Telephone - Phone Number Insanity

History 1877 � The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance of just three miles.

In this article we're going to discuss just some of the many problems faced when issuing telephone numbers to the general public.

Anyone who said that you can't ever have too much of a good thing obviously never had to issue telephone numbers to an exploding population.

Back in the good old days when the telephone was first invented there weren't that many people who even had one. For that matter, there weren't that many people period. Take New York City, which is one of the largest cities in the world today. The whole population of the United States in the 1880 census was a little over 50 million. The population of JUST New York City alone today stands at over 8 million people. And that's just ONE city.

History 1936 � Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).

As for the number of people who had phones back then, well it was a very small percentage to say the least. Less than 10% of the people in the United States had phones. Today, almost everybody has a phone unless they live in a cave. The truth is, today you just can't live without a phone. And for each person who has a phone that's one more phone number that has to be given out.

History 1955 � Saw the beginning of the laying of transatlantic telephone cables.

With the current phone system of 10 numbers, 3 for the area code and 7 for the number itself, that gives us a finite number of phone numbers that can be issued. Granted, mathematically we shouldn't run out of numbers if you just apply pure mathematics. But then you have to take into account that certain numbers can't be used. For example, because of information and emergency service numbers in the United States (411 and 911) no area codes can begin with those numbers and no phone exchanges can begin with those numbers.

History 1900 � First coin operated telephone installed in Hartford, Connecticut.

But restricted numbers are not the main problem we are faced with issuing phone numbers to customers. The problems only begin there.

Aside from the fact that more people have phones today and there are more people in the world to have phones, people today as a family have more phone numbers.

For example, as recently even as the 1970s, a family of 4 had one phone number. Oh they may have had more than one phone in the house, such as one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen, but they both shared the same number. Today, a family of 4 probably has 5 or even 6 different phone numbers in their home. Aside from the main home number, in most families, each member of the family has a cell phone with each one having a different number. Aside from that, since many people do work from their homes today, they also have either a fax number of a separate line installed for an Internet connection.

History 1918 � It was estimated that approximately ten million Bell system telephones were in service throughout the U.S.

So the number of phones per household has increased by a factor of 5 or 6. As a result issuing numbers has become a nightmare. States are having to break up into more area code segments. For example, in the 1960s, New Jersey had just 2 area codes, 201 and 609. Today we now have 201, 908, 732, 976 and 609. And still, New Jersey is running out of numbers. And this problem is happening all over.

And it will only get worse. With the increasing number of ways to use a phone (throw aways) the number of phone numbers that will be needed will only continue to increase.

The 13 digit phone number may be closer to reality than you think.

History 1911 � American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two eventually merged.

------------------------------------------------------- Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Telephones -------------------------------------------------------

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Telephone - Caller ID Any Good?

History 1877 � The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance of just three miles.

In this article we're going to discuss the pros and cons of a fairly new invention in relation to how long the telephone itself has been around, caller ID.

The first thing, for those who may not know exactly what caller ID is and how it works, is to give a brief explanation of caller ID.

History 1874 � Principal of the telephone was uncovered.

To trace caller ID's history you have to go back to the 1980s. During this time, state public utility commissions from all over the country were trying to agree whether or not to approve telephone company requests for Caller Number ID service (CNID) which had come from the ever increasing annoyances of telemarketing and prank calls. At the time Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) brought up some concerns that were published in their news letters and newspapers printed around the country. Because of these concerns, Public Utility Commissions (PUC) decided that they better get involved in the proceedings that were taking place across the country.

The decisions of each state varied. Some agreed with the CPSR analysis that not having the ability to block one's number from being identified led to right to privacy issues that we are still battling today. In California they actually requested that CNID would not be allowed in their state. The commission however decided to allow it with the provision that the number would only be visible if the person making the call gave permission for this to be done. By default, no numbers would be shown, which effectively made caller ID in California pretty useless. Because of this restriction, telephone companies in California decided not to offer caller ID at all. Meanwhile, in Oregon, certain privacy concessions were made so that the caller ID service was approved.

History 1911 � American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two eventually merged.

Because of the problems that they faced in many states, telephone companies petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules on CNID that would apply nationwide. What this ended up doing was just making things worse. The FCC decided to make number blocking the default nation wide, which actually overruled many of the individual state's decisions. Many of the states appealed but the FCC denied all their appeals. This cleared the way for telephone companies to offer CNID with weak privacy protections nationwide. That is what we have today.

History 1955 � Saw the beginning of the laying of transatlantic telephone cables.

But what good is caller ID anyway? Most numbers that call us we probably won't recognize anyway unless they are close friends. What if a company we actually do business with tries to call us? We may not recognize the number. Do we answer the phone or not? The truth is, and many people believe this, answering machines do a better job of screening calls than caller ID. The machine actually answers the call and then if it's important the caller will leave a message and a phone number so we can get back to them.

History 1936 � Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).

The bigger problem with caller ID is that this allows businesses to collect phone numbers for marketing purposes, which brings up the privacy concerns again.

Whatever side of the fence you're on, caller ID will certainly be a greatly debated topic for many years to come.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Telephones

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