Numbering Plan

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What Does Numbering Plan Mean?

A numbering plan is a telecommunication scheme through which telephone numbers are assigned to subscribers and telephony endpoints. Each telephone number is an address assigned to an endpoint in a network through which a designated subscriber can be reached. Depending on the local telephony requirements and network, a numbering plan can follow a number of strategies.

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A numbering plan is also known as a telephone numbering plan.

Techopedia Explains Numbering Plan

A numbering plan can be generally divided into open and closes numbering plans. An open numbering plan can assign various numbers of digits, while a closed numbering plan has a set number of digits. Numbering plans, in many cases, most significantly depend on the geographical zone of the subscriber: a fixed number of area codes is allotted depending on the state, city or region. Any user dialing from within a network must first specify the area code if dialing outside their local zone. Not only public switched telephone networks (PSTNs) but private telephone networks employ numbering plan schemes as well.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.