I see people with +44 (0)... on business cards, even for telcos that should know better.
The + you see on international phone number is specified by a standard. An international standard called E.123 and it defines the formatting for national and international phone numbers and email addresses and web sites. Such as you would use on a business card. It is not a big standard, so why use one bit and ignore another?
If you think +44(0) makes sense or looks cool READ THE STANDARD!
7.1 International prefix symbol
The international prefix symbol should be + (plus) and should precede the country code in the international number. It serves to remind the subscriber to dial the international prefix which differs from country to country and also serves to identify the number following as the international telephone number.
Simple. So people follow standards and show numbers starting +. So far so good. But...
7.2 Use of parentheses
The symbol ( ) (parentheses) should be used to indicate that the digits within the ( ) are not always dialled. The ( ) should enclose the trunk prefix and trunk code in a national number, and the trunk code when the trunk prefix is not in universal use within a country.
This is done to remind the user not to dial the enclosed digits for calls within the same numbering area.
The ( ) should not be used in an international number.
So, there you have it. You do not put (0) in an international number or any parenthesis.
Indeed, that definition is pretty clear that (0) means that you do not dial 0 when in the same numbering area (UK) and do dial it when not (outside UK) which is exactly the opposite of what you need to do!
Why the hell do people do this. Its a meme. One business card had this and instead of doing it right people just copied that and assumed it was the right thing to do. It is not.
Consider the options:-
- UK caller that does not understand + notation: will find +44(0)... even more confusing. However, can look in phone book, check with operator, etc if it is properly formatted without (0) and find out.
- UK caller that does understand + notation: (0) does not help them and may annoy or confused them even as non standard.
- Non UK caller that does not understand + notation: Not helped by (0), and without it they can ask operator, etc, and find out as it is a standard. No idea if to dial 0 or not.
- Non UK caller that does understand + notation: Does not understand (0) as it is non standard and so does not know if they should dial the 0 or not. If they understand UK numbering or have something similar they may guess but (0) does not help that.
- GSM user: can dial + notation as written if standard, and (0) does not help
Oh, and of course, the area code for London is 020, written +44 20 .... and not 0207. 0207 IS NOT AN AREA CODE! You can tell this as you can call from one 020 number to another 020 number by dialling the 8 digit number after the 020. You cannot call from one 0207 number to another 0207 number by dialling the 7 digits after 0207!
Similary, and local to us, 01189 IS NOT AN AREA CODE
What gets me is that the non-standard use of +44(0) is spreading fast. It is like a rumour. You see it everywhere. Why on earth is the correct standard not so good at spreading?
Anyway, I hope you will all use this as a chance to be technically correct (the best kind of correct) and one-up anyone giving you such a business card... Have fun.
Good grief - they do not teach this stuff do they - my son's girlfriend was nearby when I explained this rant to my son. She never understood that her area code is 0118 and did not even know she could dial local 7 digit numbers. Arrrg!
ReplyDeleteThe BBC seem to be the worse culprits for quoting 0207 as an area code.
ReplyDeleteI think your son's girlfriend's ignorance of local dialling stems from the 'mobile phone' generation whose main experience of dialling phone numbers is from mobile phones where the whole number is also dialled. Don't even try to explain the old local dialling shortcodes (e.g. 74 for St.Helens numbers dialled from 051 exchanges)
At least it's pretty obvious that Microsoft are responsible for this next one ... why do they keep on believing that the UK timezone is GMT. It's not! The next time I get a meeting request for 1000 GMT and we're on summer time I will arrive at 1000 GMT, which will be an hour later than they think.
ReplyDeleteIt gets worse when you're dealing with countries that don't do summer time, or change on different dates. (Or even have it during the other half of the year!)
"UK caller that does not understand + notation..."
ReplyDeleteis going to be looking for the + sign on their telephone for a long long time. :)
My mobile has a + sign on it clearly marked on the keyboard. All GSM phones can dial + and all of then allow dialing of full international numbers even in same country.
ReplyDeleteKPN mobile in Holland don't allow international dialing for local calling unless you have international roaming turned on. You get the equiv. of 'you dialed the wrong number muppet'.
ReplyDelete.. I appreciate UK mobile carriers may be different..
also.. my joke failed.. :(
Unless it has changed, the GSM spec requires that you can dial full international format even in country. I am sure we could find a reference. Perhaps they need educating!
ReplyDeleteThat's brilliant. Seriously. I remember coming to the UK and trying to dial a number minus the country code. Drove me nuts until someone explained to me you had to stick a zero in front. A big thank you to all companies who are kind enough to consider foreigners by putting a zero in parenthesis.
ReplyDeleteUh, OK....
ReplyDelete/me just noticed ISPA business cards have (+44) 0...
There's now millions of US telephone numbers written as +1 (0) xxx xxx xxxx if you search in Google for [tel "+1 (0)" usa] with the quotes and spaces typed exactly as shown.
ReplyDeleteThat's completely crazy, because the US does not use an initial zero trunk code at all!
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=tel+%22%2B1+%280%29%22+usa
But but but... That is crazier than the UK even.
ReplyDeleteAny idea why or how that has happened?
It has happened because very many people in Europe, and especially the UK, automatically add an unwanted (0) directly after the +XX country code, without thinking.
ReplyDeleteThey now do it for all international numbers, from any country, without any thought as to why they do it, and without checking whether the country in question uses a trunk code.
The millions of malformed US telephone numbers shown in the example Google search are mostly to be found on non-US websites.
Ah, I see. Even sillier. It is not a matter of checking if 0 is used though - it is always wrong even for +44. But so silly...
ReplyDelete... and then I see Italian numbers written as +39 6 455 4555 or as +39 (0)6 455 4555 when in actual fact the zero MUST ALWAYS be dialled from abroad.
ReplyDeleteThe correct representation is +39 06 455 4555 and there's several other countries that have similar dialling rules.
"Why the hell do people do this?" Because, years ago, it's exactly what the BT phone book told them to do! There was even a bit of explanation given: as I recall it was a mixed national/international format so that people who understood it knew what to dial both from inside the country and from outside. (Basically, the parentheses were to enclose numbers that you didn't need from outside the country but did need from inside, so you got told both in one.) When their advice changed, I don't know -- I moved to the US so I don't have recent phone books to hand.
ReplyDeleteSo, sure, times have moved on. We now have an ITU standard saying differently and OFCOM now agree. It's really nothing more remarkable than one legacy format being superseded by another that gives international-only format, though; hardly worth a rant, unless it's about the ITU's public outreach efforts.
Nope, definitely not. The BT phone book got it right.
ReplyDeleteIf you have an example of an old phone book getting it wrong, do send me a scan/picture.
I understand where you're coming from RevK. The thing is I havent met anyone who did put a parenthesis between 0 or put 0 after 44. I have worked for a local bookstore and students put their number for registration. Now I am currently working from home selling import export goods online. My international users dont use this kind of method either, so i think its just a mistake maybe.
ReplyDeleteWe see it all the time though, especially on business cards! The fact you are not seeing it dealing with international users just proves how silly it is.
ReplyDelete