User:מאירגוט//מאירגוט

This page is an honest attempt to provide the information given in the equivalent Hebrew page.

 Definition :

Phone prefix is a number of digital characters attached to a phone number in order to identify the user, his/her geographical location or to associate it with a given service category.

History :
Until the mid-1950s, there was no direct long-distance dialing in the country, nor were there any area numbers. To call from Jerusalem to Haifa, for example, you had to dial "zero" and orally ask the switchboard to connect you to the requested number. Similarly there were callers abroad - not direct dialing with a country prefix, but by dialing an international PBX and orally requesting to make a phone call abroad. With the introduction of direct long distance dialing in February 1968, a division into prefixes was introduced in Israel. Initially there was a division into large areas, such as Haifa (04), Jerusalem (02), Tel Aviv (03) which also included the Sharon area. There were also smaller areas such as Eilat, Beer Sheva and Tiberias. Over time, splits occurred, and prefixes were formed. To the Sharon area: Raanana-Kfar-Saba-Herzliya (052), Netanya (053), Kiryat Shmona, and other areas In 1965, some of the telephone numbers were 5 digits and some were 6 digits. Local call were charged a one-counter click limit with no limit on the length of the call, but there were also calls that were considered long-distance at a reduced rate in the same dialing area.

In 1984, after the establishment of Bezeq, the reverse process of consolidating prefixes began. The Sharon region is united under the area code 09. The northern area except Haifa and the Krayot (area code 04) is united under the area code 06. The Shefela area is united under the area code 08, and the southern area under the area code 07. Since 1995, landline telephone numbers in Israel have become 7 digits; Mobile phone numbers moved to 7 digits in 2004. This led to further unification of prefixes. Thus, in 2000, prefix 06 was merged into prefix 04, and prefix 07 into prefix 08. Unification of prefixes allows the use of prefixes that have been freed up for new needs. For example, Cellcom received the area code 052, which used to belong to the Sharon area.

In December 2000, the Ministry of Communications approved and published the current numbering plan, which was formulated by Telecordia Technologies. The program was updated in 2006, and further updated in 2012.

According to the current numbering plan, the Ministry of Communications intends in the future to switch to 8-digit telephone numbers, and to merge the geographical dialing areas into one national dialing area (dialing area 06).

Until 2007, dialing a telephone number with a prefix, from within the area itself, by a landline phone was considered a mistake and answered with a busy tone. This error was considered the most common dialing error. Bezeq checked and found that over a million idle calls of this type were made each year. Following this, it was decided to change the technical set-up, and to allow the area code to be dialed out of the area itself, without this being considered an error.

Israel's international prefix was assigned in 1960 according to CCITT's Red Book 'as number 34 (now a prefix belonging to Spain). In 1964, the "Blue Book" of CCITT was published, in which for the first time international prefixes were organized according to different regions of the world. Prefixes beginning with 3 (and also with 4) were assigned to Europe, while Israel received the prefix 972, as it is located in the Middle East (prefixes beginning with 9).

Porting One's Number
In Israel, when a customer signs up with a given service provider, he/she can switch to a different provider and still keep his/her phone number, prefix and all! Therefore, a ported number might not giveaway the actual service provider.

There are five geographical dialing Area:

Geographical Dialing Prefixes


In order to dial from Israel to other countries, the following steps must be performed: enter the digits 00 or an international operator code (as shown in the table), then the prefix of the destination country and then a local telephone number in the destination country.


 * When dialing from a number in a geographic dialing area to a number within that dialing area, there is no obligation to dial the prefix; It is enough to dial the remaining seven digits.


 * The first digits of the phone number (after the area code area code) are used to identify the operator:

International Dialing Prefixes
Temporary Numbering Assignments

Short Numbers for Services
This section is out of date, and since the last edit of the entry, there have been events that require updating.

"Kosher" numbers
These numbers are given to devices approved by the Rabbinate Committee for Communication Issues.

Historical Prefix Changes
Main Changes Between 1985 and 1993

With the establishment of Bezeq in 1984, all telephone lines in the country that had until then been managed by the Ministry of Communications were transferred to its responsibility. The company was also transferred responsibility for managing the telephone numbers in the country (a responsibility that remained in its hands until 2000, when it was returned to the Ministry of Communications). With the establishment of the company there were many geographical prefixes in the country, with numbers of different lengths (prefix of 2 or 3 digits + subscription number of 4 to 6 digits) The desire was to create a uniform numbering pattern that would remain constant for several decades. Therefore, from 1984 to 1990, numbering changes were gradually made with the aim of creating 8 2-digit dialing areas, with 6-digit subscription numbers, which theoretically enabled the allocation of 6.4 million telephone numbers. However, technological and economic constraints forced the company to compromise on the uniform pattern and in practice numbers were assigned in different lengths, even after the numbering changes of those years. 1995 Changes

Beyond the 9-digit numbers in the Bezeq network: in order to increase the number of numbers available for allocation, as well as in order to achieve a uniform numbering pattern of 8 dialing areas with a 2-digit length + a 7-digit subscription number, additional numbering changes were needed. Following the transition to this format, there was a theoretical inventory of 64 million telephone numbers for allocation in addition to an additional 8 million numbers in area code 05, which began to be used for mobile and other services. 1996 Changes

Area code 177 of the "Green Line" numbers has been canceled - toll-free numbers. In its place the prefix 1-800 was assigned to toll-free numbers. In fact, all the numbers were eliminated and replaced with new numbers. The background for the change was a move from a system of calls that is open to certain areas at the choice of the line owner, to a system where the free line is open for calls from all over the country and from all networks, and to enable telephony operators besides Bezeq and Pelephone to provide service to their customers. There was also a desire to associate the service with the 800 area code that is worldwide identified with free calls. (For example, the international prefix +800 is intended for an international free call service, in the United States the prefix + 1-800 belongs to a similar service, and so in many other countries) 2000 Changes

Opening up two geographical dialing areas: Prior to the entry of additional telephony operators into the market, and due to the need to increase the inventory of numbers available for cellular services, it was decided to open up two dialing zones out of the existing eight and transfer them to nationwide uses. For this purpose, dialing areas 07 and 06 were selected in which there were no subscription numbers that are identical to subscription numbers in dialing areas 08 and 04 (respectively). Year 2004 Changes

In order to increase the inventory of numbers available for cellular services and in order to create an affinity between the subscriber prefix and the service provider company (since in those days there were different rates for calls within the network and calls to another network), it was decided to switch to 10-digit numbers in all cellular networks. As a result of these numbering changes, the number of numbers available for cellular allocation increased from 16 million to 80 million, and in addition, the prefix 06 was freed up for future uses. Year 2015 Changes

After the MIRS company was acquired by HOT, and following the name change to Hot Mobile and the opening of the company's new GSM network, the company sought to abandon the 057 area code, which was identified by the public with the outdated MIRS network. The company asked the Ministry of Communications for a new area code, and indeed received the area code 053. At Hot Mobile, they hoped to keep the area code 057 in addition to 053, but the Ministry of Communications refused. As a result, all subscribers who held the 057 area code (including subscribers who transferred their number to another network) received the 053 area code in November 2014, instead of the 057 area code, and by the end of May 2015, access to numbers starting with 057 was completely stopped. Temporary Numbers Assignments

In the first and second decades of the 21st century, the Ministry of Communications allocated prefixes for companies seeking to conduct marketing experiments prior to market entry. Some of the companies did indeed enter the market but some did not.