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FORMAT Following the changes in 1995 , 2000 and 2001 , the numbering range in use is as follows. Note that the initial '0' of a telephone number (called the trunk prefix) is not properly considered part of the area code, and thus (for example) 023 is a "two-digit" area code, the "0" prefixes national numbers and "00" international numbers. Geographic numbering
National Dialling Only ranges These ranges have subscriber numbers beginning with the digits '0' or '1', eg: In order to avoid confusion with codes beginning with these digits, the area code must always be dialled, even from within the same geographic exchange. Traditionally these have not been used for inbound calls, although these are now being allocated to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. This has been problematic as some mobile phone operators in the UK do not allow access to these ranges, and there may also be difficulty accessing these numbers from outside the UK. Nongeographic numbering
The 0500 range is used for some freephone services which were originally provided by Mercury Communications Ltd (now Cable & Wireless ).
CROWN DEPENDENCIES The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands ( Jersey , Guernsey etc.) and the Isle Of Man are not part of the UK but, as a legacy of their postal and telephone services being operated by the UK GPO until 1969 , they continue to form part of the UK numbering plan, using the following ranges:
On the Isle of Man, both fixed and mobile phone numbers can be dialled locally in the six-digit format. Although calls from the UK to these islands are charged at the same rate as those to geographic numbers in the UK, calls to the Channel Islands may be excluded from calling plans offering unlimited UK fixed line calls. DRAMA NUMBERS Ofcom has also reserved certain number ranges for use in television dramas and films, so as to avoid the risk of people having their telephone numbers displayed, and receiving unwanted calls. This is similar to the use of fictitious telephone numbers in the United States with the digits 555 . In most of the large cities with three-digit area codes a range of numbers is reserved, usually all the numbers starting with the digits '''4960'''. For fictitious numbers in other areas the area code '''01632''' is reserved; this code is not in use, although 0632 was used for Newcastle Upon Tyne until the late 1980s (63 = NE). There are also reserved ranges for fictitious mobile, free and premium rate numbers. SPECIAL SERVICE NUMBERS Short codes beginning with 1 are reserved for telecom service providers' own functionality; some of the most well-known are codes for use with Caller ID , known in the UK as "Caller Display": The UK has two free emergency numbers — the traditional 999, which is still widely used, and the EU standard '''112''', which can be used in all member states of the European Union. Both 999 and 112 are used to contact all emergency services: Police, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, Mountain Rescue, Coastguard and Cave Rescue. The chargeable number '''101''' (10p per call) is being introduced in stages, with an aim to cover all of England and Wales by 2008, for "non-urgent emergencies". The operator is obtained via 100, while Directory Enquiries , formerly ''192'', is now provided in the '''118xxx''' range, e.g. 118 500, 118 888, by different companies. International Operator assistance is reached through "155". Fixed line telephone subscribers have the opportunity to use an automated messaging service which takes messages when the called number is either engaged ("busy") or not answered within a given time. This can be accessed by calling 1571. Since the early 1990s Speaking Clock services have been available throughout Britain, initially on 123, but now on 123456 (before this some areas used local clocks on numbers such as "8081"), but mobile networks sometimes allocate services such as voicemail or customer services to this number. Two special telephone numbers within the regular code space have only eight digits, namely 0800 1111 the national ChildLine helpline, and 0845 4647 for NHS Direct medical advice. HISTORY The telephone service in the , Yorkshire and Guernsey had been bought out by the Post Office . Post Office Telephones also operated telephone services in Jersey until 1923 and the Isle Of Man until 1969 when the islands took over responsibility for their own postal and telephone services - although the latter remained part of British Telecom until 1987. Post Office Telephones was reorganised in '', or ''BT''), and was the first Nationalised Industry to be Privatised by the Conservative government. The Hull Telephone Department was itself sold by Hull City Council as '' Kingston Communications '' in the late 1990s and celebrated its centenary in 2004 . Director system See Also: Director telephone system In 1922 the first 'Director' exchange was brought into service in Holborn, London and rolled out progressively across Greater London. A 3 digit code, represented by letters, identified the local exchange. Director schemes were gradually introduced in the other major cities of the UK - Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. Introduction of area codes See Also: List of United Kingdom dialling codes operator. Uniform exchange codes, usually called STD codes, were allocated for every exchange in the country, progressively as STD was rolled out. This process was not completed until 1979 {Link without Title} . The original concept was for STD to be a nationwide Director system, and in common with the Director system, the exchange codes were originally assigned based on two letters of the respective place's name and the corresponding numbers on a telephone dial. For example . For the Director areas a 2 or 3 digit code was used for the city. These were: The codes 071, '''081''', and '''091''' were reserved for later expansion, with the former two eventually being allocated to London (see below), and 091 to Tyne And Wear . All figure dialling See Also: All figure dialling The use of names was intended to provide a mnemonic for the exchange, but as more and more places were given STD codes the mnemonic link became more and more obscure, and this system became unworkable. The use of alphabetic exchange (area) codes was abandoned in 1966 in favour of all figure numbering. As such about 60% of current area codes are still based on the original alphabetic STD. Calls to the Republic of Ireland Until the late 1980s , calls to cities in the Republic Of Ireland were made using short codes starting with 000: Dublin 0001 Cork 0002 Drogheda 0004 Waterford 0005 Limerick 0006 Sligo 0007 Galway 0009 This was discontinued in the late 1980s , so that all calls to the Republic of Ireland from the UK had to be dialled in the international format using the international access code (since 1995 , 00) and Country Code ('''353'''). Although full international dialling is now used, calls from Northern Ireland to landlines in the Republic are charged at UK national or local rates, and calls from Great Britain to the Republic are charged at a special "Irish Republic" rate, higher than inland rates, but lower than those for elsewhere in Western Europe . Number shortage With growth in second phone lines, direct dial-in (DDI) lines, fax machines and multiple telecoms operators during the 1980s the demand for telephone numbers exceeded the available number ranges. A number of changes were made to the UK numbering plan. 01 for London The first major change was in May 1990 , when the London 01 area code was replaced with 071 and 081. Exchanges in central London used the 071 code with the remaining exchanges using the 081 code and formed a ring around the 071 area. Although this effectively doubled the available numbers it would not be the last change for the capital. PhONE Day On 'PhONE Day', 16 April 1995 , the digit '1' was inserted into all UK geographic area codes: for example, central London's 071 became 0171. This was with a view to reorganising the numbering plan, so that the first two digits would indicate the type of service called: The international access code also changed on 'PhONE Day', from 010 to '''00'''. Five new area codes were introduced for cities that were running low on phone numbers — and a digit was prepended to each existing local number. Note that the first digit of the local numbers within these codes is no longer restricted to those shown: for example, while all pre-'PhONE Day' Leeds numbers migrated to 0113 2xx xxxx, this numbering range has since been exhausted, and local numbers of the form 0113 3xx xxxx are now assigned. Big Number Change See Also: Big Number Change
Note that although Southampton and Portsmouth are one code from a code structure point of view, as of January 2006 calls between them are not local calls and the "codes" 02380 and 02392 are treated as separate by the BT site for determining local call area . It is planned that the new codes will eventually cover a larger area than at present. For example, although 029 presently covers just the Cardiff area, it may in the future cover all of Wales. It is interesting that AW (All Wales) and CY (Cymru, the Welsh for Wales) are both represent on a telephone keypad as 29. Similarly 028, which is already the code for all of Northern Ireland is represented by 028 with AU (All Ulster) being represented by 28 on a keypad. The transition codes for Northern Ireland are shown below. These can be accessed from the Republic Of Ireland using either the domestic code 048, or the international code '''00 44 28'''. The prefixes for existing numbers in Northern Ireland are split up into 7 groups, roughly based upon the county in which the main exchange is based. The initial digit of each phone number is based on the designated county - for example, the first county alphabetically is County Antrim so numbers in this county start 2. The next county is County Armagh so numbers here start 3. The exception to this is the Greater Belfast area. In addition, mobile and pager numbers were all moved into the 07 range. Pagers moved into '''076''', while personal numbers moved to '''070'''. Mobile numbers moved into the '''077''', '''078''' and '''079''' ranges. In addition, lo-call and nationalcall numbers migrated to '''08xxx''' and premium rate numbers to '''09xxx'''. = 020 for London The number change meant that London could return to a single area code. Furthermore, there is now no "inner/outer" split. Existing London numbers acquired the prefixes 7 or 8, but '''from that point on''' 020 7xxx xxxx and 020 8xxx xxxx numbers can be assigned or reused anywhere in the London area covered by the 020 code. From June 2005 the regulator ceased to allocate number blocks to suppliers in the 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx ranges. From this date onwards all number allocations are in the 3xxx xxxx range and can be used anywhere in the 020 area. Although new blocks of 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx range numbers are no longer being allocated to suppliers, those that have not yet exhausted their existing blocks are able to continue to issue and re-issue them to their customers. Numbers in the 020 0xxx xxxx and 020 1xxx xxx number ranges have also been made available. However, these numbers cannot be dialled without the 020 code and are called "London National Dialling" numbers. It is a common misconception that London still has more than one area code, which may persist because of the perceived "prestige" of the old "central" area code 0171 or because the change was not effectively communicated. Note That The Spacing 0207 Xxx Xxxx Etc, Although Commonly Seen, Is Incorrect. The code for London is 020, with an eight-digit local number. This misconception of area code and number separation is also seen in other areas of the country where an area code reduction was seen due to the Big Number Change , such as Reading numbers still being written 01189 xxxxxx, whereas the correct number sequence is 0118 9xxxxxx. See, for example, the Ofcom FAQ {Link without Title} (PDF file). SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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