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New I've had a little experience storing I18n phone numbers.
What I found is several things:

1. You can lookup the country code from the country if you have to. Or at least correlate it.
2. There is often an area code, but not always. Storing it separately brings up the problem of user input; keeping it with the rest of the number brings up the problem of when people omit entering it.
3. You will sometimes need an extension field. Make that separate.
4. There's no point parsing for exchange prefix.

That said, I myself would try to display numbers of the country the user is in in the national format. This will probably be what you will have stored; if you keep the area code in a separate field, you will need to know every local format. But I would then display numbers of any other country in international format. So here in AU, an US number would look like +1 801 555 1234 but an Au number would look like (02) 8543 1000. Conversely, in the US, the corresponding US number would look like either (801) 555-1234 or 1-801-555-1234 whilst the AU number would look like +61 2 8543 1000.

IME, the +code format is a far better visual clue of an international number than always displaying the number "ready to dial".

Wade.

Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
 
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

New Maybe you have to assume some level of user knowledge
IME, the +code format is a far better visual clue of an international number than always displaying the number "ready to dial".
If you can rely on users knowing this conventoin, this sounds like a good solution to me. I suspect in most cases you would want your users to know when they're about to make an international call.[1]

Also, I don't think you can avoid having users who think they know better than the system what they're "supposed" to be doing. We have this issue just dealing with storage and presentation of numbers within the U.S. We only recently started requiring full 10-digit numbers at data entry.

The (old) logic was that the people using the numbers would most likely be in the same office as the people entering the numbers. So the one entering the number should enter it how it should be dialed. The problem with storing the full 10-digit number is that either the user or the system has to decide if the area code and the '1' are needed when dialing form the current location. Which means each fax server has to be aware of the area code it's dialing from and the current phone system rules for when it needs the extra digits.

If there were any sanity in the phone system, you could dial '1' and the full 10-digit number and your local exchange would figure out what to do and complete the call. But we still have cases where if you try that you can't make any local calls.




[1] But then again, calling from France to Spain isn't quite the same as calling from the U.S. to ... well, just about anywhere but Canada and Mexico. So I have no idea if intra-european rates are anywhere near what international rates from the U.S. are.
===

Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
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New Not to mention, having an International internal phone sys.
Some companies also have to consider least cost routing as well in determining call cost.

CIP: Let us say, a company headquartered in Detroit, has a national company with at least 1 store in each area code in the states. And has offices in major cites in most cities across the world. With a connected Phone system to all locales the office/stores are.

Let us say that some regional executive in Colorado's Store has a problem with a machine built in Tokyo Japan, needing direct support from them. The phone system will need to know how to route the call over the companies internal phone system. Making it a local call for the store/office in Tokyo. Since the already are paying for the connectivity to Japan, it is a reduced cost for them.

Just think of doing this... and capturing the info this way. Fun Fun Fun.
--
[link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg],
[link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey

[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Military Intelligence"]
No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
New Definitely.
Or factor in some user-training. In fact, you probably should *always* factor in some user-training. At the very least, it will bring the idiots up to a universal level of dumbness* and show everyone else how low the "idiot-proof" bar is set.

Wade.

* theroetically.

Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
 
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

     Phone numbers and i18n - (Yendor) - (39)
         Only thing I would question - (jake123)
         If you want to make your display useful - (Arkadiy) - (3)
             What else could you store it as? -NT - (drewk)
             Re: If you want to make your display useful - (Yendor) - (1)
                 Country code, area code, main number, extension -NT - (Arkadiy)
         Re: Phone numbers and i18n - (JayMehaffey) - (1)
             Re: Phone numbers and i18n - (Yendor)
         Basically, you're totally wrong, and your colleague right. - (CRConrad) - (22)
             American users are helped by it - (drewk) - (17)
                 In Charlotte, and surrounding area,... - (a6l6e6x)
                 No - (tuberculosis) - (15)
                     True, if everything's 10-digit no need for the '1' -NT - (drewk)
                     the leading one is to route to a stp for long distance - (boxley) - (2)
                         I know why its there - (tuberculosis) - (1)
                             duh, forgot about that :-) - (boxley)
                     Here too - (SpiceWare)
                     Well, (probably because I'm a contrarian) - (jb4) - (9)
                         Note on "overlaid" area codes. - (static) - (8)
                             Houston did both - (SpiceWare) - (7)
                                 Sounds like they didn't give enough notice. - (static) - (1)
                                     wasn't much - (SpiceWare)
                                 Re: Houston did both - (JayMehaffey)
                                 The reason our "Bell system" will NEVER increase... - (jb4) - (3)
                                     rule of 7 is long gone - (SpiceWare) - (2)
                                         Yes, of course - (jb4) - (1)
                                             I think that rule is slightly faulty anyway. - (static)
             In A5a, it works like this. - (Another Scott) - (1)
                 wrt Canada - (jake123)
             Also, a11y. - (pwhysall)
             That's why you're an international linguist... - (jb4)
         I've had a little experience storing I18n phone numbers. - (static) - (3)
             Maybe you have to assume some level of user knowledge - (drewk) - (2)
                 Not to mention, having an International internal phone sys. - (folkert)
                 Definitely. - (static)
         The only thing you can assume - (tuberculosis) - (4)
             Have to disagree with that one - (drewk) - (2)
                 It would be a LOT of work - (tuberculosis)
                 No, Todd is right - (tonytib)
             Re: The only thing you can assume - (JayMehaffey)

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