I had the same problem as I was not use to the 0208 0207 numbers, they now have a new number set to which is the 0203 numbers which is supposed where they are going forward.

jogreen68 wrote on Oct 14^th, 2010 at 3:35pm:

It is customary to refer to STD area codes one their own, and if this were the done, then it would be clear to see that this is merely allocation of new local London numbers.

The code for London is 020 !! 0207 and 0208 have never been STD codes for London.

A number which starts with the digits 0203 is therefore a 020 number, just as those that start 0207 and 0208. I omit the spaces here as that is the preferred format of some people.

The majority of Greater London's local numbers (those beginning 020) are eight digits, just as those for Portsmouth and Southampton (023), Coventry (024), Northern Ireland (028) and Cardiff (029).

When a new local number is encountered which starts with a new digit never before used by a subscriber (e.g. a new local number which starts 2 where no existing ones start 2), does it cause gross confusion? No.

Are people confused about mobile numbers beginning 075 simply because they are relatively new?


sherbert wrote on Oct 14^th, 2010 at 4:18pm:

Residential premises tend only to have a single number (or multiple ones which aren't similar). Telephone companies (typically BT and Virgin Media, or cable) have blocks of numbers which they re-use.

The reason that the (020) 3 numbers are used by corporate organisations is because residential operators already have blocks of numbers from which they issue numbers individually. Corporate users frequently require hundreds or thousands of consecutive numbers and it stands to reason that these can only come from blocks of numbers that don't have the odd number given out to individual subscribers.

catj wrote on Nov 28^th, 2010 at 12:23am:

That would have lead to confusion that London's codes had changed from 071 and 081 to 0171 and 0181, respectively because the point of "PhONEday" (in 1995) was to insert a 1 after the national trunk dialling prefix for STD codes.

catj wrote on Nov 28^th, 2010 at 7:47pm:



... and everybody would have been happy with that!!

There may have one or two people who might have been hoping to be able to change their telephone number databases on a mass basis.

The odd moaner may have asked "why do we have to change our numbers when those in London do not?".

There may have been a few cases where people forgot that London had not changed and mis-dialled.

Some switchboard systems may have implemented a ban on calls to numbers beginning 07 to stop calls to mobiles and cut off Central London as well.

Oftel's attempts to sell stakeholders a new clear national numbering scheme would have been a little undermined by a couple of additional exceptions.

There may have been one or two minor other concerns, but one should not nit-pick.