  1+ten digits = anywhere else.  (That and bring back the payphones!)


Owain

Quote from: GG on March 12, 2011, 07:50:14 PM


Seems to me the sensible thing to do is go to universal 1+ 10-digit dialing.

Then you could just drop the 1 altogether, or use it for purposes other than indicating a long distance number.

Or make it compulsory and integrate it into the number and have 11-digit numbers, giving you whole new number ranges starting 2, 3, 4 etc.

Or have 1+area code for landlines, 2+area for mobiles, 3+area for state govt, 4+area for local govt, 5+area for VoIP, etc. etc.

GG


Owain, the leading 1 is the country code for the US, so we couldn't just substitute other digits.

In a science fiction treatment of this I wrote @ 20 years ago, an additional two digits were inserted after the area code to specify locality more closely.  For example 1-415-44-555-2368.   With a scheme like that, you could probably route at any break point in the sequence, for example you could dial 555-2368 and then enter a # or wait four seconds and the call would route, or 44-555-2368, same treatment.  This should also allow omitting the leading 1 and waiting 4 seconds, or using the 1 and then at 12 digits the call is routed.

IMHO, deregulation was handled *exceptionally* badly, and resulted in breaking a system that had been close to perfect.  One of the steps down the slippery slope was the abandonment of ISDN in the US except for large users who could afford PRI trunks.  Properly deployed, ISDN could have solved the numbering plan issue and number shortages, while allowing area codes to remain meaningfully related to geography.  This could have been done by merging PBX extension numbers seamlessly into the PSTN as extension numbers rather than as DID numbers, and doing likewise for mobile numbers for residential subscribers.  . 

Thus, dialing 1-415-555-2368.1 (four second pause or optional # to route immediately) would get you Bob Smith's landline, and dialing 1-415-555-2368.2 would get you his mobile, *or* 1-415-555-2368 could ring on *both* landline and mobile at the same time, whereby Bob could answer on whichever device was more convenient at the moment.  1-415-555-2368.3 would ring Bob's kids' line.  Etc. 

Anyway, like they say, "don't get me started" on this topic : - )




Owain

Quote from: GG on March 26, 2011, 10:34:36 PM

Owain, the leading 1 is the country code for the US, so we couldn't just substitute other digits.

The fact that your long-distance prefix 1 is the same as your country code 1 is coincidence.

Calling into the US the 1 is droppped anyway; it's +1 for the US, then area code and number. It could just as easily be +1 for the US, then four-digit area code starting 1xxx and number, or 2xxx and number, etc.

The UK country code is 44 but our long-distance prefix is 0 (although in the UK it's always considered as part of the area code and always has to be dialled). In the same way calling into the UK the 0 is dropped, so London 020 is +44 20 then the 8-digit local number.

It used to be the case that in London you had to drop the 01 code, but anywhere else you could (can) dial either the local number or area code + local number and you would get through (and be charged the appropriate rate).

GG



Interesting; I can't place where I heard that the 1+ dialing was based on the fact that our country code is 1.  If that's incorrect, I stand corrected. 

In which case we used the 1 because it was an otherwise vacant level in the Strowger Director system?

Back in the 60s, a leading 1 wouldn't break dial tone on #5 Crossbar systems in New Jersey Bell, but it would on #1 ESS machines. 

There's a bit of history to be written up: the leading digit 1 in the US and other countries' numbering plans.  It was never used in prefixes that I know of.  It was used in 4-digit and 5-digit local numbering plans.  It never had any letters in the US, though I think it had a letter in Germany and in Australia. 

rp2813

I know the North American Dialing Plan was implemented in the late 40's, but did we even have country codes yet in the mid 60's?  At that time, a huge percentage of telephone subscribers were still having to go through the operator to place domestic long-distance calls.

I remember my first ever experience with dialing 1 was in the mid 60's when I was visiting a friend who had moved to a more rural area within my same area code.  I was told by his mom that when dialing my home number, I had to dial 1 first, then the 7-digit number. 

I don't see how the country code for the U.S., if one even existed then, would have factored into that scenario.
Ralph

bingster

I remember my parents telephoning my grandmother around 1980 when she was vacationing in the UK, and they called the international operator to make the call.  Whether they could have dialed it themselves and just didn't know how, or the international operator was still necessary for such a call at that late date, I don't know.
= DARRIN =



rp2813

I'm wondering if the country codes were implemented around the same time subscribers were advised to dial "0" for the local Operator, and "00" for a long distance Operator.

I don't even know if that practice still applies.  It seemed strange to me when they launched it and I'll bet a huge number of subscribers kept dialing a single "0" for long distance.  I can't remember if that all started before or as a result of divestiture but wouldn't be surprised to hear that the endeavor was a colossal failure.

I also can't remember the last time I dialed Operator.  It's been many years.
Ralph

George Knighton

Quote from: bingster on April 01, 2011, 11:43:20 PM
I remember my parents telephoning my grandmother around 1980 when she was vacationing in the UK, and they called the international operator to make the call.  Whether they could have dialed it themselves and just didn't know how, or the international operator was still necessary for such a call at that late date, I don't know.

Yes, you could call the UK directly back then, but it was different.  To call Pimlico you had to start with 011441 and then the residence number.

Not sure how I remember that.  LOL....
Annoying new poster.

twocvbloke

Quote from: George Knighton on January 14, 2013, 10:15:23 PMTo call Pimlico you had to start with 011441 and then the residence number.

Not sure how I remember that.  LOL....

Not sure why you have the additional 1 at the end there (funny that, seeing as this thread is all about the 1!!), as according to BT, all you dial from outside the UK is 01144, then the number minus the 0, e.g. 011442071234567 (London), or 011441916451234 (Tyneside-based Skype-In no.), or 011447947123456 (Mobile phone), blummin' long string of numbers that... :D

Though from our side, to call the US, it's 001, then the US number, though not being sure of it, I guess it'd be like 0015551212, or something along those lines, or dial one of the freefone 0800 numbers to access US networks without faffing about with trying to work out what to dial... :D

BT.com International dialling info link