| Uk Telephone Numbering Plan |
Article Index for Uk |
Website Links For Telephone |
Information AboutUk Telephone Numbering Plan |
|
The UK Telephone Numbering Plan , also known as the '''National Numbering Plan''', is regulated by the Office of Communications ( Ofcom ), which replaced the Office of Telecommunications ( Oftel ) in 2003. OVERVIEW Country Code : 44 International Call Prefix : 00 Since April 28 , 2001 , almost all normal geographic numbers and most non-geographic numbers are 9 or 10 digit (excluding the 0 prefix but including the rest of the area code) the overall structure of the UK's National Numbering Plan is: A short list of examples, set out in the officially approved ( Ofcom ) number groups: In the United Kingdom , area codes are — excluding the leading '0' which is dropped when calling UK numbers from overseas — two, three, four or five digits long, with larger towns and cities having shorter area codes permitting a larger number of telephone numbers in the ten or eleven digits used. The traditional UK term for American "area code" was 'STD (code)' ( Subscriber Trunk Dialling ) code, however, the terms 'STD' — or more fully 'STD code' — are now dated, and have given way to the more commonplace term 'dialling code' in the UK. It is very common to see the ''+'' notation being misused — +44 (0)xxx xxx xxxx is not an uncommon occurrence even in official documents. For international callers the number between the brackets is dropped. For callers within the United Kingdom the +44 is dropped and the number between the brackets used. Calling +44 0xxx xxx xxxx will not work from most operators, and the +44 (0)xxx notation is incorrect and should not be used. The correct usage of the + notation in this example of the three-digit geographic code is +44 xxx xxx xxxx. The code allocated to the largest population is (020) for London . The code allocated to the largest area is (028) for all of Northern Ireland . The UK Numbering Plan also applies to three British Crown Dependencies - Jersey , Guernsey and the Isle Of Man even though they are not part of the UK itself. FORMAT General 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 but is, rather, the national long distance calling prefix, and thus (for example) 023 is a "two-digit" area code.
Geographic numbering
New '03' UK-wide code On 2007 OFCOM released more details on their plans for the 03 range and announced that allocations of 03 numbers to providers would begin in March 2007. Two different ranges of numbers were announced; those beginning 0300/0303 are reserved for qualifying public bodies and non-profit organisations, and those beginning 0330/0333, which are available for allocation to anyone. Some operators' 033 numbers are now live and are diallable from BT linesAndrews & Arnold Web Site: http://www.aaisp.net.uk/aa/voip/03.html (3 September 2007), but not diallable from mobile phones currently, as of 3 September 2007, since the datafill required has yet to be fully completed across all operators. National Dialing 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 some 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. Non-geographic Numbering
The 03 range is non-geographic but charged at geographic rates from all lines. Unlike 05 numbers, Ofcom General Condition 17Ofcom General Conditions: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/g_a_regime/gce/cvogc150807.pdf requires all operators to charge the same tariff for calling these numbers as they would charge for calling a geographic number beginning 01/02, applying the same discounts and rules for "inclusive minutes".
The 0500 range is used for some freephone services which were originally provided by Mercury Communications Ltd (now Cable & Wireless ). These numbers are different from the rest of the 05 range in that they are only 10 digits in length, e.g. 0500 123456, as they were allocated before the 05 range was assigned to corporate numbering. Note that unlike 03 numbers there is no uniform pricing for 05 numbers; BT charge a number of different rates depending on the number dialled.BT Price List: http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Call_Charges_boo/0025_d0e5.htm#0025-d0e5. Some are charged at geographic rate, others not, and unlike 03 numbers, other operators are not required to charge the same rates as BT for calling 05 numbers
Individual mobile phone companies are allocated different ranges within the ""075xx"", 077xx, '''078xx''' and '''079xx''' area codes. Changes to mobile numbers were mostly straight replacements, such as Vodafone customers on the '''03'''78 block became '''077'''78. Since the advent of Mobile Number Portability , mobile prefixes can no longer be relied on to determine the current operator of a particular mobile number - only the original operator.
CROWN DEPENDENCIES
On the Isle of Man, both fixed and mobile phone numbers can be dialled locally in the six-digit format. Although calls from UK landlines to landlines in the islands are charged at the same (long-distance) rate as those to geographic numbers in the UK, calls may be excluded from calling plans offering unlimited UK fixed line calls, and some mobile operators also charge more. 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 and Canada 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. Not all numbers used in TV Dramas come from the OFCOM recommended ranges. For instance the TV Soap '' Coronation Street '' set in the Manchester 0161 code area uses numbers in the unallocated 0161 715 XXXX range. 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 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". As of November 2006 however, it appears that owing to low take-up in trial areas this proposal is on indefinite hold. The operator is obtained via 100, while Directory Enquiries , formerly ''192'', is now provided in the '''118xxx''' range, e.g. 118 212, 118 800, 118 500, 118 118 , by different companies. International Operator assistance is reached through "155". Fixed line telephone subscribers for BT1 , Virgin Media2 and Talk Talk 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 using the number 123 (before this exchanges in 'Director' areas (Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Glasgow) dialled 846 (TIM) and main exchanges in Non-Director areas originally used "952", later changing to "80" with the introduction of STD and eventually to "8081" as other recorded services were introduced on 80X1 codes). Some mobile operators allocate other services to 123 - such as customer services or voicemail etc. The Post Office even produced dial centre labels for use in advertisements and film/TV with a mythical exchange called VINcent plus four digits. The numerical equivalent of VIN was 846 and all the caller got was the speaking clock in the big city 'Director' areas. 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 . The Post Office 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 Isle of Man remained part of British Telecom until 1987. munications'' ('' British Telecom '', or ''BT''), and was the first major Nationalised Industry to be Privatised by the Conservative government. The Hull Telephone Department was itself reconstituted as '' Kingston Communications '', in 1987; it was sold by Hull City Council in the late 1990s and celebrated its centenary in 2004 . Director system See Also: Director telephone system In November 1922 the General Post Office decided to adopt the Strowger system from the various systems it had tried and it was to include 'Directors' in the exchanges in London. Demonstration models of the 'director' exchange were shown by manufacturer ATM of Liverpool as part of the Post Office exhibits at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 and 1925. However, it was not until 1927 that the first 'Director' Telephone 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 (although a relatively small city, it obtained all-figure dialling for political reasons), 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 , to Radiophone s and to Premium Rate numbers. 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 and Durham . 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 (Dublin 01 Area) Cork 0002 (Cork 021 Area) Dundalk 0004 (Dundalk 042 Area) Waterford 0005 (Waterford 051 Area) Limerick 0006 (Limerick 061 Area) Letterkenny 0007 (Letterkenny 074 Area) Galway 0009 (Galway 091 Area) As the network was upgraded, direct dialling became possible to the whole country, but this was not completed in the rural areas until 1988. Until then, some calls from the UK to Ireland were made through the operator and diverted to the "Irish Service". 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) (actually, 010 for a while) and Country Code ('''353'''). Although full international dialling is now used, calls from Northern Ireland landlines 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 was not the last change for the capital. PhONE Day On "PhONE Day", 16 April 1995 , which was also Easter Sunday in Western Christianity , the digit "1" was inserted into all UK geographic area codes. Promotion of this day included special Easter Eggs . Under the new changes, 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; similarly in Sheffield, the range 0114 2xx xxxx has also been exhausted and new numbers take the form 0114 3xx xxxx. This is also the case for Bristol, the range 0117 9xx xxxx has been exhausted. New numbers issued now take the form of 0117 3xx xxxx. Meanwhile in Nottingham, with the range 0115 9xx xxxx exhausted, new numbers issued take the form 0115 8xx xxxx. Big Number Change See Also: Big Number Change
Note that although Southampton and Portsmouth are one code from a code structure and local dialling point of view, as of January 2006 calls between them are not local calls and the "codes" 023 80 and 023 92 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. The code for Northern Ireland is 028. 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 '''+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. One exception to this is the Greater Belfast area, initial digit 9, which is extended to include each adjacent former STD code area, including towns such as Antrim , Bangor and Saintfield . 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. The exception to this was Manx Telecom mobiles, where the code became '''07624''' in order to match the '''01624''' used for landlines. In addition, lo-call and national call numbers migrated to '''08xxx''' and premium rate numbers to '''09xxx'''. =020 for London The number change meant that London returned to a single area code again (as in the old 01 days), with 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 were assigned or reused anywhere in the London area covered by the single (city-wide) 020 code. From June 2005 the regulator, Ofcom, ceased to allocate number blocks to suppliers in the 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx ranges. From this date onwards all number allocations were in the 3xxx xxxx range and can be used anywhere in the London 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 xxxx 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 (i.e. " 0207 & 0208 "). This is incorrect in the sense that omitting the "020" area code will give a local number that can be dialled from any other "020" line, so the commonly seen spacing 020x xxx xxxx, does not conform to the normal practice of separating the area code by a space. 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) 9xx xxxx, Coventry being written as 02476 xxxxxx, whereas the correct number sequence is (024) 76xx xxxx, Cardiff 029 being written as 02920 xxxxxx whereas the correct number sequence is (029) 20xx xxxx. This also occurs in some areas of Northern Ireland, that previously had 5-digit and 6-digit local numbers like in Banbridge (previously (018206) xxxxx), where numbers are still written as 028406 xxxxx instead of 028 406x xxxx. Locals still misquote the area code as 028406, seven years after the change. The same occurs in formerly six-digit code areas, such as Lisburn (previous (01846) xxxxxx) continues to frequently appear as 02892 xxxxxx. New '06' Code Creating numbers beginning 06, to replace 070 numbers - sometimes confused with mobiles - is also being considered. At the moment, companies such as Patientline use 070 numbers. There is no cap on caller charges. Ofcom wants 070 and 06 numbers to have a price cap, and 07 numbers to be used exclusively for mobile phones. Under plans, rates charged to people calling 08 phone lines would be made clearer by linking the cost of the call to the third digit. Numbers starting 080 would be free, while 082 would be cheaper than 089. REFERENCES SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|