Re: Convention for Telephone Numbers?

[Matt Ion <soundy -at- ROGERS -dot- WAVE -dot- CA>]

On Tue, 9 Sep 1997 10:19:22 -0700, John Lord wrote:

>+44-1344-200000
>+1-510-555-1212
>800-555-1212
>
>Periods are another possibility:
>
>+44.1344.200000
>+1.510.555.1212
>800.555.1212

I've seen both used fairly frequently, although using hyphens seems to be
most common on the west side of the Atlantic.  One thought: using periods
could get some people confusing phone numbers with IP numbers. :-)

>Has anyone determined a convention that works for all kinds of readers of
>all kinds of telephone numbers?

The first thought that popped into my head when I saw "readers" was
"text-to-speech readers" (not that I use one, but I was participating in
another thread on the topic recently).  Seems to me hyphens would be
"friendlier" here as well, since a reader would probably pronounce them
as "dash"; ie. "one dash eight zero zero dash five five five dash one two
one two".


 Your friend and mine,
 Matt
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