According to Wikipedia:
So the Southampton/Pompey situation is a specific one, not a general trend.
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.
I worked in a village in the late '80s where the company phone number was 222. That was it.
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.
When I call Mum in Cumbria from the Floppy residence in Maryland, it is 15 digits.
011 44 1768 xxx xxx
Yes. When I was there in 2000, it reminded me of a version of Canada run by smarter people. 