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| CATEGORIES ABOUT TELEPHONE NUMBERS IN NEW ZEALAND | |
| communications in new zealand | |
| telephone numbers by country | |
| new zealand | |
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HISTORY Up until the 1970's, New Zealand's telephone network consisted primarily of step by step telephone exchanges. Local telephone number lengths varied from 3 to 6 digits depending on the size of exchange and population of the local calling area. Numerous complex dialling instructions appeared in the front of telephone books explaining the number sequences needed to dial subscribers in local "free calling" areas, and in a few cases for short distance toll calls (which were recorded on manually read meters in some local exchanges). Local calls were "free", and still are for residential customers. Long distance or toll calls required the manual intervention of an operator, who had access to toll circuits, either via an operator's cord board or a toll exchange (switch). Access to the toll operator was by dialling '''0'''. Local directory service could be accessed via 100, telephone faults via '''120''', and emergency services via ''' 111 '''. Subscriber Toll Dialling (STD) was introduced into New Zealand telephone network in the mid 1970's, a result of the introduction of NEC Crossbar based toll exchanges and their ability to perform number translation. One still needed to dial 0 to make a toll call, but instead of calling the operator, one could then dial the STD number directly. Access to the operator was via 010, while other service numbers remained unchanged. The original area codes were numbered south to north, going from 021 in Invercargill , to 089 in Whangarei , and 09 in Auckland . With the introduction of NEC Stored Program Control Exchanges in to the New Zealand telephone network during the 1980's, and the rapid growth in demand, the breakup of the New Zealand Post Office and the creation of Telecom New Zealand , the opportunity arose to standardise local telephone numbers at 7 digits long. In many parts of the country, the old area code was incorporated into the new number, hence Nelson (054) xx xxx became (03) 54x xxxx. Or New Plymouth (067) became (06) 75x xxxx - old numbers mostly 5 digit, or 1 series of 6 digit at the Spotswood Exchange of 51x xxx. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to move directory service from 100 to '''018''' and charge for directory service calls. The justification for doing so was the introduction of a directory service computer system that gave access to current New Zealand telephone number listings, not just those printed in the telephone book, and the need for a separate user pays revenue stream for Telecom Directory Services, which was separate to the 5 regional (local) telephone companies, TNI and Telecom Mobile that Telecom had split itself into, as part of the sale of Telecom and deregulation of New Zealand telecommunications services. Since 1993, land-line telephone numbers in New Zealand consist of a single-digit area code and seven-digit local numbers, the first three of which generally specify the exchange and the final four a line at that exchange. INTERNATIONAL NUMBER LENGTHS Country code : +64 The long distance prefix, 0, that is prepended to national numbers is not part of the international number. Minimum number length after International prefix : 3 digits (Most numbers, other than service numbers, are at least 8 digits.) Maximum number length after International prefix : 9 digits (Except numbers starting 210 - 10 digits) PRESENT NUMBERING PLAN Country Code : 64 Long Distance Prefix: 0 International Prefix: 00 Landlines New Zealand landline phone numbers total eight digits excluding the leading 0: a one-digit area code, and a seven-digit phone number (e.g. 09 700 1234), beginning with a digit between 2 and 9 (but excluding 900, 911, and 999 due to misdial guards). There are five regional area codes: 03, 04, 06, 07, and 09. These must be dialed when calling a recipient outside the Local Calling Area of which the caller is located. For example, one calling Dunedin from Christchurch must dial 03, even though Christchurch is 03 as well. The area codes are:
Mobile Phones Mobile phone numbers begin 02, followed by one digit indicating the original mobile network that issued the number, followed by six to eight digits (usually seven). Mobile numbers must always be dialled in full. There are seven network prefixes that have been assigned for mobile phones in New Zealand, although only 021, 027, and 029 are well known and/or still operating: The introduction of mobile Number Portability on 1 April 2007 meant that an increasing number of mobiles will be operating on a different network to that which originally assigned the number. Other Numbers Toll-free and Premium-rate Toll-free numbers begin with 0508 or 0800, usually followed by 6 digits (some numbers on 0800 have seven digits). Premium rate services use the code 0900 followed by 5 digits. Local rate numbers, such as internet access numbers, have the prefix 08xx, and are usually followed by 5 digits.
Service Numbers Numbers beginning with 01 are for operator services.
The '1' codes are used for local services, including activating exchange features. The emergency services number is '111'.
Text message numbers for mobile phones are 3 or 4 digits long. OTHER USEFUL NUMBERS 07 832 0000 automated information (free call) who your toll provider is. EXTERNAL LINKS
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