Big Number Change
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The Big Number Change was an update of telephone dialling codes in the UK in response to the rapid late 1990s growth of telecommunications and impending exhaustion of numbers. The change greatly expanded the pool of available numbers while helping to retain 'local dialling' (the ability to dial local numbers directly, without needing to dial an area code first). The change affected the dialling codes assigned to Cardiff, Coventry, London, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton, culminating in a large switch on Saturday, April 22, 2000. In addition to new area/city codes for many parts of the UK, the switch was also coupled with a move to eight-digit local numbers, the adjustment of all mobile phone numbers in the UK to the 07 prefix and the alteration of many non-geographic codes to the new 08 range.
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[edit] Geographical number changes
The following changes took place in Great Britain:
| Area | Old Number | New Number |
|---|---|---|
| Inner London | (0171) xxx xxxx | (020) 7xxx xxxx |
| Outer London | (0181) xxx xxxx | (020) 8xxx xxxx |
| Portsmouth | (01705) xxxxxx | (023) 92xx xxxx |
| Southampton | (01703) xxxxxx | (023) 80xx xxxx |
| Coventry | (01203) xxxxxx | (024) 76xx xxxx |
| Cardiff | (01222) xxxxxx | (029) 20xx xxxx |
In Northern Ireland, the situation was more complicated. While the primary reason for the changes was the lack of numbering capacity in Belfast (01232), this was not the only reason. When STD codes were introduced in the 1960s, Northern Ireland was allocated only 14 area codes for 34 charging groups. Normal practice on Great Britain was to allocate one area code per charging group, but as calls to Northern Ireland were national rate from anywhere in GB, it was not seen to be necessary to differentiate between all of them. So, area codes covering multiple charge groups were created; in practice this meant that some areas had longer area codes. For example, while Enniskillen was allocated the area code 0365 (0EK5), Kesh was allocated 03656 and Lisnaskea 03657. As a result, numbers in Enniskillen could not begin with 6 or 7, as this would conflict with those of Kesh or Lisnaskea.
All this meant that while Enniskillen's numbers could be six digits long, Kesh's and Lisnaskea's (and those of other dependent exchanges) could only be five digits, due to the limit of the length of a phone number. This severely restricted capacity in these areas. As a result, at the Big Number Change, all these dependent exchanges were migrated to different numbers than their parent exchanges; in this instance while Enniskillen's 01365 (the 1 coming from PhONEday) was migrated to 028 66, Kesh went from 013656 to 028 686 and Lisnaskea from 013657 to 028 677. This meant that Kesh could expand into the rest of the 028 68x range.
Note that the new numbering scheme groups numbers together such that the first digit identifies the county in alphabetical order. The exception is the Greater Belfast area where all numbers begin with 9, regardless of the county. The full list of changes for Northern Ireland [1] is as follows:
| Area | Old number | New number | Actual county (if different) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballycastle | (012657) xxxxx | (028) 207x xxxx | |
| Martinstown | (012667) xxxxx | (028) 217x xxxx | |
| Ballymena (5-digit) | (01266) xxxxx | (028) 256x xxxx | |
| Ballymena (6-digit) | (01266) xxxxxx | (028) 25xx xxxx | |
| Ballymoney | (012656) xxxxx | (028) 276x xxxx | |
| Larne | (01574) xxxxxx | (028) 28xx xxxx | |
| Kilrea | (012665) xxxxx | (028) 295x xxxx | Londonderry |
| Newry (5-digit) | (01693) xxxxx | (028) 302x xxxx | Down |
| Newry (6-digit) | (01693) xxxxxx | (028) 30xx xxxx | Down |
| Armagh | (01861) xxxxxx | (028) 37xx xxxx | |
| Portadown | (01762) xxxxxx | (028) 38xx xxxx | Partially in Down |
| Banbridge | (018206) xxxxx | (028) 406x xxxx | |
| Rostrevor | (016937) xxxxx | (028) 417x xxxx | |
| Kircubbin | (012477) xxxxx | (028) 427x xxxx | |
| Newcastle | (013967) xxxxx | (028) 437x xxxx | |
| Downpatrick | (01396) xxxxxx | (028) 44xx xxxx | |
| Enniskillen | (01365) xxxxxx | (028) 66xx xxxx | |
| Lisnaskea | (013657) xxxxx | (028) 677x xxxx | |
| Kesh | (013656) xxxxx | (028) 686x xxxx | |
| Coleraine (6 digit) | (01265) xxxxxx | (028) 70xx xxxx | |
| Coleraine (5 digit) | (01265) xxxxx | (028) 703x xxxx | |
| Derry | (01504) xxxxxx | (028) 71xx xxxx | |
| Limavady | (015047) xxxxx | (028) 777x xxxx | |
| Magherafelt (6 digit) | (01648) xxxxxx | (028) 79xx xxxx | |
| Magherafelt (5 digit) | (01648) xxxxx | (028) 796x xxxx | |
| Carrickmore | (016627) xxxxx | (028) 807x xxxx | |
| Newtownstewart | (016626) xxxxx | (028) 816x xxxx | |
| Omagh | (01662) xxxxxx | (028) 82xx xxxx | |
| Ballygawley | (016625) xxxxx | (028) 855x xxxx | |
| Cookstown | (016487) xxxxx | (028) 867x xxxx | |
| Dungannon | (01868) xxxxxx | (028) 87xx xxxx | |
| Fivemiletown | (013655) xxxxx | (028) 895x xxxx | |
|
Belfast area |
|||
| Belfast | (01232) xxxxxx | (028) 90xx xxxx | Antrim and Down |
| Bangor | (01247) xxxxxx | (028) 91xx xxxx | Down |
| Lisburn | (01846) xxxxxx | (028) 92xx xxxx | Antrim and Down |
| Ballyclare | (01960) xxxxxx | (028) 93xx xxxx | Antrim |
| Antrim | (01849) xxxxxx | (028) 94xx xxxx | Antrim |
| Saintfield | (01238) xxxxxx | (028) 97xx xxxx | Down |
[edit] Non Geographic Number Changes
The following changes where made to non geographic numbering ranges to bring them in the 08 Special Services range.
| Code | Charging Rate | Old Number | New Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0345 | Local Rate | 0345 xxxxxx | 0845 7xxxxxx |
| 0645 | Local Rate | 0645 xxxxxx | 0845 9xxxxxx |
| 03745 | National Rate | 0374 5xxxxx | 0870 4xxxxxx |
| 0541 | National Rate | 0541 xxxxxx | 0870 1xxxxxx |
| 0990 | National Rate | 0990 xxxxxx | 0870 5xxxxxx |
[edit] Misunderstandings
Some widespread misunderstandings about area codes came about with the Big Number Change, most notably with London area codes. There is a widespread but erroneous assumption that London has two area codes 0207 and 0208, whereas in fact it has just one: 020. Similar misunderstandings came about with a few other area codes.
