I dial a number. It goes through just fine. I dial a different number with the same area code and get the “we’re sorry, you must dial 1”.
So,
1) why must I dial 1
2) why do they not simply dial 1 for me?!
In: Technology
Older equipment somewhere in the phone system.
On old electromechanical phone systems, dialing the leading one actually caused your call to be physically connected to a long distance exchange. That exchange would interpret the area code, then connect to the correct local exchange and then that system would connect your line to the local extension. These were all actual physical movements of phone lines.
There aren’t any electromechanical exchanges anymore (probably). But the replacement systems were made to be compatible with the old systems, so required the same dialing rules. Eventually they started making systems with enough internal logic to interpret the phone calls directly. So we could drop the leading one and dial with the area code even for local numbers.
But to make that change, you have to have all of the old systems replaced. Until you have removed every older phone system you can’t switch over. Areas that are still requiring the leading 1 probably made a large investment in equipment just before they started making those changes.
Also, look up a video of an electromechanical phone system. They are amazingly cool to see running. (https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/s/wep2x4kk6x)
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