In article , Mrs Redboots
writes
I meant that all STD codes that did not start 01 were changed so that they
did start 01.
Again, not true. All the NI codes were changed to start 02, as were
several other places.

That was PhTWOday. We're discussing PhONEyDay.

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In article ,
Martin Underwood writes
Going off at a tangent, slightly, how are 07xxx mobile phone codes
allocated: did different networks (Vodafone, one2one etc) buy blocks of
codes and allocate from them, or are the numbers allocated completely at
random? In other words, for a given code (eg 07748) are all numbers with
that code connected via the same provider?

Each operator is allocated a block of numbers, usually 10,000 at a time
but sometimes 1000. A block relates to a specific location (for 01 and
02 numbers) or to a specific service and chargeband (e.g. mobiles are
all 077 to 079, free calls are all 080, and each 0844 xxx block has a
specific price). When they think they're running out of numbers in a
block, they then apply for another block. If they have requirements for
more than one block in an area (e.g. two physical exchanges within one
location) they can ask for more blocks, and so on.

Overlaying this is Number Portability. A customer can move their phone
number to a new operator - for geographic numbers they must remain at
the same address when doing so. The call will continue to be routed to
the "donor" operator's local exchange, which will see that the number is
ported, stick a special code on the front, and re-inject it into the
call routeing system, which will get it to the right place based on that
code. [I can't remember whether the whole call "trombones" through the
donor exchange or only the call setup signalling.]

NP also applies to mobiles, but the mechanisms aren't necessarily the
same.

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In article , Colin
McKenzie writes
E onwards ran from Aug-Jul
making D a short "year"?
More or less, but E was the short year, and the changeover in 67.

Wasn't there a later change to October, then to September?

[NI]
I think they use the same system as the rest of the UK now.

No, they moved to the AXI 1 to AXI 9999 system and are still on it.

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In article , Mrs Redboots
writes
My husband (who comes from Northern Ireland) can still tell you where a
car with a NI registration comes from, and even I know a few of them: IW
is/was County L'derry, OI was Belfast (city), IJ was County Tyrone, I
think..... Anything with an I or a Z in it was either Northern Ireland
or the Republic.

Wasn't it I for NI, Z for the Republic, S for Scotland, and W for Wales?
Though I don't recall who got hybrids like SI or IZ.

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In article , Mrs Redboots
writes
No such plans (I really can't see London needing more than 80 million
phone *numbers*).

I can - although now we have broadband, the idea of two lines per
household, one for the computer and one for the phone, isn't going to
happen - although what about one's television, which increasingly needs
to use the phone lines to pay for download movies & so on?

There's about 9 million people in the 020 area. That's a safety margin
of 800%.

Even if there was a need to give London more numbers, I would expect it
to be done by either splitting some of it off or overlaying a second
code as is done in the USA, not by moving to 9 digits. All of 01 to 04
is reserved for geographic numbering.

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In article ,
Martin Underwood writes
Of the pre-1963 formats, was there any difference between the ABC 123, 123
ABC, AB 1234 formats other than that one gave way to another when an
individual authority had allocated all its numberplates?

Not that I'm aware of. I was under the understanding that an office with
a single code, say HJ[*], would allocate in the order:

HJ 1 to HJ 9999
AHJ 1 to AHJ 999
BHJ 1 to BHJ 999
...
YHJ 1 to YHJ 999
1 HJ to 9999 HJ
1 AHJ to 999 AHJ
1 BHJ to 999 BHJ
...

though I don't know whether any actually got to the fourth format. If it
had several codes, it would go through each code in the first format,
then each code in the second (that is, all of A to Z additional letter
before changing code), and so on.

I ask because the
plot twist at the end of the film "The League of Gentlemen" hinges on an
observant boy noticing that the registration on the robbers' truck should
have related to a car rather than a lorry - does this mean that numberplates
were of a different format in the two cases?

That doesn't sound right to me, but I could have a gap in my knowledge
here. The only difference I'm aware of is that there used to be two
kinds of trade plates:
red on white: cars and certain other vehicles only
white on red: unrestricted use
[*] HJ was Southend-on-Sea, which also had JN. But ignore that for the
purpose of discussion.

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"Clive D. W. Feather" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Martin Underwood writes

If
so, did it start at the same time as in Great Britain - ie A=1963, B=1964
etc?

Except only London used A.

That is incorrect. Staffordshire and Lancashire are two that used A
suffixes, to my knowledge. They both started partway through 1963.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
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E-mail:
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In article ,
(Mrs Redboots) wrote:

I can - although now we have broadband, the idea of two lines per
household, one for the computer and one for the phone, isn't going to
happen - although what about one's television, which increasingly needs
to use the phone lines to pay for download movies & so on?

We have four different numbers of which three can be used together, coming
in on one cable.

Why would we need more physical lines?

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

In message , at 18:14:00 on
Mon, 3 Jan 2005, Paul Cummins remarked:
I can - although now we have broadband, the idea of two lines per
household, one for the computer and one for the phone, isn't going to
happen - although what about one's television, which increasingly needs
to use the phone lines to pay for download movies & so on?

We have four different numbers of which three can be used together, coming
in on one cable.

Why would we need more physical lines?

For many years I had three lines - one for the house and two for the
business (one for incoming calls and another for Fax and outgoing).
Later I moved to Home Highway, which is also in effect three lines.
Nowadays I can make do with one, as most business is conducted by email.

You don't need a line for the TV because they call out in the middle of
the night.
--
Roland Perry

"Terry Harper" wrote in message
...
"Clive D. W. Feather" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Martin Underwood writes

If so, did it start at the same time as in Great Britain - ie A=1963,
B=1964
etc?

Except only London used A.

That is incorrect. Staffordshire and Lancashire are two that used A
suffixes, to my knowledge. They both started partway through 1963.

Any idea why the whole country didn't start the new numberplate format on 1
Jan 1963. To have only some regions adopt the new scheme - and not all of
those starting on the same date - sounds like a ****-up and brewery
situation!

I suppose it explains why when I was little, at the sad stage of collecting
car numbers, I very rarely saw A-reg cars whereas B, C, D etc were much more
common.


Another question: what are the rules about white-on-black plates versus
black-on-white/yellow plates. I thought it became a legal requirement to
have black-on-white/yellow round about H or J, but I occasionally see newer
cars (though still with the year letter as a *suffix*) with old-style
white-on-black plates.