# You must first dial a 1 before this number... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-first-dial-a-1-before-this-number/75817 "2001-08-11T17:31:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seraphim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Seraphim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seraphim)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-first-dial-a-1-before-this-number/75817/1 "2001-08-11T17:31:06Z")
Now that my life has been needlessly complicated by ten digit dialing, I’d really like a good explanation for that message. If the computer knew I needed to dial a “1” first, why couldn’t it have just done it for me, instead of requiring me to redial? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-first-dial-a-1-before-this-number/75817/2 "2001-08-11T17:47:26Z")
[The Master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a950317.html) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-first-dial-a-1-before-this-number/75817/3 "2001-08-11T18:12:21Z")
It is telling you something: dial a 1 and pay long distance. If you were not made to dial the one then you could say you did not know it wass long distance. In other words, the entire meaning is: “Kindly signal your acceptance of long distance charges by dialing a 1” Also, probably you can have a dialing discriminator on your phone or phone system which blocks long distance calls by blocking dialing strings which begin with 1.