Dublin’s phone number allocation pattern

Qrt

Hi,

It’s something I’ve always wondered, but it’s fairly known that north side numbers begin with 8, Tallaght/Dublin South West to be 45/46, Clondalkin 6 I think, and places like Dundrum 2. Is there any defined pattern for the allocation of landline numbers? I’ve always wondered.

Thanks

thenightman

Dublin 01 numbers changed from 6 to 7 digits in five stages between 1990 and 1994:

On 2 April 1990, numbers beginning 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 70 and 79 were prefixed with 6.
On 8 April 1991, numbers beginning with 8 and 69 were prefixed with 2.
On 4 April 1992, numbers beginning with 4 and the remaining 6-digit numbers beginning with 2 were prefixed with 8. Numbers beginning 95 and 98 were prefixed with 2.
On 24 April 1993, numbers beginning 75, 780, 781, 782, 783 and 784 were prefixed with 4; numbers beginning 60, 61, 68, 71, 76, 77, 785, 789 were prefixed with 6; and numbers beginning 72, 73, 74, 786, 787, 788 were prefixed with 8.
On 16 April 1994, numbers beginning 3 were prefixed with an 8; numbers beginning 5 and 9 were prefixed with 4.

-Wiki

Qrt

thenightman wrote: »

Dublin 01 numbers changed from 6 to 7 digits in five stages between 1990 and 1994:

On 2 April 1990, numbers beginning 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 70 and 79 were prefixed with 6.
On 8 April 1991, numbers beginning with 8 and 69 were prefixed with 2.
On 4 April 1992, numbers beginning with 4 and the remaining 6-digit numbers beginning with 2 were prefixed with 8. Numbers beginning 95 and 98 were prefixed with 2.
On 24 April 1993, numbers beginning 75, 780, 781, 782, 783 and 784 were prefixed with 4; numbers beginning 60, 61, 68, 71, 76, 77, 785, 789 were prefixed with 6; and numbers beginning 72, 73, 74, 786, 787, 788 were prefixed with 8.
On 16 April 1994, numbers beginning 3 were prefixed with an 8; numbers beginning 5 and 9 were prefixed with 4.

-Wiki

Ah ok, so the geographical aspect is just a mess really. Thanks though

Charles Babbage

It isn't quite a mess, the better class of number starts with 2, city centre with 6, northside with 8 and west Dublin with 4.

You can also see the previous 6 digit scheme, where 8 numbers were Dun Laoghaire, 6 in the south city, 9 in areas from Rathmines to Sandyford, 4 in the city centre where 4 had been added to 5 digit numbers, 5 in the south west and 4 on the northside.

Peregrinus

But over time the archeological "layers" become obscured. For example, in 1992 certain 6-digit numbers starting with '2' were prefixed with '8'. So 29X-XXX, for example, would become 829-XXXX.

So, if you see a number of that form, you might assume that it used to be 29X-XXX, and that it was in the area of the city that used to be assigned six-digit numbers starting with 29. But you could be quite wrong, since the number might have been first assigned (or surrendered and, after a time, reassigned) long after 1992.

Xertz

The first 3 digits usually indicate a particular exchange, but all exchanges have several ranges of numbers and it only applies to lines on “traditional” Eir exchanges or numbers that were originally allocated to them.

If you’ve a new number allocated on Virgin Media or on a voice over broadband service from Eir, Vodafone, Digiweb Etc etc (and that’s standard for most new installations with fibre broadband or VDSL) your line is VoIP based and is just assigned a number range associated with that provider and a softswitch rather than a physical digital TDM exchange. So basically there’s no link to geography other than it’s a landline in the 01 area.

Also a lot of business numbers have always been issues like that. The first 3 digits may just be for a particular company’s direct inward dial lines.

In the old days the numbers had to be very structured to route calls. These days that’s done by a database look up, so it’s all irrelevant.