In the UK for a long time we used to think of STDs not as something untoward in our health, but as a way of communicating over longer distances. Changes to the phone system outlined by Ofcom yesterday indicate that we will need to use full number dialing in certain areas on every call to free up new number ranges within each code.
The STD code (Subscriber Trunk Dialing) has been around since 1958, allows for the establishment of calls by the subscriber who rents the phone line, to a remote city and user. Previously, operators at each end were necessary to establish the call, one taking the destination city, and one to make the connection to the remote user. This was enabled by “Director” exchanges that recognized codes at the beginning of the sequence of dialed numbers to “direct” traffic to the appropriate location. The full STD code environment for the country was rolled out in 1979. (Interestingly there was some thought behind the initially apparent rather arbitrary numbering of the the STD area codes. The Director system used a three letter code (converted to numbers by the label on the telephone dial) to direct the call. The STD system used a mix of letters and numbers (0XX9), with the two central numbers providing a regional location code. Since some of these codes ended up creating a 00 code, in 1968 these were renumbered, releasing the 00 code for calls to the Republic of Ireland, Premium rate numbers, and radiophones, before being allocated to International Direct Dial on “PhONEday” (April 16, 1995)
In the UK we’ve been happy to dial local numbers without an STD code for some time.. (for example, in the 01234 area, 654321 could have been dialed either as 654321, or 01234 654321.) However, the number plan that arose to support this prevented local numbers beginning with 0 or 1 (operator are typically three digit (or more) numbers beginning with 1).
Now Ofcom, the organization that regulates telecommunications providers in the UK on behalf of the government is changing this. Given the still mounting pressure for increased numbers of phone lines within each area code, they are releasing the 0 prefix within a local area (so in most areas an extra 100,000 numbers). Their press-release on Plans to Safeguard the Supply of Telephone Numbers has all the details.
In practice this makes almost no difference to most people, as they already use either mobile phones (which already need the area code to correctly route the call from the mobile network), or phones with dialer memories.
What do I need to do?
If you’re in Bournemouth (01202), then you’ve had to do this already since 1st November 2012.
If you’re in Aberdeen (01224), Bradford (01274), Brighton (01273), Middlesbrough (01642) and Milton Keynes (01908) areas then you’ll need to carry out the actions below before the 1st October 2014 (one year from the close of the Ofcom consultation which finishes on the 30th September 2013).
I expect that if you’re elsewhere in the UK, then expect the process to be rolled out later, particularly if you live in a fairly densely populated area.
This change only affects those numbers in your local area, that you call without prepending the area code from your landline.
If you use a phone with a dial, and no memory, you could start training yourself to dial the full number including the area code when placing local calls.
If you use a handset with stored numbers, then editing the memorized local area numbers now to include the relevant area code.
If you use a mobile, nothing changes, you already have to dial the STD code already.
