02087 xxxxxx

Which is just bizarre.

Simon

London numbers beginning 3xxx xxxx or 7xxx xxxx or 8xxx xxxx can be anywhere in London.

The inner/outer London split was abolished in 2000 when London adopted the single 020 area code.

In a decade or so, there will also be London local numbers beginning 4xxx xxxx or 6xxx xxxx.

:~)

It does work from our office system. 020 is considered to be a single STD code, so dialing 8XXX YYYY or 7XXX YYYY (with a preceding 9 for an outside line, of course) works just fine and dandy. You need not even worry whether you’re traversing the 7/8 divide.

Ie if you’re in 020 7xxx land, and you want to phone someone in 020 8xxx land, do you ever leave the ’020′ bit off?

It doesn’t even work on our office phone system, as far as I can tell.

I guess my point is that although I agree completely with Dan’s anality when it comes to phone numbers, the practical reality is that users see no difference between an area code elsewhere in London and an area code elsewhere in the UK.

In an 020 8xxx area? Might as well be in the Outer Hebrides…

Simon

number formats are not set by BT, but by ofcom

[quote]My point is simple. Whilst BT mess around with 01/071/0171/0207/etc… what does not change is xxx-yyyy.
That is my number, and that is what I quote as a natural cluster my grand-dad, dad and I all know.
Dan, 0207 is no more than an ephemeral sophistry on BTs part.
Neither they or you will unwire and re-wire my memory of xxx-yyyy.[/quote]

That’s obviously completely *wrong*.

When your London Code changed from (0171) to (020) your Local Number changed to 7xxx xxxx. Your local number has eight digits.

People previously having an (0181) xxx xxxx Number, now have an 8xxx xxxx Local Number. The local number has eight digits.

Both of those have the (020) area code.

So, anywhere in London can dial any London number using just eight digits. That is, if you are calling any (020) number from any other (020) number, simply omit the (020) part from what you dial.

If you see one of the new numbers like (020) 3xxx xxxx you can also call that by just dialling 3xxx xxxx too.

The whole point is that local numbers changed by adding a digit on the front so that more numbers could be made available.

The number ranges 2xxx xxxx and 4xxx xxxx and 5xxx xxxx and 6xxx xxxx are entirely unused and are therefore available for future use once the 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx and 3xxx xxxx numbers have all been allocated.

That is, now that all of London uses the (020) area code there will be no need to ever change that code. Now that everyone in London has an eight-digit local number there is enough number capacity for several centuries.

The move from 01 to 071/081 doubled the amount of available numbers because 123 4567 could be allocated as (071) 123 4567 to someone in Inner London and as (081) 123 4567 to someone in Outer London.

The move to 0171 and 0181 gave no extra numbers in London, but freed up all of the 02 to 09 area codes for future use elsewhere.

The move to (020) for London saw only the 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx number ranges immediately allocated. It enabled millions of numbers in the 2xxx xxxx and 3xxx xxxx and 4xxx xxxx and 5xxx xxxx and 6xxx xxxx ranges to be available for use some time in the future. In recent times, the 3xxx xxxx range has already started to be used London-wide.

When your London Code changed from (0171) to (020) your Local Number changed to 7xxx xxxx. Your local number has eight digits.

People previously having an (0181) xxx xxxx Number, now have an 8xxx xxxx Local Number. The local number has eight digits.

Both of those have the (020) area code.

So, anywhere in London can dial any London number using just eight digits. That is, if you are calling any (020) number from any other (020) number, simply omit the (020) part from what you dial.

If you see one of the new numbers like (020) 3xxx xxxx you can also call that by just dialling 3xxx xxxx too.

The whole point is that local numbers changed by adding a digit on the front so that more numbers could be made available.

The number ranges 2xxx xxxx and 4xxx xxxx and 5xxx xxxx and 6xxx xxxx are entirely unused and are therefore available for future use once the 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx and 3xxx xxxx numbers have all been allocated.

That is, now that all of London uses the (020) area code there will be no need to ever change that code. Now that everyone in London has an eight-digit local number there is enough number capacity for several centuries.

The move from 01 to 071/081 doubled the amount of available numbers because 123 4567 could be allocated as (0171) 123 4567 to someone in Inner London and as (0181) 123 4567 to someone in Outer London.

The move to 0171 and 0181 gave no extra numbers in London, but freed up all of the 02 to 09 area codes for future use elsewhere.

The move to (020) for London saw only the 7xxx xxxx and 8xxx xxxx number ranges immediately allocated. It enabled millions of numbers in the 2xxx xxxx and 3xxx xxxx and 4xxx xxxx and 5xxx xxxx and 6xxx xxxx ranges to be available for use some time in the future. In recent times, the 3xxx xxxx range has already started to be used London-wide.

Having had a debate with you about this for the past 2 days and noting your comments on this blog I have come to the conclusion that we should just addopt the French way of vocalising phone numbers; whereby your example would become:

“02-07-xx-xy-yy-y”