[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by uconn99

It would be stupid having overlaying area codes.

They should be divided by town or county.

I agree! Overlays are just maddening. You get zero location information from a phone number when area codes overlay.

But I guess I won't miss the times when I dial 1-203 and the phone system refuses to connect me because it's a local call that I don't realize is local. (There is no excuse for that, by the way; ATT could just program the switcher to complete those calls. I have no idea why they make us re-dial; it's an inefficient use of their switching capacity. It's not done in other states.)

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

I agree! Overlays are just maddening. You get zero location information from a phone number when area codes overlay.

But I guess I won't miss the times when I dial 1-203 and the phone system refuses to connect me because it's a local call that I don't realize is local. (There is no excuse for that, by the way; AT&T could just program the switcher to complete those calls. I have no idea why they make us re-dial; it's an inefficient use of their switching capacity. It's not done in other states.)

I could be wrong, but I thought New York Telephone handled it this way in the '80s. On a side note: this one was unbelievable - my cousins could call us (Brewster to Pawling exchanges) as local, but it was long distance when I called them (Pawling to Brewster)!

[JViello]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

I agree! Overlays are just maddening. You get zero location information from a phone number when area codes overlay.

But I guess I won't miss the times when I dial 1-203 and the phone system refuses to connect me because it's a local call that I don't realize is local. (There is no excuse for that, by the way; ATT could just program the switcher to complete those calls. I have no idea why they make us re-dial; it's an inefficient use of their switching capacity. It's not done in other states.)

As a former NTC for SNET, MCI, and CT Telephone, I can tell you "not really". It doesn't work that way. Well, you could do it but you can't at the same time. It's complicated to explain, but doing that is kind of bandaiding the system. Like transfering a call on a key system by using two lines on your phone system to connect them. That's not really a transfer, but it is.

And aside from that, the DPUC tells the phone company EVERYTHING they can and can not do. Switching someone automatically to a "toll call" would be a HUGE no no unless the DPUC wrote it into law.

[MomOfToo]

Why do they make it so hard here? When Putnam switched over to 845 because there were too many 914 #'s that left Westchester County only to use 914 and Putnam and other counties to use 845...this is stupid. Just keep Fairfield County as 203 and give the other counties there own as well. Why is it a long distance call for someone in Danbury to call someone in Stamford if it is the same area code? I just don't get that-CT takes the long route.....

[brasscitybluenwhite]

Originally Posted by MomOfToo

Why do they make it so hard here? When Putnam switched over to 845 because there were too many 914 #'s that left Westchester County only to use 914 and Putnam and other counties to use 845...this is stupid. Just keep Fairfield County as 203 and give the other counties there own as well. Why is it a long distance call for someone in Danbury to call someone in Stamford if it is the same area code? I just don't get that-CT takes the long route.....

its still like that? back in the day, my aunt had a job in meriden and we had to dial 203 for some reason. (same county. 2 towns over, same area code)

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by MomOfToo

Why do they make it so hard here? When Putnam switched over to 845 because there were too many 914 #'s that left Westchester County only to use 914 and Putnam and other counties to use 845...this is stupid. Just keep Fairfield County as 203 and give the other counties their own as well. Why is it a long distance call for someone in Danbury to call someone in Stamford if it is the same area code? I just don't get that-Conn. takes the long route.....

In a word: distance!

That's still going to happen. Think back to when Connecticut had only one area code. Each exchange had areas that were local and areas that were long distance. Splitting the state into two area codes wasn't intended to have all of (203) local unto itself. Since you referenced Danbury (203), it can call New Milford (860) local, but it can't call me in Cheshire (203) as local. It never could.

By the way, I'm from a part of the former (914) that was relegated to the new (845): Dutchess (except Millerton), Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties. We were left scratching our heads as to why Putnam switched to (845) since it is intertwined with Westchester in ZIP codes (all start with 105xx excluding those cities with their own - 106xx White Plains, 107xx Yonkers, 108xx New Rochelle) and the original assignment of phone prefixes (exchanges) by the first two letters of the area's name - BRewster (278, 279), CArmel (225), COld Spring (265), PEekskill (737), WHite Plains (948), etc.

I wouldn't say that New York handled it any better. Remember when (718) was introduced for Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island? Bronx and Manhattan were to retain (212). A few years into it, a decision was made to switch the Bronx to (718) leaving Manhattan as the sole proprietor of (212). You probably remember Mayor Koch's stand on this. He had a problem "splitting the city - Manhattan vs. the others" as he called it.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by JViello

As a former NTC for SNET, MCI, and CT Telephone, I can tell you "not really". It doesn't work that way. Well, you could do it but you can't at the same time. It's complicated to explain, but doing that is kind of bandaiding the system. Like transfering a call on a key system by using two lines on your phone system to connect them. That's not really a transfer, but it is.

And aside from that, the DPUC tells the phone company EVERYTHING they can and can not do. Switching someone automatically to a "toll call" would be a HUGE no no unless the DPUC wrote it into law.

In the 618 area code in Illinois, all calls are 7 digits, toll or local. It's not a band-aid. The switcher is just a computer and it does what the software tells it to do.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

In the 618 area code in Illinois, all calls are 7 digits, toll or local. It's not a band-aid. The switcher is just a computer and it does what the software tells it to do.

I worked on Lucent 5E switches in Meriden (The state node) and in the SNET building in Dowtown Hartford and went to Charlotte with MCI to design and implement local dial tone service via several Lucent and Nortel switches working hand and hand with Bell South. (And Atlanta for the Olympics)

I'm not making this up.

What you are not understanding is how the system is designed and how it's supposed to work at a core level. It's not as simple as "programming the switch" as there are a million other things going on at the same time you request dial tone behind the scene that you don't see. I can ASSURE YOU telecom folks are pulling their hair out with the number portability deal and I'm hoping they can keep it all together without a crash. It's like tracking space junk. A huge task and using the system in a way it was never intended to be used. (The telecom system was never intended to be a competitive multi provider network.)

If you want to start at ground zero to understand what happens, learn about early crossbar central office switches. Our telecom system was designed around that principle.

To make local and long distance calls automatically connect it's not a simple change and our particular utility comission in CT is HORRIBLE for things like that. Total anti free market and big business control freaks. Even if ATT decided to do what you are requesting, it's ultimately up to the DPUC (Department of Utility Commision) to say "okay".

I used to get so sick of hearing people say "just flip the switch" in a pissed tirade because of network or facility issues. Oh right, yea, my bad. I'm just a stupid monkey over here picking my butt and forgot. I'll do that right away. Sorry. It was even worse when some IT guys (Not all) who learned a little bit about the telcom world and would THINK they were experts, get involved and try to tell you how to do your job.

What they sometimes fail to realize is the modern computer and much of the operating code came from the telcom industry. Shannon's seminal theory of relay logic was written in the 40's by a "telcom guy" and it was Bell Labs that had Amdahl working like he did to develop the IBM 704! Heck, they were writing C+ and designing packet networks back in the 50's.

Sorry, I went off on a rabbit trail for a minute there...I'm a telcom junky of sorts and always loved playing with phones and learning how to mess with the central office via tone transmission and whatnot since I was a kid. It's sort of how I got into the industry I guess.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by JViello

To make local and long distance calls automatically connect it's not a simple change and our particular utility comission in CT is HORRIBLE for things like that.

No surprise there. I've lived in five different states and the phone system here is the goofiest one I've seen. Since the core technologies are identical everywhere - all Bell legacy - it makes sense that a silly PUC would be the real problem.

By the way, why is it that 7 digit calling is seamless in the Illinois 618 area code if it is so difficult to do?

And overlays are just stupid. A really, really bad design decision no matter who drove it.

[Rich Lee]

The phase-in period of 10-digit dialing began last Saturday (05/16/2009) and will conclude in November at which point all calls made in Connecticut will require the area code.