User:מאירגוט/Telephone numbers in Israel

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 :
(Largely not translated. Not required for the purpose of this page... The following is a sample paragraph.)

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, and 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.

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.

Geographical Dialing Prefixes


There are five geographical area phone prefixes:


 * Dialing within the same geographical area does not require dialing the area code prefix; It is enough to dial the seven digit number.

International Dialing Prefixes
In order to dial from Israel to other countries, one must do the following: Dialing '00' or an international provider's prefix as in the following table, then dialing the country's prefix, then the local phone number in the destination's country.

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This section is out of date, and since the last edit of the entry, there have been events that require updating.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
These were not translated, as it is not relevant to the present. If you find that these are of interest to you, please communicate with me. The paragraph below is a sample of the history of the telephone system:

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.