Dial 1 for long distance

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SnooChocolates2923@reddit

Only on landlines.

Any VOIP or cell service does it for you.

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thepostmerc@reddit

I just pick up the receiver and ask the switchboard operator to connect me.

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SnooChocolates2923@reddit

Is this the number to which I have reached?

We don't care, we don't have to. We're the Phone Company.

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TransatlanticMadame@reddit

I live in the UK. To dial the US, I have to dial 001--. The '1' is the country code, not just for in-country long distance.

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Blrfl@reddit

The 1 in the U.S. is a trunk access code that serves the same purpose as the 0 you dial for domestic numbers.

U.S. area codes used to have a 0 or 1 as the second digit and exchange codes didn't, which enabled the switches to detect that a call was local (7 digits) or long-distance (10 digits). As we ran short on area codes, they allowed area codes that didn't have a 0 or 1 in the middle and required that we dial 1 to tell the switch our intentions. (Neither area codes nor exchange codes ever began with 1 and they still don't.) Eventually, ten-digit dialing was mandated everywhere and that problem went (mostly) away.

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TransatlanticMadame@reddit

And to dial internationally, the US still has to enter 011---.

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Blrfl@reddit

That's correct and the same as anywhere else except that the International access code is different.

I used to get tripped up when my British colleagues had business cards with numbers like +44 (0) 1234 567 890, not realizing that I didn't have to dial the zero when calling from overseas.

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DeaddyRuxpin@reddit

Originally it was not needed for calls within the USA because the area codes had a specific pattern that wasn’t used by exchanges. If the 2nd digit was a 0 or 1 then the switching system knew it was an area code and you were going to dial 10 digits.

When area codes were expanded because we ran out of phone numbers, that 0/1 pattern was broken and now you needed to dial 1 for anything with an area code so the switching system knew the next 3 digits were an area code and not a local exchange.

Then switches got smarter and could hold out and see if you dialed 7 digits and stopped or dialed 10 digits and stopped so some of them no longer require 1 before the area code.

Also, things that fake dialing and send direct communication to the switch like cell phones and VoIP typically do not need it because the switch isn’t trying to figure out what you are dialing. It is handed the complete number from the calling device.

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Full_Mission7183@reddit

Its not to signal that the call is long distance, it is the country code of the phone number

US is +01

UK is +44

Japan is +81

In the olden days when dialing outside of you area code you had +1

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Blrfl@reddit

The + is a shorthand that means "dial your country's international access code" before the country code (1 for the U.S., 44 for the UK, 81 for Japan) followed by the number. The access code is 00 in a lot of countries, but in the North American plan, it's 011.

Ergo, to call the UK from the U.S., I'd dial 011 44 and then the number. To call the UK from Denmark, it would be 00 44 and then the number.

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donutello2000@reddit

That’s unique to North America. In the rest of the world you dial:

or

0 - - local number or

00 - - - local number

North America is unique in that the country code is shared across countries and is 1 and doesn’t need to be “escaped” before dialing because local numbers and area codes are guaranteed to not start with 1.

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PhotoJim99@reddit

US, Canada and several Caribbean countries are +1 (not +01). But that's not why people in these countries dial 1 (otherwise, we'd dial 44 to call the UK but we dial 011-44).

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LIslander_4_evr@reddit

Not anymore. Ma Bell took care of that.

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Emergency_Bike6274@reddit

Does the +1 show up automatically at the front of the number field, or am I hallucinating?

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NotoldyetMaggot@reddit

Yeah I think most cell phones add it automatically, at least for incoming calls.

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ExaminationFancy@reddit

I do it out of habit.

I at least stopped putting two spaces after typing a period.

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Wellby@reddit

Same here

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Low_Yam7637@reddit

I’m your opposite

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Fugue_State76@reddit

Only after 9pm !!

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InterestingCoast1215@reddit

In the USA (and mobile I guess - I have not had a land line in 20+ years) it’s not needed. Just punch in the 10 numbers.

To dial international / home to the USA from a different country sometimes you have to add a +1 (but many carriers make that assumption for you these days).

I guess if you have the old fashioned landline with that dialing thing, you could ask the operator to connect you.

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Majik_Sheff@reddit

Lol. I just envisioned calling a modern operator and demanding to be connected to Atwater 1755.

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ac7ss@reddit

On land lines, yes, you need the 1. On cell phones, no, you can skip the 1. (In the US.)

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purplishfluffyclouds@reddit

NO.

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1Steelghost1@reddit

California you have to do it to dial across town! So many area codes/ phone numbers in the same cities.

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smarmy1625@reddit

yeah. 20 years ago I moved to a new town and got a few cellphones for my family. online it showed a page where you could pick a phone number you wanted off a list, so I just picked a few without thinking too much. turns out that exchange is the next town over about 30 miles away.

it worked fine for a years, but when my neighbor tried calling me from his landline it told him he had to dial 1 first because it was something called "local-long distance". it honestly never even occurred to me that that was still a thing.

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DylantheDevious@reddit

Cell phones no, but for landlines yes you still have to dial 1.

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gollo9652@reddit

I don’t know anyone who still has a home landline. I guess businesses have to have them.

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Lobster70@reddit

Just wait until Mom or Dad get old enough to have early signs of dementia! I'm currently working on getting my mom a landline phone at the assisted living facility she recently moved into. She locked up her iPhone enough times, apparently by entering the wrong passcode over and over, to completely disable it. She specifically asked for a "regular" phone.

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PhotoJim99@reddit

You can use a landline phone on a mobile phone - there is a Bluetooth adapter that has an RJ11 jack for a traditional phone. There are a few use cases (such as yours, or if for example you have a seasonal residence where the signal is usable only in certain parts of the building - put your mobile phone there, and you can have your landline-type phone in a more convenient place).

However, for your situation, assuming a landline can be arranged, it'll be a far simpler and more reliable solution.

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PhotoJim99@reddit

I still have a landline. A lot of businesses we deal with still have the number, so if I discontinued it, I'd still have to port it to some sort of mobile plan to have the number available.

911 is more reliable on a landline - and it's separate infrastructure. We've had times when our mobile network provider was having connectivity issues but the landline still worked (and vice versa).

My landline is also a lot more reasonably priced for overseas calls - not that I call much. It's about a dollar a minute to call the UK from my mobile phone without a calling plan, but it's $0.02 on my landline.

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Initial_Run1632@reddit

I still do! It's awesome. Well, it was better when it was still copper, and before I had to dial the area code for local numbers. But even now with just fiber, I love it.

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hapster85@reddit

For a POTS line from a traditional telephone company, yes. But I can configure my Ooma VOIP landline for 10 digit dialing, so no 1 needed. It does cause a momentary delay when only dialing 7 digits, though. So it's a trade-off.

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BucketOBits@reddit

I’ve been dialing 1 on my cell phone all this time 🤣

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Ancient-Chipmunk4342@reddit (OP)

Same!

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SmokeyFrank@reddit

I grew up in a county where even within the county, a call was long distance but not far away, a baby Bell had a huge local calling area.

My school was in a village where any call in or out of that three digit 883 exchange was long distance, tolled, having to call collect for a ride home after school. Two neighboring cities—another 661 village in a different direction, was long distance for the farther 762 city but not for the nearer 725 one (and they abutted). If you know my childhood county by those numbers—fine.

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Carinyosa99@reddit

Same with where my dad grew up in Michigan. Everything on one side of the county was local because it had a 265 exchange. Everything on the other side of the county was an 875 exchange and that was long distance. In fact, you didn't even have to dial the 2 and the 6 to make the local call.

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TrapperJon@reddit

I do at work from my desk phone. With all of the people moving into or out of my area, but keeping their cell phone numbers, plus the new area code for local numbers, it's a pain in the ass.

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jajjguy@reddit

Dial 9 for an outside line