TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Use of periods in phone numbers From:Alexander Von_obert <avobert -at- TWH -dot- MSN -dot- SUB -dot- ORG> Date:Thu, 26 Sep 1996 14:20:00 +0100
Hello,
* Antwort auf eine Nachricht von "Wollt, Richard C RV" an All am 25.09.96
"R> I'm afraid this discussion seems very insular. The 3,3,4
"R> grouping is a U.S.
"R> usage, Europe uses something like 2,2,2,3. With business need
"R> for clear
"R> communication in the worldwide market, we must clearly identify
"R> these
"R> numbers, not rely on some understood (maybe) convention to
"R> permit our
"R> readers to use the information.
technically, there is an upper limit of digits. Therefore Vienna, Austria,
has a national prefix (0222) and an international prefix (+43-1).
I fear that about every European country has its own convention of grouping
the digits. Here in Germany, it is even more complicated:
- There is the international prefix for Germany (+49)
- Phone numbers are nearly exclusively shown with the local prefix,
which always starts with the digit 0. This local prefix can have
anything between 3 and 5 digits, is put in brackets and grouped
in pairs as below.
- Finally you have the local numbers that can be anything from 3 to
8 digits, followed by any private exchange number and are grouped
in pairs from the back. Within a local calling area there might
even be numbers with different digit counts. If there is a private
exchange, the phone book shows -0 or so for the manual exchange.
Examples:
On my letter head my phone number is (09 11) 40 39 03. Internationally I use
+49-911-403903 (this is what my footer should show :-).
If you wish to call the City of Frankfurt with no extension number, you find
(0 69) 2 12-01. The City of Frankfurt library has the Fax number (0 69)
2 12-3 79 49.
OK, let's face it: The phone number format is something you have to localize
- like many other things. E.g. in the US a car goes some miles per gallon,
over here it consumes some liters per 100 km.
