Our Antiquated Phone System

I find that there is no better example of how we can be technologically forward but system backward than out telephone network. Telephone numbers in North America have ten digits and look like this: 123-456-7890.

The first three digits, the 123, is the area code. This tells the telephone network the general area where the call is going. For example, in the far western part of New York State, the area code is 716. The next three digits, the 456, is known as the exchange. This is a kind of sub-area code. After the area code has been established, this tells the telephone network where in the area code the call is going. The final four digits, the 7890, is the body of the phone number.

Each exchange can have up to ten thousand numbers, from 0000 to 9999. Area codes typically contain about a hundred exchanges. For example the most common exchanges in the City of Niagara Falls, NY seem to be 283, 284 and, 297.

My point here is that the use of exchanges is inefficiency in the extreme. These exchanges are a relic of the days of mechanical switching systems to connect two callers. The early days of telephone featured operators manually plugging in a cord to join two callers. Then the mechanical relay switching systems became available in which a call was routed first to the destination area code and then to an exchange within the area code and finally to the number within the exchange. The area code is in itself an exchange.

In these days of computerized equipment with vast bandwidth and data storage capacity, why do we still use a system that was designed for the mechanical equipment available fifty years ago? There is probably no better example of how we can have space age technology operating under a virtually stone age system of organization.

Today, there is a dire need for ever-more phone numbers. Not only do most people have both land lines and cell phones (mobiles), but other devices such as alarm systems, credit card machines and, ATMs all require dedicated phone lines. Many areas are finding it necessary to create new area codes to increase the supply of available phone numbers. This causes considerable disruption and expense since everything that has a phone number written or recorded has to be changed.

With today's data processing capabilities, we need only one exchange and not two. If the exchange was eliminated and the seven digits following the area code were condidered as the body of the phone number, we would have ten million numbers available per area code instead of ten thousand per exchange. If the typical area code contains a hundred exchanges, this would give us ten times as many available phone numbers.

Countries outside North America often use city codes that can be eliminated in the same way. In fact, with ever more sophisticated equipment available, why not look forward to a day when even area codes are eliminated and the entire number is the body. This is the way the IP addresses on the internet operate, why can't telephones operate in the same way?