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The Very Definition of Local

When personal communication devices were less common arriving visitors to Nagano's Kouri Station would hunt down the nearest phone booth and could rote dial a taxi. The sign provided all the necessary information - since call to a local number were made from a local device. Mobility changes what we consider to be local - and in this instance for a mobile phone to connect to this number requires knowledge of the local prefix.

Incidentally, the addtional complexity and rules for dialling non-local numbers can be a barrier for low-literacy mobile phone users.

Writing from Nagano | August 28, 2006 | Permalink