# Longest telephone number in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2007, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450 "2007-04-17T10:02:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450/41 "2007-04-17T22:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Is it still based on local exchanges? For instance, my mum and dads phone number has gone from \<0xxx-12345\>, to the national change expanding it to \<01xxx-12345\>, to the most recent (fifteen years ago-ish) to make it \<01xxx-y12345\> where the y is different depending on where the old tiny local exchange was. [/QUOTE] According to Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Note that although Southampton and Portsmouth are one code from a code structure point of view, as of January 2006 calls between them are not local calls and the “codes” (023) 80 and (023) 92 are treated as separate by the BT site for determining local call area > **[Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Telephone_numbering_plan)** > > In the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, telephone numbers are administered by the Office of Communications (Ofcom). For this purpose, Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, which is the system for assigning telephone numbers to subscriber stations. Telephone numbers are of variable length. Local numbers are supported from landlines. Numbers can be dialled with a '0'-lead prefix that denotes either a geographical region or anothe... So the Southampton/Pompey situation is a specific one, not a general trend. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450/42 "2007-04-17T22:54:47Z")
As for the complete opposite of the original post, when I was a little kid living in Beckville, we only had about 800 people and consequently only one prefix. So for a local call, you only had to dial the last 4 digits of the phone number. Some time in the early 90’s, we got extended local calling so we had to dial the prefix too. A few years later for some reason, they made us start dialing the area code as well. Thinking about how we used to only dial 4 digits trips me out though. I wonder if any other places in the country still do the same. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450/43 "2007-04-17T22:57:32Z")
I worked in a village in the late '80s where the company phone number was 222. That was it. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450/44 "2007-04-17T23:10:42Z")
Nothing to shout about, I’m afraid, **jjimm**. Pretty damn common around here, even into the 90s. It’s pretty sad that I’m a couple of miles from BT’s major research & development base, yet simple things like comprehensive ADSL coverage are supposed to be ‘major improvements’. Because we’re ‘rural’. Or ‘low demand’. Or something. Tell that to Finland. _Finland has it all._ ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450/45 "2007-04-18T01:43:14Z")
When I call Mum in Cumbria from the Floppy residence in Maryland, it is 15 digits. 011 44 1768 xxx xxx ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450/46 "2007-04-18T02:11:07Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] _Finland has it all._ [/QUOTE] Yes. When I was there in 2000, it reminded me of a version of Canada run by smarter people. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-telephone-number-in-the-world/400450.md?page=2)