Living in London

It cannot be figured out. And the # I have for you here is 0 11 44 20 7938 etc - is that wrong as you say it's 44209 ??? Not that I'm going to call but that is what I have typed on Linda's list.here.

If you are dialing from another country, all bets are off, and the numbers change again.

By convention, and excluding the prefix, which can be assorted lengths, up to 6 digits are expressed 123456, 7 digits as 123 4567 and 8 digits 1234 5678.

NOTE: Your London number is not 0208 xxx xxxx. It's 020 8xxx xxxx. 020 is the London code. The 8 is a throw back to the old 0171 and 0181 inner/outer split, which would have made your number 0181 xxx xxxx. Before that, it was 081 xxx xxxx and before that it was 01 xxx xxxx (note no 8 to be seen). Confused? Imagine how we felt with the numbers changing every couple of years! Upshot is that you can dial any 020 London number by dialling the last 8 digits and all London numbers are 020 8xxx xxxx or 020 7xxx xxxx. I've yet to se an 020 1xxx xxxx, 020 2xxx xxxx, 020 3xxx xxxx etc, but those would be valid London numbers

All this falls apart with special rate 08 numbers. 0800 (freephone) numbers are always expressed 0800 to start, 0870 might be expressed 0870 xxx xxxx or 08700 xx xx xx or 08700 xxx xxx. If it isn't memorable, then it'll follow the 6 or 3-4 rule.

The phone number chaos reflects one of the characteristic British irritants: "independent" regulatory bodies appointed by the Government that claim to be "customer-focused" but are really old-fashioned public sector bureaucrats, hand-in-glove with the private sector. The frequency with which Ofcom, or should that be F-Ofcom, messes up the British telephone system is amazing. Some examples:

1) constantly changing the numbering convention for landlines. London was 01, then 0171 and 0181, then 020, with most number continuing 7 or 8. The rationale was supposed to be to increase the number of phone numbers, but why is it you never see numbers continuing with 1, 2, 3 and so on? Even supposed "cheap-rate" or "local" call numbers starting 0870 (you never see 0874, 0875 and so on) are anything but cheap, so there is never-ending potential for confusion.

2) Took the Directory Enquiries monopoly off British Telecom and opened it to multiple numbers offered by innumerable private sector firms. The result? More expensive, much less accurate services competing for a reducing market as confused customers give up and/or turn to the Internet. No-one knows what the Directory Enquiries number is any more, except for the most memorable numbers like 118118, who will eventually dominate the market and we'll be back to an effective monopoly supplier again.

3) Allowed pople to carry their mobile phone numbers between service suppliers. The result? You never know which network you're calling, and can make no choice over how to ring a person to keep down the price of your calls. For example, an intra-network mobile to mobile call is usually much cheaper, but no-one knows what network anyone else is on.