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masterfins
Uber Member
Posts: 5480
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« Reply #16 on: January 10, 2011, 09:01:33 pm » |
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Hoodie is correct about how a phone "knows" when to connect, but there's more to it than just that I believe.
It has to do with the antiquated land line phone network. I used to work for Sprint and MCI, so I know a "little" about how the routing works, but not enough to really answer your question fully. Suffice to say that it all comes down to being able to uniquely identify the destination. Sometimes 7 digits isn't enough for the software. Not because the software can't be made smart enough, it's just because there's a lot of old technology behind it all and lots of assumptions are made based on whether you dial a 1 first or a zero and whether you dialed 7 digits or 10.
Cell phones use newer technology and newer networks and don't have some of the same problems that land line phone systems have, so the software is smart enough to figure out stuff whereas the old land line technology isn't. It's too expensive and time consuming to remove all the old technology and replace it all with the newer technology, so you're stuck with 1 + and 10 digit dialing for now.
The good news is that newer technology is replacing older technology all the time. Probably eventually land lines won't need the 1+ and 10 digit dialing either or perhaps they'll just get rid of land lines altogether. Could be in the future we don't have any hard wired phones, it will all be cellular technology.
Now, I'm no expert on the matter, like I said I know just enough to be dangerous, so if someone wants to correct something I said, fire away.
Recently in a Playboy Advisor column someone asked/ or said something about land line phones, and the response from Playboy advisor was "you still have a landline?" Think about this: When was the last time you dropped a coin into a payphone? |
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Phishfan
Global Moderator
Uber Member
Posts: 15664
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« Reply #27 on: January 13, 2011, 05:44:23 pm » |
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