The ITU has uploaded its most recent edition of their E.164 list of
assigned telephone country codes, dated 15-April-2009, an Annex to the
ITU Operational Bulletin #930 of the same date. (The ITU's Operational
Bulletin comes out twice a month, dated the 1st and the 15th of each
month).

While the Operational Bulletin is available only as a pay subscription,
certain lists of codes/etc. published from time to time and issued as
annexes to the Operational Bulletin, are also available free for the
download. (Note that there is a pay version also available, and not all
ITU lists of codes/etc. even have a "free" version, more on that below).

The free version for the 15-April-2009 edition of the ITU's E.164 list
of assigned telephone country codes can be downloaded from the following
URLs, one is a pdf version, the other is a doc version:

http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164D-2009-PDF-E.pdf
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164D-2009-MSW-E.doc

These above URLs are for the English language version. Spanish and
French versions, also available in both pdf and doc are also available,
see the main download page: http://www.itu.int/publ/T-SP-E.164D-2009/en

I haven't gone through the document with a "fine tooth comb", but one
thing that has changed from the earlier version (Sept.2007) is that
only +870 Inmarsat SNAC is listed. The other "geographic specific" codes
which would be used (but numbers themselves not duplicated) when the
terminating party's phone on the vessel's ocean-based location would be
known in advance. Now, one doesn't need to know the location of the
vehicle/vessel in advance when placing a call, so now they use the
single number access code (SNAC) +870 and the called party's number on
the satellite-based air or ship phone, and the system will try to find
the phone/location, I assume similar to cellular roaming.

+871 Inmarsat Atlantic Ocean East
+872 Inmarsat Pacific Ocean
+873 Inmarsat Indian Ocean
+874 Inmarsat Atlantic Ocean West
have apparently all been discontinued and "reclaimed". This was to be
expected for some years now. Last year, the ITU posted an Inmarsat
document regarding the structure of telephone numbers under the +870
"country" code. The document is dated 15-July-2008, and was posted on
the ITU's website on 14-August-2008. The first line in this document
indicates that the use of the geographic +871 through +874 would end
on 31-December-2008.

IMO, it's about time to do this consolidation to a single country code.
There are at least three other ITU E.164 "country" codes regarding
mobile and/or satellite services, +881, +882, +883, and these are NOT
assigned nor subdivided into ocean-specific world geography! A SINGLE
country code (subdivided into carriers, so apparently no inter-carrier
portability of numbering, yet) for the entire global geography.

This document (in English) can be downloaded from:
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/02/02/T02020000650001MSWE.doc

The Spanish and French versions can be found from the main download
page for +870 at: http://www.itu.int/oth/T0202000065/en

This is part of the ITU's "National Numbering Plans", where the ITU
posts (MW-Word) doc files with information supplied by individual
carriers/telcos and national regulators/numbering assignment bodies,
etc. regarding national/domestic telephone numbering/dialing issues.
The main page for the ITU's "National Numbering Plans" is at:
http://www.itu.int/oth/Default.aspx?parent=T0202

The ITU's "International Numbering Resources" webpage is at:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/inr/index.html

At this page is a link to the (free) section of lists of "International
Country Codes",
http://www.itu.int/opb/publications.aspx?parent=T-SP&view=T-SP2
Click on the 'OB No.' (Operational Bulletin) for the particular list
desired, the OB to which the particular list-document issues is annexed
to.

Note that there are MORE specific list-documents that the ITU publishes,
but these apparently are only available for a fee, and are also part of
an annual subscription package to the semi-monthly Operational
Bulletin. ALL such "list-documents" from the ITU can be found at:
http://www.itu.int/opb/publications.aspx?parent=T-SP&view=T-SP1
but you will need to purchase them for download or use a username/
password -- even if the document is otherwise free from other download
pages, you will need a username/password if trying to download it from
this section -- but it does list ALL of the "list-documents" from the
ITU.

Finally....
Below is some of what I posed back on Sunday 24-February-2008, regarding
the 15-September-2007 edition and how it compared with and earlier one
from 15-October-2006....

These changes that I mention are still effective as of the 2009 edition
as well, and seem to be the most recent prominent changes or such
regarding the ITU assignments of E.164 Country Codes. I have also
inserted some new comments, interspersed with the quoted text of what
I originally posted just over a year ago.

BTW, there is one comparison between the September 2007 edition and the
current April 2009 edition... the 2-digit country codes (and also the
single digit +! NANP and +7 Russia/Kazakhstan country codes) are LEFT-
justified when listed numerically among all of the 3-digit country
codes! This, IMO, is how they SHOULD be listed as such, due to the
way you "dial" a number. The September 2007 list had such 2-digit (and
single-digit) country codes "right-justified", when listed numerically
among the 3-digit country codes.

But at least even on the September 2007 edition, the -digit (and
single-digit) codes were sorted numerically based on the FIRST (or only)
digit of the country code, something that wasn't always done in earlier
editions! Back then, +1 was followed by +7, then +20 and +27, then the
two-digit +3X codes for Europe, the +4X 2-digit European codes, +51
through +58, etc. (all remaining 2-digit codes numerically through +98
Iran), and then finally all three-digit codes numerically.

Also note that there is an alphabetical list by country or service/
function name, following the numerical listing.

mjc

---------------------------------------------------

> [...] the most recent available E.164 Telephone Country Code list is
> dated. The last one I downloaded, sometime in November 2006, was
> dated 15-October-2006. The one that is now at the ITU's website is
> dated 15-September-2007.
>
> Go to: http://www.itu.int/publ/T-SP-E.164D-2007/en
> and then select your prefered language (English, French, Spanish),
> and format (MS-Word .doc, or Adobe-Acrobat .pdf), for a free copy.
>
> Some changes/highlights:
>
> The eastern/southern Atlantic island group (UK) of Tristin-de-Cunha,
> is now listed with a Country Code, +290, shared from the UK island
> group of St.Helena, also in the eastern south Atlantic.
>
> Of course, Montenegro's +382, is now shown, separate from Serbia +381.
> But that change was shown in the Oct.2006 edition.

Also note that the Balkan area of Kosovo still doesn't have its own
country code, something that they have been wanting for some years now
as part of their fight for independence, which was discussed about a
year ago. If they do get their own country code, it would most likely
be +383 or maybe +384, since these are the only two +38X range codes
(after the old +38 Yugoslavia broke apart) which are still available
for assignment.

> +684 has been listed as "spare" for the past few years, now that
> American Samoa has migrated into the NANP +1 as NANP "area code" 684.
>
> There is still *NO* unique geographic/POTS ITU E.164 Country Code
> for Pitcairn. Of course, the few phone/faxes on Pitcairn do use
> Inmarsat service, currently with +872 for the Pacific, but all four
> of the geographic/Ocean-based Inmarsat Country Codes (+871 thru +874)
> are to be "folded into" the single +870 country code at some point.

The above info on +871 through +874 being "folded into" the single +870
has taken effect as mentioned above....

> And as for Pitcairn, I don't know if they would qualify for a unique
> geographic country code of their own. I *GUESS* that they could
> "share" from +690 Tokelau, similar to how Tristin now "shares" from
> St.Helena +290.
>
> And in addition to GMSS (Global Mobile Satellite Service) on +881
> which has been around for some years now, as well as +882 for
> "International Networks" also arund for several years, there is now
> ANOTHER "International Networks" 'country' code +883. More information
> on their "sub-assignment" can be found within the document, as well as
> at the ITU's (free) International Numbering Resources webpage:
> http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/inr/
> under "Universal Numbers" and "Miscellaneous Numbering Topics".
>
> +886 for Taiwan (China) began to be listed in the October 1996
> edition and is still listed this way. Previously, the ITU did NOT
> recognize the (nearly) universal/worldwide (unofficial) use of +886
> for Taiwan. Red China considers Taiwan to be in the '6...' range of
> its own +86 Country Code (i.e., +86-6...).
>
> +888 *USED* to be listed as "reserved for future global service",
> while +999 *USED* to be "reserved for future TDR, Telecom Services
> for Disaster Relief".
>
> This Sept.2007 list "swaps" the previous +888 and +999 reservations.
> +888 is now listed as (assigned to) TDR, while +999 is "reserved for
> future global service".

> +997 is still listed as SPARE, while +7 is still SHARED by BOTH
> Russia AND Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the only former Soviet Republic
> whch still "shares" from Russia's +7. Some of us have GUESSED that
> +997 will ultimately become a unique country code for Kazakhstan,
> similar to how all of the OTHER 13 former Soviet Republics have since
> broken off into their own unique telephone country codes throughout
> the 1990s-era, and the main "base" of Russia would retain +7.

But still at present, Kazakhstan is still sharing from Russia's +7,
Kazakhstan still not having their own unique country code, very likely
to be +997.

> +970 is still listed as "reserved", with a footnote for Palestine.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia@...
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

Earlier I wrote:

[ ... ]

> BTW, there is one comparison between the September 2007 edition and
> the current April 2009 edition... the 2-digit country codes (and also
> the single digit +! NANP and +7 Russia/Kazakhstan country codes) are
> LEFT-justified when listed numerically among all of the 3-digit
> country codes! This, IMO, is how they SHOULD be listed as such, due
> to the way you "dial" a number. The September 2007 list had such
> 2-digit (and single-digit) country codes "right-justified", when
> listed numerically among the 3-digit country codes.

I looked through even earlier editions of the ITU E.164 Telephone
Country Code List ... the 15-October-2006 edition does left-justify all
country code digits. However, the 01-January-2006 edition actually
CENTER-justifies the two-digit and single-digit country codes!

I don't think I systematically saved all editions prior to 2006, but I
did find some scattered ones from the late 1990s/early 2000s searching
my c-drive. Most back then had country codes listed center-justified,
but a few did left-justify them, and there were some which right-
justified the codes in the list.

> But at least even on the September 2007 edition, the two-digit (and
> single-digit) codes were sorted numerically based on the FIRST (or
> only) digit of the country code, something that wasn't always done in
> earlier editions! Back then, +1 was followed by +7, then +20 and +27,
> then the two-digit +3X codes for Europe, the +4X 2-digit European
> codes, +51 through +58, etc. (all remaining 2-digit codes numerically
> through +98 Iran), and then finally all three-digit codes numerically.

I didn't find any numerical lists from back then which didn't intermix
the single/only-digit country codes and 2-digit coutnry codes with the
3-digit codes, based on the leading digit (or only digit in the case of
single-digit codes). Everything started off with +1, then +20, then
+210 thru +269, then +27, then +280 thru +289 (the 28x range all
unassigned), etc.

However, I do remember seeing some lists in the past which did the
two single-digit codes first (+1 then +7), then the two-digit codes
next (+20, +27, +30/etc., +40/etc., +51/etc., etc), and then the
3-digit codes after that (+210/etc), in the numerical version of the
list....

> Also note that there is an alphabetical list by country or service/
> function name, following the numerical listing.

And in the alpha-sort version, older editions sometimes right-justified
the single and 2-digit country codes, sometimes center-justified those
codes, and  other times (properly) left-justified those codes. Whatever
justification was used for the numerical-sort version in any edition
was also the justification used in the alpha-sort version.

mjc

On Tuesday 28-April-2009, Neustar-NANPA issued Planning Letter #389,
http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_389.pdf
regarding the 256/938 area code overlay in northern and northeastern
Alabama.

Permissive Ten-Digit Intra-256 Local Dialing, where not already in
effect, is to be implemented no later than:
Saturday 07-November-2009

Mandatory Ten-Digit intra-256 Local Dialing Beginning:
Saturday 05-June-2010

(Intra-256 toll calls already require 10-digits, i.e., 256-nxx-xxxx,
but also require a mandatory 1+ before the ten-digits, 1+256-nxx-xxxx)

First New 938-NXX Geographic "POTS" (non-test) C.O.Codes Active:
Saturday 10-July-2010

Earliest (pre)Assignment of New 938-NXX C.O.Codes by NANPA's c.o.code
assignment body, to service providers who apply for such codes:
Sunday   10-January-2010

Test-Mumbers:
938-926-2222 (LATA 476 Birmingham AL LATA)
938-946-4444 (LATA 477 Huntsville AL LATA)
Both are at&t/BellSouth/South-Central-Bell Telco
start-date: Saturday 10-April-2010
end-date:   Tuesday  10-August-2010

*** The CLLIs/ratecenters for both test-numbers are still TBA ***

The bulk of NPAs 256/938 are
half of LATA 476 Birmingham AL/etc. and
most of LATA 477 Huntsville AL/etc.

at&t/BellSouth/South-Central-Bell is the dominant ILEC,
but also dominant are CenturyTel (one-time GTE and GTE-Contel),
TDS "Peoples' Telephone", and Windstream (one-time Alltel),
as well as several small local independent telcos.

Also in Alabama NPAs 256/938 are the following ratecenters associated
with adjacent states' LATAs:

- LATA 438 Atlanta GA
Fruithurst AL
Ranburne AL
  (NEITHER is contiguous w/r/t each other;
  both are contiguous with the Birmingham AL LATA 476;
  BOTH ARE 9417 at&t/BellSouth/Southern-Bell)
  (there are also seven other AL ratecenters, mostly independent,
  with NPA 334 in this LATA)

- LATA 472 Chattanooga TN
Bridgeport AL
Stevenson AL
  (both ARE contiguous w/r/t each other;
  both are contiguous with the Huntsville AL LATA 477,
  but could also be considered contiguous with the Birmingham AL LATA 476;
  BOTH ARE 9419 at&t/BellSouth/South-Central-Bell)

- LATA 470 Nashville TN
Francisco AL (9419 at&t/BellSouth/South-Central-Bell)
Ardmore-Limestone AL   (0280 Ardmore Tel.Co.)
Ardmore-Madison   AL   (0280 Ardmore Tel.Co.)
Veto AL      (9419 at&t/BellSouth/South-Central-Bell)
  (NONE are contiguous w/r/t each other with the exception of the two
  "Ardmore" ratecneters; all three are contiguous with the Huntsville AL
  LATA 477)

Mark J .Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA, pre-Katrina
==============================================================

The CRTC (Canada's version of the US' FCC) has approved an overlay
expansion of the existing 438 area code (which since 2006/07 has
overlaid the 514 area code in the immediate Montreal QC Metro area)
to also expand and overlay the 450 aera code which serves southwest
parts of Quebec outside of the immediate Montreal QC Metro area.

See Telecom Decision CRTC 2009-255 dated today Thursday 07-May-2009,
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-255.htm

In Fall 2006, the 438 area code officially overlaid the 514 area code
in the immediate Montreal QC Metro area, although there weren't any
assignments of new 438-NXX c.o.codes until Spring 2007, those first
geographic "POTS" 438-NXX c.o.codes actually becoming effective in
the network by Summer 2007. (It just happened that there were no
requests by any Canadian telecom service providers in that region for
any such 438-NXX c.o.codes until Spring/Summer 2007; there were still
several -- and probably still are even now -- 514-NXX c.o.codes that
could be assigned).

In Spring/Summer 2006, permissive 10-digit intra-home-NPA local
dialing was formally/officially introduced (if not already in effect)
within several Quebec area codes -- 514 (in preparation for the
upcoming 514/438 overlay), as well as in 450 and also the 819 NPAs,
and also the southeastern Ontario 613 NPA.

The 343 area code will overlay the 613 area code in southeastern
Ontario in Spring of 2010. Ten-digit dialing has been mandatory since
2006, so it won't be that much preparation to implement the 343
overlay.

And now, the 438 area code overlay (to 514) will also be applicable
in overlaying the 458 area code. New 438-NXX codes in overlay located
in the existing 450 area code region can take effect as early as
Saturday 23-October-2010. No additional 438 test-numbers would be
needed, since the 438 area code already exists in the network.

*IF* a separate and unique distinct new area code were needed to
overlay 450, it would have been 579. Anyhow, 579 IS BEING RESERVED
for the FUTURE overlay (in 2030 maybe?) to the entire 514/450/438
area code region. This region is the post-1957, pre-1998 514 area
code region -- 819 split from parts of 514 and 418 (the original
two Quebec area codes from 1947), in 1957. And then in 1998, the
450 area code split from 514.

"Super" overlays or "expanded" overlays are now becoming common in Canada!

In 2007/08, the 778 area code (which had overlaid 604 in mainland
southwestern BC since Fall 2001) was expanded to overlay ALL of 250
(which itself had split from 604 BC in Fall 2006), thus the 778 area
code now overlays the ENTIRE PROVINCE of British Columbia, overlaying
BOTH 604 AND 250, similar to how the entire province was ALL 604 prior
to the 604/250 split of 1996. (BTW, 236 is reserved for the FUTURE
overlay to all of BC -- 604, 250, 778)

In 2008, the 587 area code was introduced to overlay BOTH 403 (southern
third of Alberta) AND 780 (central and northern thirds of Alberta),
i.e., the new 587 area code overlaying the ENTIRE PROVINCE of Alberta,
similar to how the entire province was ALL 403 prior to the 403/780
split of 1999. (BTW, 825 is reserved for the FUTURE overlay to all of
Alberta -- 403, 780, 587).

And now, 438 which has overlaid 514 Montreal QC since 2006, will be
expanding in October 2010, to overlay 450 as well, i.e., the "pre-1998"
"514" region prior to the 514/458 split. (and 579 is reserved for the
FUTURE overlay to the entire 514/450/438 area code region).

There COULD be further overlay expansions (or what the telcos refer to
as a "boundary extension overlay"), such as relief for 705 in eastern/
northeastern Ontario could have 807 (western/northwestern Ontario)
expand to overlay... (807 split from 705 in early 1962).

And when 905/289 needs relief "soon", maybe this next overlay might
also be used to expand to overlay the 416/647 Toronto ON "City" area
code region in the next few years -- afterall, in 1993/94, 905 did
split from 416.

And last year's (2008) 581 overlay to 418 in eastern Quebec might also
expand to overlay 819 as well. Ten-digit dialing is already mandatory
in the 819 region since Fall 2006 as well, even though it isn't under
an overlay. But logically, 581 should also expand to overlay 819 as
well as currently overlaying 418.

I only wish that opportunities in the US for "super" overlays or
overlay expansions should have been utilized! Such as in eastern
Massachusetts, in Oregon, in Chicago Metro (at least a single 872/USA
area code will overlay BOTH 312 "The Loop" AND 773 "neighborhoods" in
the City of Chicago itself), and elsewhere. At least Dallas TX and
Houston TX have finally done it right... and whenever 564 will begin
to be implemented, western Washington State is doing it right!

There are several other examples in the US which were more-or-less
"done right", as well as NOT "done right"...

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

On Thursday 23 April 2009,
in "Dominican Republic Test Number WILL Be 849-222-9999",
I wrote:

[ ... ]

> 849 is still not yet opened up in any at&t/BellSouth local c.o.switch
> translations that I'm aware of. 849 is still NOT yet opened up in any
> AT&T-LL OSPS Operator/Card platform that I'm aware of. I doubt that
> any LD-carrier/IXC has yet opened up 849-222 for test-number, or
> 849-555 for routing to Directory/Information.

[ ... (see original text transferred further below) ]

> So, I guess we'll see how long before the various LECs/CLECs/WSPs,
> and IXCs/LD-carriers/etc. get 849 opened up, or 849-222 for the
> test-number (as well as 849-555 for Directory), in their networks.

Telcordia-TRA's numbering/routing documentation had 849-222 entered
into the BIRRDS database for the LERG/etc. in the second half of April,
with an "effective" date of (Saturday) 25-April-2009. The 849-555 code
for "Directory" in the Dominican Repbulic was also entered into the
TRA database, effective date being 01-July-2009.

at&t/BellSouth did get 849 opened up as a valid (new) area code in the
two local 1AESS central office switches here in Lafayette LA:

Vermillion 1AESS (LFYTLAVMCG0)
and the 1AEES at Lafayette Mail (LFYTLAMACG1).

There is also a Nortel DMS-100 co-located at "Main", -MADS0 / -MA0GT,
which provides dial-tone to SOME 337-NXX c.o.codes in the "Main" area
(these appear to be large companies which need ISDN functions; I have
not come across any payphones nor do I know of anyone with residential
service, served off any Main-DS0 DMS-100 337-NXX c.o.codes), and the
-0GT side is the LATA Tandem/TOPS function of this DMS-100...

AT&T-LL has opened up 849-222 in the 4ESS network, but I was only
getting a re-order or 4E vacant code recording on 1+ calls to
849-222-9999 or any other -xxxx line-number. I had wondered if maybe
the 4Es performing "Atlantic area" (including Caribbean/Latin America
routing) Overseas Gateway functions (one in White Plains NY, one in
New York City, one in Pittsburgh PA, one in Atlanta GA) might have
only been sending 7-digits on a trunk to the Dominican Republic, or
might not have yet updated their translations even to route down to
the Dominican Republic ...

AT&T-LL also still needs to get the 849 NPA opened up in all 5E-OSPS
Operator/Card platform switches (some 22 in the conterminous US, also
one in Honolulu HI 808-0T, and maybe still one in San Juan PR).


> I don't know how Codetel (no longer part of VZ/GTE) intends to
> handle the test-number.

On Thursday 07-May-2009, I finally was able to get SOMETHING other
than a re-order or 4ESS vacant code recording on 849-222-9999 (and
-xxxx) on a 1+ call via 0288 AT&T-LL.

> Four years ago, for 829-222-9999 test-number [...], after looking
> through some notes I had archived, it seems that "most of the time"
> during Summer/Fall 2005, when the 829 NPA was still in a testing
> phase (it wasn't until late in 2005 when the first 829-NXX "POTS"
> c.o.codes were assigned and activated), that the "best" I reached
> was a SUPERIVISNG (BILLING/CHARGING) condition on 829-222-9999,
> with a 1000-Cycle "milliwatt" tone!

THIS TOO is what I am NOW getting on 849-222-9999 when dialed 1+ via
0288 AT&T-LL! This 1000-Hz "milliwatt" tone on 849-222-9999 is also
returning billing supervision.

> It was on 829-222-xxxx (back in 2005) where the -xxxx line-number
> was NOT -9999, where I routed to (non-charging, non-suping)
> conditions, which were any of the following:
>
> - (1) a fast-busy (re-order) which seemed to come from the
> Dominican Republic, not from my own local c.o.switch or
> US-based IXC/LD-carrier.
>
> - (2) or a Spanish/(accented)-English recording from a local
> Dominican Republic female voice, indicating that my call could
> not be completed as dialed, etc. The branding of "verrr-EYE-zon"
> was given at the end of the recording. There was also some generic
> music playing during the recorded announcement.
> (There WAS a bi-lingual recording in the later 1990s, a local
> Dominican Republic-based man in Spanish who branded with Codetel
> at the end, followed by an American woman in (unaccented) English
> who also branded with Codetel, on Vacant Code conditions on
> non-existent 809 numbers, though, but that was NOT what I was
> getting back in 2005 on 829 afterall).
>
> - (3) or a female Spanish-only vacant code recording from
> *Centennial*, which is a wireless and CLEC provider in the
> Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. It was branded Centennial
> at the end. (It was NOT a bi-lingual recording, and it did NOT
> come from Tricom as I earlier had thought).

Presently, via AT&T-LL 0288, on 1+ calls, to 849-222-xxxx,
with a line-number OTHER than -9999, I am getting only ONE
type of condition -- AND FROM the Dominican Republic...

It does NOT return billing supervision! :)
and it is a Spanish/English "vacant code" condition. It does
NOT brand with Codetel, but it does seem to be one of their
recordings (remember that Verizon sold off Codetel a year or
two ago to some Tel-Mex investors; VZ inherited Codetel from
GTE in 2000 when VZ/BA bought out GTE/Contel; GTE had owned
Codetel for decades). The treatment is similar to the 2nd
condition indicated above on 829-222-xxxx from back in 2005.
It is the same female voice in Spanish and then heavily
accented English, but there is no background generic music
on the vacant announcement when I use 849-222-xxxx, and as
mentioned, she does NOT brand with VeriZon anymore, but not
even Codetel. It does start off with "SIT' tones though.

SO FAR, I have NOT routed to any Centennial or Tricom or any
other Dominican Republic CLEC/Wireless' vacant recordings on
849-222-xsxx (and using line-numbers OTHER than -9999), unlike
the occasional treatment back from Centennial on 829-222-xxxx
(back in 2005 when 829 was first overlaying 809).

And since 849 is now in my local at&t/BellSouth central office
switch translations, I have tried dialing to 849-222-xxxx
(other than -9999) via VZB/MCI 101-0222-1+ and US-Sprint
101-0333-1+. Back in 2005, using -xxxx (other than -9999) on
829-222-, I would also route to either reorder from the
Dominican Republic, or the VZ/Codetel vacant, or the Centennial
vacant treatments. But right now, MCI or Sprint don't seem to
have routings/translations opened up for the Dominican Republic
on 849-222- at present -- I am getting a VZB/MCI or Sprint vacant
code recording, or else SS7'd back to some re-order signal maybe
in my LATA tandem.

And as for the supervising/billing 1000-Hz milliwatt tone on
849-222-9999, I don't think that this is only "temporary", where
Codetel "might" eventually begin a Spanish/English "849 Validation"
type RECORDING on 849-222-9999 (even if it does supe/charge/bill).
Back in 2005, VZ/Codetel did NOT seem to eventually do the same
on 829-222-9999 -- even after I settled here in Lafayette post-
Katrina (late 2005), I only seem to remember getting a 1000-Hz tone
on 829-222-9999.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

Windstream will be buying the Denver & Ephrata Telephone & Telegraph
Company in southeastern Pennsylvania.

News items from D&E's and Windstream's websites. dated Monday 11-May-2009:

http://decommunications.com/about/news-events/press_displayer.php?id=186
http://www.windstream.com/about/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=118

Windstream is the 2006 merger of the legacy landline operations of
Alltel, and also Valor Communications which was created in 2000 from
those GTE and GTE-Contel properties which were still GTE in 2000 but
VeriZon (Bell Atlantic/NYNEX) chose not to retain in Oklahoma,
New Mexico, and SOME of Texas (including Texarkana TX and Ark; the
remainder of GTE and GTE-Contel that still existed in 2000 was not
retained by VZ but sold to CenturyTel). Note that there had been some
GTE and Contel in NM and OK that had been sold to others BEFORE VZ
(BA/NYNEX) took over what remained of GTE/Contel in 2000...

The wireless side of Alltel that remained known as Alltel since 2006
is currently being acquired by VeriZon Wireless with SOME Alltel
properties and even a few VZ-Wireless properties going to AT&T Mobility
(cingular); AT&T Mobility (Cingular) is acquiring Centennial Wireless
although SOME of Centennial's properites will be acquired by
VZ-Wireless.

Denver & Ephrata Tel & Tel (OCN 0165), HQ'd in Ephrata PA, is an
incumbent non-Bell local telco located in southeastern PA, NPA 717,
LATA 226 "Capital" PA. While it's own website still exists, their
history page is located at:
http://decommunications.com/about/company/history/

D&E also provides CLEC services, and is also in a joint-venture
providing wireless, both wireless and CLEC landline services provided
in various parts of Pennsylvania. It appears that both the CLEC and
the wireless operations of D&E will also be acquired by Windstream.

The ILEC side has the following 717-NXX codes, switch-CLLIs, and
ratecenters:

717-484 ....... ADTWPAXARS0 Adamstown PA
717-859 ....... AKRNPAXARS0 Akron PA
717-335,336 ... DNVRPAXDRS0 Denver PA
717-721,733,738 EPHRPAXEDS0 Ephrata PA
717-625,626,627 LITZPAXEDS0 Lititz PA
717-664,665 ... MANHPAXERS0 Manheim PA

Both "host" switches, the ones in Ephrata PA and Lititz PA, are
Nortel DMS-100s. The remotes would most likely also be Nortel remotes.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

For those who are NOT on the TCI/Yahoo:SingingWires group, you may or
may not yet have heard in the news on Wednesday 13-May-2009, that
VeriZon and Frontier have announced that a large amount of VZ landline
operations will be transferred to Frontier. This appears to be almost
all of the GTE/Contel that VZ has retained up until now, with the
exception of "most of California" (only that GTE and Contel in small
towns bordering AZ/NV/OR will be sold to Frontier), Texas, and Florida
will continue to be retained by VZ. And VZ is also transferring all of
its landlines in West Virginia to Frontier as well, which is yet
another legacy BOC state operation -- Bell Atlantic/C&P of West Va!

BTW, an interesting co-incidence regarding the fact that VZ (at least
at this time) intends on retaining legacy GTE (and Contel) in (most of)
California, as well as Texas and Florida, is these three states are the
"top" states in the number of area codes! California has roughly 30
area codes, Texas has roughly 25 area codes, and Florida about 17 area
codes. No other state/province/island/territory/jurisdiction/etc. in
the NANP tops even Florida in number of area codes.

Below is what I posted in reply to a thread on this, the thread
appearing in the TCI List/SingingWires Yahoo Group...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank Hansche wrote:

> Verizon is selling a large amount of their wireline business
> to Frontier.
>
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30721290/


Roger Conklin replied:

> This appears to include most of what had not already been
> sold off of the GTE properties acquired when GTE was merged
> into Bell Atlantic and the surviving corporation was renamed
> Verizon.
>
> The same thing has happened to the wire line business as what
> happened to the buggy whip business when the automobile became
> king.


Additional details (from Mark J. Cuccia):

I have seen some other news articles (Wall Street Journal, Reuters)
which were referenced from today's US Telecom Daily Lead, but they
didn't mention the *specific* states. These other articles indicated
that "14" states of VZ' landline operations would be sold to
Frontier. These other articles also indicated that Frontier presently
has landline ILEC operations in 27 states, and also that Frontier
already provide service in 11 of the 14 states that they will be
taking over one-time GTE and Contel from VeriZon.

This MS-NBC report lists the following 14 states of VeriZon where
the landline is being sold to Frontier:

Arizona
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
South Carolina
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
SOME assets in California

With the exception of West Virginia, all of the above states of
VeriZon are legacy GTE and Contel. NOT mentioned here are Texas and
Florida. Also not mentioned are Pennsylvania and Virginia -- there
had been legacy GTE (and Contel) in both states which have been more
easily absorbed into legacy Bell Atlantic (Bell of PA, C&P of VA)
when VZ's BA/NYNEX bought out GTE/Contel circa 2000.

I took a look at VeriZon's own press-release from their website:
http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2009/verizon-to-divest-wire\
line.html

West Virginia is also listed in VZ' own press release as one of the
states where VZ landline is to be sold to Frontier. Note that back in
the early 1990s, when GTE bought out Contel, almost immediately, and
throughout the 1990s, GTE sold out long-time legacy GTE as well as
one-time Contel in several states, mostly to CenturyTel, Citizens,
and Alltel, as well as others. (In a few cases, some one-time Alltel
was bought by GTE!). One of the first states that GTE sold off legacy
GTE and even Contel after just having bought Contel, was that of
West Virginia. Citizens, which is NOW known as Frontier, was the
telco which purchased GTE and Contel in West Virginia. So there is
NO one-time GTE and Contel in West Virginia anymore which VZ would
even own to now sell to Frontier. Thus, it appears that YET ANOTHER
BELL territory (VZ/BA/C&P-of-West Virginia) is being sold by VeriZon!
And ALSO along the lines of the recent VZ sale of legacy BOC NET&T
(VZ/BA/NYNEX/NET&T) upper states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, to
FairPoint, legacy Contel in those states was also sold in the mid-90s
by GTE to what has now become FairPoint, just like GTE sold off GTE
and Contel in West Virginia in the early 1990s to Citizens which is
now Frontier!

In the list of states to be sold off, I noted that Texas and Florida
are NOT mentioned. VeriZon's press release also has a list of states
(including DC) which they will RETAIN. West Virginia is NOT on the
list of states being retained by VZ.

The list of states being retained by VZ as shown in their own press
release include the ten states of Bell Atlantic/NYNEX (which does
include the District of Columbia) also includes Connecticut. VZ
(legacy BA/NYNEX/NYTel) serves Byram CT and Greenwich CT right at the
New York state line. The remainder of CT is at&t/SBC/Southern New
England Tel.

And the VZ press release does include Texas and Florida on the list
of states where VZ landline operations are being retained!

As for California, the VZ press release indicates that SMALL areas of
California which border AZ, NV, OR will be sold to Frontier -- these
seem to include both GTE and GTE-once-Contel. The VZ press release
includes "Most everything else" in California as being retained, which
includes large areas of legacy GTE including Contel.

Texas includes both GTE and GTE-once-Contel, but SOME one-time GTE
including Contel in Texas was sold by VZ in 2000 to the new Valor
Communications (along with all remaining GTE and Contel in Oklahoma
and New Mexico; and also both the Texas and Arkansas sides of
Texarkana -- other remaining GTE including Contel in Arkansas outside
of the Texarkana exchange area were sold to CenturyTel about that
time).

Valor merged with the landline operations that Alltel sold off in
2006, to form Windstream. (Alltel remained Wireless, and is being
taken over by VeriZon Wireless, although SOME Alltel Wireless and
even a few of VZ-Wireless' own properties will be taken over by
at&t-mobility/cingular; similarly, Centennial Wireless is being
taken over by at&t/cingular but a few Centennial operations will be
taken over by VZ-Wireless). But as for Valor, I seem to think that
when they were created circa 1999/2000, they FIRST took over a FEW
small independent telcos in Oklahoma and Texas, BEFORE taking over
those GTE (including Contel) exchanges in 2000 in Texas, Oklahoma,
New Mexico that VZ chose not to retain.

Florida would include legacy GTE operations in the Tampa/St.Petersburg
area. This is the ONLY General Telephone operations in Florida.

I am a bit surprised that VZ is selling off ALL of the five
"Ameritech" midwest states (OH, MI, IN, IL, WI). They have already
sold SOME legacy GTE (including Contel) exchanges in these states to
Citizens and Frontier in recent years, but now to exit these states
ENTIRELY? There are some decent sized cities that GTE (and Contel)
had served in these states. However, in early 2006, when VZ announced
that they were shopping for a buyer to sell off legacy BOC
New England Tel & Tel for ME/NH/VT (VZ would retain NET&T in MA and
RI though), they ALSO announced that they were shopping for a buyer
to purchase all legacy GTE (including Contel and even some one-time
Alltel that GTE inherited) in those five "Ameritech" midwest states.
But shortly after the effective date of sale of legacy VZ BOC NET&T
in ME/NH/VT to FairPoint in Spring 2008, VeriZon stated that they had
NO plans to do any such further massive sell-offs of legacy landline
ILEC exchange territory. But now they are selling off just about ALL
GTE (including Contel) that they have still held on to through now,
as well as and entire BOC state, legacy BOC VZ/BA/C&P-of-West-Virginia!

And Washington State? GTE has been rather dominant in the Seattle WA/
Puget Sound area, alongside the BOC Pacific Tel & Tel/Pacific NW Bell/
US-West/Qwest-LEC. This is NOT a rural area!

And while BOC at&t/BellSouth is the larger ILEC in North Carolina,
especially Raleigh, in the Raleigh/Durham/Research Triangle Park NC
area, GTE has had operations. (Of course, with Nortel failing, maybe
VZ wants to sell off legacy GTE in the Raleigh/Durham/RTC area as
well?)

Frontier's website has a couple of press releases... these are pdf
file, and I haven't downloaded them yet to see exactly what they
state.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzM3NTc3fENoaWxkSUQ9M\
zIyMTk2fFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzM3NTc4fENoaWxkSUQ9M\
zIyMTk3fFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1

These are actually two different URLs and are most likely two
different documents.

Some news reports indicate that Frontier already has landline
operations in 27 states. These seem to be:
NY, PA, WV, OH, MI, IN, IL, WI, GA, FL, TN, AL, MS, KS,
IA, MN, ND, SD, NE, MT, ID, UT, AZ, NM, OR, CA, NV

Frontier seems to be quite a "mish-mash" of former telcos.

Rochester NY's legacy independent ILEC telco Rochester Tel, as well as
Citizens seem to be the two main "cornerstones" of what is now known
as Frontier.

There have been numerous other local independents which were taken
over by Citizens and Frontier over the past 20-some years. Navajo Tel
in northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah,
was taken over by Citizens (now Frontier) about 10 years ago. And
there have been other local independents taken over by
Citizens/Frontier as well.

And Frontier or Citizens had been buying out legacy GTE including
Contel that GTE or later VZ chose not to retain during the 1990s and
early 2000s. In some cases, entire states of legacy GTE including
Contel were sold to Citizens or Frontier, but sometimes only selected
GTE including one-time Contel exchanges in a given state were sold by
GTE or VZ to Frontier.

Rochester Tel in Rochester NY merged with Frontier Long Distance, a
competitive LD provider (10-444 later 101-0444) which had previously
been known as Allnet (not to be confused with Alltel). Rochester Tel
also had been reselling a competitive LD service, RCI (Rochester
Communications Inc) as well. Then, the LD side of Frontier was sold
to Global Crossing, a company based in the (once British colony)
Atlantic island of Bermuda. And then Citizens was merged in, but then
the Citizens/Frontier side parted company with Global Crossing. The
IXC/LD-side which was Allnet/Frontier/Global Crossing was retained by
Global Crossing, although there still seem to be SOME "residual
relations" between Citizens/Frontier and Global Crossing LD.

WHAT'S NEXT!?
Where/when will it all end?

at&t/SBC/etc. seems to be RE-CONSOLIDATING the former members of the
Bell System to a great extent (although Alcatel-Lucent, formerly
Western Electric is still separate, along with BA/NYNEX,
Qwest/US-West, and now ME/NH/VT FairPoint and soon WV C&P side of
Frontier). But VeriZon is DUMPING entire legacy BOC states! And while
GTE was selling off exchanges or entire states of GTE and even Contel
during the 1990s, only shortly after having taken over Contel in the
early 1990s, it seems that VeriZon is completely dismembered what has
remained of GTE (and Contel), only about ten years after BA/NYNEX
took over (remaining) GTE/Contel in 2000!

VZ has completely sold off or withdrawn from ALL non-CONUS operations
of GTE...

GTE's dozen or so exchange areas in Alaska was sold off to a handful
of about six long-time local Alaskan telcos in 2000.

GTE Hawaiian Telephone was sold off by VeriZon in May 2005 to the
Carlyle Group, and is now known as Hawaiian Telcom. GTE bought Mutual
Telephone Company of Hawaii around 1966, although Mutual Tel of Hawaii
had probably been buying AE equipment for many years before that.

GTE's operations in Saipan/etc. which dates back to GTE's involvement
in 1995, was inherited by VZ, but sold off by them circa Sept.2005
to a Philippine-based Pacific Telecom Inc (not to be confused with
the US West-Coast/Mountain/Mid-West/Alaskan PTI which was mostly
taken over by CenturyTel in 1997).

GTE's operations in the NANP-Caribbean were inherited by VeriZon in
2000. In 1995, GTE began to buy into legacy Puerto Rico Telephone Co,
which in more recent times has been held by the commonwealth
government of Puerto Rico. (Much of it was old ITT PRTC though).
GTE's Codetel in the Dominican Republic was go back a LONG time
though. But within the past few years, VZ sold off all of its legacy
GTE holdings in both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have been
sold off to a group of investors associated with Telefonos de Mexico,
although I still think that the Puerto Rico commonwealth government
still has some interest in PRTC.

GTE's operations in Canada -- GTE had been involved with British
Columbia Tel Co for decades, and BCTel had been buying from AE of
Canada for many years before that as well. BCTel was dominant in MOST
(though not all) of BC -- there have been other ILECs in BC as well.
GTE also bought Quebec Telephone in 1967. QuebecTel is in eastern
Quebec, although Bell Canada serves most of the rest of Quebec. In
the late 1990s, GTE's BCTel and Alberta's Telus (AGT and EdTel)
merged. GTE owned a small minority now in the "combined" Telus. When
BA/NYNEX bought GTE/Contel in 2000 to form VZ, there was a
re-organization of QuebecTel, Telus, and GTE/VZ. QuebecTel would now
become part of Telus, and VZ would own a small minority of the
"larger" combined Telus (eastern QC, Alberta, most of BC). By the end
of 2004, Telus bought out all of VZ' shares of Canada's Telus, thus
ending ALL legacy GTE in BC or Quebec (as well as Alberta).

And finally, regarding VZ' sell-offs of legacy BOC territory...
in early 2004, VZ announced that they wanted to sell off legacy GTE
Hawaiian Telephone (which took effect in May 2005), and also they
wanted to sell off all of legacy BOC New York Telephone in virtually
all of New York State -- it seems that VZ would have retained ONLY
LATA 132, New York City Metro (NYC, Nassau County, Suffolk County
(except for Fishers' Island independent telco), Westchester County,
Putnam County, and PARTS of Rockland County & Orange County; I assume
that Byram CT and Greenwich CT would have been retained if VZ was
actually able to find a buyer to take-over the "rest" of NY State).
I don't think that any potential buyer came forward, and I also think
that VZ would probably have run into problems with the NY State
Public Service Commission if did find a potential buyer for NYTel
outside of the NYCity LATA 132 itself.

So, could the sell-off of legacy NYTel in New York State (outside of
the New York City Metro LATA #132) still be on VeriZon's agenda?
Could the sale of yet ANOTHER legacy BOC state of legacy
Bell Atlantic be next? And if VZ is retaining legacy GTE (including
Contel) is being retained for MOST of California, what they still
hold of GTE (and Contel) in Texas, as well as GTE in the Tampa Bay
area in Florida, does VZ have any future plans to sell these off as
well at a later date?

What could be next?

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina
========================================================================

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/05/28/five-things-\
you-should-know-about-toronto-s-dwindling-supply-of-phone-numbers.aspx

[My comments follow the article]

The GTA is fast running out of phone numbers. The Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission estimates people in the 905 and 289 area codes,
which run from Niagara to Oshawa, will run out of phone numbers by 2014. The
CRTC must now find some new numbers. National Post reporter Emily Senger gives
you five things you should know about GTA area codes :

1. The Toronto area's original area code was 416, with the suburbs splitting off
into the 905 area code in 1993. Since then, "416" and "905" have been adopted as
shorthand to describe the split between urban, 416, and suburban, 905.
Politicians often talk about "winning over the 905" when they are talking about
courting the suburban GTA vote, and "in the 416" means downtown.

2. After the 416/905 split, there was an explosion of people who required
additional numbers for cellphones, fax machines, pagers and dial-up Internet.
The Canadian Numbering Administrator, a body of government and industry
representatives, added the 289 area code to the 905-region and the 647 area code
to the 416-region in 2001 to meet this growing need.

3. New cellphone companies buy blocks of 10,000 numbers. The number of new
cellphone companies in the GTA has helped create the number shortage. These
cellphone users usually get a 647, because those are mostly owned by cell
providers.

4. According to CRTC spokesperson Denis Carmel, a CRTC committee will figure out
how to best address the impending number shortage. Two possibilities include a
new geographical split, or adding a new area code to the same region —called an
overlay. The committee will come up with a plan by the end of this year, and
will begin adding new numbers or changing area code boundaries by 2013, with
full implementation by February, 2014. "There's lots of time," Mr. Carmel said.

5. If the Canadian Number Administrator adds a new overlay area code to the 905
and 289 already in the GTA, this would be the first region in Canada to have
three area codes.

--

Comments:

1. "The 905" as a political term does NOT include areas of 905/289 that are
distant from Toronto, such as Hamilton and the Niagara Peninsula.

2. In recent years, with the growth of cell phones and high-speed Internet and
the corresponding decline of separate lines for dial-up, pager and fax, most of
the new numbers have been for cell phones and VoIP lines.

3. What new cell phone companies? Most of the new entrants to the cell phone
market have barely got off the ground within the past year, so it's unfair to
blame them for using up all the numbers. The existing providers (Bell, Telus,
Rogers, and their MVNOs) account for most of the growth.

Also, most of the cell phone numbers in the GTA are in 416/647 because Toronto
has the largest local calling area.

4. Splitting an area like 905/289 that already has overlays in place makes no
sense at all. This would completely defeat the purpose of having the overlay in
the first place - namely, to avoid having to change existing numbers. As I see
it, the choice comes down to an overlay on existing 905/289 only, or an overlay
that will cover the existing 416/647/905/289 areas (i.e., the pre-1993 area code
416).

5. Since the GTA already has four area codes, this statement is incorrect. They
presume that only 905/289 will be overlaid.

From Toronto, all of 416/647, much of 905/289, and two prefixes in 519 (Caledon
316 and 927) are local calls.

-r

> 1. "The 905" as a political term does NOT include areas of 905/289
that are distant from        > Toronto, such as Hamilton and the Niagara
Peninsula.

Very true, though there are exceptions.  When refusing to the music
scene and such, 905 encompasses Hamilton and Niagara as well.
Politically, it's just the GTA.  Also, when referring to "The 416" they
are NOT referring to just Downtown Toronto, they are referring to
anything in Toronto proper and postal codes that start with an M.  There
are suburban areas of North York and Scarborough that are very much part
of "The 416" which not anywhere near downtown.

> 2. In recent years, with the growth of cell phones and high-speed
Internet and the corresponding > decline of separate lines for dial-up,
pager and fax, most of the new numbers have been for cell > phones and
VoIP lines.

Most, but in the case of 289 there are now ILEC prefixes here.  My
mother's landline in Niagara Falls is a 289 number, for example, albeit
it's a CLEC.  Both my cell phone and VoIP line are 289s as well.

The most interesting thing is that the majority of NXX growth is in 289,
not 647.  647, as already indicated, has primarily turned into a cell
phone NPA.  With 289 things are much different.  You've got cell
prefixes, CLEC prefixes and even ILEC prefixes all in the NPA, and it's
growing much faster than 647.

My bet is that when it comes time to overlay again in a few years, it'll
be two new NPAs overlaying existing boundaries.  905/289 will get
overlaid with a third NPA first due to the speed of growth, and 416/647
will be overlaid later, possibly as many as 3-5 years later.  Based on
growth patterns, it would be absolutely foolish to attempt a single NPA
to overlay the entire 905/289/416/647 area, as you'd then need a sixth
NPA in no time and you'd kill the social boundary that has existed for
close to two decades.

--- In local-calling-guide@yahoogroups.com, "Nick Dubanow" <nick@...> wrote:
> Most, but in the case of 289 there are now ILEC prefixes here.  My
> mother's landline in Niagara Falls is a 289 number, for example, albeit
> it's a CLEC.  Both my cell phone and VoIP line are 289s as well.
>
> The most interesting thing is that the majority of NXX growth is in 289,
> not 647.  647, as already indicated, has primarily turned into a cell
> phone NPA.  With 289 things are much different.  You've got cell
> prefixes, CLEC prefixes and even ILEC prefixes all in the NPA, and it's
> growing much faster than 647.

There are several reasons for this. As noted, most GTA cell phone users have
416/647 numbers to take advantage of wider local calling areas, so there are
very few cell phone prefixes in 905/289 areas local to Toronto. Also, since
there are many rate centres in 905/289, all with different wireline local
calling scopes, any telco that wishes to set up shop there will usually need
multiple prefixes (where in Toronto they'd start off with one or two).

Some of those rate centres could be consolidated; my favourite example of this
is Mississauga, which has five rate centres to serve a population of less than a
million. I don't know whether there has been any move toward thousands-block
pooling as in the US, but that would probably do more than anything else to
reduce the proliferation of area codes.

On May 29, 2009, at 06:34, czg7777 wrote:

> 3. New cellphone companies buy blocks of 10,000 numbers. The number
> of new cellphone companies in the GTA has helped create the number
> shortage. These cellphone users usually get a 647, because those are
> mostly owned by cell providers.

First of all I'd like to know who the "new" cellphone companies are.
To my knowledge you still have the major players i.e. ROGERS, Bell
Mobility and Telus Mobility.  The MVNO's use one of these companies
for their infrastructure.

Second, are Canadian telco entities not required to be issued
numbering space in 1,000 number blocks rather than 10,000?

On Fri, 5/29/09, joseph at jsinger dot org wrote:

> On May 29, 2009, at 06:34, czg7777 wrote:

>> 3. New cellphone companies buy blocks of 10,000 numbers. The number 
>> of new cellphone companies in the GTA has helped create the number 
>> shortage. These cellphone users usually get a 647, because those
>> are mostly owned by cell providers.

> First of all I'd like to know who the "new" cellphone companies are.
> To my knowledge you still have the major players i.e. ROGERS, Bell
> Mobility and Telus Mobility.  The MVNO's use one of these companies
> for their infrastructure.
>
> Second, are Canadian telco entities not required to be issued 
> numbering space in 1,000 number blocks rather than 10,000?


NO!

Canada does NOT do 1K-block assignments. The CRTC and Canadian telco
industry never did implement this. ONLY the US does this (within the
NANP), and even then, it isn't "everywhere". Certain ratecenters or
service providers are exempt from doing 1K-block assignments, certain
ratecenters/carriers are optional, and certain ones are MANDATORY.

Also, even where 1K-block assignments COULD be done, and in theory
would be in effect, if you only have one or two service providers in
a ratecenter (i.e., in small towns and rural areas), would extensive
1K-block assignments across a region REALLY do anything to help
conserve the existing base area code?!

Ratecenter CONSOLIDATION is something that CAN help, but it has to be
prepared for in advance. It may require expanded local calling
arrangements in advance or at least effective simultaneously with
ratecenter consolidation, and it might involve some form of re-education
since the NPA-NXX codes will now be associated on bills/etc. with a
(new) single large ratecenter area. This might also involve some special
treatment of 911 type calls if there are multiple government
jurisdictions in the larger ratecenter. And if EAS/local calling is
expanded for effective ratecenter consolidation, then the service
providers may be concerned about a loss of toll revenue that was
previously realized.

But both 1K-block assignments WITH ratecenter consolidation need to be
used TOGETHER for truly efficient number/code conservation... fringe
areas with few service providers in a ratecenter could be consolidated
with other fringe area ratecenters, or together with the "core"
ratecenter(s), along with 1K-assignments, and then both become truly
effective.

But at this time, Canada does NOT do 1K-block assignments.

And the non-US NANP-Caribbean doesn't as well.

Canada DOES have number portability depending on the technical
limitations of certain rural central offices... both landline and
wireless portability, and probably inter-modal as well. But Bell Canada
will NOT allow a port between c.o.switches if one moves, even if that
move is within the same ratecenter area. Of course, one could port
their number to Rogers, then move across town to a different Bell
Canada switch area, but still wtihin the same ratecenter area, and
Rogers won't have a problem with the move to a new location (within the
same ratecenter) since they have fewer switches serving larger areas,
and then at a later date one could port-back to Ball Canada, and they
would HAVE to take you back with that number.

I think Telus will allow a intra-Telus port between different c.o.switch
regions yet within the same ratecenter area...

In the US, some ILECs with multiple switches in a ratecenter WILL allow
such a port, but other ILECs will NOT allow a "direct" port.

IMO, the FCC and CRTC should REQUIRE such porting!

mjc

The KY-PSC has yet again postponed the Kentucky 270/364 area code
split in western Kentucky.

Back in May 2007 (two years ago), the KY-PSC indicated that this
area code split would have taken effect in April 2008 permissive,
October 2008 mandatory (which was last year!). But in mid-June-2007,
shortly after  making that May 2007 announcement, the KY-PSC postponed
permissive dialing to October 2008, and indicated that the date for
mandatory dialing was now TBD.

There have been several subsequent announcements from the KY-PSC
postponing it further, and the latest Neustar-NANPA Planning Letter
so far, PL #376 of 11-April-2008 indicates permissive dialing would
begin on Sunday 28-March-2010, mandatory dialing still TBD.

The KY-PSC's order of that time indicates that permissive was to
start "no later than" Thursday 01-April-2010, but did permit the
telco industry to begin permissive dialing earlier, such as over
a weekend that wasn't a major holiday weekend.

This most recent announcement from the KY-PSC, in a press release
and in an order, both dated today, Tuesday 02-June-2009, indicate
the new permissive dialing date for Sunday 01-January-2012,
mandatory date is still TBD. However, in the order, the KY-PSC does
mention that the telco industry can have the 364 split from 270
opened up in the network/etc. on a weekend prior to the holiday
weekends -- that permissive dialing must be in effect "no later than"
01-Jan-2012.

The latest KY-PSC press release can be downloaded from:
http://psc.ky.gov/agencies/psc/press/062009%5C0602_r01.PDF

The latest KY-PSC order can be downloaded from:
http://www.psc.ky.gov/pscscf/2006%20cases/2006-00357/20090602_PSC_ORDER.PDF

This area code relief, the 270/364 split, is the only known current
pending split. Everything else pending in the US, Canada, or in the
NANP-Caribbean regarding a new area code is for an overlay. I do hope
that by the time 270 needs relief with the 364 area code, whether it
will be 2012 or even later, that either the KY-PSC will reverse its
current split decision in favor of an overlay, or else that the FCC
will pre-empt ALL splits, and order overlays as the only method of
area code relief in the US -- including mandatory ten-digit dialing
for local calls in all locations.

There have been at least three Planning Letters from Neustar-NANPA
regarding this 270/364 Kentucky area code split. The very first one,
PL #365 from 30-July-2007, referenced one of the older intended dates
for permissive dialing, that of Tuesday 01-July-2008, a date which
has already taken place! ... and mandatory dialing was also shown as
TBD in that Planning Letter. But so far, this is the only Neustar
NANPA Planning Letter for the KY 270/364 area code split which has a
map of the affected area, as well as a list of ratecenters splitting
from 270 changing to 364, and ratecenters retaining 364. ALso included
in the first Planning Letter is a list of central office NXX codes
(assigned at the time of publication of the Planning Letter) which
would retain the 270 NPA and which would change to the 364 NPA.

That original Neustar-NANPA Planning Letter, #365 of 30-July-2007,
which has the map and the list of ratecenters (and NXX c.o.codes)
can be downloaded from: http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_365.pdf

270 is most of the western half of Kentucky, and if the 270/364
split does indeed take effect as has been intended by the KY-PSC,
the far-western half of existing 270 will split and change to 364.

Henderson, Madisonville, and Paducah KY are some of the locations
which would change from 270 to 364. Bowling Green and Owensboro KY
are two locations which would retain the 270 area code.

There already are news/press/media reports at radio/TV/newspaper/etc
websites regarding today's KY-PSC decision to postpone permissive
dialing from March/April 2010 to January 2012 (or maybe it will be
Nov/Dec 2011, at least within the telephone switching networks).

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

Well, this IS KY.
Even the much maligned WV has come to their senses, but after all they
DID re-elect Mitch McConnell.

Lets all hope the FCC will step up and do the right thing.
Personally I think it is insane these numbering plan changes are up to
the state PUC's.

But no one asked me!

John Novack




markjcuccia@... wrote:
> The KY-PSC has yet again postponed the Kentucky 270/364 area code
> split in western Kentucky.
>
> Back in May 2007 (two years ago), the KY-PSC indicated that this
> area code split would have taken effect in April 2008 permissive,
> October 2008 mandatory (which was last year!). But in mid-June-2007,
> shortly after  making that May 2007 announcement, the KY-PSC postponed
> permissive dialing to October 2008, and indicated that the date for
> mandatory dialing was now TBD.
>
> There have been several subsequent announcements from the KY-PSC
> postponing it further, and the latest Neustar-NANPA Planning Letter
> so far, PL #376 of 11-April-2008 indicates permissive dialing would
> begin on Sunday 28-March-2010, mandatory dialing still TBD.
>
> The KY-PSC's order of that time indicates that permissive was to
> start "no later than" Thursday 01-April-2010, but did permit the
> telco industry to begin permissive dialing earlier, such as over
> a weekend that wasn't a major holiday weekend.
>
> This most recent announcement from the KY-PSC, in a press release
> and in an order, both dated today, Tuesday 02-June-2009, indicate
> the new permissive dialing date for Sunday 01-January-2012,
> mandatory date is still TBD. However, in the order, the KY-PSC does
> mention that the telco industry can have the 364 split from 270
> opened up in the network/etc. on a weekend prior to the holiday
> weekends -- that permissive dialing must be in effect "no later than"
> 01-Jan-2012.
>
> The latest KY-PSC press release can be downloaded from:
> http://psc.ky.gov/agencies/psc/press/062009%5C0602_r01.PDF
>
> The latest KY-PSC order can be downloaded from:
> http://www.psc.ky.gov/pscscf/2006%20cases/2006-00357/20090602_PSC_ORDER.PDF
>
> This area code relief, the 270/364 split, is the only known current
> pending split. Everything else pending in the US, Canada, or in the
> NANP-Caribbean regarding a new area code is for an overlay. I do hope
> that by the time 270 needs relief with the 364 area code, whether it
> will be 2012 or even later, that either the KY-PSC will reverse its
> current split decision in favor of an overlay, or else that the FCC
> will pre-empt ALL splits, and order overlays as the only method of
> area code relief in the US -- including mandatory ten-digit dialing
> for local calls in all locations.
>
> There have been at least three Planning Letters from Neustar-NANPA
> regarding this 270/364 Kentucky area code split. The very first one,
> PL #365 from 30-July-2007, referenced one of the older intended dates
> for permissive dialing, that of Tuesday 01-July-2008, a date which
> has already taken place! ... and mandatory dialing was also shown as
> TBD in that Planning Letter. But so far, this is the only Neustar
> NANPA Planning Letter for the KY 270/364 area code split which has a
> map of the affected area, as well as a list of ratecenters splitting
> from 270 changing to 364, and ratecenters retaining 364. ALso included
> in the first Planning Letter is a list of central office NXX codes
> (assigned at the time of publication of the Planning Letter) which
> would retain the 270 NPA and which would change to the 364 NPA.
>
> That original Neustar-NANPA Planning Letter, #365 of 30-July-2007,
> which has the map and the list of ratecenters (and NXX c.o.codes)
> can be downloaded from: http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_365.pdf
>
> 270 is most of the western half of Kentucky, and if the 270/364
> split does indeed take effect as has been intended by the KY-PSC,
> the far-western half of existing 270 will split and change to 364.
>
> Henderson, Madisonville, and Paducah KY are some of the locations
> which would change from 270 to 364. Bowling Green and Owensboro KY
> are two locations which would retain the 270 area code.
>
> There already are news/press/media reports at radio/TV/newspaper/etc
> websites regarding today's KY-PSC decision to postpone permissive
> dialing from March/April 2010 to January 2012 (or maybe it will be
> Nov/Dec 2011, at least within the telephone switching networks).
>
> Mark J. Cuccia
> markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
> Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Make plans now for the TCI Lancaster, PA Show - June 5-6, 2009
> Go to http://www.telephonecollectors.org/events/events.htm for information.
>
> TCI Picture Place: http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/
> *Since many of our members do not have a Yahoo account, this is the best place
to post photos where everyone can see them.*
>  (Picture posting pass-word: tciphotos )
>   No pass-word is required to see the pictures.
>
> Group web page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/singingwires
> The TCI web site is at http://www.telephonecollectors.org
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

--
Dog is my co-pilot



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Tue, 6/2/09, John Novack <novackster at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, this IS KY. Even the much maligned WV has come to their senses,
> but after all they DID re-elect Mitch McConnell.
>
> Lets all hope the FCC will step up and do the right thing.
> Personally I think it is insane these numbering plan changes are up
> to the state PUC's. But no one asked me!

nor was I asked, neither...

At least in Canada, the only regulatory authority regarding area code
relief is on the national level, the CRTC. The Provinces (with the
possible exception of Saskatchewan) NO LONGER have ANY regulatory
authority over telecom issues. And I like the way Canada recently is
not only doing overlays, but "super" overlays and "expanded" overlays!

Regarding Kentucky...

In Summer/Fall 1998, the KY-PSC approved an OVERLAY of the old 502
(all of western KY) with 270. (At that time, 606 covered all of
eastern KY... the 606/859 split had not yet taken place). But in early
sometime in late 1998 or early 1999, the KY-PSC cancelled the overlay
and ordered the 502/270 split. There WAS a precedent for an overlay in
Kentucky ten years ago -- it would have been nice if it were carried
through!

and as for the FCC... right now, there is nothing "before" the FCC
requesting them to intervene in this pending split. There was nothing
put forth before the FCC two/three years ago to prevent the New Mexico
505/575 split (to turn it into an overlay).

And the state regulatory agencies DO have authority over area code
relief in their respective states per the 1996 Telecom Act, as much as
I would have preferred the FCC to simply allow the telco industry to
do overlays, etc. I don't know offhand right now how MUCH authority
the FCC has to over-rule or pre-empt state agencies when necessary,
especially when it comes to something like area code relief. But I do
hope that SOMETHING can be done between now and Jan.2012 (well over two
years away) when the 270/364 KY split is NOW intended to take effect
permissive. And it could be postponed yet further.

And as for OTHER area code relief projects still to be determined by
the state authorities, I tend to think that Nebraska's 402 / ?531?
relief will be an overlay ... the New York State 315 / ?680? relief
could be an overlay (but there's still a chance that the NY-PSC could
go with a split), and the relief planning in Oklahoma (918) and
Arkansas (870) might also be overlays -- the majority of the service
providers are pro-overlay (although some SMALL rural independent telcos
are wnating a split), so even there, the trend might be overlay, but
you never know.

Three area code overlays which already took effect earlier this year
were originally intended to be splits, but later changed to overlay.
And one of the pending area code overlays later this year was also
originally planned as a split, but changed to an overlay:

304/681 West Virginia, which was initially ordered as a split
(announced in Jan.2008), but two weeks later (Feb.2009) was changed
to be an overlay. This overlay has become official as of March/April
2009.

801/385 Utah, which was initially ordered as a split (announced in
early 2000) to be permissive in Dec.2000, but was postponed numerous
times by the UT-PSC. The last intended effective dates was for
permissive in March 2005, mandatory in Sept.2005, but in 2004, the
UT-PSC postponed it yet again during 2004, to "TBD" dates. In 2007,
the telcos were able to convince the UT-PSC to order an OVERLAY in
the Salt Lake City metro area, which was official as of March/April
2009. (In late 2008, a newly appointed state legislator, to fill the
unexpired term of another former legislator tried to force legislation
through to cancel this 801/385 overlay and any future overlay in Utah.
His proposed bill was in committee during early 2009 when the current
overlay and ten-digit mandatory dialing became effective).

818/747 California -- this was announced as by the CA-PUC and NANPA
back in 1999 that it would be a SPLIT at some future TBD date, where
the southwesternmost communities in the San Fernando Valley area would
split to 747, while the remainder of 818 would retain 818. This
proposed split just "sat" out there until 2006/07, when 818/747 relief
appeared necessary in the next few years. And after industry/regulatory
meetings and public hearings, etc., it was determined that 818/747
would be an overlay instead, and this overlay has since taken effect
as of last month (May 2009).

And later this year, there will be the 760/442 overlay in eastern and
southeastern California. It was originally planned as a split for 2000,
and then put on hold. In 2006/07, relief planning was resumed, and it
was determined for the same split to take effect in late 2008/early
2009. But after large scale vocal grass roots efforts by those in the
San Diego CA suburbs who would have been required to change to 442
(with the remainder of eastern/southeastern California retaining 760),
the grass-roots effort to have an overlay instead of a split, the
CA-PUC cancelled the split and instead ordered an overlay, to take
effect later this year, Fall 2009.

And all other recent area code relief for next year, etc., so far, is
to be overlays -- the state agencies have approved overlays for:
Oregon (outside of the northeastern corner) 541/458, northern Alabama
256/938, northern Wisconsin 715/534, eastern Wisconsin 920/274, etc.
And other area code relief plans which were intended to be splits,
such as the additional 849 overlay to the Dominican Republic's 809 and
829 (already in overlay), the Chicago 872 overlay to both 312 & 773
(approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission back in 1998, to take
effect at some TBD future date), and the 203/475 overlay in Connecticut
which was originally planned for 2000/01.

Hopefully, the overlay trend WILL continue uninterrupted, and the
KY 270/364 relief will eventually be changed from a split to an overlay
with all of the overlay precedent, especially if the Kentucky relief
date keeps getting pushed further out into the future.

mjc

On Wednesday 03-June-2009, the new name for the merged CenturyTel and
Embarq (old Sprint United and Centel) ILECs was announced:
CenturyLink.

All of the state regulatory agencies necessary have finally approved
the merger, and now only federal approval (FCC) is still needed.

And now on Wednesday, they announced the new name of CenturyLink.

It's logo will be simple block letters, the C and L being cap'd.
Century is in a medium gray and Link is in black. The logo itself
is a ring of alternating light and dark green "tabs", and sort of
resembles to SOME degree, BP-Amoco's British Petroleum logo.

I don't know if they will consolidate the various OCNs (Operating
Company Numbers) as used in NECA, Neustar-NANPA, and Telcordia-TRA
numbering/routing/network/rating/etc. documents... CenturyTel has
preserved different OCNs for the numerous ILECs they have taken over
throughout the years, including different ratecenters of GTE and
Contel at various times. There are several operating company names
and numbers for CenturyTel in Louisiana depending on which particular
part of GTE or Contel it was prior to the 1970s! And each successive
local telco that CenturyTel took over has a unique OCN!

CenturyLink might have a rather "hi-tech" type of name rather than a
more "down to earth" one, but it still isn't a "goofy" sounding name
like VeriZon, Embarq, Cingular, Qwest, Broadwing, Windstream, etc! LOL!

The corporate HQ will be in CenturyTel's legacy HQ of Monroe LA, in the
northern part of the state where CenturyTel's legacy operating area
originated, although Monroe LA itself is a mid-size city which has
always been "Bell" (Southern Bell/South Central Bell/BellSouth, now
part of SBC's at&t).

Overland Park KS (in the Kansas City area), the legacy HQ for
United/Sprint/Embarq, will also continue to be a major point of
corporate operations.

CenturyTel has been mostly small rural areas, and has purchased many
local independent telcos over the decades. It has also taken over many
one-time GTE and Contel exchange areas, some dating back to the 1970s
(old GTE in Louisiana was sold to CenturyTel circa 1972; old Contel in
Louisiana was sold to CenturyTel circa 1977), but some more recently
in the 1990s (GTE and Contel that GTE chose not to retain following the
circa 1991 GTE/Contel merger) and in 2000 and 2002 (more legacy GTE and
Contel that VeriZon chose not to retain following the formation of
VeriZon in 2000). While there have been some mid-size towns and cities
that have since become CenturyTel, these are still smaller communities.

On the other hand, Embarq (old Centel and old United) has had some
larger communities when compared with CenturyTel, including Tallahassee
FL (also the state capital; old Centel) and Fort Myers and other nearby
areas in Florida (old United).

But this merger will now mean that CenturyTel (under the new CenturyLink
name) will inherit a rather sizeable metro area from Embarq (legacy
Sprint/Centel), that being the Las Vegas NV metro area!

I do wonder if the new CenturyLink will hold onto all of its properties
after the merger is complete -- GTE and later VZ sold off many one-time
Contel areas and even long-time GTE areas in the 1990s/2000s as
mentioned above!

There are numerous media/news/press reports (radio/TV/newspaper
website articles0 regarding the new CenturyLink name... these can all
be obtained from doing a Google news search on Embarq or CenturyTel or
CenturyLink.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

On Jun 3, 2009, at 23:58, markjcuccia@... wrote:

> On Wednesday 03-June-2009, the new name for the merged CenturyTel and
> Embarq (old Sprint United and Centel) ILECs was announced:
> CenturyLink.

Shouldn't that be CenturyLinq? :) (Odd isn't it having a company name
actually mean something?!)

Three weeks ago, on Thursday 04-June-2009, in "CenturyTel plus
Embarq (Sprint's United & Centel) becomes: CenturyLink" I had
posted that the day before, on Wednesday 03-June-2009, the new
name for the (pending) merged CenturyTel and Embarq (old Sprint
United and Centel) ILECs was announced to be CenturyLink --
that all of the state regulatory agencies fo the affected
states had approved the merger, and that now only federal
approval (FCC) was still needed.

And late in the afternoon of Wednesday 24-June-2009 (today),
the FCC did give its approval for the merger.

There are numerous news reports on this, which can be found
from doing google news searches.

For several weeks now, there have been the following specific
new webpages/URLs regarding the proposed merger:

http://www.centurylink.com
http://www.centurytelembarqmerger.com/

I don't know if they will consolidate the various OCNs (Operating
Company Numbers) as used in NECA, Neustar-NANPA, and Telcordia-TRA
numbering/routing/network/rating/etc. documents... CenturyTel has
preserved different OCNs for the numerous ILECs they have taken
over throughout the years, including different ratecenters of GTE
and Contel at various times. There are several operating company
names and numbers for CenturyTel in Louisiana depending on which
particular part of GTE or Contel it was prior to the 1970s! And each
successive local telco that CenturyTel took over has a unique OCN!

The corporate HQ will be in CenturyTel's legacy HQ of Monroe LA,
in the northern part of the state where CenturyTel's legacy
operating area originated, although Monroe LA itself is a mid-size
city which has always been "Bell" (Southern Bell/South Central Bell/
BellSouth, now part of SBC's at&t).

Overland Park KS (in the Kansas City area), the legacy HQ for
United/Sprint/Embarq, will also continue to be a major point of
corporate operations.

CenturyTel has been mostly small rural areas, and has purchased
many local independent telcos over the decades. It has also taken
over many one-time GTE and Contel exchange areas, some dating back
to the 1970s (old GTE in Louisiana was sold to CenturyTel circa 1972;
old Contel in Louisiana was sold to CenturyTel circa 1977), but some
more recently in the 1990s (GTE and Contel that GTE chose not to
retain following the circa 1991 GTE/Contel merger) and in 2000 and
2002 (more legacy GTE and Contel that VeriZon chose not to retain
following the formation of VeriZon in 2000). While there have been
some mid-size towns and cities that have since become CenturyTel,
these are still smaller communities.

On the other hand, Embarq (old Centel and old United) has had some
larger communities when compared with CenturyTel, including
Tallahassee FL (also the state capital; old Centel) and Fort Myers
and other nearby areas in Florida (old United).

But this merger will now mean that CenturyTel (under the new
CenturyLink name) will inherit a rather sizeable metro area from
Embarq (legacy Sprint/Centel), that being the Las Vegas NV metro area!

I do wonder if the new CenturyLink will hold onto all of its
properties after the merger is complete -- GTE and later VZ sold off
many one-time Contel areas and even long-time GTE areas in the
1990s/2000s as mentioned above!

At present, CenturyTel is the ILEC for various ratecenters in the
following 26 states:

Alabama, Arkansas, California (SMALL part actually associated
with eastern Oregon), Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Missouri, Montana, Nevada (SMALL part actually associated with
southern Idaho), New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma
(SMALL part actually associated with northwestern Arkansas),
Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

At present, CenturyTel is the ILEC for various ratecenters in the
following 26 states:

Alabama, Arkansas, California (SMALL part actually associated
with eastern Oregon), Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Missouri, Montana, Nevada (SMALL part actually associated with
southern Idaho), New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma
(SMALL part actually associated with northwestern Arkansas),
Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

At present, Embarq is the ILEC for various ratecenters in the
following 18 states:

Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada
(which includes Las Vegas Metro, Centel/Sprint/Embarq's largest
operational area of all), New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,
Washington, Wyoming.

Some of these states only had United in the old days, some only
had Centel in the old days, some had BOTH United and Centel in
the old days.

At one time, United also had ILEC operations in South Dakota,
Iowa, and Arkansas. At one time, Centel also had ILEC operations
in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Centel's operations in Illinois included some small towns in
northwestern Illinois which were sold in 1998 to Gallatin River
Telco (which is now part of CenturyTel as described earlier),
and two suburbs just north of Chicago -- Park Ridge IL and
Des Plaines IL. These two northern Chicago suburbs were "islands"
of Step-by-Step independent telco exchanges, surrounded by
(AT&T-held) Illinois (Bell) Telephone Panel/#1XB for decades.
I have heard that their SXS switches were eventually replaced
with #5XB for better compatibility, although Automatic Electric
did make some DP/RP "kludges" in the 1950s! Circa 1996,
Sprint/Centel sold Park Ridge and Des Plaines IL over to
Ameritech/IL-Bell, which subsequently was taken over by SBC,
and is now an "at&t" ILEC.

It does not appear that CenturyTel or Centel/United ever had
ILEC operations in Canada, the Caribbean, or the Pacific (other
than PTI in Alaska, which CenturyTel chose NOT to retain when
they acquired PTI circa 1997/98).

Assuming that CenturyTel and Embarq don't sell-off various
entire state operations either as their own decision, or to
comply with FCC/FTC/DOJ/etc. requirements, it is said that
the merged entity will have ILEC operations in 33 states.

As mentioned above, CenturyTel presently has ILEC operations in
26 states, while Embarq presently has legacy United and Centel
ILEC operations in 18 states. Eleven states presently have BOTH
CenturyTel and Embarq ILEC operations:
IN, MN, MO, NV, NC, OH, OR, TN, TX, WA, WY

Again, assuming no sell-offs of CenturyTel or Embarq exchanges due
to the pending merger, the 33 states of the merged CenturyLink will
be as follows:

Alabama (CenturyTel)
Arkansas (CenturyTel)
California (CenturyTel)
Colorado (CenturyTel)
Florida (Embarq)
Georgia (CenturyTel)
Idaho (CenturyTel)
Illinois (CenturyTel)
Indiana (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Kansas (Embarq)
Iowa (CenturyTel)
Louisiana (CenturyTel)
Michigan (CenturyTel)
Minnesota (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Mississippi (CenturyTel)
Missouri (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Montana (CenturyTel)
Nebraska (Embarq)
Nevada (CenturyTel, Embarq)
New Jersey (Embarq)
New Mexico (CenturyTel)
North Carolina (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Ohio (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Oklahoma (CenturyTel)
Oregon (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Pennsylvania (Embarq)
South Carolina (Embarq)
Tennessee (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Texas (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Virginia (Embarq)
Washington (CenturyTel, Embarq)
Wisconsin (CenturyTel)
Wyoming (CenturyTel, Embarq)

There are also pending area code overlays, as well as area code relief
planning taking place, in several of the above states, including where
CenturyTel and/or Embarq has service areas.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

The Nebraska Public Service Commission announced today (Wednesday
08-July-2009) that the 402 area code in eastern Nebraska will be
OVERLAID with the new 531 area code.

531 was a code that I had "guessed" at, ever since the October 1998
master list of ALL future area code reservations (intended at that time)
was inadvertently posted by NANPPA on their website for about 48 hour.
This "master list" of all future reservations is NOT something carved
in stone -- such reservations of specific future area codes has changed
since, but not everything reserved 10+ years ago has necessarily
changed. At the time, NANPA was reserving both 531 and 621 for future
relief of eastern Nebraska's 402, two codes probably in case of a
possible 3-way split of 402. Since Oct.1998, the 402-621 c.o.code has
been assigned, but the 402-531 c.o.code has continued to be flagged as
NOT to be assignable.

There is a pdf press release dated today at the NE-PSC's website:
http://www.psc.state.ne.us/home/NPSC/news_releases/news_releases_pdf/090708_Area\
_Code_402_Relief_Plan.pdf

It is also mentioned that rural western Nebraska's 308 area code might
also adopt ten-digit local dialing so that dialing of local calls will
be consistent throughout the state, especially for customers in 308
who are close to the 50+ year old 402/308 area code boundary. The
press release mentions implementing "permissive" ten-digit local
dialing within 308 as a possibility, but I do wonder if many landline
providers ALREADY allow such permissive ten-digit dialing dialing within
the 308 area code? And maybe more likely, MANDATORY ten-digit dialing
could be implemented within 308. However, 308 is NOT in any danger of
exhaust for quite some time! Note that such (mandatory) landline
10-digit dialing within 308 is NOT required under the recent NE-PSC
order, only that 402 will have mandatory ten-digit local dialing since
it is to be overlaid.

There will probably be TWO test-numbers for the new 531 overlay area
code -- one for Qwest/US-West/NW-Bell in the Omaha NE LATA #644 in the
central and northern parts of 402 eastern Nebraska, and another for
Windstream/Alltel/Aliant/Lincoln-Tel-and-Tel in the Lincoln NE LATA #958
in the southern parts of 402 eastern Nebraska. Actual 531-NXXes and
line-numbers for the test numbers, as well as switch-CLLIs/ratecenters
are still to be determined.

The actual implementation dates for a 402/531 overlay and permissive/
mandatory ten-digit intra-402 local dialing have NOT yet been determined
by the telcos/NANPA/etc. nor by the NE-PSC, but the current projection
for exhaust of 402 is for 2Q/2011. Also, I had seen a Qwest/NW-Bell
PROPOSAL submitted a couple of months ago to the NE-PSC as to specific
dates which could be used for implementing ten-digit dialing and for
the earliest activation date new 531-NXX "POTS" c.o.codes.

The Qwest/NW-Bell RECOMMENDED/PROPOSED dates are:

Permissive 10-digit Local Intra-402 Dialing:
Saturday 26-June-2010

Mandatory 10-digit local Intra-402 Dialing:
Saturday 26-February-2011

First (pre-assigned) "POTS" 531-NXX c.o.codes Active:
Saturday 26-March-2011

Whether or not this Qwest/NW-Bell proposal will be adopted is still not
known, but it does have 531 being active with potential new 531-NXX
"POTS" c.o.codes by the end of March 2011, BEFORE the current proejcted
exhaust in 2Q of 2011 for 402.

There are already news/press/media reports on today's announcement by
the NE-PSC for the overlay. I'm already coming up with results doing
google "news" searches, but I haven't yet read any of them. I've only
read through the official NE-PSC announcements of today, so far.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

The at&t/BellSouth New Orleans "Aurora" c.o.switch, NWORLAARCG0, a
WECO/Lucent/Alcatel #1AESS, is to be replaced with a digital switch,
effective Friday 04-December-2009. This is documented in at&t's Network
Disclosure ATT20090504L.1, dated 04-May-2009, and can be found
referenced for download from the AT&T Regulatory Documents Network
Disclosures webpage, http://www.att.com/gen/public-affairs?pid=3137
the actual document found at:
http://www.att.com/public_affairs/regulatory_documents/ATT20090504L.1_Web.doc

New Orleans "Aurora" was a brand new #5XB c.o.switch, and the very last
such #5XB to be installed in New Orleans, back in 1969. The "Aurora"
central office building was also brand new at the time, serving the
rapidly developing area of "lower coast Algiers" (Aurora), as well as
communities in adjacent Jefferson Parish (County) and Plaquemines
Parish (County), such as Terrytown and Timberlane (Jefferson Parish)
and Belle Chase (Plaquemines Parish). Previously existing subscribers
and customers in those areas had been served out of the "Riverside" SXS
and #5XB central office in an older part of Algiers/etc., but were now
(1969) rewired and renumbered to be served out of this new "Aurora"
#5XB. During the 1970s, the boundary between Aurora and Riverside also
shifted somewhat on several occasions, where more Riverside customers
were re-wired (and re-numbered) to become Aurora customers.

The legacy Riverside c.o.code range is 504-FOrest-x (504-36x), and
the legacy Aurora c.o.code range is 504-39x. Of course, in more recent
decades, other 504-NX(x) c.o.code ranges have been added, and there is
also portability these days.

Riverside (NWORLARV---) cutover to a 1AESS circa 1978 (both the SXS
504-361,366 codes and the #5XB 504-362,367,368 codes). Riverside 1AESS
cutover to digital in Summer 1994, to a Stromberg DCO.

Aurora (NWORLAAR---) cutover from a #5XB to a 1AESS sometime in the
early 1980s (1983 maybe?), and has been such ever since. Following
Katrina, several communities in lower Plaquemines Parish as well as in
the outer parts of St.Bernard Parish and Orleans Parish had to be
rewired to c.o.switches further into New Orleans, due to their existing
local offices in the "swamps" being severely damages, and in one case
completely washed away! BellSouth installed some new 5E-Remote offices
in some cases, some co-located in existing 1AESS New Orleans central
office buildings, the new 5E-Remotes to serve the customers in the
outlying areas whose pre-Katrina local remote offices were damages or
completely washed away. BellSouth even retired the existing 1As in
New Orleans, putting the customers on these 5E-Remotes, since even the
1As from the 1970s/80s era actually within New Orleans, had some damage
from Katrina. However, the Aurora 1AESS is in a part of New Orleans
which did NOT suffer any significant damage. While a 5E-Remote was
installed, co-located at Aurora, NWORLAARRS1, it did NOT "absorb" the
existing 1A customers of Aurora.

Instead, the Aurora 5E-Remote (hosted by New Orleans "Marrero" 5ESS,
NWORLAMRDS0) took over the dial-tone provision for two west-bank
lower Plaquemines Parish ratecenters whose c.o.switches had severe
damage from Katrina, while the Auroa 1A continued to provide dialtone
strictly to the Aurora/etc. area of New Orleans.

The two ratecenters which were now to be served out of the new Aurora
5E-Remote were:

985-564 Port Sulphur
985-657 Buras

These (and other) lower Plaquemines Parish locations/ratecenters HAD
been area code 504, until the 504/985 split of 2001.

In 2007/08, at&t/BellSouth and the La.PSC decided to do some
ratecenter consolidation of lower Plaquemines Parish, outer St.Bernard
Parish, and outer Orleans Parish, migrating these ratecenters into the
New Orleans ratecenter, as well as restoring BACK to area code 504,
any communities in lower Plaquemines Parish which had split off to the
new area code 985 back in 2001. Also note that these 985 communities
in lower Plaquemines Parish (there were also two others, Pointe-a-la-
Hache LA on th east bank, and also Venice LA on the west bank at the
very end of lower Plaquemines Parish) were actually geographically
discontiguous from anything/everything else in the 985 area code when
it split from 504 in southeastern Louisiana back in 2001 -- I always
though that BellSouth should have tried to keep them within 504 back
during 504/985 area code planning during 1999/2000 anyway.

The Aurora 1A's customers/c.o.codes are NOT being "migrated" into the
co-located 5E-Remote. I would have thought that when Aurora was finally
to be cutover to digital, it would have been taken over by that
co-located 5E-Remote (RS1), possibly the remote being upgrated to a
full stand-alone 5ESS (DS0).

Instead, the 1A is being replaced by a Nortel MG9000 ABI Remote, which
appears to be a Remote Packet switch! The new CLLI will be NWORLAARRP0.
It will be hosted by the New Orleans Main Nortel-DMS-100/200
end-office and LATA tandem, NWORLAMADS1/0GT. It appears that the
5E-Remote for the downriver customers of former Port Sulphur and Buras
ratecenters (still communities themselves, but now part of the New
Orleans ratecenter) will be retained.

With the elimination of this New Orleans Aurora 1AESS, being replaced
with a Nortel digital remote packet switch, effective December 2009,
there will be NO MORE 1As in the New Orleans area. The only 1As still
in Louisiana will be two 1As in Lafayette LA -- "Main-1A" LFYTLAMACG1
337-CEnter-x (337-23x) and 337-26x (there is also the co-located
"Main-DMS-100/200" end-office and LATA-tandem/TOPS co-located which has
some 337-NXX codes, LFYTLAMADS0/0GT) and "Vermillion" 1A LFYTLAVMCG0
337-98x,99x; and two 1As in Shreveport LA -- "South Highland"
SHPTLAHDCG0 318-UNiversity-x (318-86x) and "Queensboro" SHPTLAQBCG0
318-62x.

at&t/BellSouth will still have a handful of 1As remaining, scattered
about Georgia and Florida, four in Alabama, amd one in Nashville TN,
as well as the two in Lafayette LA and the two in Shreveport LA.

at&t/Ameritech will still have a handful of 1As remaining scattered
about Michigan, and two in the Chicago IL area.

at&t/Southwestern Bell still has several 1As reamining, scattered about
Missouri and Texas, including ones in the St.Louis MO area, the Dallas/
Ft.Worth TX area, and the Houston TX area.

at&t/Pacific Bell has NO MORE 1As in California or Nevada.

Qwest/US-West has NO MORE 1As remaining, not even any which were at one
time planned to be sold (still as 1As) to CenturyTel, but which were
ultimately retained by Qwest and cutover to digital by Qwest afterall.

VeriZon/NYNEX has NO MORE 1As remaining.

VeriZon/Bell Atlantic seems to have two or three remaining 1As, in the
C&P-Virginia and Maryland area.

The very first 1ESS in New Orleans was circa 1970, when a brand new 1E
was installed at "Main". The Main-SXS (NWORLAMA52A) was 504-JAckson-x
(504-52x), but this new 1ESS (MWORLAMACG0) was 504-58x. In the mid-1980s
it's 504-58x codes and cusotmers/loops were "absorbed" into the
circa-1977 new 1AESS at Main, NWORLAMACG1. Yet another 1AESS was added
at "Main" circa 1978, when the Main-SXS (504-52x) was cutover to CG2.
The 504-58x/56x (and other 5xx codes) Main-CG1 1AESS was cutover to a
5ESS digital, -MADS0, in 1990 or so. The -MACG2 1AESS' 504-52x/59x
(and other 5xx codes) was "absorbed" into the 5ESS -MADS0 on the
Saturday just before Katrina in late August 2005.

From the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, all of the SXS offices and
just about all of the #5XB offices in New Orleans were cutover to 1AESS
or else there were brand new 1ESS or 1AESS offices in some areas (or
else cutover to a 2BESS or a completley brand new 2BESS, in a couple of
cases). By Summer 1985, everything in the New Orleans metro area was
1AESS, with the exception of the Broadmoor #5XB (NWORLABMMG0, 504-82x)
and the Michoud #5XB (NWORLAMUMG0, 504-25x). In Fall 1987, Broadmoor
was cutover to a 5ESS and Michoud was cutover to a DMS-100, both
directly to digital from #5XB, without ever having been 1AESS. And then
starting around 1990, the Main CG1 1AESS and the two 2BESS offices
were cutover to 5ESS. Throughout the metro area, the various 1AESS
offices began being cutover to digital (5ESS, DMS-100, Stromberg DCO
or Siemens EWSD) starting in 1993-94, 1999-2001, 2004, and then 2005
and following Katrina. Outlying "community dial offices" (SXS) and even
some #5XBs were cutover to digital remotes circa 1990/91.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

The 760 Area Code in eastern and southeastern California was to have
been split last year, with the new 442 area code assigned to the
suburbs in San Diego County (San Diego itself has been 619 since 1982/83
when 619 split from 714, and the immediate northern suburbs have been
858 since it split from 619 in 1999; 760 split from 619 in 1997), and
760 retained by Imperial County, the eastern parts of Riverside and
San Bernardino Counties, parts of Kern County, Inyo County, and a part
of Mono County -- i.e., the Palm Springs, Victorville, and "Death
Valley" areas. That split would have begun permissive dialing in
November 2008, with mandatory dialing in May 2009.

There was a test-number, 442-442-1442, set up by at&t/SBC/Pacific*Bell,
out of their VISTCA12DS0 DMS-100 at Vista CA in the San Diego CA LATA 730.
It was scheduled to begin in early August 2008, but it was actually
working at least locally/intra-LATA as early as June/July 2008. Some
LD-carriers began routing to 442-442 in mid-July-2008.

The announcement (which did NOT supe) was a male voice which stated:

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
7-6-0, 4-4-2, N-P-A activity"

The California PUC had announced the 760/442 split in April 2008, but
almost immediately, there was a grassroots effort that sprung up from
business and residential customers in the San Diego suburbs against the
split. Throughout Spring/Summer 2008, this grassroots effort was able to
get local area businesses, residents, and even politicians rallied up
against the split, and for a full overlay of 760 with 442. Eventually
(October 2008), the Ca.PUC reversed the split plan and ordered an
overlay, which will be effective on Saturday 21-November 2009, when new
(pre-assigned) (POTS/non-test) 442-NXX c.o.codes can take effect in the
network. Permissive (1+)ten-digit intra-760 local dialing officially
began Saturday 02-May-2009 (it has been permissive for many years now),
and mandatory (1+)ten-digit intra-760 local dialing is to take place on
Saturday 24-October-2009.

During November 2008, I noticed that the major LD-carriers began
removing the routing of 442-442 to VISTCA12DS0 from their six-digit
NPA-NXX c.o.code translations. Some of the smaller LD-carriers might
have still been routing to 442-442, but it seems that at&t/Pacific*Bell
also discontinued the announcement on 442-442-1442 itself at VISTCA12DS0
since I was receiving a message of "NO ROUTES FOUND", instead! But I
don't know if this recording (No Routes Found) was coming from
at&t/Pacific*Bell at Vista CA, or if it was coming from the LD-carrier
I was using.

With the pending 760/442 OVERLAY, there are to be THREE test-numbers,
mostly along the lines of the three test-numbers that the 760 NPA had
when it split from 619 back in 1997, since there are three main LATAs
involved: In addition to the San Diego CA LATA, there is the VZ/GTE
Palm Springs CA LATA #973, and the eastern (mostly VZ?GTE) parts of
(at&t/Pacific*Bell's) Los Angeles CA LATA #730.

The original 442-442 test-number is to be re-activated, and the two
new additional test-numbers for the additional 760/442 LATAs are to
begin ... on Friday 21-August-2009.

The two additional (VeriZon/GTE) test-numbers are as follows:

442-730-TEST
VTVLCAXADS0/79T
Victorville CA
DMS-100/200
VeriZon/GTE/Contel
(at&t/SBC/Pacific*Bell's) LATA 732/Los Angeles CA

442-973-TEST
PLSPCAXGDS0
Palm Springs CA
5ESS
VeriZon/GTE/CW&T
(VeriZon/GTE's) LATA 973/Palm Springs CA

At present (mid-July-2009), Sprint-LD (0333) *IS* routing to these
two VeriZon/GTE test-numbers, and VZ/GTE has them up-and-running! I am
not able to get through on VZ-B/MCI (0222) nor AT&T-LL (0288). And I am
not able to get through to anything on the original 442-442-1442
test-number at present via any of the three major LD-carriers, so I
don't know if at&t/Pacific*Bell has it up-and-running (again)
locally/intra-LATA at Vista CA or not.

Neither of the two VeriZon/GTE 442 test-numbers return billing
supervision (at least not at present).

The 442-730-8378 number at Victorville CA, Los Angeles CA LATA #730
has the following verbage:

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
7-6-Oh, 4-4-2, N-P-A overlay"

The 442-973-8378 number at Palm Springs CA, Palm Springs CA LATA #973
has the following verbage:

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
7-6-Oh, 4-4-2, N-P-A overlay" (pause) "Palm Springs".

Note that both VeriZon/GTE announcements quote "7-6-Oh" rather than
"7-6-Zero". Also, the Victorville-based announcement does NOT indicate
Victorville at the end, while the Palm Springs based announcement does
quote "Palm Springs" at the end.

When an announcement is restored by at&t/Pacific*Bell to 442-442-1442
(Vista CA, San Diego CA LATA #732), or if there IS already an
announcement there only that LD-carriers (including 0288 AT&T-LL) need
to restore access to 442-442 at Vista CA, it will be interesting to
see if at&t/Pacific*Bell is using the original recording itself from
last year, or if they have re-taped an announcement fresh from
"scratch". I also wonder if possibly the original announcement itself
has always still been working at Vista CA locally/intra-LATA, only that
I was unable to reach it at all via any LD-carrier...

mjc

Back on Thursday 07-May-2009, I posted the following in ...
"Quebec 438 Area Code (which overlays 514) to expand to also overlay 450":

> The CRTC (Canada's version of the US' FCC) has approved an overlay
> expansion of the existing 438 area code (which since 2006/07 has
> overlaid the 514 area code in the immediate Montreal QC Metro area)
> to also expand and overlay the 450 aera code which serves southwest
> parts of Quebec outside of the immediate Montreal QC Metro area.
>
> See Telecom Decision CRTC 2009-255 dated today Thursday 07-May-2009,
> http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-255.htm
>
> In Fall 2006, the 438 area code officially overlaid the 514 area code
> in the immediate Montreal QC Metro area, although there weren't any
> assignments of new 438-NXX c.o.codes until Spring 2007, those first
> geographic "POTS" 438-NXX c.o.codes actually becoming effective in
> the network by Summer 2007. (It just happened that there were no
> requests by any Canadian telecom service providers in that region for
> any such 438-NXX c.o.codes until Spring/Summer 2007; there were still
> several -- and probably still are even now -- 514-NXX c.o.codes that
> could be assigned).
>
> In Spring/Summer 2006, permissive 10-digit intra-home-NPA local
> dialing was formally/officially introduced (if not already in effect)
> within several Quebec area codes -- 514 (in preparation for the
> upcoming 514/438 overlay), as well as in 450 and also the 819 NPAs,
> and also the southeastern Ontario 613 NPA.
>
> The 343 area code will overlay the 613 area code in southeastern
> Ontario in Spring of 2010. Ten-digit dialing has been mandatory since
> 2006, so it won't be that much preparation to implement the 343
> overlay.
>
> And now, the 438 area code overlay (to 514) will also be applicable
> in overlaying the 458 area code. New 438-NXX codes in overlay located
> in the existing 450 area code region can take effect as early as
> Saturday 23-October-2010. No additional 438 test-numbers would be
> needed, since the 438 area code already exists in the network.
>
> *IF* a separate and unique distinct new area code were needed to
> overlay 450, it would have been 579. Anyhow, 579 IS BEING RESERVED
> for the FUTURE overlay (in 2030 maybe?) to the entire 514/450/438
> area code region. This region is the post-1957, pre-1998 514 area
> code region -- 819 split from parts of 514 and 418 (the original
> two Quebec area codes from 1947), in 1957. And then in 1998, the
> 450 area code split from 514.

[ ... ]

Bell Canada and Bell Mobility seemed to be the only (major) carriers
at the time which were in favor of an expanded overlay. The smaller
independent rural telcos in southwestern Quebec and most of the CLECs
were NOT in favor of expanding 438 to overlay 450, but having a unique
and separate 579 area code overlay 450 at this time.

And then in June 2009, Bell came out in favor of a separate overlay as
well. Bell (with the backing of the other service providers) then
petitioned the CRTC to reverse their May 2009 ruling for an overlay
expansion, and instead have a separate and unique 579 overlay to 450.

Today, Tuesday 28-June-2009, the CRTC did indeed reverse their May 2009
ruling for an overlay expansion and instead order a unique and separate
579 overlay to 450, see Telecom Decision CRTC 2009-453, which can be
found at:  http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-453.htm

As mentioned, there has already been mandatory ten-digit intra-450
local dialling since Fall 2009, so that aspect is already taken care of.

The effective date for new (geographic/POTS non-test) 579-NXX c.o.codes
in the region outside of Montreal Metro (i.e., in the 450 NPA region)
is now for Saturday 21-August-2010. Such 579-NXX "POTS" c.o.codes can
be requested from the SAIC-CNA (Canadian Numbering Adminstraotor)
probably as early as Sunday 21-February-2010.

There will now be a need for 579 NPA test-numbers. It's likely that
they will follow the pattern from previous Canadian area code relief...

579-610-TEST/BILL for Bell Canada
579-810-TEST/BILL for MTS-Allstream (CLEC)
579-510-TEST/BILL for Rogers-CallNet (CLEC)

where the -TEST (8378) line-number does NOT return billing supervision,
while the -BILL (2455) line-number DOES return billing supervision.

The 579 test-numbers will probably go into effect by Friday 21-May-2010,
and could disconnect in late September 2010, a month after the 579
overlay is officially effective by late August 2010.

Ratecenters/CLLIs for the three test-numbers are still TBA.

I expect that SAIC-CNA will have a Planning Letter prepared for
NeuStar-NANPA to issue, sometime during August 2009.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

Correcting a typo of mine ...

> Today, Tuesday 28-June-2009, the CRTC did indeed reverse their May 2009
> ruling for an overlay expansion and instead order a unique and separate
> 579 overlay to 450, see Telecom Decision CRTC 2009-453, which can be
> found at:  http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-453.htm


Make that "Today, Tuesday 28-JULY-2009", NOT June! :-)

mjc

There is a new post in TD (Townson's Digest) regarding Vonage not
being consistent in honoring *67/1167 to indicate to the far-end
central office to suppress delivery of Caller-ID information on the
far-end local loop.

This TD/comp.dcom.telecom posting can be found in Google Groups at:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.telecom/browse_thread/thread/aa0259eb13\
9898f1

Of course, I know that *67/1167 does NOT really suppress any reporting
of the calling-party's _ANI_ to the called-party on a "delayed" basis
(when the called-party gets their bill) if the called number is an
800/888/877/etc. number, since the called-end pays for that call...
and I think that even 900 numbers can get ANI of a calling-party.

Some larger customers with toll-free numbers can get real-time delivery
of ANI, or at least the ANI of the calling party sent to them as SS7/
Caller-ID information, and since the basis is _ANI_, then the calling
party's use of *67/1167 won't work to suppress. But if the called-end
is only getting real-time CID which is NOT ANI-based, then *67/1167
would suppress the calling party's number from being delivered over
the final end loop; but the calling party's number as _ANI_ could be
displayed on the called-party's 800/etc. monthly bill when they get it.

Anyhow, in the posting referenced above by its Google Groups URL, it
doesn't mention anything about the dialed number using *67/1167 being a
toll-free type number.

But does anyone else ever have problems with Vonage not consistently
honoring *67/1167 for suppression of CID information from being
delivered at the far-end (with the exception of dialed-to toll-free
type numbers)?

BTW, there's also no mention about WHICH types of LECs/CLECs/wireless/
PBX/etc. status of the CALLED party! I've heard that NOT all CLECs and
PBXes necessarily honor *67/1167 (as dialed by the called party) for
suppression at the far-end! Maybe the problem isn't so much Vonage as
it is the far-end service provider? VOnage _IS_ flagging the calling
party's number for suppression when they dial/key *67/1167 before the
called-number, but the called-end telco isn't honoring that???

mjc

This is not surprising.  Many carriers utilizing "in-between" access carriers
need to take a second look at their contracts.  Language negotiated within those
contracts will be the only way to insure that features are guaranteed
end-to-end.

--- In local-calling-guide@yahoogroups.com, "Mark J. Cuccia" <markjcuccia@...>
wrote:
>
> There is a new post in TD (Townson's Digest) regarding Vonage not
> being consistent in honoring *67/1167 to indicate to the far-end
> central office to suppress delivery of Caller-ID information on the
> far-end local loop.
>
> This TD/comp.dcom.telecom posting can be found in Google Groups at:
>
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.telecom/browse_thread/thread/aa0259eb13\
9898f1
>
> Of course, I know that *67/1167 does NOT really suppress any reporting
> of the calling-party's _ANI_ to the called-party on a "delayed" basis
> (when the called-party gets their bill) if the called number is an
> 800/888/877/etc. number, since the called-end pays for that call...
> and I think that even 900 numbers can get ANI of a calling-party.
>
> Some larger customers with toll-free numbers can get real-time delivery
> of ANI, or at least the ANI of the calling party sent to them as SS7/
> Caller-ID information, and since the basis is _ANI_, then the calling
> party's use of *67/1167 won't work to suppress. But if the called-end
> is only getting real-time CID which is NOT ANI-based, then *67/1167
> would suppress the calling party's number from being delivered over
> the final end loop; but the calling party's number as _ANI_ could be
> displayed on the called-party's 800/etc. monthly bill when they get it.
>
> Anyhow, in the posting referenced above by its Google Groups URL, it
> doesn't mention anything about the dialed number using *67/1167 being a
> toll-free type number.
>
> But does anyone else ever have problems with Vonage not consistently
> honoring *67/1167 for suppression of CID information from being
> delivered at the far-end (with the exception of dialed-to toll-free
> type numbers)?
>
> BTW, there's also no mention about WHICH types of LECs/CLECs/wireless/
> PBX/etc. status of the CALLED party! I've heard that NOT all CLECs and
> PBXes necessarily honor *67/1167 (as dialed by the called party) for
> suppression at the far-end! Maybe the problem isn't so much Vonage as
> it is the far-end service provider? VOnage _IS_ flagging the calling
> party's number for suppression when they dial/key *67/1167 before the
> called-number, but the called-end telco isn't honoring that???
>
> mjc
>

NeuStar-NANPA has assigned the first (POTS) 872-NXX c.o.code for
Chicago, as part of the 872 NPA Overlay to both NPA 312 in "The Loop"
and NPA 773 for "the neighborhoods".

872-222 "default" assigned to wireless provider Denali Spectrum (aka
Leap or Cricket) at the "Chicago Zone-03" ratecenter. I don't know yet
about specific line-number 1K-blocks within 872-222 though. The
assignment date is TODAY, Friday 07-August-2009, the effective date
for the 872-222 c.o.code is three months from today, on Saturday
07-November-2009.

OCN 701E "Denali Spectrum" (Leap/Cricket) has the following CLLIs in
the Chicago Metro area, but I do NOT know which of these will be
handling the 872-222 c.o.code. Note that this is cellular, so if
someone is roaming, then the origination/termination for a Denali/
Leap/Cricket 872-222 cellphone is actually goint to be via the switch
they are "roamed-at"...

MTSOs in Schaumburg: SCBGILIN -CA0? -GT0?
MTSOs in Northbrook: NBRKILQB -CA0? -GT0? -GT1?

Mandatory intra-312 and intra-773 (1+)ten-digit dialing is NOT yet in
place, but is supposed to be on the actual effective date of the first
872-nxx code, which is to be Saturday 07-November-2009. Permissive
(1+)ten-digit intra-312 and intra-773 dialing has been in place for
YEARS.

The 872 NPA test-number is to be 872-872-1872, provided by
at&t/SBC/Ameritech/Illinois-Bell, out of CHCGILHBDS1 one of two
switches (the other ends -HBDS0) at the at&t/IL-Bell "Humboldt"
c.o.building, which is one of two at&t/IL-Bell c.o.buildings within
Chicago Zone-04. The other at&t/IL-Bell building in Zone-04 is
"Lakeview" CHCGILLW---.

I do NOT yet know "when" the 872-872-1872 test-number is to begin
working. For all I know, it might be all up and running locally/
intra-LATA within LATA 358 (Chicago Metro).

The effective date for 872-872 has NOT yet been indicated in various
NeuStar or Telcordia lists as of early August 2009. But I assume that
the "official" effective date will be announced SOON! And the actual
"official" effective date itself will be coming up soon as well!

872 is NOT opened up in my local at&t/BellSouth central office at
present. 872 is NOT opened up in any AT&T-LL OSPS Opr/Card switch
that I'm aware of. Because of this, I do NOT yet know if 872-872 is
yet opened up in 6-digit NPA-NXX code translations in AT&T-LL's 4ESS
network, but since 872-872 wasn't appearing in the 01-Aug-2009-dated
documentation, I doubt that AT&T-LL yet has 872-872 opened yet in the
4ESSes. But hopefully (after the official effective date is documented)
this 872-872 test-number c.o.code will be opened up where it needs to
be, and that at&t/IL-Bell will have an announcement on 872-872-1872
(and hopefully one that does NOT return supervision).

More information to come when known.

BTW, 872 "spells" USA. I don't know how much the telco industry will
pick up on this as part of a publicity campaign....

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

On Friday 07-November-2009,
in "The First 872-NXX Code for Chicago is Now Assigned", I wrote:

> NeuStar-NANPA has assigned the first (POTS) 872-NXX c.o.code for
> Chicago, as part of the 872 NPA Overlay to both NPA 312 in "The Loop"
> and NPA 773 for "the neighborhoods".
(Assigned on Friday 07-November-2009)

[ ... ]

> ... [the first POTS] c.o.code is three months from today [Friday
> 07-November-2009, the date of assignment], [effective/activated] on
> Saturday 07-November-2009.

[ ... ]

> Mandatory intra-312 and intra-773 (1+)ten-digit dialing is NOT yet in
> place, but is supposed to be on the actual effective date of the first
> 872-nxx code, which is to be Saturday 07-November-2009. Permissive
> (1+)ten-digit intra-312 and intra-773 dialing has been in place for
> YEARS.
>
> The 872 NPA test-number is to be 872-872-1872, provided by
> at&t/SBC/Ameritech/Illinois-Bell, out of CHCGILHBDS1 one of two
> switches (the other ends -HBDS0) at the at&t/IL-Bell "Humboldt"
> c.o.building, which is one of two at&t/IL-Bell c.o.buildings within
> Chicago Zone-04. The other at&t/IL-Bell building in Zone-04 is
> "Lakeview" CHCGILLW---.
>
> I do NOT yet know "when" the 872-872-1872 test-number is to begin
> working. For all I know, it might be all up and running locally/
> intra-LATA within LATA 358 (Chicago Metro). The effective date for
> 872-872 has NOT yet been indicated in various NeuStar or Telcordia
> lists as of early August 2009. But I assume that the "official"
> effective date will be announced SOON! And the actual "official"
> effective date itself will be coming up soon as well!

NeuStar-NANPA has issued a new Planning Letter TODAY,
Monday 10-August-2009, PL-392, regarding all of the details w/r/t the
872 overlay to 312 and 773 in the City of Chicago IL. There were two
previous Planning Letters -- one earlier this year which had SOME
updated info, and one issued in the late 1990s which had rather
"skeleton" info (on all of the future Chicago overlay area codes.

The current new PL-392 can be found at:
http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_392.pdf

The 872-872-1872 test-number is scheduled to "officially" begin on
Wednesday 14-October-2009 (three-and-a-half weeks before the first
872-NXX "POTS" c.o.code actually takes effect) ... and the 872-872-1872
test-number can be discontinued as early as Monday 07-December-2009 (one
month after the first 872-NXX "POTS" c.o.code actually takes effect).

I had heard from someone else at at&t that the test-number was scheduled
to officially start on Sunday 04-October-2009, a month before the actual
activation of the 872 NPA with the first new "POTS" 872-NXX c.o.code.
I will be checking subsequent documentation from NeuStar-NANPA and
Telcordia-TRA to see exactly WHICH date is indicated for the "official"
start of the 872-872-1872 test-number.

As for the "discontiue" or "disconnect" date, this is likely to be the
date as shown for such in Telcordia-TRA databases and products for
routing/rating/numbering/etc, the date when (most) LD-carriers will
discontinue routing to Chicago-Humboldt-DS1 on 872-872 for -1872, for
reaching the test-number announcement. But it's also likely that the
announcement will still be up-and-runing for some days/weeks/months
locally/intra-LATA (at least via at&t/IL-Bell), when dialed on
872-872-1872.

> 872 is NOT opened up in my local at&t/BellSouth central office at
> present. 872 is NOT opened up in any AT&T-LL OSPS Opr/Card switch
> that I'm aware of. Because of this, I do NOT yet know if 872-872 is
> yet opened up in 6-digit NPA-NXX code translations in AT&T-LL's 4ESS
> network, but since 872-872 wasn't appearing in the 01-Aug-2009-dated
> documentation, I doubt that AT&T-LL yet has 872-872 opened yet in the
> 4ESSes. But hopefully (after the official effective date is
> documented) this 872-872 test-number c.o.code will be opened up where
> it needs to be, and that at&t/IL-Bell will have an announcement on
> 872-872-1872 (and hopefully one that does NOT return supervision).

IMO, at&t/IL-Bell and NeuStar-NANPA should have had this 872-872-1872
test-number "officially" turned on MONTHS ago, so that telcos and
carriers across the US/Canada (and Caribbean) can open up the 872 area
code in translations/routings. Even international/overseas carriers
need to know about +1-872 for the US (Illinois), for their routings
and translations, so that they KNOW that +1-872 is US, since the NANP/
Country Code +1 covers Canada and several "British" Caribbean islands
and the Dominican Republic, as well as the US. A working test-number
being "officially activated" one month before the first "POTS" 872-NXX
code takes effect is, IMO, WAY TOO SHORT a timeframe!!!

> More information to come when known.

BTW, there are already media/news/press items on the new 872 overlay
and mandatory (1+)ten-digit intra-312 and intra-773 dialing, from local
Chicago media -- radio/TV/newspaper/etc. websites -- which can be found
with Google "news" searches.

The Illinois Commerce Commission also has a press release on 872, dated
today, Monday 10-August-2009:

http://www.icc.illinois.gov/downloads/public/Area%20Code%20872%20Release%208-10-\
09.doc

A (NeuStar-NANPA) map showing the CITY of Chicago and the ratecenters/
zones for 312/773/872 can be found from the ICC's website as well:

http://www.icc.illinois.gov/downloads/public/tc/NPA773_312_Overlay.pdf

This (NeuStar-NANPA) area code map for Chicago does NOT reference any
adjacent area codes in the Chicago IL Metro area (i.e. NO references
for 815/779, 708/(464), 630/331, 847/224, northwest Indiana 219).

> BTW, 872 "spells" USA. I don't know how much the telco industry will
> pick-up on this as part of a publicity campaign....

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

Last month, on Thursday 16-July-2009, I wrote:

> The 760 Area Code in eastern and southeastern California was to have
> been split last year, with the new 442 area code assigned to the
> suburbs in San Diego County (San Diego itself has been 619 since
> 1982/83 when 619 split from 714, and the immediate northern suburbs
> have been 858 since it split from 619 in 1999; 760 split from 619 in
> 1997), and 760 retained by Imperial County, the eastern parts of
> Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, parts of Kern County, Inyo
> County, and a part of Mono County -- i.e., the Palm Springs,
> Victorville, and "Death Valley" areas. That split WOULD have begun
> permissive dialing in November 2008, with mandatory dialing in May 2009.
>
> There was a test-number, 442-442-1442, set up by at&t/SBC/Pacific*Bell,
> out of their VISTCA12DS0 DMS-100 at Vista CA in the San Diego CA LATA 730.
> It was scheduled to begin in early August 2008, but it was actually
> working at least locally/intra-LATA as early as June/July 2008. Some
> LD-carriers began routing to 442-442 in mid-July-2008.
>
> The announcement (which did NOT supe) was a male voice which stated:
>
> "You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
> 7-6-0, 4-4-2, N-P-A activity"
>
> The California PUC had announced the 760/442 split in April 2008, but
> almost immediately, there was a grassroots effort that sprung up from
> business and residential customers in the San Diego suburbs against
> the split. Throughout Spring/Summer 2008, this grassroots effort was
> able to get local area businesses, residents, and even politicians
> rallied up against the split, and for a full overlay of 760 with 442.
> Eventually (October 2008), the Ca.PUC reversed the split plan and
> ordered an overlay, which will be effective on Saturday 21-November 2009,
> when new (pre-assigned) (POTS/non-test) 442-NXX c.o.codes can take
> effect in the network. Permissive (1+)ten-digit intra-760 local
> dialing officially began Saturday 02-May-2009 (it has been permissive
> for many years now), and mandatory (1+)ten-digit intra-760 local
> dialing is to take place on Saturday 24-October-2009.
>
> During November 2008, I noticed that the major LD-carriers began
> removing the routing of 442-442 to VISTCA12DS0 from their six-digit
NPA-NXX c.o.code translations. Some of the smaller LD-carriers might
> have still been routing to 442-442, but it seems that at&t/Pacific*Bell
> also discontinued the announcement on 442-442-1442 itself at VISTCA12DS0
> since I was receiving a message of "NO ROUTES FOUND", instead! But I
> don't know if this recording (No Routes Found) was coming from
> at&t/Pacific*Bell at Vista CA, or if it was coming from the LD-carrier
> I was using.
>
> With the pending 760/442 OVERLAY, there are to be THREE test-numbers,
> mostly along the lines of the three test-numbers that the 760 NPA had
> when it split from 619 back in 1997, since there are three main LATAs
> involved -- in addition to the San Diego CA LATA, there is:
>
> the VZ/GTE Palm Springs CA LATA #973 (old CW&T),
>
> and the eastern (mostly VZ/GTE old Contel) parts of
> (at&t/Pacific*Bell's) Los Angeles CA LATA #730.
>
> The original 442-442 test-number is to be re-activated, and the two
> new additional test-numbers for the additional 760/442 LATAs are to
> begin ... on Friday 21-August-2009.
>
> The two additional (VeriZon/GTE) test-numbers are as follows:
>
> 442-730-TEST
> VTVLCAXADS0/79T
> Victorville CA
> DMS-100/200
> VeriZon/GTE/Contel
> (at&t/SBC/Pacific*Bell's) LATA 732/Los Angeles CA
>
> 442-973-TEST
> PLSPCAXGDS0
> Palm Springs CA
> 5ESS
> VeriZon/GTE/CW&T (old California Water & Telephone)
> (VeriZon/GTE's) LATA 973/Palm Springs CA
>
> At present (mid-July-2009), Sprint-LD (0333) *IS* routing to these
> two VeriZon/GTE test-numbers, and VZ/GTE has them up-and-running! I am
> not able to get through on VZ-B/MCI (0222) nor AT&T-LL (0288). And I
> am not able to get through to anything on the original 442-442-1442
> test-number at present via any of the three major LD-carriers, so I
> don't know if at&t/Pacific*Bell has it up-and-running (again)
> locally/intra-LATA at Vista CA or not.


Since last month, I am NOW able to reach the two VZ/GTE test-numbers
via VZ-B/MCI (0222) including legacy Worldcom/Wiltel (0555) as well as
via Sprint-LD (0333).

I am ALSO now able to reach a revised recording on at&t/Pacific*Bell's
Vista CA DMS-100 (LATA 732) on 442-442-1442, via 0222 VZ-B/MCI and via
0333 Sprint-LD. It does NOT return supervision! :-)

At the moment, AT&T-LL (0288) still does NOT yet have 442-442, 442-730,
nor 442-973 opened up in their 4ESS network. I expect that AT&T-LL will
open up these three 442-nxx test-numbers' c.o.codes either tonight
(Monday night/Tuesday morning) or the following night (Tuesday night/
Wednesday morning) in advance of the "official" start-date for these
442 NPA test-numbers on Friday 21-August-2009.


> Neither of the two VeriZon/GTE 442 test-numbers return billing
> supervision (at least not at present).
>
> The 442-730-8378 number at Victorville CA, Los Angeles CA LATA #730
> has the following verbage:
>
> "You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
> 7-6-OH, 4-4-2, N-P-A overlay"
>
> The 442-973-8378 number at Palm Springs CA, Palm Springs CA LATA #973
> has the following verbage:
>
> "You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
> 7-6-OH, 4-4-2, N-P-A overlay" (pause) "Palm Springs".
>
> Note that both VeriZon/GTE announcements quote "7-6-OH" rather than
> "7-6-Zero". Also, the Victorville-based announcement does NOT indicate
> Victorville at the end, while the Palm Springs based announcement does
> quote "Palm Springs" at the end.
>
> When an announcement is restored by at&t/Pacific*Bell to 442-442-1442
> (Vista CA, San Diego CA LATA #732), or if there IS already an
> announcement there only that LD-carriers (including 0288 AT&T-LL) need
> to restore access to 442-442 at Vista CA, it will be interesting to
> see if at&t/Pacific*Bell is using the original recording itself from
> last year, or if they have re-taped an announcement fresh from
> "scratch". I also wonder if possibly the original announcement itself
> has always still been working at Vista CA locally/intra-LATA, only
> that I was unable to reach it at all via any LD-carrier...


On Monday afternoon (17-August-2009), the slightly revised announcement
on at&t/Pacific*Bell's restored 442-442-1442 test-number at their
Vista CA DMS-100 quotes the following:

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the 4-4-2 overlay N-P-A"

As mentioned earlier, the announcement LAST year on at&t/Pacific*Bell's
Vista CA DMS-100 442-442-1442 test-number was as follows --

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
7-6-0, 4-4-2, N-P-A activity"

The current (restored) announcement is slightly shorter than the
announcement last year, note that last year's announcement mentioned
"NPA Activity", not split nor overlay!

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

On Monday 17-August-2009, I wrote:

> At the moment [Mon. 17-Aug-2009], AT&T-LL (0288) still does NOT yet
> have 442-442, 442-730, nor 442-973 opened up in their 4ESS network.
> I expect that AT&T-LL will open up these three 442-nxx test-numbers'
> c.o.codes either tonight (Monday night/Tuesday morning) or the
> following night (Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) in advance of the
> "official" start-date for these 442 NPA test-numbers on Friday
> 21-August-2009.

Well, AT&T-LL (0288) waited until early this Friday morning 21-Aug-2009
to open up the three 442-NXX c.o.codes for the NPA 442 test-numbers,
today being the "official" start date for these test-numbers.
VZ-B/MCI (0222) including Worldcom (0555) had these opened up in their
network for maybe two weeks now; and US-Sprint-LD (0333) had the two
VZ/GTE test-number c.o.codes (442-730 and 442-973) opened up in their
network for over a month now. opening up the at&t/Pacific*Bell 442-442
(restored) test-code about two weeks ago. Now all of the "big three"
IXCs/LD-carriers have all three NPA 442 test-number c.o.codes opened up
within their networks, routing to the test announcements, which at least
as of righ tnow, none of them return answer/billing supervision! :-)

760 in eastern/southeastern CA is being overlaid with 442. Mandatory
(1+)ten-digit intra-760 dialing goes into effect on Sat. 21-Oct-2009.
New (pre-assigned) geograophic/POTS (non-test) 442-NXX c.o.codes can
begin to take effect a month after that, on Saturday-24-November-2009,
however at present, no such 442-NXX geographic/POTS c.o.codes have yet
been pre-assigned by NeuStar-NANPA.

As for the three NPA 442 Test-Numbers/C.O.Codes/announcements/etc:

442-442-1442
VISTCA12DS0
Nortel DMS-100
Vista CA
at&t/SBC/Pacific*Bell,
(at&t/Pacific/Bell's own) LATA 732 "San Diego CA Metro"

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the 4-4-2 overlay N-P-A"
-------------------------

442-730-TEST
VTVLCAXADS0/79T
Victorville CA
Nortel DMS-100/200
VeriZon/GTE/Contel
(within at&t/SBC/Pacific*Bell's ) LATA 730 "Los Angeles CA extended"

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
7-6-'OH', 4-4-2, N-P-A overlay"
-------------------------

442-973-TEST
PLSPCAXGDS0
Palm Springs CA
Alcatel/Lucent 5ESS
VeriZon/GTE/CW&T (old California Water & Telephone)
(VeriZon/GTE's own) LATA 973 "Palm Springs CA"

"You have successfully reached the test-number for the California
7-6-'OH', 4-4-2, N-P-A overlay" (pause) "Palm Springs".
-------------------------

The volume level for the at&t/Pacific*Bell Vista CA (San Diego CA LATA)
442-442-1442 test-number is VERY LOW, but the two GTE/VeriZon test
announcements have decent to fairly loud volume.

Both NeuStar-NANPA and Telcordia-TRA indicate that the three test-number
c.o.codes can begin to be disconnected, or at least IXC/LD access to the
three test-number c.o.codes can be discontinued, beginning on Monday
21-December-2009.

The most recent Neustar-NANPA Planning Letter for this 442/760 NPA
overlay in eastern/southeastern California is PL #381, which was
dated/issued on Thursday-23-October-2008 (last year),
see http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_381.pdf

There were earlier Planning Letters as well as other earlier
documentation at the California PUC's website regarding 760/442 even as
far back as 1999/2000, when it was previously determined for a 760/442
split, which last October was modified by the Ca-PUC to be the overlay
currently being implemented, modified by the Ca-PUC after large and
vocal grassroots opposition by residents and businesses in the
San Diego CA metro area, esp. suburbs, who would have fallen on the
"wrong" side of the split.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina

NeuStar-NANPA has uploaded Planning Letter #395 dated today Wednesday
26-August-2009 to the NANPA website, regarding the 579 area code overlay
to the existing 450 area code in southwestern Quebec outside of the
immediate Montreal QC metro area.

This Planning Letter was prepared by the Canadian Numbering Administrator
(SAIC-CNA) for NeuStar-NANPA and the industry.

http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_395.pdf

Any local intra-450 dialing, as well as any local dialing between 450 and
adjacent area codes has been mandatory ten-digits since Fall 2006, so there
is no "phase-in" period needed in this overlay.

Service providers can request new (POTS) 579-NXX c.o.codes from SAIC-CNA
beginning on Sunday 21-February-2010.

But the earliest date when such new 579-NXX (POTS) c.o.codes can take
effect in the network is Saturday 21-August-2010.

The test-numbers are scheduled to begin on Friday 21-May-2010, and will
begin to be disconnected between Tuesday  21-September-2010 and Thursday
21-October-2010.

The three test-numbers are following the usual pattern for overlays in
Canada:

579-610-TEST/BILL
8050 Bell-Canada
Longueuil QC
LNGLPQ15CG0 Nortel-DMS-100

579-810-TEST/BILL
8304 MTS-Allstream
Chomedey QC
CHOMPQDVAMD (works off MTRLPQXCDS0 Nortel-DMS-500)

579-510-TEST/BILL
8377 Rogers-CallNet
Longueuil QC
LNGLPQ150MD (works off MTRLPQQNDS1 Lucent-5ESS-2000)

The "TEST" line-number (-8378) is NOT supposed to return billing supervision,
while the "BILL" line-number (-2455) *IS* supposed to return billing
supervision.

The verbage/text on the three test-numbers will be bi-lingual --
French first, followed by English:

"La communication a été établie avec succès au numéro de vérification de
l'indicatif régional 579, à [NOM DUTÉLÉCOMMUNICATEUR], Québec, Canada.
You have successfully completed a call to the 579 area code test number
at [CARRIER NAME] in Quebec, Canada."

There are 138 ratecenters/tariffed exchange areas in the 450 area code region.
(Also, the immediate Montreal QC metro area, 514-overlaid-with-438 is only
SIX individual ratecenters/tariffed exchange areas, and two of them are NOT
"local/EAS" w-r-t each other!)

Bell Canada is the dominant (landline) ILEC for the 450 region, but there
are some independent incumbent telcos' ratecenters in the 450/579 region
as well, including Telebec (which is part of the Bell/Aliant "family"),
Co-Op Tel (de Valcourt), Upton Tel, Tel.Guevremont for the town of
Ste-Rosalie QC (this independent telco also has exchanges in the 819 region),
and even Sogetel which is dominant in the 418 region but a few years ago
bought some independent telco' ratecenters in other parts of Quebec which
in the 450/579 region include Baie-du-Febvre QC and St-Liboire QC.

Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina