[Asterisk-Users] How to number extensions - Which way is best?

[Kevin P. Fleming]

Steven Critchfield wrote:

> Funny, my memory has been that 1 was always toll as it was possibly to
> dial a 7 digit number prefixed by a 1 and it was LD. Of course that may
> be that for the longest time I lived in areas where the entire state
> could be a single area code without risk of running out of numbers. At
> that point you only dialed the 10 digit number if you dialed out of
> state.

That is absolutely correct... Back when Arizona was "small" (and had 
only one NPA), we had 1+ dialing for both 7-digit and 10-digit numbers. 
Even when we got our second NPA, we still 1+ for 7-digit numbers in the 
Phoenix area for a while. Finally, Phoenix got two more NPAs, and became 
a "free calling area", so we no longer have 1+ 7-digits in the Phoenix 
area, but it still exists in the rest of the state.

Coupled with the fact that if you _do_ dial 1+ before a number that does 
not need it you get reorder tone followed by "It is not necessary to 
dial 1 before this number", it's pretty obvious that at least in 
USWest/Qwest territory 1+ means _exactly_ that the caller is trying to 
make a toll call (although the charges may be reversed in the case of an 
800/888/877/866 call, it's still a toll call).