An Idea that Rings a Bell...

(The Metroplex)--Here’s a thought: I just tried dialing a number from Dallas to Ft. Worth. Being a stranger in a strange land, and accustomed to inserting a “1” in front of long distance numbers for which the area code to me is foreign, I mis-dialed the number.

Now, thanks to the miracles of modern technology, you can call from here to there just like the phone was next door. There’s even a handy, audible reminder to let you know this.

(Drrrrrrrrrrrrr) [click] (hssssss…)
“We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed does not require a one or a zero before the area code. Please re-dial the number, and try your call again.”
{click-clunk}

Amazing.
You make a mistake, the “machine” knows it, and tells you.
So…why can’t this wonderful phone system just dial the stupid number?

Cell phones do this.
You just dial the area code and the number.
You dial a one, plus the area code, the call still goes through (with certain exceptions, as previously noted in an earlier blog.)

Here it comes: “If they can send a man to the moon…” why can’t they rig the phones to dial the number when we mistakenly add the “one?”