Area code 032 (Germany)

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In Germany, the area code 032 forms a location-independent number range for national subscriber numbers (NTR). It is the area code without local network reference . Otherwise, the Federal Network Agency strictly monitors that subscribers in their home or company location only receive phone numbers from the respective geographic area network .

Impact and Applications

Since the 032 number range is location-independent, the subscriber number including the area code can be retained even after the subscriber has moved beyond the geographic local network boundaries.

For telephone service providers , especially VoIP providers, there is the advantage that telephone services can be offered nationwide without having to rely on the numbers of the 5200 local networks, which the Federal Network Agency would be too costly to allocate for smaller VoIP providers. As a result, the market entry barrier for new telephone service providers is considerably lower.

With the 032 numbers, for the first time since the Carrier Selection Phase II (July 2000), a non-geographical, location-independent national number range beyond the mobile phone numbers is available again, in which there is provider and price competition for the participants by means of carrier selection routing, which means that oligopoly- or cartel-like conditions with regard to subscriber-side tariffs, such as those that have become established with the 0180 and 0700 number ranges, can be avoided.

The NTR are a cost-effective alternative (both from the caller's point of view and for the number owner) to 0700 numbers , since a VoIP connection with 032 number can be terminated wherever suitable Internet access is available. There are no additional costs for routing / forwarding.

Another possible application is to replace 0180 numbers. For example, the unified messaging services from Arcor - PIA or Web.de and GMX switched to 032-Gasse phone numbers after the Federal Network Agency had banned the use of local numbers, extended 0180 numbers and 012 street numbers for such services .

Authorities and companies that use 0180 numbers, which are relatively expensive for callers, for their incoming telephone customer contacts in order to receive cost-effective location-independent routing for themselves and a number that in their eyes does not appear to be provincial / regional, could alternatively be able to use more customer-friendly 032- Insert phone numbers. This is also because there is increasing migration from conventional landline routing to VoIP.

disadvantage

032 numbers have the disadvantage that calls to 032 numbers - contrary to the expectation of many users who classify dialing codes beginning with "03" as normal German landline codes - are considerably more expensive than connections in almost all mobile phone tariffs (even for calls from home ) to phone numbers with a geographical area code and are not covered by the flat-rate mobile phone tariffs for calls to the fixed network.

From the landline network, it is generally customary to price calls to national subscriber numbers like normal long-distance calls. In the case of fixed network flat rates , however, 032 connections are still billed by some providers using a time tariff (e.g. at EWE-Tel, M-net , Versatel , 1 & 1, gmx, web.de , Kabel BW , Unitymedia , O₂ and Arcor , whereby the use of the Arcor PIA as an answering machine is also affected). With the current tariffs of other providers (e.g. HanseNet , Deutsche Telekom ( full connection ) and HFO telecom ( preselection )), calls to 032 numbers are included in the flat rate tariff. As a rule, however, the price for the call per minute is not announced and the caller therefore has no chance of ending the call before it begins.

There were also deficits in the accessibility of 032 numbers. After 032 numbers were initially only routed by a few network operators, the situation has largely normalized; even the problems in the area of call-by-call providers, VoIP providers and from abroad that existed for a long time have largely been resolved.

The import of 032 phone numbers is not possible from all providers - but this also applies to geographical landline numbers assigned by VoIP providers.

acceptance

The 032 numbers have so far not prevailed over conventional geographic numbers with VoIP providers, but have meanwhile been used, for example, by the two largest national telephone companies Deutsche Telekom and Arcor (now Vodafone) for their additional VoIP offers aimed at consumers, which were discontinued in mid-2009. In contrast, national subscriber numbers have become established for unified messaging services (e.g. Arcor PIA, GMX, web.de and T-Online).

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