Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

It's called a "dial plan".   Phone service providers (Verizon, Vonage, etc.) all decide how to interpret the digits you dial from your phone ... how many digits are enough to start figuring out what you mean, what digits are used indicate an international call, etc.   Enterprises that have their own internal phone systems deal with this all the time (5 digit dialing maybe within a campus, 8+seven digits for on network calls, 9+seven or ten digits for outside calls, etc.   Many enterprise systems will also do things like catch "outside" calls that could have been placed as an "on network" call and reroutes it as if you had dial the 5 digit or 8+ version of the number.   At the end of the day, regardless of what you may actually dial ... the end result inside the phone system ends up being that unique 11-digit number (1+areacode+phone) which identifies whose phone you want to ring.

Anyhow ... Verizon evidently decided that a 10-digit dial plan was the one they wanted to use.

So, could they make 7-digit dialing work ... yes.  However, I doubt they will for a number of reasons...

As was referenced earlier on this thread, the explosion of phone numbers in the country has causes localized shortages of numbers in various regions.  When they "run out" of numbers in a region, they have two choices --- either change the area code for half of the customers in the region (which makes 50% of the people happy but ticks off the other 50%) or implement what they call "area code overlay".  In this latter case, two area codes server the same geographical area.  So you could have a number with one area code while your neighbor could have a number with a different area code.  The impact here is that people who don't clearly communicate the area code with their number all the time risk having someone call the wrong number (if I only give you 7-digts in an overlayed area -- there are two numbers, one in each area code, to which I could be referring).   It's certainly confusing. 

So, what Verizon is evidently trying to do is disassociate the antiquated "area code" concept from the assignment of a phone number and get people to start thinking about phone numbers as 10-digts numbers instead of only 7-digits (think about people who get cell phones in one area of the country, move to a different region, yet keep their old cell phone number -- works just fine, doesn't it?).   Computers handle calls now and what was once an important call routing concept when calls were being manually or switched in analog fashon really is no longer a major driver.

By getting people to start thinking in terms of 10-digts all the time -- future changes (such as area code overlays, etc.) become far less of a burden because there's no "reprogramming" or other changes which are needed by individuals in impacted areas and maybe even enables more radical concepts such as need more than 10-digts to handle all traffic.

Think about it from a cell phone perspective ... do you program 7-digit or 10-digit numbers into your contacts list?    Well, if you want those contacts to work regardless of where you're presently calling from in the country, you program in 10-digits, right? 

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Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
GaryDoug
Specialist - Level 1

Well, we don't have overlays in my area. When we ran out of numbers, they just switched half of us to another area code. I was one switched and didn't mind a bit. Nobody with a landline within 30 miles of me has another area code.

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Seems to me this is a good opportunity for a phone manufacturer to produce a digital phone with the option to precede a number called with the chosen/programmed area code, if only 7 digits were entered. So far as I can find, there is no such product available. I could use one.

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Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
bluayez1
Newbie

With all of the options that Verizon provides to modify your service, it would be simple enough to allow you to select your "home" area code and use that if only 7 digits entered.   I swear at the phone everytime I try to dial my neighbors.  We don't actually use our home phone often, and I don't NEED to enter the area code on my cell phone as long as I'm in my home area.  This is a MAJOR PITA!  That Verizon could easily provide a solution for.  It's most likely why we'll either get rid of Verizon and go back to COX.... or just get rid of the home phone.

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Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
Calruby
Enthusiast - Level 1

I just had to throw in my 2 cents.  It's very UNTRUE that everyone has to dial 1 and their own area code when making a call.  I'm in Northern CA and have AT&T for our phone company.  We have never had to dial 1 or our own area code to make a local call...EVER!  We don't have to dial anything but the 7 digit phone number as long as it's in our own area code.  We are charged a local toll charge if the number we're calling is out of town.  But we still do NOT have to dial anything but their 7 digit number.  When dialing out of our area code, then and only then, do we have to dial 1 and their area code and the 7 digit telephone number.  I'm really sorry to hear that some people in other areas and states have to go through all that dialing just to call their next door neighbor.  It's a real pain.  I just recently had someone tell me that they had to start dialing all that when calling next door.  I would have never believed them if I hadn't come here and read your posts. 

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Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
Justin46
Legend

@Calruby wrote:

I just had to throw in my 2 cents.  It's very UNTRUE that everyone has to dial 1 and their own area code when making a call.  I'm in Northern CA and have AT&T for our phone company.  We have never had to dial 1 or our own area code to make a local call...EVER!  We don't have to dial anything but the 7 digit phone number as long as it's in our own area code.  We are charged a local toll charge if the number we're calling is out of town.  But we still do NOT have to dial anything but their 7 digit number.  When dialing out of our area code, then and only then, do we have to dial 1 and their area code and the 7 digit telephone number.  I'm really sorry to hear that some people in other areas and states have to go through all that dialing just to call their next door neighbor.  It's a real pain.  I just recently had someone tell me that they had to start dialing all that when calling next door.  I would have never believed them if I hadn't come here and read your posts. 


You must be in a VERY rural area. Here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, we transitioned to  mandatory 10 digit dialing 15 or 20 years or more ago - everybody, Verizon, AT&T, whoever. This is because we have "overlay area codes", where my next door neighbor may have a different area code from mine, and the one on the other size of my neighbor may be the same as mine, so the decision was made that everybody would do it. I don't know for sure how many "local" area codes we have now, but I think there are two or three in the Ft. Worth area and three or four in the Dallas area. For a few weeks there were a lot of complaints, then people got used to it, and now, so what?

And no, we don't have to dial "1" unless it really is long distance, just the 10 digits. And why in the world is 10 digits a big deal anyway? Don't you have every number you normally call programmed into the phone? It is a rare day that I actually have to push the number buttons to make a call any more....

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232
Keller, TX 76248

Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
john19831
Enthusiast - Level 1

I 've worked in Atlanta, Charleston SC, Charlotte NC and Miami, and DC, for over 25  years and we have never had to dial a ten digit phone number unless it  was long distance.

Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
john19831
Enthusiast - Level 1

..oops, forgot.. when I was working my crew out of DallasTX (2000-2009) we didn't have dial ten digits there either.

Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
Calruby
Enthusiast - Level 1

Thanks, John...that's what I meant when I wrote my post...not everyone has to dial the entire 10 digit number to make a local call.  And for the record...Sacramento is NOT rural!  That dude from TX has probably never been here...which is fine...but no way are we considered rural!  And so far, no one here, or in any part of Northern CA, has ever had to dial anything but the 7 digit local number to make a local call.  I fully understand that with the over whelming amount of numbers needed for cell phones as well as land lines, new area codes and prefixes have to be added.  And that can mean that somewhere someone might have to call long distance to reach the house right next door.  It happens.  But it does not include EVERYONE!!!  And so far...no one HERE has to dial long distance for a local call.  I don't like it when anyone says "everyone" when it just is NOT true!!!

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Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
denster1
Newbie

I STILL HAVE MY ORIGIONAL PHONE NUMBER  ALL I DID WAS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A NEW PRICEING PACKAGE. SO WHY CHANGE MY LOCAL DIALING?

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Re: Why do you have to dial the area code if you are calling from the same area code
groovylou1
Newbie

We just switched over to Verizon FIOS from Brighthouse Digital literally hours ago.  My wife went to make a call and it required her to dial the area code, she was call me on my Verizon Cell Phone within the same area code.  I saw that someone earlier said that the Fios Phone system worked the same as the Cable companies Digital Phone system, however we never had to dial the area code with Brighthouse.  The tech guy on the phone told me that it works the same way cell phone companies systems work. I told him that my cell service doesn't work that way and it is with Verizon.

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