According to https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialling_codes_in_the_United_Kingdom, 01637
is Newquay and 01841 is Padstow.

But according to the current BT website, 01637 is Crantock and 01841 is Newquay but Padstow doesn't
have one at all.

The current Ofcom website says that neither Crantock nor Padstow have codes but Newquay has two -
01637 and 01841.

What is going on?

On 10/11/2023 10:02, Codger wrote:
> According to https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialling_codes_in_the_United_Kingdom, 01637
> is Newquay and 01841 is Padstow.
>
> But according to the current BT website, 01637 is Crantock and 01841 is Newquay but Padstow doesn't
> have one at all.
>
> The current Ofcom website says that neither Crantock nor Padstow have codes but Newquay has two -
> 01637 and 01841.
>
> What is going on?
>
Probably a confusion over the fact that Newquay is served by multiple
exchange buildings, one of which is called Crantock and which share the
same code....

https://telephone-exchanges.org.uk/exchanges/newquay-exchanges/

Excel spread sheets again?

Dave

Codger wrote:

> According to https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialling_codes_in_the_United_Kingdom, 01637
> is Newquay and 01841 is Padstow.

wikiblame finds this from December 2010

"01841 Newquay is 01637. Ofcom also list 01841 as Newquay, but 01841
should be known as Padstow. Ofcom got it wrong."

> But according to the current BT website, 01637 is Crantock and 01841 is Newquay but Padstow doesn't
> have one at all.

There are 01637 x numbers allocated for x=2 to 8, (0, 1 and 9 are protected)

There are 01841 y numbers allocated for y=2 to 7, (0, 1, 8 and 9 are
protected)

> The current Ofcom website says that neither Crantock nor Padstow have codes but Newquay has two -
> 01637 and 01841.

agreed

> What is going on?

On Fri 10/11/2023 11:15, Andy Burns wrote:
> Codger wrote:
>
>> According to
>> https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialling_codes_in_the_United_Kingdom, 01637
>> is Newquay and 01841 is Padstow.
>
> wikiblame finds this from December 2010
>
> "01841 Newquay is 01637. Ofcom also list 01841 as Newquay, but 01841
> should be known as Padstow. Ofcom got it wrong."
>
>> But according to the current BT website, 01637 is Crantock and 01841
>> is Newquay but Padstow doesn't
>> have one at all.
>
> There are 01637 x numbers allocated for x=2 to 8, (0, 1 and 9 are
> protected)
>
> There are 01841 y numbers allocated for y=2 to 7, (0, 1, 8 and 9 are
> protected)
>
>> The current Ofcom website says that neither Crantock nor Padstow have
>> codes but Newquay has two -
>> 01637 and 01841.
>
> agreed
>
>> What is going on?
>

Thinking back to the old STD days, 637 would be NE7 so Newquay, 872
would be TR2 - Truro. Originally STD didn't have codes ending in 1 so
841 would probably have been an exchange that had a local code of 91
from its serving STD exchange but with local 4 or 5 digit numbers.

Have a look at Angus' excellent site magsys.co.uk and select Code Look.

On Fri, 10 Nov 2023 10:49:13 +0000, David Wade <g4ugm@dave.invalid> wrote:

>On 10/11/2023 10:02, Codger wrote:
>> According to https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialling_codes_in_the_United_Kingdom, 01637
>> is Newquay and 01841 is Padstow.
>>
>> But according to the current BT website, 01637 is Crantock and 01841 is Newquay but Padstow doesn't
>> have one at all.
>>
>> The current Ofcom website says that neither Crantock nor Padstow have codes but Newquay has two -
>> 01637 and 01841.
>>
>> What is going on?
>>
>Probably a confusion over the fact that Newquay is served by multiple
>exchange buildings, one of which is called Crantock and which share the
>same code....
>
>https://telephone-exchanges.org.uk/exchanges/newquay-exchanges/

But this is the case for virtually all area codes.

>
>Excel spread sheets again?

I couldn't possibly comment.

On Fri, 10 Nov 2023 11:15:16 +0000, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

>Codger wrote:
>
>> According to https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialling_codes_in_the_United_Kingdom, 01637
>> is Newquay and 01841 is Padstow.
>
>wikiblame finds this from December 2010
>
>"01841 Newquay is 01637. Ofcom also list 01841 as Newquay, but 01841
>should be known as Padstow. Ofcom got it wrong."

Thirteen years ago? And neither Ofcom nor BT have seen fit to correct their databases?

[insert here well-known catch-phrase of Victor Meldrew]

On Fri, 10 Nov 2023 14:37 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), angus@magsys.co.uk (Angus Robertson - Magenta
Systems Ltd) wrote:

>> Have a look at Angus' excellent site magsys.co.uk and select Code
>> Look.
>
>There is no official list of locality names for STD codes or exchange areas,
>Ofcom has a list of the former (with a lot of errors), BT has a list of the
>latter but many exchanges have non-geographic names like CENTRAL and NORTH (LV)
>(both in Liverpool) and Medway.
>
>BT used to sell The Phone Book Companion, a 200 page book that listed all
>exchanges with friendly names, but I've never seen an electronic version.
>
>So 20 years ago when I built my locality list by combining the Ofcom and BT
>exchange name lists, I used a road atlas (no Goggle maps) to allocate
>geographically sensible names to all BT exchange areas, and corrected the Ofcom
>list.
>
>And that is how the CodeLook is built, the locality names are my choices.

According to the Phone Book Companion in last year's printed directory, Newquay is listed as both
01637 and 01841, and Padstow isn't listed at all.

On Sat, 11 Nov 2023 09:26 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), angus@magsys.co.uk (Angus Robertson - Magenta
Systems Ltd) wrote:

>> Newquay is listed as both 01637 and 01841, and Padstow isn't
>> listed at all.
>
>CodeLook lists Padstow, Cornwall as 01841 53 (and other shared codes), there is
>a real exchange there.
>
>> According to the Phone Book Companion in last year's printed
>> directory
>
>The 1998 edition of Phone Book Companion has the same listing as CodeLook,
>01841 53 - Padstow, Cornwall.
>
>The modern version in phone books will just be area codes, not exchange codes,
>that is why it was 200 pages, it will list 020 as London and ignore the
>hundreds of exchanges within London.
>
>But it's only historic BT numbers tied to landlines that can be identified to
>localities, BT Centrex, cable, and new VoIP numbers are area code allocated.

Yes, I appreciate that. Until twenty years ago I lived in London which started off as 01, then 081,
then 0181 (Outer London), then 020 (London) - my number (0208658xxx) indicating my address
(Beckenham). Now all new 020 numbers can refer to anywhere in the London region, but there is only
one code listed for London, as there is for the city where I now reside. The Padstow / Newquay
issue is different, because listing one place twice and the other not at all is as useful as the
proverbial chocolate teapot.

>Historic BT numbers ported to VoIP, as all will be in two years, will retain
>the locality connection initially, but will lose it if people move and keep
>their old number.

Wasn't Ofcom considering recently enabling geographical numbers to be anywhere in the UK? However
that begs the question how this could be enforced with VOIP, as calls can route to anywhere in the
world with a internet connection.

On 10/11/2023 14:37, Angus Robertson - Magenta Systems Ltd wrote:
>> Have a look at Angus' excellent site magsys.co.uk and select Code
>> Look.
>
> There is no official list of locality names for STD codes or exchange areas,
> Ofcom has a list of the former (with a lot of errors), BT has a list of the
> latter but many exchanges have non-geographic names like CENTRAL and NORTH (LV)
> (both in Liverpool) and Medway.
>
> BT used to sell The Phone Book Companion, a 200 page book that listed all
> exchanges with friendly names, but I've never seen an electronic version.
>
> So 20 years ago when I built my locality list by combining the Ofcom and BT
> exchange name lists, I used a road atlas (no Goggle maps) to allocate
> geographically sensible names to all BT exchange areas, and corrected the Ofcom
> list.

Before the days of the internet (except as an academic network) I
transcribed all the codes and exchange names that were printed in the
front of my (BT? GPO?) phone book. Probably early days of BT. Certainly
it was pre PhONEday because the codes didn't all start 01, and had STDs
such as 0532 (rather than 0113).

There were far fewer pages that 200 for the Phone Book Companion. I
imagine the PBC goes down the level of individual exchanges and the
ranges of subscriber numbers allocated to each, for all the exchanges
that shared the same STD code.

I worked with a guy who had committed the PBC to memory: if you said
"What area has the code 0532?" he could say "Leeds - if the subscriber
number starts 65 it's Oakwood, if it's 66 it's Gledhow" etc. He was a
walking lookup table for many technological lists. He could also tell
you all the cars that had used a given speedometer etc - and not just
the highly-individual ones like the Ford Anglia. He thought it was a
perfectly normal skill to have, whereas everyone else treated him a bit
like a dancing bear or a bearded lady at a circus - there to be
ridiculed and marvelled at ;-)