Yet Another change in the
UK phone dialling code systems.
The following cities got brand spanking new dialling codes on June 1, 1999:
- Cardiff - (01222) xxx xxx became (029) 20xx xxxx
- Coventry - (01203) xxx xxx became (024) 76xx xxxx
- London - (0171) xxx xxxx became (020) 7xxx xxxx
- London - (0181) xxx xxxx became (020) 8xxx xxxx
- Portsmouth - (01705) xxx xxx became (023) 90xx xxxx
- Northern Ireland gets (028) xxxx xxxx numbers.
Most mobile and pager numbers get changed too, to fit into the grand scheme of things. These numbers were switched on on
30 September, 1999. In general, if it was a mobile number starting with 08, it was changed to 078.
So here's how things shape up overall:
- 00 - International access code
- 000 - ISDN international access code (being phased out on September 30, 2000)
- 01 - Geographic area codes
- 02 - Geographic area codes (see above)
- 03 - Reserved for future use
- 04 - Reserved for future use
- 05 - Reserved for future use
- 06 - Reserved for future use
- 07 - Mobile phones, pagers and personal numbers
- 08 - Special rate numbers (eg 080 Freefone, 0845 local rate, 0870 national rate)
- 09 - Premium rate numbers (eg information and, um 'entertainment' lines)
See www.numberchange.org for further information on all these changes.