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Subscriber trunk dialling

 

 
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Subscriber trunk dialling
 
 
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Subscriber trunk dialling (STD, also known as subscriber toll dialling) is a term for the UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 telephone
Telephone

The telephone is a telecommunications device that is used to transmitter and receive electronically or digitally encoded sound between two or more people conversing....
 system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator
Telephone operator

A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain List of country calling codess which cannot...
 assistance.

Terminology
The term "subscriber trunk dialling" is used in other countries such as The Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
 and Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, but the corresponding term in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
,the US and Canada
North American Numbering Plan

The North American Numbering Plan is an integrated telephone numbering plan of 24 countries and territories: the United States and its Insular area, Canada, Bermuda, and 16 of the Caribbean countries....
 is direct distance dialing
Direct distance dialing

Direct Distance Dialing or direct dial is a telecommunications term for a telecommunications network-provided service feature in which a call originator may, without telephone operator assistance, call any other User outside the local calling area....
.

The term was extended, when on 8 March 1963, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 subscribers were able to dial Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 direct using international subscriber trunk dialling.

In India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 the term still applies and to dial out of one's unit area, the relevant city code has to be prefixed to the local number.






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Encyclopedia


Subscriber trunk dialling (STD, also known as subscriber toll dialling) is a term for the UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 telephone
Telephone

The telephone is a telecommunications device that is used to transmitter and receive electronically or digitally encoded sound between two or more people conversing....
 system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator
Telephone operator

A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain List of country calling codess which cannot...
 assistance.

Terminology


The term "subscriber trunk dialling" is used in other countries such as The Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
 and Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, but the corresponding term in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
,the US and Canada
North American Numbering Plan

The North American Numbering Plan is an integrated telephone numbering plan of 24 countries and territories: the United States and its Insular area, Canada, Bermuda, and 16 of the Caribbean countries....
 is direct distance dialing
Direct distance dialing

Direct Distance Dialing or direct dial is a telecommunications term for a telecommunications network-provided service feature in which a call originator may, without telephone operator assistance, call any other User outside the local calling area....
.

The term was extended, when on 8 March 1963, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 subscribers were able to dial Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 direct using international subscriber trunk dialling.

In India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 the term still applies and to dial out of one's unit area, the relevant city code has to be prefixed to the local number. This prefix starts with a 0. Certain numbers are also prefixed with 95 which are local calls within State limits.

Explanation


The introduction in the UK of subscriber dialling of long distance calls removed the distinction that had existed between Trunk and Toll
Trunk vs Toll

In the United States of America, under the purview of the Bell System, local telephone calls were free except in a few big cities, and the term toll was adopted for long distance calls because they were subject to a toll....
 calls. This term however, is still widely prevalent in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 to describe any national call made other than one's local unit. A "subscriber" is someone who subscribes to, i.e. rents, a telephone line and a "trunk call" is one made over a trunk line
Trunking

Trunking is a concept in modern communications by which a communications system can provide network access to many clients by sharing a set of lines or frequencies instead of providing them individually....
, i.e. a telephone line connecting two exchanges a long distance apart. Now that all calls may be dialled direct, the term has fallen into disuse.

History


In the UK, STD started when, on 5 December 1958, the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known as the Commonwealth realms: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Monarchy of Canada, Monarchy of Australia, Monarchy of New Zealand, Monarchy of Jamaica, Monarchy of Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Monarchy of the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sain...
, who was in Bristol
Bristol

Bristol is a City status in the United Kingdom, unitary authority area and Ceremonial counties of England in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff....
, dialled a phone call to Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
, the furthest distance a call could be directly dialled at the time . However, it was not until 1979 that the STD system was completed, though most of the country was covered well before then. The system required that each area have its own STD code which could be dialled by subscribers, and although they are now officially called area code
UK area codes

#REDIRECT List of United Kingdom dialling codes...
s, it is still common to see and hear the old term in everyday use.

See also

  • UK telephone numbering plan
    UK telephone numbering plan

    The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, is the system used for assigning telephone numbers in the United Kingdom....
  • List of country calling codes
    List of country calling codes

    This is a list of country calling codes defined by ITU-T recommendation E.164.The telephone numbering plan for a telephone system includes an international dialing prefix, such as "00" or "011", which must be dialed before the country calling code when dialing an international phone number....
  • Trunk prefix
    Trunk prefix

    A trunk prefix is the number to be dialed in a domestic telephone call, preceding any necessary area codes and subscriber numbers. When calling overseas numbers, the trunk prefix is omitted by the caller....
  • Telephone numbers in India
    Telephone numbers in India

    Country calling code: 91'International Call Prefix: 00...


External links

  • : A good source of information relating to the history of the telephone system in the UK.