[VoIP] Numbering - existing use of 311

[Mark Rudholm]

John Novack wrote:
> 
> 
> Mark Rudholm wrote:
>> Maybe I have a southern California bias or something, but I never
>> really understood the whole "1+ Toll Alerting" business.  I realize
>> some people love it, but I always thought it was silly,   
> Historically, it was pretty much a requirement in Step offices to reach
> the toll operator or for DDD. Some locales with party lines would dial
> 112x with the X designating the party on a given line
> In the larger Bell cities ( Except LA for other historical reasons )
> there was no 1+ dialing in the EM days
> 211 would get one to the toll operator, then later dialing 10 digits
> when the NPA was in the form of N0/1X would get directed properly
> Things changed once we enter the electronic era and CLECs and NPA's with
> the form NXX
> So, NO, it wasn't/isn't silly

Well, I think it's silly *now*.  Maybe I'm terribly wealthy or
something, but really, a couple cents is down in the noise.
I think I misplace more money that that every month.

And when does 1+ toll alerting kick in?  Zone 3? beyond Zone 3?
inter-LATA?

> LA was, in the EM era, all or almost all step, Historically due to the
> merging and buyout of independents, then I suspect due to the frugal
> nature of the PUC regarding Pacific Bell. At one point AT&T seriously
> wanted to rid itself of that unit due to the "frugal" nature of the
> California PUC. See "The Fall of the Bell System" for much more
> information on the corporate side of things.
>> Given that,it seems to me that the 1 is now just anachronistic
>> baggage, so for my systems, I've dropped it. 
> Yet  several state PUC insist on dictating that it be used for toll, or
> ALL calls beyond 7 digits.

My telephonic memory starts around 1976, at that point,
we had just been cut over to a 1A.  The CO also had
step and xbar, but I was lucky.

>>  I just use 10D for all calls.  You can use 7D but there's a timeout.
>>
>> The telcos still require the 1, however.
>>   
> In many cases, this is dictated to them by the PUC, or whatever it is
> called in a given state.

Fortunately, MarkTel doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of the CPUC :)

> Part of the current insanity. In MO, for example, the PUC dictated where
> a split was to be located, rather than growth patterns of the
> population. I believe the only thing that saved SBC was the decline in
> lines due to HSIA and release of 2nd lines along with the decline in FAX
> usage.

Yeah, and going to 1000 block number assignments helped provide
relief for 310 as well.  The overlay for it was originally scheduled
for 1999.

> IMHO, once the US was all electronic, there should NEVER have been
> another split. Overlays cost everyone less, even though they require  10
> digit dialing in many cases. Intelligence in the switch could be used,
> but it is much easier for the user to just dial 10 digits for all local
> calls

I'm a huge proponent of overlays, particularly in urban areas.
The phone number my parents had since 1968 was recently assigned
to a law firm downtown.  :(

>> Also, in 310, which is scheduled for an overlay, 1+10D is now
>> mandatory on *all* calls.  I understand the rationale here is that
>> since the CLECs will be the ones primarily getting assignments in the
>> new area code, the CPUC wanted to level they playing field by
>> requiring 11D, thereby eliminating the preferability of 310 office codes.
>>   
> That makes little sense. 10 digit local calls, 11 digit toll calls is
> really the best solution. It helps the user determine toll vs local and
> simplifys switch translations.

Yeah, I had to train my customers (my parents and a couple of friends)
to use 10D on all calls.  It took them a while to give up the 1+ habit,
but eventually they got used to and liked it.

> Right now anyone traveling and not in the know can easily become
> frustrated.
> Add to that the cell phone dialing requirements
> My carrier requires 10 digits for ALL calls since my home LATA  has an
> overlay and requires it, adds the 1 towards the network and calls go
> through. Since all my cell calls are billed the same, there is no toll
> vs local issue or time of day issue, calls to other cells in the same
> carrier are free, so it is simply a minute issue .
> The landline carriers and PUC's could learn from that.

My cellphone is in 310, so 10D or 11D is required on all calls

I have numbers in my cellphone's phone book programmed as
"+1 NPA NXX XXXX" so that when I travel internationally,
it just works.