On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:05:15 -0000, Adrian
wrote:

The implication is that one can dial
222 1234 within a notional STD code of "0207" AND expect to be
connected. I have heard that there are a handful of exchanges within
London were that does work. However the standard is now eight digit
local numbers within London. Dialing eight digits within STD code
"020" will always work.

It's then very unlikely that dialling seven digits would ever work.
In a (notional) exchange with 020 7 numbers, how would you know
whether somebody dialling 722 2123 wanted 020 7722 2123, or whether
they were going to dial a final 4 because they wanted the travel
enquiry number? True, you could build a timeout into the system so
that it waited to see whether you'd dialled a complete number or not,
but phone numbers don't work that way - at least in the UK.

Martin