when did australia change to 8 digit phone numbers
Former Australian dialling codes In Australia, as in other countries, due to the increase in subscriber uptake of services such as extra telephone lines in homes, mobile phones and other services, the previous numbering plan was being stretched to its limit. It was decided to reduce the number of area codes and lengthen all subscriber numbers by one or two digits. This occurred between 1994 and 1998, and was done progressively to ensure as little inconvenience and confusion as possible. The gradual change was also to avoid number clashes, a situation where two subscribers in two completely different locations have technically the same telephone number if dialled in their entirety. The first numbers to be converted to eight digits were numbers in the 99x xxxx and 99 xxxx ranges in the suburb of Mona Vale in Sydney, which all became 999x xxxx or 9999 xxxx on 25 July 1994. The final codes changed to eight digits were the Queensland (070), (071), (076), (077) and (079) codes, which all changed to (07) 4yxx xxxx on 10 November 1997.
Telephone number The number contains the information necessary to identify uniquely the intended endpoint for the telephone call. Each such endpoint must have a unique number within the public switched telephone network. Most countries use fixed length numbers (for normal lines at least) and therefore the number of endpoints determines the necessary length of the telephone number. It is also possible for each subscriber to have a set of shorter numbers for the endpoints most often used. These "shorthand" or "speed calling" numbers are automatically translated to unique telephone numbers before the call can be connected. Some special services have their own short numbers (e.g., 1-1-9, 9-1-1,1-0-0, 1-0-1, 1-0-2, 0-0-0, 9-9-9, 1-1-1, and 1-1-2 being the Emergency Services numbers for China, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Sri Lanka; Canada and the United States; Israel (Police); Israel (Paramedic); Israel (Fire); Australia; the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Poland, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Macao, Bahrain, Qatar, Bangladesh, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, Zimbabwe, Trinidad, Tobago, New Zealand, Kuwait, the European Union and the Philippines respectively.)
Vehicle identification number VINs were first used in 1954.[1] From 1954 to 1981, there was no accepted standard for these numbers, so different manufacturers used different formats.
Asia-Pacific On the whole there appears to be no clear cut definition of "Asia Pacific" and the regions included change as per the context.
Social Security number The last four digits are serial numbers. They represent a straight numerical sequence of digits from 0001 to 9999 within the group.
Seven-digit dialing In seven-digit dialing, only the central office code and the station number is dialed, indicating that the call destination is within the local area code. This was the standard in most of North America from the 1950s onward. In some small villages with only one local exchange, it may have been permissible to dial only the four-digit station number.