TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: What is Area Code 113?

Re: What is Area Code 113?

Mark Roberts (markrobt@myrealbox.com)
Sun, 23 Oct 2005 04:18:39 -0000

Justa Lurker <JustaLurker@att.net> had written:

> Fred Atkinson wrote:

>> I seem to remember that years ago, 113 was the number for directory
>> assistance down in Florida. But that doesn't give a clue as to why
>> it showed up on your caller ID.

> Must've been GTE territory (well, back then, it was the General System).

> In Erie PA [GTE before becoming Bell Atlantic and now Verizon of
> course] during the 1960s (possibly earlier than that), information
> was also 113 ... repair was 114 ... the fire department was 1171
> ... and you dialed 112 before the area code and number when placing
> a DDD [direct-distance dialing] long distance call. I want to say
> that the test board was 116 but it's been a long time. Not sure if
> there was a speed-dial code (if you will) for the business office.

In Columbia, Mo., GTE/General territory since the late 1950s, the
codes were:

112 for Long Distance access
113 for directory information
114 for repair service
115 for mobile operator
118 for time and temperature
119 for party-line ringback

112 was replaced with "1" around 1971. However, "0" access
(assisted long distance) was not available until 1986.

118 was replaced with 655 in the mid-1970s. 655 in turn was
replaced by 449-0655 (that's GIbson 9-0655) around 1986.

> For some reason, I think a lot of this went away when the GTD EAX
> replaced the old step-by-step equipment sometime in the late 60s or
> early 70s (?).

Columbia had *both* operating in parallel from 1971 to 1986 (in
different switching offices), when GTE brought in some Nortel switches
(would they have been DMS-100s by then?) and swept the old mess
out. No more progress tone just to call across town!

Mark Roberts | "A man does not show his greatness by being at one extremity,Oakland, Cal.| but rather by touching both at once."
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