A Rant

[drplokta]

Since I've abdicated, I guess this isn't actually legally binding. But everyone should do it anyway.

How to Write UK Phone Numbers

UK phone numbers are written as the dialling code, including the 0 national prefix, followed by the phone number. They may alternatively be written as +44 followed by the dialling code (excluding the 0 national prefix), followed by the phone number. You may not try to combine the national and international versions into one -- if you want to give both versions, give both versions. If you want, you can put brackets around a geographic dialling code -- but not around a non-geographic one that can never be omitted from the number. 7 digit phone numbers may be grouped 3-4 (with no punctuation). 8 digit phone numbers may be grouped 4-4. Nice and simple, isn't it? So why do so many people get it wrong?

Mostly because they don't know their dialling code. There are no such dialling codes as 0207 and 0208. London has a dialling code of 020 and eight digit phone numbers. All mobile phone numbers have five digit dialling codes (including the 0) and six digit number. The recently issued dialling codes starting 011 are all four digit codes and seven digit numbers.

So the following are correct:

020 7123 4567
07941 123456
+44 118 912 3456
National: 01244 123456
International: +44 1244 123456
(01244) 123456
0845 7484950

And the following are wrong:

0207 123 4567
0794 112 3456
+44 (0)118 912 3456
01189 123456
(0845) 7484950

Is that clear?

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

All thanks to the CCITT's 11-digit standard.

It is acceptable to write mobile numbers as a 5-digit number followed by two groups of three.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

In my experience Americans don't know what the + means

[vampwillow]

er ... you are somewhat wrong too. I had to research this a couple of years ago:

* 3-4-4 structure:
02x xxxx xxxx
07x xxxx xxxx

* 4-3-4 structure
01x1 xxx xxxx
011x xxx xxxx
08xx xxx xxxx (though sometimes 08xxx xxxxxx)

*5-6 structure
01xxx xxxxxx

I have a PHP subroutine that formats a number if anyone wants a copy ...

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

The UK seems to randomly reorganise its phone numbering system every few years, just for the hell of it. I tend to find the mix of 3, 4 and 5-digit codes with random number of following digits a tad confusing, though thanks to sbisson for pointing out that they seem to add up to 11 digits.

There is also a convention I've seen quite a lot which goes +int(area)local. For example +44(118)9123456. I think it may have been introduced by Windows 95, so that's probably reason enough to shun it, but it has the advantage of being machine readable, so dialers know which bits to strip off for local calls.

It strikes me that the Americans have had a clear, simple system since at least the 70s, and possibly earlier. You used to be able to tell how important an area was by adding the digits of the area code together (with zero=10), so Washington had 212 while Alaska had 909. On radial dial phones (or pulse dial push phones) it meant that the shorter area codes dialed faster. Of course once tone dial came in it didn't make a difference.

In Ireland we seem to be gradually moving to a uniform 3+7 system, except in Dublin, which is 2+7. But we still have some old numbers which don't fit at all.

[redbird]

People don't know their dialing codes because they keep getting changed, in complicated ways. When North American telecom companies needed to change things around, they left some people's area codes alone and gave other people all-new ones, instead of (for example) rewriting London's 3 times in the past 3 decades, each time to a different length.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I also disagree with not alloowing the (0) convention.

It is not necessarily clear to foreigners, especially USians what the zero is for. Having it in brackets helps there. Most phone diallers should now scrub the zero. If they can't, have the manufacturer call me and I'll arrange to have their dialler fixed.

[the-gardener.livejournal.com]

There are no such dialling codes as 0207 and 0208.

Quite agree. But the reason so many people get this wrong is undoubtedly because of the way the codes were introduced, fooling a significant fraction of people into thinking that they were keeping their old seven-digit numbers and having the area code altered, instead of having their numbers altered. And all the tea in China won't make them believe otherwise.

[jamesb.livejournal.com]

In your dreams Minionite

So the following are correct:

020 7123 4567
07941 123456
+44 118 912 3456
National: 01244 123456
International: +44 1244 123456
(01244) 123456

no they aint, I tried both and they dont work!

and the following are wrong:

(0845) 7484950

eh-eh again minionite, you is wrong
this goes through to national rail enquiries......

it works fine

No wonder your flicks minion

death to all minionites

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I continue in my conviction that attempting to use the telephone in non North-American countries is completely useless.

K.

[hjsb.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid, with my mobile phone number, I group the digits in the form that's easiest to remember, which happens to be:

077 xxx xxxxx

I therefore apologize in advance for annoying you ;-)