Ireland:
Networks: Vodafone, O2, Meteor, and 3.
There is full number portability between networks so it's hard to tell which network a particular number is on. If you're calling mobile to mobile, you get a short "Beep" before the call connects to warn you that the number is on another network as higher charges may apply.
Country Code: +353
GSM/3GSM Mobile prefixes: 83,84,85,86,87 -
Paging: prefix: 82
Non-geographic "national rate numbers: 81
(all of the above would be followed by a 7 digit number)
To directly access a mobile voicemail box:
+353 8X 5 XXX XXXX
+353 88 XXX XXXX was the analogue ETACS service and has not been in use for several years.
[OT]
Geographic numbers (normal fixed lines) are allocated in a fairly logical hierarchical area code system.
First the country's divided into 7 large areas:
Dublin - 01
Cork - 02
Eastern Area (Excluding Dublin) - 04
Southeast - 05
Southwest and Midwest: 06
Northwest - 07
West - 09
These are then subdivided into smaller area codes, the main town/city in each area being "1" e.g. Galway City = 091... a small town in the 09 area might be 097.
Local number lenghts vary.. and are either 5,6 or 7 digits long depending on population. However, that's gradually being changed and numbers are gradually becoming a uniform 7 digits long.
The phone system never made much use of step-by-step switching and was largely crossbar switched in the old days, which allowed greater flexibility in terms of number length.
From the late 1970s it rapidly moved to digital technology, which also had no problem handling varying number lengths.
... If calling from outside Ireland geographical numbers look like:
+353 X-XXX-XXXX
+353 XX-XXX-XXXX
+353 XX-XXX-XXX
+353 XX-XXX-XX
+353 XXX-XXX-XX
This is all moving to +353 XX-XXX-XXXX
[This message has been edited by djk (edited 01-11-2005).]
