From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 28 09:21:22 1997 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA14220; Thu, 28 Aug 1997 09:21:22 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 09:21:22 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199708281321.JAA14220@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: editor@telecom-digest.org Subject: US/UN Pacific Islands - Telecom Profile [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is another special report from Mark Cuccia who, rumor has it, ran up an AT&T long distance bill of over $800 last month while preparing this article. Thanks very much Mark! PAT] Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 15:46:53 -0500 From: "Mark J. Cuccia" Subject: US/UN Pacific Islands - Telecom Profile In 1957, Tony Bennett was at the top of the charts with his hit "In the Middle of an Island, in the Middle of the Ocean ...". In 1958, the movie version of "South Pacific" was released (the Broadway version came out in 1948, along with Perry Como's hit "Bali Hai"). Also in the late 1950's, Hawaiian singer Don Ho was rising in music popularity, Arthur Godfrey frequently originated many of his CBS Radio and Television Network broadcasts from Hawaii, and the popular detective drama "Hawaiian Eye" aired over the ABC Television Network. Four decades later, Hawaii has been customer dialable from most all of the NANP (since the early 1970's) and dialable as well from most parts of the world, most all of the Pacific Ocean islands are dialable from most of the world as well, "Vertical Services" (Custom-Calling and "CLASS") are widely available in the Pacific Ocean area, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have become a part of the NANP and from the US are now billed as 'domestic'. Also, Internet and email access/connectivity is available throughout these islands. And in 1997, attached here is my report/submission to TELECOM Digest: US (and former US/UN) PACIFIC ISLANDS -- TELECOM PROFILE With the recent incorporation of Guam (+671) and the Northern Mariana Islands (+670) into the North American Numbering Plan (+1) as NPAs 671 and 670 respectively, including dialing procedures _and_ at least from the US also being incorporated into domestic billing, I have done some research into the other US Pacific area possessions (+684 American Samoa), as well as the three former UN Pacific Trust Territories which were administered by the US (+692 Marshall Islands, +691 Micronesia, +680 Palau). These latter three Pacific Island countries have become independent, but they continue to maintain an economic relationship with the US, under "Compacts of Free Association". At this point in time, American Samoa has no 'formal' plans to join the NANP, although there is always a _possibility_ that they could become an NANP member by 2000. The US State Department, US Interior Department, and other US government agencies have desired that American Samoa become incorporated into the NANP (as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have), including becoming domestically rated/billed for calls with the US part of the NANP ... OR at least becoming domestically rated/billed for calls with the US, even if they don't become an actual part of the NANP. At this point in time, the three former US/UN Trust Territories have _no_ desire to join the NANP, as they are independent countries, and they are quite content with their cultural and political identity, including their own telephone country codes. However, _all_ of the above mentioned current and former US Pacific territories _are_ still part of the US Postal "Zipcode" format and two-letter 'state' abbreviation, and their _telephone_ numbering/dialing/switching/etc is also _VERY_ much patterned upon NANP-standards. One of the reasons that the former US/UN Pacific Trust Territory island nations are not (presently) desiring to join the NANP is that there is a concern about being incorporated into the US-domestic rate schedules. Although Guam and CNMI have become domestically rated with the mainland US, those two locations _are_ US possessions. Also, not everything within the NANP is (US) domestic-rated. There are some twenty individual sovereign nations/countries/entities within the NANP along with many different rate-schedules between these locations. _IF_ the three former US/UN Pacific Trust Territories were to 'officially' join the NANP, they don't _necessarily_ need to follow Guam/CNMI's (domestic) rates, but could retain a more _international_ rate-structure with the rest of the NANP, similar to the (non-US) NANP-Caribbean's situation with the rest of the NANP: While (most) every call between US NANP locations (the 48-states/DC, Alaska/Hawaii which are _actual_states_ of the US, Puerto-Rico/USVI in the NANP-Caribbean, and now Guam/CNMI in the Pacific) are domestically rated/billed with each other - and calls between the (continental) US and Canada are rated 'similar' to US-domestic rates (i.e. V&H co-ordinate distance-based, and not as expensive as 'international or overseas' pricings) ... calls between Canada and certain _other_ US locations which are _not_ of the 48-states/DC are rated as _international_, such as from Canada to Guam/CNMI and from Canada to Puerto Rico / US Virgin Islands. There are also some specific rate schedules for calls between parts of Canada and Alaska/Hawaii, which are different than for calls between Canada and the lower-48/DC. Also, on calls from the US to the non-US NANP Caribbean [both the former 'British' locations (Cable & Wireless) and the Dominican Republic (GTE and ITT's All-America Cables and Radio)], as well as calls from Canada (via Teleglobe) to _ALL_ of the NANP-Caribbean [including the Dominican Republic, the C&W-served former 'British' islands _and_ (also via ITT's AACR) US-jurisdiction PR/USVI] ... all such calls are _internationally_ rated. And, the changes in the _numbering_ of the NANP-Caribbean (under old NPA 809) is _NOT_ that those Caribbean locations are leaving the NANP (+1), but rather they _ARE_remaining_ in country-code +1, only that they are leaving +1's 809 _area_ code (NPA), and instead rather splitting into their _own_individual_ area codes (NPAs) still within the NANP (+1). Since American Samoa is actually a US territory, various US Federal Government departments (such as the State Department, the Interior Department, and others) have desired that American Samoa become 'domestic' billed for calls with other (NANP-based) US locations. Even American Samoa has recently become interested in becoming incorporated into the domestic rate structure. However, to avoid customer dialing confusion when calls are placed from the mainland US to American Samoa, it appears that American Samoa _might_ need to become incorporated into the actual North American Numbering _and_ Dialing Plan. However, if American Samoa _does_ become an actual part of the NANP, there is a concern regarding the billing and rating of calls _between_ American Samoa and other WZ-6 countries in the South Pacific. American Samoa is completely surrounded geographically by other WZ-6 countries in the South Pacific and maintains a close community-of-interest with these countries. American Samoa is _south_ of the Equator (due south of Hawaii) while the other US territories and former UN Pacific Trust Territories are all _north_ of the Equator (and west of Hawaii, also _west_ of the International-Date-Line). I don't know for certain, but I would think that the other WZ-6 countries do have special rate schedules for calling to Hawaii, Guam and CNMI, which are _different_ than the billing/rating for calls to the (continental) US. I think that Hawaii and Alaska (and Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) have their own unique rate-schedules for calls to _other_ non-NANP countries, different than the rates from the mainland US to such countries, due to the differences in overall distance, as well as the different communities-of-interest. _IF_ such is the case, then American Samoa _could_ become a part of the NANP, without any increase in the rates for calls between American Samoa and other nearby WZ-6 countries. The following report is a profile on each (US and former UN) Pacific island area's telephone network aspects. Some of the information came from various websites (URLs are indicated for the local telcos), and I also made some telephone calls to the individual telcos for further details. I am on AT&T's "one-rate-international" plan, which gives me a reasonable _discounted_ per-minute rate off of the 'basic' tariffed rate. Each country's AT&T discounted "one-rate" is in effect 24-hours, 7-days. Each of my calls to these Pacific island regions were routed over a satellite-hop, and while the acoustic audio quality was good, there _was_ a _noticeable_ satellite 'echo' and delay. However, on the call to Micronesia, while the satellite echo/delay was there, it wasn't as 'awkward' as on my calls to the other locations. On the call I made to Palau, again there was the satellite echo/delay, but this one was the _least_ 'awkward', and the acoustic audio quality was the _best_. Also, just prior to being connected to each called number, I heard a _VERY_FAINT_ string of 'MF-tones' into the called telco's switch. The ringing-indication tone and cadence/pace was that of "NANP ESS-type" (i.e. precise-tone) ringing. When the called-end answered the phone, I heard a distinct '2400-Hz' supervisory 'chirp' followed by a low-pitched grinding 'hum'. When the called end hung-up, I heard a distinct '2600-Hz' disconnect 'chirp', again followed by a low-pitched grinding 'hum'. A few seconds after that, I timed-out to a re-order. I do understand that SS7-interconnectivity is soon going to replace the current (old) CCITT #5 and #6 type signalling systems for these areas. I wonder if Caller-ID will show up on analog non-ISDN lines, for calls between each 'pseudo'-NANP area, or for calls between an 'actual' NANP number and 'pseudo'-NANP line -- i.e. will numbers be displayed as 680-nxx-xxxx, 684-nxx-xxxx, 691-nxx-xxxx, 692-nxx-xxxx, 'as-if-it-were' an actual ten-digit NANP-number(!) -- or will an "out-of-area" (or "number unavailable") message be displayed? At this time, access to each Pacific island country's directory operator from _outside_ of each country still _must_ be placed through the toll or international assistance operator of the originating country. AT&T's rates from the US for directory assistance in these Pacific islands runs approximately $8.00! Use of 555-1212 does _NOT_ (yet?) work for +680, +684, +691, +692. However, customer direct dialing to directory assistance for Guam/CNMI (at least from the US), and for Hawaii can be dialed and reached as: +(1)-670-555-1212 - CNMI +(1)-671-555-1212 - Guam +1-808-555-1212 - Hawaii Much of the detail in this report regarding Hawaii and the Philippines comes from two Bell System (AT&T Long-Lines) informational booklets-- the 1975 edition of "Calling the World" which profiled the telephone network development of various countries and territories, and the chronology "Events in Telephone (Telecommunications) History". --------------------- HAWAII (+1-808) Hawaii is the United States' fiftieth (and last) state to join the Union. It has been associated with the United States since the 1890's, first as a possession, and then attained statehood, which 'formally' took effect on the 4th-of-July, 1960 (President Eisenhower signed the document effecting statehood on 21-August-1959). Hawaii's local telephone development was competitive in the early decades of the 20th Century, as were _many_ places in North America (as well as other locations in the world) having such competitive and _NON_ connecting local telephone companies and networks. Some parts of Hawaii also had automated _dial_ (SxS) local telephone service early in this century. By 1929, the competitive local telcos throughout the Hawaiian Islands were consolidated into the (already existing) larger entity, the Mutual Telephone Company of Hawaii. Much of its automated dial equipment was Step, manufactured by (GTE) Automatic Electric. Beginning around 1930, the Mutual Telephone Company first offered telephone service between the individual islands of Hawaii, using RCA radiotelephone circuits and facilities. RCA, AT&T and Mutual Telephone opened up the first (radiotelephone) connections between Hawaii and the mainland US, in 1931. And in 1935, the Hawaiian island of Molokai was connected with the rest of Hawaii, via Oahu, thus allowing full telephone connections throughout all of the Hawaiian islands. All of these connections were manual operator-handled, and all via radio. Just prior to and during WW-II, Honolulu's local telephone numbering began expanding to 6-digit numbers, all fully numerical -- i.e., no 'dialable' letters nor names for their exchanges. Hawaii never did use letters/names for their exchanges (although some towns in Alaska did use named (manual) exchanges prior to the 1960's). In June 1950, AT&T's Pacific-Telephone operators (in the San Francisco and Oakland area) and the Mutual Telephone Company's operators (in Honolulu) were able to use "Operator Toll Dialing" between Hawaii and the SF/Oakland-Bay area on the mainland, on a 'straightforward' basis: i.e., the originating-end operator would take up a direct trunk to the far-end city's tandem-switch, and was able to key-in the requested local number in only that far-end location (San-Francisco/Oakland-Bay area or Honolulu). The Mutual Telephone Company of Hawaii changed its name to the Hawaiian Telephone Company (HTC) in 1954. In 1957, AT&T 'reserved' NPAs 808 for Hawaii, and 907 for Alaska, as there were movements to make them states (Alaska became the 49th state in 1959). Also, in September 1957, an undersea cable was completed connecting Hawaii with the mainland US (California). By 1960, AT&T (Bell System) operators and HTC operators were able to "operator-toll-dial" between _more_ of Hawaii, and _most_ of the mainland US. Also that year, HTC expanded the (monthly-flat-rate) local calling/dialing areas on each (major) Hawaiian island, to include _all_ of each/any single island. In 1963, Cable & Wireless opened up a new undersea cable connecting Canada with Australia and New Zealand (via Hawaii). One year later, in 1964, a second undersea cable connected Hawaii with the mainland US, and this cable also continued westward to Japan (via Midway, Wake and Guam), this cable provided by AT&T, RCA, KDD (Japan), and HTC. Around 1966/67, satellite communications with Hawaii started. Also in that timeframe, General Telephone and Electronics (GT&E) took over the Hawaiian Telephone Company, although the 'Hawaiian' name has continued to be used. Between 1966 and 1970, Hawaii's local numbering changed from 6-digits (and some 5-digits) to the NANP/DDD 7-digit standard, in preparation for customer DDD from the US (and Canada) _to_ the state, which began on 20-September-1970. On 16-January-1972 customer DDD began in the opposite direction, _from_ Honolulu (Oahu) _to_ the mainland US (and Canada); also on that date, DDD from the mainland US to Alaska began. Outward customer DDD from the other islands of Hawaii was introduced throughout 1972/73, along with 0+ dialing. Electronic switching also began to be introduced in the state in the early 1970's (which was most likely GTE-AE's EAX equipment). And since Hawaii is a GTE telco, the first _digital_ switches were GTD-5's. However _new_ digital switching plant is most likely Nortel-DMS. Hawaii and Alaska _were_ rated/billed as _international/overseas_ with the mainland US until about the early 1980's. By 1981 Alaska was rated as a domestic V&H distance-based call with the mainland, and a year or two later, the same began to apply to Hawaii's calls with the mainland US. (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands as well were rated/billed as international/overseas with the mainland for the longest, but by the time of the 1984 divestiture, they were V&H-based distance-rated with the mainland US, but not necessarily for PR/USVI's traffic with Alaska and Hawaii). With the divestiture of the Bell System (AT&T) in 1984, the state of Hawaii became its own non-Bell (independent) LATA, with all inTRA- state calls being handled by GTE-Hawaii. Calls between Hawaii and the other 48-states (and DC) on the mainland as well as calls between Hawaii and Alaska became strictly inTER-LATA calls handled by AT&T and the other competitive carriers (MCI, Sprint, etc). However, calls from Hawaii to _international/overseas_ points, _including_ calls to _other_ NANP points _not_ the 48-states/DC/Alaska such as to Canada, and _all_ of the NANP-Caribbean (including both the non-US NANP Caribbean _AND_ Puerto-Rico / US-Virgin-Islands), as well as to non-NANP (011+) locations could _also_ be handled by GTE-Hawaii, in competition against the long-distance (interexchange) carriers. Some of this was obviously a resale of the (mainland) US-based IXCs, such as for calls to the Caribbean, but to _other_ Pacific area countries, GTE-Hawaii has (jointly) owned the undersea cables and satellite/radio circuits and facilities with AT&T, RCA, and other countries' telecom entities, as mentioned earlier. GTE-Hawaii's fg.D CIC is 101-0015, which can be used to place such international/overseas calls through GTE-Hawaii facilities or billing, particularly if one's primary inTER-LATA toll carrier is not GTE-Hawaii. As for inTRA-LATA/State calls in Hawaii, it _might_ now be possible to use fg.D CIC-codes or at least 800/888 or 950-xxxx (free) access numbers to use facilities/billing of a carrier _other_ than GTE's Hawaiian Telephone Company. -------------------- GUAM (+671 => +1-671) Located west-southwest of Hawaii, northeast of Palau, south of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), north of Micronesia, northwest of the Marshall Islands. Also west of the International-Date-Line. Guam has been a US possession since being acquired from Spain in the late 1890's, following the Spanish-American War. Local telco is the government's Guam Telephone Authority (GTA) located in Agana, GU 96910. http://www.guam.net/gov/gta Long Distance Carrier services are provided to/from Guam by AT&T, MCI, Sprint, GTE-Hawaii, etc. All numbering/dialing has been on a mandatory 7-digit basis (NNX-xxxx) for many years. All calls within Guam are _local_. There are three Nortel DMS-100 digital host switches (with fifteen digital remotes) for wireline service. GTA has a Nortel-DMS-200 (TOPS) for local operator services. The different long-distance companies have their own various toll and international gateway switches, and Guam now has Equal-Access using fg.D interfacing with 101-XXXX+ Carrier Codes. The current NNX prefix profile is as follows: 333, 339, 343, 344, 349, 355, 362, 368 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana switch) 471, 472, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479 Agana switch (and its remotes) 482 (GTA Cellular - B-side, served from the Tumon switch) 486 (GTA Voicemail, served from the Agana switch) 555 DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE OPERATOR 562, 563, 564, 565 Agana switch (and its remotes) 632, 633, 634, 635, 637, 638 Dededo switch (and its remotes) 642, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649 Tumon switch (and its remotes) 653, 654 Dededo switch (and its remotes) 687, 688 (Guam Cellular - A-side, served from the Tumon switch) 734, 735, 789, 828 Agana switch (and its remotes) 864 (TNI Cellular, TelePacific Network Inc, resale of GTA B-side Cellular, served from the Tumon switch) There _was_ an 888 local prefix prior to incorporation into the NANP, however to avoid customer dialing confusion with NANP's toll-free SAC-NPA 888, GTA cut all local numbers 888-xxxx over to (new) 471-xxxx numbers. The remotes out of the Dededo switch are in: Astumbo, Anderson AFB, Yigo The remotes out of the Tumon switch are in: LBJ, Gibson, Airport, Tiyan The remotes out of the Agana switch are in: Piti/Asan, Orote, Agat, Merizo, Inarajan, Talofofo, Ordot, Mangilao There doesn't seem to be any correlation between the remotes and the NNX prefix codes, however, the -xxxx line number ranges or thousands/ hundreds blocks _within_ particular NNX codes might correspond to specific remotes and/or host-switches. Service Codes and Access Prefixes are NANP-standard: 411 - Directory 611 - Repair 911 - Emergencies '0' - local assistance operator The Business Office is a 7-digit local number. Station-billed toll to other NANP points is dialed as 1+ten-digits. Special-billed calling to all NANP points is dialed as 0+ten-digits. Station-billed toll to non-NANP points is dialed as: 011+ country-code + full-national-number Special-billed toll to non-NANP points is dialed as: 01+ country-code + full-national-number "Home-Country-Direct" numbers seem to have been both NANP-standard fg.B-like 950-xxxx numbers (Sprint's had been 950-1366), probably some "POTS-like" fg.A numbers, and some 'special access prefixes'. Prior to 1-July-1997 (when Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands 'officially' were incorporated into the NANP), AT&T's "USA Direct" access number from Guam for placing calling-card, collect, 3rd-party billing of calls back to the mainland US (and possibly other international points as well) was 018-872 (i.e. 018-USA). It is now the NANP/AT&T standard 1-800-CALL-ATT access number. There might have been other carriers or called home-countries using these 018-XXX or 01X- form codes. Prior to July, if GTA 'itself' was offering direct dialing to other countries and points outside of Guam, for such 'special-billing', it was 010 + country-code + national-nmbr. But since Guam is now part of the NANP, 010+ has been replaced by the actual NANP-standard of 01+. 01X-XXX codes have been eliminated, and replaced by fg.B (950-xxxx) and regular NANP-based 800/888 numbers for toll-free access to "Home-Country-Direct" or alternate carrier routing (although I assume fg.D access, 101-xxxx+0/01+ would work as well). Many _regular_ NANP-based 800/888 numbers already are toll-free dialable from Guam (_if_ the 800/888 customer on the mainland chooses to purchase originating toll-free access from Guam, or has purchased the largest geographic territory of the US for originating toll-free access). The local coin-rate is 25-cents for 15-minute-intervals. Public pay/coin telephones, for the most part, are central-office controlled 'dumb' payphones, dialtone-first (loop-start), manufactured by GTE/AE. Also, there are now some new Nortel Millenium 'smart' payphones. In addition to the above mentioned GTA public/pay/coin telephones, there are some privately owned COCOT payphones, which are mostly those 'oversized-500-set' desktop COCOT payphones. Those Vertical Services which are available/provided use the NANP dialing standards of *XX and NX(#). I assume that 11-XX can be dialed in lieu of the *XX codes, such as from a rotary/pulse-dial telephone. Guam is a US territory, and as such, it is a part of the US Postal Zipcode format. The two-letter 'state' abbreviation for Guam is 'GU'. The zipcodes range from 96910 through 96931. ------------------ (COMMONWEALTH OF THE) NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, CNMI (+670 => +1-670) Located north of Guam, northeast of Palau, west of Hawaii, northwest of Marshall Islands; also located west of the International-Date-Line. Following WW-II, the Northern Mariana Islands became a UN Pacific Trust Territory administered by the US (along with Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau - those three also previously known as the Caroline Islands). In the 1970's, the Northern Mariana Islands chose to become more directly associated with the US (while the other three former UN Trust Territories chose eventual independence, but still maintain their economic relationship with the US under "Compacts of Free Association" including being affiliated with the US Postal Service, and using US currency). And by the mid 1980's, the Northern Mariana Islands became an actual US Commonwealth. Local telco is (GTE's) Micronesia Telecommunications Corp. (MTC) located in Susupe (town), Saipan (island), MP 96950 http://www.mtccnmi.com/community/MTC/ Long Distance Carrier services to/from CNMI is provided by AT&T, MCI, Sprint, GTE-Hawaii, etc, in association with the local telco. All numbering/dialing is on a mandatory seven-digit basis, NNX-xxxx. The current switch and NNX prefix info for CNMI is: 233 Gualo Rai SAIPAN ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 234 Susupe SAIPAN ISLAND (Susupe host Nortel-DMS-100) 235 Susupe SAIPAN ISLAND (Susupe host Nortel-DMS-100) 236 (paging services) (Susupe host Nortel-DMS-100) 256 Kagman SAIPAN ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 287 (MTC Cellular, B-side) (cellular MTSO) 288 Airport SAIPAN ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 321 Capital Hill SAIPAN ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 322 Capital Hill SAIPAN ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 323 Capital Hill SAIPAN ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 433 Song-Song & Sinapalu ROTA ISLAND (remote off of Susupe) 483 (Pacificom Cellular, A-side) (cellular MTSO) 532 San Juan TINIAN ISLAND 555 DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE OPERATOR 664 CNMI Government Centranet (served by Susupe switch) 682 MTC Centranet (served by Susupe switch) There is a new 788 prefix, assigned to Susupe, but I don't know if it is a (POTS) wireline service, or for something 'special' (i.e., cellular, paging, centrex/PBX, etc). The Susupe switch is a Nortel-DMS-100; the other localities are served by small digital remote switches. MTC uses "DOTS" (Digital Operator Telephone Service), supported by a Nortel-DMS-200 toll and access-tandem switch. MTC also owns the international gateway switch, a Nortel-DMS-250/300. Service Codes and Access Prefixes are NANP-standard: 411 - Directory 611 - Repair 911 - Emergencies '0' - local/toll assistance operator The Business Office is a 7-digit number. Within CNMI, there is 'toll' on calls between the three major islands of Saipan, Rota, Tinian. Such intra-CNMI toll calls are dialed as: 1+670-seven-digits (station) 0+670-seven-digits (special billing) Calling to points outside of the NANP (and to points within the NANP permissively as country-code +1, until 30-June-1998) is dialed as: 011+ country-code + full-national-number (Station) 010+ country-code + full-national-number (Special-billing) There are several "Home-Country-Direct" numbers from the CNMI. Some of them are 950-xxxx fg.B-like numbers, while others are POTS-like fg.A numbers which can be programmed free into payphone internal chips: AT&T: 235-2872 (2USA) MCI: 950-1022 Sprint: 235-0333 Guam: 950-6710 (671 is the country-code-now-NPA for Guam) [via MCI] GTE: 235-2482 (2HTC) [GTE's Hawaiian Telephone Company] PLDT: 233-7445 (PHIL) [Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company] HKT: 233-2458 (2HKT) [Hong Kong Telecom] KDD: 235-2533 (2KDD) [Japan's Kokusai Denshin Denwa] KTA: 233-2582 (2KTA) [Korea Telecom) Feature-Group-D Equal Access (101-XXXX+) is being phased in, and with the incorporation into the NANP (including dialing and billing), many 800/888 NANP-based toll-free numbers are now dialable for free from the Northern Mariana Islands. Some of the "Home-Country-Direct" numbers could probably be changing to standard 800/888 form, or at least fg.B 950-xxxx numbers, rather than POTS-like fg.A numbers. The local coin-rate from payphones is 25-cents, untimed/flat. Telco provided payphone service does use "cocot-like" chips, made by Protel. Those Vertical Services which are available/provided use the NANP dialing standards of *XX and NX(#). I assume that 11-XX can be dialed in lieu of the *XX codes, such as from a rotary/pulse-dial telephone. There are over a dozen islands associated with the Northern Marianas. Starting just north of Guam, from south to north, the more important ones are Rota, Aguijan (served from the Tinian switch), Tinian, and Saipan. Just north of Saipan are the remaining islands, mostly uninhabited, but those which are populated do not (presently) have 'regular' telephone service. HF-Radio might be used for communications with the more remote islands. The US Postal two-letter 'state' abbreviation for CNMI is 'MP', however in Bellcore-TRA Rating/Routing documents, the Northern Mariana Islands is identified as 'NN'. The US Postal Zipcodes for CNMI ('MP') are as follows: 96950 Saipan; 96951 Rota; 96952 Tinian ------------------- AMERICAN SAMOA (+684) Located south of Hawaii, and _south_ of the Equator; also on the Hawaiian side of the International-Date-Line The US was internationally recognized as having legal claim over the eastern Samoa islands, with Germany having claim over the western Samoa islands (known as German Samoa until 1917, when those islands became known as Western Samoa). This took place under the Treaty of Berlin, signed on 2-December-1899, ratified on 16-February-1900. Local telco is the government's Office of Communications located in Pago-Pago (town), Tu'tuila (island), AS 96799 http://www.samoanet.com/asg/asgtelecom97.html Samoa Technologies _is_ a carrier, according to the FCC, as it _does_ own the two satellite Earth Stations, however they are _NOT_ a long- distance switching provider. SamoaTech also owns an FM radio station in American Samoa, and they provide internet/email services. http://www.samoanet.com Long Distance Carrier Services with American Samoa is provided by: AT&T, MCI, Sprint, GTE-Hawaii, etc, in association with local telco. All numbering/dialing has been on a mandatory 7-digit basis (NNX-xxxx) for over ten years now. All calls within American Samoa are _local_. Wireline service is provided by seven digital switches, with each switch serving a dedicated NNX prefix code, and Cellular service is provided by its own switch and NNX code. Back in the 1970's, local calls could be dialed as either 7-digits, or just the last five-digits, for intra and inter switch calls. At that time, the switches were all step, Stromberg-SXY. Note that the NNX codes do follow a pattern. In the old step system, the first digit '6' would be 'absorbed', the second digit would also be 'absorbed', while the third digit 'trunked'. But today, all seven digits must be dialed for local calls. The current switch and NNX prefix info for American Samoa is: 622 Fagaitua TU'TUILA ISLAND Stromberg-DCO (remote off of 644) 633 Pago-Pago TU'TUILA ISLAND Nortel-DMS-100 644 Satala TU'TUILA ISLAND Stromberg-DCO (host to 622) 655 Ofu (town) OFU ISLAND Redcom-MDX 677 Tau (town) TAU ISLAND Redcom-MDX 688 Leone TU'TUILA ISLAND Stromberg-DCO (remote off of 699) 699 Tafuna TU'TUILA ISLAND Stromberg-DCO (host to 688) 733 CELLULAR (all locations) Motorola-EMX-100-plus [655 at Ofu (town) for all of Ofu Island also serves nearby Olosega Island. The islands of Tau, Ofu and Olosega comprise the Manu'a Islands, about 75-miles east of Tu'tuila Island.] Note the absence of '666'. Of course, that is "the devil's number", but also, back in the SXY days, such a prefix with identical digits for the absorbed '6' _and_ trunking digit (the third digit '6') would not have allowed any permissive 5-digit local dialing, in parallel with full 7-digit dialing. But even in today's digital switching environment with mandatory 7-digit local dialing, the 'stigma' of 666 prevents its use, so when the cellular prefix was to be added, it is 733, and not 666. Operator Services are provided by a "DOTS" (Digital Operator Telephone Service). A Stromberg-DCO International-Gateway switch is also used. Local Service Codes are based on NANP dialing standards: 411 - Directory 611 - Repair 911 - Emergencies '0' - local/toll/international assistance Operator However, the Business Office (and time-of-day) are 7-digit numbers. Station International (there is no domestic toll) is dialed as: 1+ country-code + national-number Therefore, all calls to the 'actual' NANP area is dialed as: 1+1-'NPA'-NXX-xxxx. The payphones have "cocot-like" rate-chips made by Elcotel. Certain local 7-digit numbers are programmed in the rate-chips as free calls. Local coin-rate is presently 10-cents flat per call (untimed), however the rate may soon become timed, as 10-cents for 3-to-5 minute intervals, the exact timed interval period has yet to be decided upon. Special Billing international Toll (i.e. billed to card, collect, 3rd-Party, person, etc) is not yet automated. International toll (and local) calls which require such special-type billing must still be placed through the '0' operator, with all information (called number, billing instructions) verbally quoted to the operator. However, there _is_ "home-country-direct" service, using (free) local 7-digit numbers, and are programmed as free in payphone rate-chips: AT&T: 633-2872 (2USA) MCI: 633-2624 (2MCI) Sprint: 633-1000 GTE: 633-2482 (2HTC) [GTE's Hawaiian Telephone Company] Presently, there is no "home-country-direct" number for calling (back to) Canada (Stentor and Teleglobe), but MCI (and I _assume_ AT&T as well) do accept Canadian Stentor-LEC-issued calling cards. _Certain_ NANP-based 800/888 numbers are dialable (toll-free) from American Samoa, as 1-1+800/888-nxx-xxxx. Also, where activated for external access, "Caller-Pays" to NANP 800/888 numbers are dialable by using the 'replace' codes 880 (for 800) and 881 (for 888) as: 1+1-880/881-nxx-xxxx. American Samoa has opened-up originating access to reach NANP SAC NPAs 500 and 900, dialed as 1-1-500-NXX-xxxx and 1-1-900-NXX-xxxx, but _external_ access to these numbers might not yet be allowed by each particular NANP domestic carrier/entity, or even the called-end customer (the 500/900 "number-holder"). Those Vertical Services which are available/provided use the NANP dialing standards of *XX and NX(#). However, 11-XX can _NOT_ be used in lieu of *XX, since (international) calling to the 'actual' NANP is dialed as 1-1+ prior to dialing the NANP ten-digit number. There is also Swain's Island, a small island associated with American Samoa, located several hundred miles north-northwest of Tu'tuila. This small island is sparsely populated, and has no 'regular' telephone service, but uses simplex (push-to-talk) HF-Radio for communications. Also, please remember that there is also an independent island nation of Western Samoa (country-code +685), just to the west of American Samoa. Western Samoa has its _own_ numbering/dialling plan, switching/ routing arrangements, and equipment/signalling systems, which are not 'directly' associated with that of American Samoa, nor similar to that of the NANP, but rather follow ITU international numbering/dialling standards and non-NANP-type switching equipment. However, there are direct trunks between American Samoa and Western Samoa, as well as a specific "community-of-interest" billing-rate. American Samoa _is_ a US Territory, and is part of the US Postal Zipcode format (96799). Its two-letter 'state' abbreviation is 'AS'. ---------------- MARSHALL ISLANDS (+692) Located west-southwest of Hawaii, east of the Federated States of Micronesia, and south of Wake Island; also on the _west_ side of the International-Date-Line Local telco: Marshall Isl. National Telecommunications Authority (NTA) P.O.Box 1169, Majuro (town), Majuro (island), MH 96960 http://www.clark.net/pub/rmiemb/nta.html http://www.ntamar.com International Long Distance Carrier Services for the Marshall Islands is provided by AT&T, MCI, Sprint, GTE-Hawaii, etc, in association with the Marshall Islands NTA. All numbering/dialing is now on a mandatory 7-digit basis (NNX-xxxx). There are local intra-island calls, as well as 'domestic' Marshall Is. inter-island toll calls. Not too many years ago, the local numbering was _less_ than seven-digits. Even the 'full' domestic number was also less than seven-digits, but everything is now mandatory full 7-digits. The current NNX prefix and switch profile is as follows: 247 Airport MAJURO ISLAND (remote off of 625) 329 Ebeye KWAJALEIN ATOLL Nortel-DMS-100/200 528 Laura-Village MAJURO ISLAND (remote off of 625) 625 Majuro-Town MAJURO ISLAND Nortel-DMS-100/200 (host to 247, 528) The DMS-200 part of the Ebeye and (host) Majuro switches provide toll and TOPS operator services. There is a separate DMS-300 in Majuro which provides the international gateway. Note that 247=AIR, 329=EBY, 528=LAU, 625=MAJ Cellular services include both regular mobile phones, as well as "fixed" wireless subscriber loop. Cellular for all of Majuro Island is switched from the wireline 'host' DMS switch, and all numbered with the 625 'host' wireline prefix. Cellular for Ebeye is switched out of its wireline DMS switch and numbered with the 329 wireline prefix. Service Codes and Access Prefixes are based on NANP dialing standards: 411 - Directory 611 - Repair 911 - Emergencies '0' - local/toll/international assistance Operator However, the Business Office is a 7-digit local number. Station domestic-toll calling between Majuro Island and Ebeye is dialed as 1+seven-digits. Station-international-toll is dialed as 011+, the NANP standard. Special-billing international (card, collect, etc) is automated and uses the prefix, 010+. This permits dialing the actual NANP (+1) as an international call, as both station-billing _and_ special-billing, without any code-conflicts or customer-confusion or dialing-ambiguity. However, there is no 'domestic' special billing dialing (i.e., there is _no_ 0+ domestic). The payphones have "cocot-like" rate-chips made by Protel. The local coin rate is 25-cents for 15-minutes. _Certain_ NANP-based 800/888 numbers are dialable (toll-free) from Marshall Islands, as 1+800/888-etc. I _assume_ that "caller-pays replace" codes 880/881 are also available. "Home-Country-Direct" service numbers from Marshall Islands: AT&T: 1+800-225-5288 (CALL-ATT) MCI: 1+800-888-8000 There doesn't yet seem to be one for Sprint; I don't know if there is yet a number for GTE-Hawaii. These are the same toll-free numbers used by AT&T and MCI for access from within the US and Canada (NANP). Those Vertical Services which are available/provided use the NANP dialing standards of *XX and NX(#). I assume that 11-XX can be dialed in lieu of the *XX codes, such as from a rotary/pulse-dial telephone. There are _NUMEROUS_ other miscellaneous islands associated with the Marshall Islands (over 1150 individual islands/atolls/reefs in two defined 'chains' -- the eastern "Ratak Group" which includes Majruo, and the western "Ralik Group" which includes Ebeye and Kwajalein). Some of these smaller islands are uninhabited, but those which have residents are only sparsely populated. There is no 'regular' telephone service for these islands, although simplex (push-to-talk) HF-Radio is used by many of these residents. There might be NNX codes already reserved for when some of these smaller islands have regular telephone service in the future. Marshall Islands is part of the US Postal Zipcode format: 96960 for Majuro Island ; 96970 for Ebeye The two-letter 'state' abbreviation is 'MH'. ----------------- (FEDERATED STATES OF) MICRONESIA (+691) Llocated west of the Marshall Islands, east of Palau, and southeast of Guam and Saipan (Mariana Islands); also on the west side of the International-Date-Line. There are four island/states divisions of Micronesia. From east to west, they are Kosrae, Pohnpei (formerly known as Panape), Chuuk (formerly known as Truk) and Yap. Local telco is FSM Telecommunications Corp, P.O.Box 1210, Kolonia (town), Pohnpei (island) FM 96941 http://fsmgov.org/info/com.html http://www.telecom.fm International Long Distance Carrier Services for the Federated States of Micronesia is provided by AT&T, MCI, Sprint, GTE-Hawaii, etc, in association with FSM Telecommunications. All numbering/dialing is now on a mandatory 7-digit basis (NNX-xxxx). There are both local calls (within a particular island/state) and domestic-toll calls (inter-island/state, but within the Fed. States of Micronesia). Not that long ago, local calls were dialable as just the last four-digits, but not anymore. The current NNX prefix and switch profile is as follows: 320 Kolonia POHNPEI ISLAND/STATE Nortel-DMS-100/200 (and two remotes) 330 Weno CHUUK ISLAND/STATE Nortel-DMS-10 350 Colonia YAP ISLAND/STATE Nortel-DMS-10 370 Tofol KOSRAE ISLAND/STATE Nortel-DMS-10 The DMS-200 part of the Kolonia (POHNPEI) switch provides toll access and TOPS operator services. There is a separate DMS-300 as well, which provides the international gateway. There is presently _NO_ cellular service in Micronesia. Service Codes and Access Prefixes are based on NANP dialing standards: 411 - Directory 611 - Repair '0' - local/toll/international assistance Operator However, the Business Office is a 7-digit local number. The 911 Emergency number is presently only available on Kosrae Island, and is only a 'call-forward' dialing arrangement to their local police station. It is _not_ presently an E-911 database-lookup system. Station domestic-toll between specific island/states is dialed as 1+seven-digits. Station-international-toll is dialed as 011+, the NANP standard. Presently, automated "Special Billing" (card, collect, third-party, person, etc) access for domestic-toll and IDDD is not yet offered to subscribers, but the capability is now in loaded in the switches. When the service will soon be promoted, the dialing procedures are supposed to be NANP-like: 0+ seven-digits (domestic-toll) 010+ country-code + national-number (international) Most pay/coin telephones in Micronesia work 'a-la-the-old-GTE/AE' payphone operation method. You do get dialtone (and sidetone) when first going offhook, but you cannot 'break' dialtone, neither by the payphone's DTMF-keypad or rotary dial, nor with an acoustic DTMF tone-generator, nor by dialpulsing by flashing the switch-hook. You can _only_ 'break' dialtone by dialing if you have first deposited the local coin-rate. 25-cents (flat/untimed) is Micronesia's local coin-rate. There are local 'debit' type prepay calling-cards; also offered are NANP-like account-number-based calling-cards. There is also "home-country-direct" service from Micronesia: AT&T: dial 288 (i.e., "ATT") MCI: dial 624 (i.e., "MCI") Sprint: dial 555 GTE: dial 482 (i.e., "HTC" for Hawaiian Telephone Company) NANP-based 800/888 numbers _can_ be dialed from Micronesia, but at international charges. These are dialed as international calls (011+), then country-code '1', and then the _800/888_. (Micronesia does _NOT_ use the 'replace' SAC codes 880/881). Of course, _some_ NANP-based 800/888 numbers are blocked from originating access from overseas, since even though the calling party would be paying for the international portion of the call, the NANP-based 800/888 customer still pays for the inbound rate for the domestic portion of the call, and might not be interested in receiving originating calls from overseas locations where they don't have any business interests. Those Vertical Services which are available/provided use the NANP dialing standards of *XX and NX(#). I assume that 11-XX can be dialed in lieu of the *XX codes, such as from a rotary/pulse-dial telephone. There are _NUMEROUS_ other miscellaneous islands associated with the Federated States of Micronesia (over 600 islands/atolls/reefs). Some of them are uninhabited, but those which have residents are only sparsely populated. There is no 'regular' telephone service for such islands, although simplex (push-to-talk) HF-Radio is used by many of these residents. There are some NNX codes already reserved for when some of these smaller islands have regular telephone service in the future. Note that in the current NNX list for Micronesia, both 340 and 370 are 'skipped over', as if they are 'reserved' for the future. The Federated States of Micronesia is also a part of the US Postal Zipcode format. The two-letter 'state' abbreviation is 'FM', and the zipcodes for each state or island-group are: 96941 Pohnpei; 96942 Chuuk; 96943 Yap; 96944 Kosrae --------------------- PALAU (+680) Located west of the Federated States of Micronesia, southwest of Guam and Saipan (CNMI), and southeast of the Philippine Islands; also west of the International-Date-Line. Local telco is Palau National Communications Corp. (PNCC), P.O.Box 99, Koror (town), Koror (island), PW 96940 http://www.palaunet.com/ International Long Distance Carrier Services for Palau is provided by AT&T, MCI, Sprint, GTE-Hawaii, etc, in association with PNCC. All numbering/dialing is now on a mandatory 7-digit basis (NNX-xxxx). Up until about two years ago, there was some intra-Palau toll dialing dialed as 1+seven-digits, but all intra-Palau calling is now 'local'. In June 1997, the single Nortel-DMS-10 switch was replaced by a new single Lucent (formerly AT&T/WECO) #5ESS switch. All NNX prefixes for Palau have been switched out of the single local wirecenter switch, but there have been several NNX prefix codes, due to the old domestic toll billing, as each prefix defined a distinct billing ratecenter. A second Lucent #5ESS has been installed for the international-gateway which replaced a Redcom "I-Gate" switch. Operator services are still being served from a separate Redcom "Toll-Gate" switch. The local payphone coin-rate is 25-cents untimed/flat. There are 'smart' public phones, and there are prepaid 'debit' telecards. Presently, there are sixteen "POTS" wireline NNX prefix codes from the old local vs. toll 'ratecenter' format, as well as four 'special service/function' prefixes: 234 HATOBOHEI ISLAND/State 252 SONSOROL ISLAND/State 277 ANGAUR ISLAND/State 299 (Marine/Mobile Radiotelephone) 336 (Fixed Station Radiotelephone) 345 PELELIU ISLAND/State 464 (PNCC Cellular, B-side) 488 KOROR ISLAND/State (and town) (also on 488 are certain specific -xxxx line-numbers and/or thousands-series for Belau Cellular, A-side) 535 Ngatpang (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 544 Aimeliik (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 587 Airai (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 622 Ngchesar (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 654 Melekeok (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 679 Ngiwal (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 733 Ngeremlengui (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 747 Ngerdmau (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 762 ("Internet Service" - Switched-56KBps-Data? ISDN?) 824 Ngaraard (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 855 Ngarchelong (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND 876 KAYANGEL ISLAND/State The (POTS/geographical) NNX prefix codes increase in numerical order basically from the south to the north in Palau. Also, the spellings indicated here for geographic areas of Palau are not the only way to spell them, as I've come across various alternate spellings. In the 1997 Palau telephone directory, I noticed _numerous_ 488-xxxx (Koror) listings; also several 587-xxxx (Airai) listings (the Airport is located in Airai). I did notice listings of local/state government offices on Babelthaup Island - there was at least one listing in each of the other Babelthaup NNX prefixes (535, 544, 622, 654, 679, 733, 747, 824, 855). I don't know if the other islands' (geographic/POTS) NNX prefixes (234, 252, 277, 345, 876) have any active lines (maybe a payphone) or if these are reserved for future use/growth. Of course, the cellular and other special function NNX prefixes didn't have any listings in the current directory. Service Codes and Access Prefixes are based on NANP dialing standards: 411 - Directory 611 - Repair 911 - Emergencies '0' - local/toll/international assistance Operator However, the Business Office is a 7-digit local number. Station-international-toll is dialed as 011+, the NANP standard. Automated international (toll) special-billing (card, collect, etc.) capability is available in the switch, but not yet provided to subscribers. When it will be provided, the dialing will be _similar_ to NANP-standards as 010+ country-code + national-number. Domestic local special billing (such as billed collect/3d-party, when calling from payphones) is not yet automated, and must be placed through the 'dial-0' operator, with billing and called-number information verbally quoted to the operator (similar to the present situation with international toll special-billing). However, 00-909 access can be used for PNCC Calling Cards. "Home-country-direct" access numbers from Palau: AT&T: 02-288 (i.e., 02-ATT) Sprint: 02-222 (I don't know what the codes are for MCI, GTE-Hawaii, GTE-MTC, etc). Those Vertical Services which are available/provided use the NANP dialing standards of *XX and NX(#). I assume that 11-XX can be dialed in lieu of the *XX codes, such as from a rotary/pulse-dial telephone. There are numerous islands of Palau (over some 200), but only a handful (about 8) are inhabited. Some of the communications with these outer islands is by simplex (push-to-talk) HF Radio equipment. With the new #5ESS switch for all of Palau, there is more digital fiber (and digital microwave) being used as trunking for digital subscriber-loop. And there are some NNX codes already reserved for future growth. Palau is part of the US Postal Zipcode format (96940). The two-letter 'state' abbreviation is 'PW'. -------------------- So, it does appear that these former and current US/UN Pacific regions are using some of the most modern digital switches, manufactured by North American equipment vendors, and for the most part, these regions are 'pseudo' NANP in their numbering and dialing. _IF_ any of these Pacific island regions do join the NANP, some of them could carry-over the numericals of their country-code as their +1 NANP area (NPA) code. But Micronesia (+691) and Marshall Islands (+692) could _NOT_ continue with NPAs 691 and 692, as the NANP industry forums (ATIS' INC) have decided that the N9X format of three digit NPA codes are reserved for future expansion into a "_longer_ than ten-digit" format. Bellcore's NANPA at this time _DOES_ have NPA digits 684 in 'reserve' in case American Samoa does indeed decide to join the NANP. Also, there is not yet any 'official' assignment of NPA 680 to any US or Canadian location needing additional NPA relief codes, so _if_ Palau decides to join the NANP at any time soon, it _could_ be possible that they could have 680 reserved as their +1 NPA code. For Micronesia and Marshall Islands, _if_ they decide to join the NANP at any time soon, it would be convenient for them to have a consecutive pair, 6N1 and 6N2. Of course, they can't 'carry-over' 691 and 692 as mentioned above. 621/622 (as a consecutive pair) would NOT be possible due to the fact that 622 is reserved as a future "easy-to- recognize" SAC-NPA code (the identical digit in the B and C position). 671/672 can't be possible since 671 is Guam's NPA code. And while there might _presently_ be a "reserved for geographic relief" status on some of these code numericals, it _might_ be possible to use 631/632, 641/642, 651/652, 661/662, and 681/682. IMO, _if_ Micronesia and the Marshall Islands join the NANP, it also wouldn't be wise to change their country-codes to NPA code-pair 681/682, as there could be some customer confusion with _country_ codes +681 (Wallis and Futuna Islands) and +682 (Cook Islands). 631/632 and 641/642 might also be a bit problematic, due to the customer dialing confusion, since there is a rather large volume of NANP-originated traffic to country codes +63 (Philippines) and +64 (New Zealand). Even if a presently unassigned NPA code is listed as "reserved for geographic relief" at this point in time, there already has been some 'shuffling' between Geographic-Relief and General-Purpose code numericals for future NPAs. Something that I _do_ like is that the International special-billing access prefix from most of these locations is 010+, which means that the access prefixes for both station and special-billing international toll can be used for calling to the NANP (country-code +1), with _NO_ possibilities of code-conflict nor customer dialing-ambiguities. This is unlike the 'actual' NANP, where you really couldn't allow using an international access prefix to call 'within' the NANP-area, since even though 011+1+ for station international-toll 'could' be allowed for permissive intra-NANP dialing, the international 'special-billing' prefix of 01+ could _NOT_ be used for dialing intra-NANP calls with special-billing, as you would _really_ be dialing 01-1+nxx-... which would be a _STATION_ sent-paid _international_ call to a point well _outside_ of the NANP! The use of 010+ as the 'special-billing' international prefix from _all_ parts of the NANP would make dialing choices more flexible, and the international dialing string would become 'symmetric' for the two different billing-methods, station vs. 'special-billing'. --------------------- In addition to the various above mentioned islands or island groups, there are two more US Pacific Islands, those of Wake and Midway. As far back as the 1970's, the AT&T-Long-Lines "Distance Dialing Reference Guide" and other routing documents listed them as operator handled connections, via the Honolulu HI inward (808+121) operator, and each had a 'mark-sense' billing identification code under NPA 808, as 808-998 for Wake and 808-999 for Midway. Even as late as 1990/91, the Bellcore-TRA rating and routing products still listed them as such, and under 'pseudo' LATA #836 (Wake and Midway). However, the 1994 Bellcore-TRA rating and routing products I purchased did not have _anything_ for 808-998 nor 808-999, although they did list the 'pseudo' LATA #836 as "Wake and Midway". From what I understand, Wake and Midway have been 'dialable' as 'FX' or 'tie-lines' within the Pearl Harbor PBX or Centrex system, but only if you happen to know the DID (Direct Inward Dialing) 'thousands' digit/series in Pearl Harbor's PBX/Centrex 808-NNX-. The postal information that I happened to find for Wake is 96898 for the zipcode, and 'WK' for the two-letter 'state' abbreviation. Bellcore's abbreviation for Wake also happened to be 'WK', with 'MY' for Midway. Midway is located right at the International-Date-Line, right near the end of the chain of the Hawaiian Islands 'lesser' islands and atolls. Wake Island is _west_ of the International-Date-Line, roughly due-west of Hawaii, north of the Marshall Islands, and east of Guam/CNMI. Also, there are some six additional US islands, north of the Equator, and on the Hawaiian (east) side of the International-Date-Line. If any of these islands have any human inhabitants, it is only government / military / scientific personnel, and communications with these islands are most likely on private/government radio channels. However, I do remember that back in the 1970's, the local/toll Bell System operator would state that these islands were reached via the Honolulu inward (808+121) operator, and the list of additional NPA 808 locations in the "Operating Rate and Route Guide" would include these locations, although the "Distance Dialing Reference Guide" never had any 808-XXX 'mark-sense' billing identification codes for these places. - Johnston Atoll (just west-southwest of Hawaii) - Howland Island - Baker Islands (southwest of Hawaii, just north of the Equator, and just east of the International-Date-Line) - Kingman Reef - Palmyra (south-southwest of Hawaii, somewhat north of the equator) - Jarvis Island (roughly due-south of Hawaii, and right on the Equator--actually just slightly south) --------------------------------- As for the Philippines (+63), once a US possession for about fifty years (1898-1946), in the last few paragraphs of my recent posting in TELECOM-Digest (v.17 #181, issue dated Tuesday 15-July-1997, article titled "US-Pacific Islands - Caller-ID, Other Info"), I had stated that the Philippine Islands became independent from the US on the 4th of July, 1948. That year is in error, as the _actual_ date of their independence was on the 4th of July, 1946. The islands of the Philippines (as well as Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico) were territories that the US acquired from Spain, following the Spanish-American War, some 100 years ago. In the early 1940's during WW-II, many Americans thought that the Philippines would become the 49th state following "the war", however the Philippines received their independence. The Philippines is an island archipelago, and as such, various _separate_ local telcos developed in each town/island/province. In 1928, the Philippine Long-Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) was formed to take over the (larger) Philippine Telephone and Telegraph Corp., three telcos in the southern islands, and later, the Government Telephone System. However, many local/provincial governments and other private entities continued to own/operate various local telephone networks. World-War-II left its mark on the Philippines' telephone systems. And for several years in the aftermath, rebuilding was difficult due to government economic restrictions. It wasn't until about 1953 when PLDT could claim that service levels were restored to what they had been as of December, 1941. When the economy recovered, the Philippine Congress granted franchises to many other entities to provide telephone service in areas where PLDT didn't have any. As it had been before "the war", many of these systems were owned by local/provincial governments, as well as by private companies. In 1955, General Telephone (through its Anglo-Canadian subsidiary) acquired PLDT (and also at that time, General acquired the British- Columbia Telephone Company in BC/Canada, and the Dominican Republic's CODETEL - both of which are still held by GTE). In 1967, GT&E acquired the Hawaiian Telephone Company, but also in that year, GT&E sold its interests in PLDT (probably due to US-government FCC/FTC/DOJ/etc antitrust regulations). All of the independently-owned (non-PLDT) local telephone systems are now supposed to be fully interconnected with PLDT, but I understand that there was a time when some of the various local telcos did _NOT_ interconnect with each other nor with the PLDT. These days, there is now competition for long-distance carrier services. It appears that many of these competitive toll and international carriers are based on the Philippines competitive telex history. Much of the original automated dialing and switching used (GTE)-AE SxS equipment. Today, more modern digital offices provide service, and various 'vertical-services' are available in parts of the Philippines. However, while many of the old SxS offices in the Philippines have used NANP-sounding AE-SxS 'tones' and ringing-cadence -- and many of today's digital offices in the Philippines 'sound' like NANP ESS 'precise-tone' offices (with NANP-like ringing-cadence), the numbering and dialing plans in the Philippines are _NOT_ similar to what is used in the NANP (even though at one time the Philippines was a possession of the US, and PLDT was part of GT&E). Telephone numbering and dialing standards in the Philippines are like what other non-NANP countries have been for decades- i.e., variable-digits (numbering-length) and variable-digit number-parsing; along with other non-NANP-like formats in their local service-codes, toll access prefixes, vertical-service codes, etc. Additionally, the Philippines also does maintain a _close_ community-of-interest with other _Non_ NANP-like East Asian (WZ-8) and South Pacific (WZ-6) countries. PLDT's website- http://www.pldt.com.ph/ NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), Philippines' regualtory has a website- http://max.ph.net/~ntc/ The Telex situation in the Philippines was quite competitive. There have been at least five or six individual telex networks operating in the country, and most have had an association with a US-based International Record Carrier (IRC). At one time, to send a message from a (US-based) WUTCO telex terminal to the Philippines, you had to know in advance which network the Philippine terminal was on, as you could _only_ use the (US-based) IRC with which that Philippine telex network was associated with. Later on (in the 1980's), any IRC would route traffic to any other IRC's domestic telex network in an overseas location. The six Philippine Telex networks that I have been able to identify: ITU US-based Telex IRC Telex Country Country Code: Code: Philippine Telex Company/Network: 751 PS 732 Capitol Wireless Inc (CAPWIRE) CWI 752 PH 722 (RCA) Philippine Global Communications (PHILCOM) PGC 754 PM 742 (ITT) Globe-McKay Cable and Radio GMCR 756 PN 762 (WUI/MCI) Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc ETPI 757 PI 778 Philippines Radio Communications Inc. PRCI 758 PU 712 (TRT) Philippines Telephone and Telegraph PT&T There are _two_ columns of telex country-codes for each country or network indicated above. Most countries in the world have adhered to a standard assignment of telex country-codes, similar to the telephone network country-code format. However, the US IRC's and WUTCO have used their _own_ assignment listing of identification/dialing codes for each telex country or network. The two-letter abbreviation is an ITU assigned 'telex network identifier' code which is supposed to be used in the automatically typed 'answerback' when a telex terminal answers an incoming call. --------------------------------- Finally, all of the Pacific Islands within the NANP (and those which are using (pseudo) NANP dialing and numbering procedures) are located _north_ of the Equator, and are either US possessions, or at one time had been politically associated with the US. (Of course, +684 American Samoa is _south_ of the Equator). Just about everything else in the Pacific Ocean area (WZ-6) is mostly _south_ of the Equator, and their telephone numbering/dialing/switching/etc. development seems to be more British/Australian/NZ or French (or even Dutch), rather than NANP-like, as these _South_ Pacific islands historically have been politically associated with those parent countries. These islands and countries are: +60 Malaysia, +61 Australia, +62 Indonesia, +64 New Zealand, +65 Singapore, +66 Thailand (in southeast Asia), +672 Australian External Territories (including part of Antarctica), +673 Brunei, +674 Nauru, +675 Papua New Guinea, +676 Tonga, +677 Solomon Islands, +678 Vanuatu, +679 Fiji Islands, +681 Wallis and Futuna Islands, +682 Cook Island, +683 Niue, +685 Western Samoa, +686 Kiribati, +687 New Caledonia, +688 Tuvalu, +689 French Polynesia (Tahiti), +690 Tokelau, and ... Pitcairn - that tiny south Pacific island of some 50 residents, the descendents of the mutineers from the HMS-Bounty who originally settled this island in 1790. For further information on Pitcairn, please see my article, "Telephone Service on Pitcairn Island", which recently appeared in TELECOM-Digest, v.17 #195 (issue dated Tuesday 29 July 1997); and the Pitcairn Islands website: http://www.wavefront.com/~pjlareau/pitc1.html Also located in the (eastern) South Pacific is Easter Island, that mysterious island of large stone face-statues. It is politically and telephonically part of Chile, +56. From most parts of the world, Easter Island is now (customer) dialable as: +56-32-100-xxx. The East Asian countries (WZ-8 and some in WZ-9) are all _north_ of the Equator, but are _NOT_ NANP-like in their numbering/dialing/etc. +81 Japan, +82 Korea (South), +83X [none yet assigned], +84 Vietnam, +850 North Korea, +852 Hong Kong, +853 Macao, +855 Cambodia, +856 Laos, +86 mainland China, +880 Bangladesh, +886 Taiwan, +95 Burma, +975 Bhutan, +976 Mongolia, +977 Nepal ---------------------------------- Attached here are two lists ... The first is a numerical listing of US-Postal Zipcodes (or ranges) for the US Pacific Ocean region, including US-Military APO/FPO's. The second list is a recompilation (in numerical order) of the NNX codes used in the Northern Mariana Is, Guam, Palau, American Samoa, Marshall Is, Micronesia. 962xx APO/FPO (Korea) 963xx APO/FPO (Japan- including Okinawa) 964xx APO/FPO (Philippines; Diego Garcia Island) 965xx APO/FPO (Alaska/AK, Antarctica, Australia, Canada:Masset-BC, Guam/GU, Hawaii/HI, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Marshall-Is/MH, Midway/MY, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Wake/WK) 967xx (individual towns in Hawaii/HI, except for Honolulu) 96798 (Wake/WK) ? 96799 Pago-Pago, AS 96800->50 Honolulu, HI 96853 Hickman AFB (Hawaii/HI) 96854 Wheeler Army Airfield (Hawaii/HI) 96861 Camp H.M.Smith (Honolulu HI) 96862 Barbers Point NAS (Hawaii/HI) 96863 MCBH (Hawaii/HI) 96898 Wake/WK 96910 Anderson AFB, GU 96911 Tamuning, GU 96912 Dededo, GU 96913->19 Agana, GU 96920 (Pago-Pago, AS) ? 96921->29 Agana, GU 96930 Talofofo, GU 96931 Agana, GU 96940 Koror, PW 96941 Kolonia/Pohnpei, FM 96942 Weno/Chuuk, FM 96943 Colonia/Yap, FM 96944 Tofol/Kosrae, FM 96950 Saipan, MP 96951 Rota, MP 96952 Tinian, MP 96960 Majuro, MH 96970 Ebeye, MH ----------------------------- Numerical Order Listing of 6NX-NNX codes used in the US/UN Pacific: +1-670-233 Gualo Rai SAIPAN ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-234 Susupe SAIPAN ISL.(Susupe host, DMS-100) +1-670-235 Susupe SAIPAN ISL.(Susupe host, DMS-100) +1-670-236 (paging services) (Susupe host, DMS-100) +1-670-256 Kagman SAIPAN ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-287 (MTC Cellular, B-side) (cellular MTSO) +1-670-288 Airport SAIPAN ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-321 Capital Hill SAIPAN ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-322 Capital Hill SAIPAN ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-323 Capital Hill SAIPAN ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-433 Song-Song & Sinapalu ROTA ISL.(remote off of Susupe) +1-670-483 (Pacificom Cellular, A-side) (cellular MTSO) +1-670-532 San Juan TINIAN ISL. +1-670-555 DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE OPERATOR - NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS +1-670-664 CNMI Government Centranet (served by Susupe switch) +1-670-682 MTC Centranet (served by Susupe switch) +1-670-788 Susupe SAIPAN ISL.(Susupe host, DMS-100) +1-671-333 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-339 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-343 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-344 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-349 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-355 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-362 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-368 (Dept. of Defense, served by the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-471 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-472 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-474 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-475 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-476 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-477 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-478 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-479 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-482 (GTA Cellular, B-side, served from Tumon DMS-100 switch) +1-671-486 (GTA Voicemail, served from the Agana DMS-100 switch) +1-671-555 DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE OPERATOR - GUAM +1-671-562 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-563 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-564 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-565 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-632 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-633 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-634 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-635 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-637 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-638 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-642 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-644 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-645 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-646 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-647 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-648 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-649 Tumon DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-653 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-654 Dededo DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-687 (Guam Cellular, A-side, served from Tumon DMS-100 switch) +1-671-688 (Guam Cellular, A-side, served from Tumon DMS-100 switch) +1-671-734 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-735 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-789 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-828 Agana DMS-100 switch (and its remotes) +1-671-864 (TNI Telepacific Network Inc Cellular, resale of B-side) +680-234 HATOBOHEI ISLAND/State +680-252 SONSOROL ISLAND/State +680-277 ANGAUR ISLAND/State +680-299 (Marine/Mobile Radiotelephone) +680-336 (Fixed Station Radiotelephone) +680-345 PELELIU ISLAND/State +680-464 (PNCC Cellular, B-side) +680-488 KOROR town/ISLAND/State [_single_ #5ESS for _all_ *PALAU*] (also on 488 are certain specific -xxxx line-numbers and/or thousands-series for Belau Cellular, A-side) +680-535 Ngatpang (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-544 Aimeliik (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-587 Airai (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-622 Ngchesar (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-654 Melekeok (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-679 Ngiwal (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-733 Ngeremlengui (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-747 Ngerdmau (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-762 ("Internet Service" - Switched-56KBps-Data? ISDN?) +680-824 Ngaraard (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-855 Ngarchelong (town/State) BABELTHAUP ISLAND +680-876 KAYANGEL ISLAND/State +684-622 Fagaitua TU'TUILA ISL. Stromberg-DCO (remote off of 644) +684-633 Pago-Pago TU'TUILA ISL. DMS-100 ****AMERICAN SAMOA**** +684-644 Satala TU'TUILA ISL. Stromberg-DCO (host to 622) +684-655 OFU town/ISL. (and Olosega Is) Redcom-MDX (MANU'A ISLANDS) +684-677 TAU town/ISL. Redcom-MDX (MANU'A ISLANDS) +684-688 Leone TU'TUILA ISL. Stromberg-DCO (remote off of 699) +684-699 Tafuna TU'TUILA ISL. Stromberg-DCO (host to 688) +684-733 CELLULAR (all locations) Motorola-EMX-100-plus +691-320 Kolonia POHNPEI ISL.STATE DMS-100 (and two remotes) *FSM* +691-330 Weno CHUUK ISL.STATE DMS-10 +691-340 (reserved for future growth) +691-350 Colonia YAP ISL.STATE DMS-10 +691-360 (reserved for future growth) +691-370 Tofol KOSRAE ISL.STATE DMS-10 +691-380 (reserved for future growth) +691-390 (reserved for future growth) +692-247 Airport MAJURO ISL.(remote off of 625) +692-329 Ebeye KWAJALEIN ATOLL DMS-100 (incl.cellular) +692-528 Laura-Villge MAJURO ISL.(remote off of 625) +692-625 Majuro (town/ISLAND) DMS-100 (host;cellular) **MARSHALL** ---------------------------------- NWORLASKCG0 (BellSouth #1AESS Class-5 Local "Seabrook" 504-24x-) NWORLAIYCM1 (BellSouth-Mobility Hughes-GMH-2000 Cellular-MTSO NOL) NWORLAMA0GT (BellSouth DMS-100/200 fg-B/C/D Accss-Tandem "Main" 504+) NWORLAMA20T (BellSouth DMS-200 TOPS:Opr-Srvcs-Tandem "Main" 504+053+) NWORLAMA04T (AT&T #4ESS Class-2 Toll 060-T / 504-2T "Main" 504+) JCSNMSPS06T (AT&T #5ESS OSPS:Operator-Services-Tandem 601-0T 601+121) MARK_J._CUCCIA__PHONE/WRITE/WIRE/CABLE:__HOME:__(USA)__Tel:_CHestnut-1-2497 WORK:__mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu|4710-Wright-Road|__(+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity-5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New-Orleans-28__|fwds-on-no-answr-to Fax:UNiversity-5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mark! Thank you very much for one of the best articles presented here in many years. The amount of detail is astounding, and made for very interesting reading. Brought to you by you, TELECOM Digest is reader supported. Mark spent a lot of time and money preparing the above report. Send your personal comments directly to him, and follow up articles to the Digest. If you are able to do so, please also let me hear from you this week with suggestions and ideas, as well as your financial support. Your letters at my post office box (PO Box 4621, Skokie, IL 60077) mean a great deal and help insure the Digest will continue for another year. PAT]