UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Prestel and Micronet 800 dialup

cmjones01 · 6th Mar 2018, 11:32 pm

A conversation elsewhere reminded me of this, and I know there are some telecommunications experts on here.

Back in the mid-to-late 1980s, I used to use a BBC Micro and V23 modem to access Prestel and Micronet 800. I can still remember the phone number: 01223 4411. The of thing is that I was calling from the 01223 area code, but still had to dial the full number. Just dialling 4411 wasn't enough. Phone numbers in the 01223 code normally had 5 (6xxxx) or 6 (2xxxxx, 3xxxxx or 8xxxxx) digits anyway.

What was going on here? At the time it seemed very strange, compared with the familiar patterns of normal phone numbers. Any technical insight would be much appreciated.

Chris

6th Mar 2018, 11:32 pm	#1
cmjones01 Nonode Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK Posts: 2,677	Prestel and Micronet 800 dialup - how did it work? A conversation elsewhere reminded me of this, and I know there are some telecommunications experts on here. Back in the mid-to-late 1980s, I used to use a BBC Micro and V23 modem to access Prestel and Micronet 800. I can still remember the phone number: 01223 4411. The of thing is that I was calling from the 01223 area code, but still had to dial the full number. Just dialling 4411 wasn't enough. Phone numbers in the 01223 code normally had 5 (6xxxx) or 6 (2xxxxx, 3xxxxx or 8xxxxx) digits anyway. What was going on here? At the time it seemed very strange, compared with the familiar patterns of normal phone numbers. Any technical insight would be much appreciated. Chris __________________ What's going on in the workshop? http://martin-jones.com/