Telephone prefix
Set of digits referring to a telephone exchange / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A telephone prefix is the first set of digits after the country, and area codes of a telephone number. In the North American Numbering Plan countries (country code 1), it is the first three digits of a seven-digit local phone number, the second three digits of the 3-3-4 scheme. In other countries, both the prefix and the number may have different lengths. It shows which exchange the remaining numbers refer to. A full telephone number is usually made up of a country code (required for international calls only), area code (required for calls between telephone areas), prefix, and subscriber number.
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Some places restrict certain prefixes to fax numbers or cell phones only; in other places such dedicated prefixes are not used.
As telephone technology advanced, the precise significance of the prefix became blurred in many places; for instance, 485 in London, UK, was once the GULliver exchange, but now 44-20-7485-xxxx is just considered one of many number blocks served by the CLKEN Kentish Town exchange.[1]