Bill Hayles wrote:

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 19:07:52 -0000, "A H" wrote:

All day long the lazy journalists of the UK media have been giving out the
emergency telephone number for the SE Asia earthquake and subsequent tidal
waves in the format:

'0207 008 0000'

Soon we can expect to see/hear '0203 xxx xxxx'

Is this the only country in the world that can't cope with simple number
changes?

Not only is it not, it's not even the only country where they needlessly
add digits that make the numbers harder to remember.

At the risk of going even further off topic, the answer is "no".
It's the same in Spain.

My phone number was originally Benitachell xx xx. Then it was
changed to 649 xx xx. Finally, it was given the "All Spain" number
of 96 649 xx xx. This makes sense - 96 means Alicante Province, 649
is my local exchange and xx xx my personal number. All Spain has
(or had) a nicely logical sequence - province, exchange, 4 figure
number.

Now we're officially being told to quote our numbers as three groups
of three - 966 49x xxx so that more numbers can be allocated.

Nobody is. Telefonica won't win.

Good - they deserve to lose! I only hope they are humiliated in defeat!

Phone numbers are more easily remembered in blocks of seven digits
(usually written as xxx xxxx because that's easier to read). But far too
many phone companies are forgetting this and adding extra digits, with
the stupid objective of keeping all the phone numbers the same length -
even the ones that are only used for modems to dial out on!

Bill, whose old UK number will forever be FOOts Cray xxxx, or maybe
0208 300 xxxx but never 020 8300 xxxx

How about 020 8 300 xxxx? IIRC that's how they're now listed in the
phone book.

In article , Aidan Stanger
writes
But far too
many phone companies are forgetting this and adding extra digits, with
the stupid objective of keeping all the phone numbers the same length -
even the ones that are only used for modems to dial out on!

If you make the numbers different lengths it makes the routeing logic
more complicated and, therefore, more expensive. You have to plan for
the longest number.

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

In message , Clive D. W. Feather
writes
If you make the numbers different lengths it makes the routeing logic
more complicated and, therefore, more expensive. You have to plan for
the longest number.

The only country where I've ever noticed major differences in number
length is Germany, where they can be very variable, even on the same
exchange.

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

"Ian Jelf" wrote in message
...

The only country where I've ever noticed major differences in number
length is Germany, where they can be very variable, even on the same
exchange.

Is this because they show direct dialling inward with the PBAX as, say,
06857-2456-0 and the extensions as 06857-2456-154?
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 19:00:43 +0000 (UTC), "Terry Harper"
wrote:
"Ian Jelf" wrote in message
...

The only country where I've ever noticed major differences in number
length is Germany, where they can be very variable, even on the same
exchange.

Is this because they show direct dialling inward with the PBAX as, say,
06857-2456-0 and the extensions as 06857-2456-154?

Yes, that's part of it, but "normal" single-line numbers can have
varying lengths - perhaps longer for newer numbers - and some (mainly
business) users have 4 or 5-digit numbers even in a large city that
otherwise has up to 8-digits. As an example, I looked for hotels in
Frankfurt on www.gelbeseiten.de and found 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and even 10
digits in the local number, though that last one may have been a DDI
as Terry says, without the usual hyphen.

Richard.

Clive D. W. Feather wrote:
writes
But far too
many phone companies are forgetting this and adding extra digits, with
the stupid objective of keeping all the phone numbers the same length -
even the ones that are only used for modems to dial out on!

If you make the numbers different lengths it makes the routeing logic
more complicated

Over here they give businesses the option of buying shorter numbers.
Don't they do that at all where you are?

and, therefore, more expensive. You have to plan for
the longest number.

Making some numbers longer shouldn't be any more expensive than making
all numbers longer.

In article , Aidan Stanger
writes
Over here they give businesses the option of buying shorter numbers.
Don't they do that at all where you are?

No.

and, therefore, more expensive. You have to plan for
the longest number.
Making some numbers longer shouldn't be any more expensive than making
all numbers longer.

The equipment needs to know *which* numbers have each length, so it
knows when to stop collecting digits and start connecting the call. It's
better if large blocks (e.g. 01234 xxxxxx) are all the same length, and
worst when adjacent blocks differ (e.g. 01234 5678x and 01234 5679xx).

The more variation, the bigger the internal tables need to be.

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

Clive D. W. Feather wrote:

In article , Aidan Stanger
writes
Over here they give businesses the option of buying shorter numbers.
Don't they do that at all where you are?

No.

Any idea why not?

and, therefore, more expensive. You have to plan for
the longest number.
Making some numbers longer shouldn't be any more expensive than making
all numbers longer.

The equipment needs to know *which* numbers have each length, so it
knows when to stop collecting digits and start connecting the call. It's
better if large blocks (e.g. 01234 xxxxxx) are all the same length, and
worst when adjacent blocks differ (e.g. 01234 5678x and 01234 5679xx).

The more variation, the bigger the internal tables need to be.

Yes, it would be silly to not put the longer numbers in large blocks.
UIVMM numbers no longer have to be assigned by physical location, so
that shouldn't be a problem.