Oops! is it?
Sorry 'bout that - I thought it had been chucked in wth 0191 when some of the other places around Tyneside stopped having their own code.

It's a lot less than those that use 00.

Looks like you need someone to fetch you some ladders.

No ladders required here Wouldn't it be easier if you got yourself a JCB?

No one suggested that 00 was not used by a lot of countries. What you said was:

What I have demonstrated is that there are 60+ countries that do not use 00.

Now i feel real old

I remember when it was 01 811 8181

It's a recent ITU descision I belive, those countries following the NANP ignored it. No doubt over the years the rest will gradually shift over when they need to make changes in there country. Here in the UK it was part of PhoneOneDay for instance.

I don't see how the NANP is any better than the UK. In London you might get (745) 673 233 , (984) 347 837, (390) 383 393 and ALWAYS have to dial the area code, where smaller cities wouldn't have to dial the area code. The 02's are a good idea, smaller neighbouring towns budled together (e.g. the whole of Northern Ireland, Portsmouth & Southampton etc) - more people will lie in you local phone code. Mind you with the widespread adoption of mobiles I don't see why we don't adopt a closed numbering plan - i.e. you have to call 020 8811 8181 from anywhere in the UK, including London.

I notice we havn't adopted the ENP though - where a number to Dublin would be 353 01 XXX XXX from anywhere in Europe (although TBH I don't really see what benefit it would gain over 00 353 01 XXX XXX anyway)

If I remember rightly, and I must've only been about 7 :gettin old:... it was used for Live & Kicking before they switched over to an 0891? number...

David

Why cant new number just be generated like this for example i live in inverness.

Most numbers at the moment begin with 7,2 or an 8

so why cant they use 1, 3, 4, 5, 9

so you could have business numbers like

01463 123456
01463 345678
01463 987654
01463 456789

and residential number would be numbers like

01463 234567
01463 567890
01463 789012
01463 890123

is this not a good and easy way of introducing new numbers without, all the new numbers would only be asigned to new phone lines and no need for changing exsisting numbers.

so london new numbers would be like this

new business numbers

020 1234 5678
020 2345 6789
020 3456 7890
020 4567 8901
020 5678 9012

and new residential numbers could be


020 6789 0123
020 7890 1234
020 8901 2345
020 9012 3456

the numbers that would have to be left out would be ones that start 112, or 999, so that the phone network doesnt think that you are trying to make an emergency call

They can and will and in many case do.

For example Birmingham uses (0121) [2-7]nn nnnn
Last edited by BexTech : 16-04-2006 at 14:23

It was the general BBC TV Centre studio line, cleverly they also used it in Ghostwatch which made it look even more like a real programme.

I was in the hairdressers the other week and they had their new 020 3 number on the card, everyone that came in asked them if they made a mistake and it's supposed to be 020 8!

Even though I know the area code is 020, it's really difficult not to think of it as 0207. I know a lot of people who, out of sheer confusion, dial the 020 at the front of the number when they don't need to.

They do, but in some towns all those numbers have been exhausted.


I think that numbers starting with a 0 or 1 (e.g. 0115 0 or 0115 1) are used for DDI redirection purposes only to avoid those issues. Also numbers starting 99 can't be used in case people accidently prefix a local number with a 9 (as I have to at work - e.g. 9 0115 XXX X XXX) when at home

Becauce 020 is no longer geographical as far as London goes, 020 IS London, the 7 or 8 that was added to the old local number is no longer geographically connected in the way 0181 or 0171 was, you could of ended up with a 3 as that is now in use!

There should no longer be a need for a complete nationwide number change. At the last change BT completely restructured every single number as follows (if I remember correctly)

01 - Domestic & Business numbers nationwide (with some exceptions)
02 - London (and 6 or 7 other major cities - sorry I don't get out much and can't remember which!)
03 - Reserved for future use
04 - Reserved for future use
05 - Reserved for future use
06 - Reserved for future use
07 - Mobiles and Personal numbers
08 - Freefone & LoCall numbers (non geographical numbers)
09 - Premium rate numbers
00 - International Numbers

So if a city exhausted all of its potential numbers it could be moved to an 03, 04, 05 or 06 number, therefore meaning a potential of billions of numbers still available.

In theory, there should only be local changes in future, not nationwide. But then BT being BT may decide one day that they are bored...

I didn't realise it was BT, there was me thinking it was OFTEL/OFCOM that decided on the number change.

That's the case now but those numbers were allocated in 2000 when 7 was still inner and 8 was still outer.

Ooopps!! My mistake!! You are absolutly right, was very tired when I wrote that post

No worries, easy enough to do.

BT and Mercury was put in charge of phoneday in the mid-90's. Although, now that there is Cable and Wireless,Telewest,NTL,Wight Cable,MCI Worldcom,Colt,Thus,Fibreway,Spacetel and a few more which set up there own networks over the 90's. Plus a vast increase in mobile usage, Oftel thought that it would be better if they ran the campaign and called it 'The Big Number'.

In 1995, there were two resources of which you could obtain information about the changes. For BT line users, they were given a distinctive number to call which I think it was 0800-010101 which was to inform people of the new 01 codes. The other resource was Mercury's which was for Mercury and Cable customers.

In 2000, there were two resources of the campaign. BT's National code and number enquiry service for BT line users and The Big Number helpline for non-BT line users.

Since competition has grown, Ofcom will run the show in future.

Does anyone know the code for Wakefield - I thought it was 01924 but my phone says 0118 and directs me to a paying directory enquiries

01924 is indeed Wakefield. 0118 is Reading.

I was part of the Mercury national project team for the Big Number Change in 2000, with loads of least cost routing smart boxes and sockets to deal with! Our project manager had nerves of steel, as we thought she'd go for blanket coverage with engineers on standby in each area of the country as they switched over, in case customers' LCR systems fell over. She went for the minimum cover and was right each time. I'd hate to play poker with her!

Technology moves on and more devices are now remotely programmable, so I guess any future changes wouldn't be such a nail biting event.

Must have had a brain meltdown from sitting at the same desk for so many years, but with three different company names on the wall outside. Of course it was C&W UK by 2000, not Mercury!

Don't you mean:

01- to 071-

071- to 0171-

0171- to 020-7

Isn^t that 3 times!!!!!

Perhaps the answer is to scrap the "0", which is a leftover from the days when "0" connected you to the STD switching equipment with its registers and translators, and just have a 10 figure numbering scheme. Forget the code and numerial way of doing things...you just always dial all digits.

I mean you drop the "0" when calling the UK from an international location. Its +44 then the UK number WITHOUT the "0"

Then we could use "0" for something else (the Operator?)

Think you'll find the dialling code went from 0171 to 020.