Overlays

[Ry Jones <rjones@airgap.net>]

It's amusing to read the reasons why overlays don't work. To
summarize the argument,

1) We're too stupid to write down ten digits all at once, we
can only handle 5, 7 tops
2) We're confused by this 'technology' stuff

I'm amazed that the original complainer sent email about it.
Why isn't he using smoke signals or pigeons or something?

If you've never lived in an area with many NPAs (example:
Puget Sound), you have no idea how bad it is to allow 7 digit
dialing. From where I sit in Kirkland (425), I may have to 
dial:
1) 10 digits for parts of Seattle
2) 11 digits (LD) for other parts of Seattle
3) 7 digits for parts of 425
4) 11 digits for other parts of 425
5) 10 or 11 digits for parts of 253

And the really great part is GTE and US Worst are not allowed
to accept too many digits. That is, I can't just dial
1+NPA+NXX+XXXX and get through regardless, so I have to play
20 guesses to figure out how to dial a phone number depending
on if I'm at work or a hotel 5 blocks away.

All this to prevent throwbacks to the stone age from accidentally
dialing an LD number and not realizing it.

With an overlay this all goes away. You have 10 (or 11) digit
dialing. Whee!

In other (slightly more modern) places in the world, your phone
number length depends on where you live and the population.
Basically, a routing number and a local number. You dial the local
number for, well, local calls and the horrid long number for
non-local calls. So if you have a low population, the first part
of your phone number is long (it gets dialed infrequently) and the
second part is short (because there aren't too many of you
anyways). In somewhere with more phones, say, London, the first
part is short and the second part is long. Gee. Problem solved.

Maybe the people of the UK are just smarter than us.
-- 
Ry Jones
Airgap Networks / Moscow, ID 419 730 2199 (fax)