General Interest Articles

Telephone services for fast access to help in a variety of situations, emergency and otherwise

A brief fact-sheet by Steve Sconfienza, Ph.D.

Over the past few decades there has been the development of a variety of three-digit telephone numbers for quick dialing. (Just to date myself, when I was younger the only three-digit numbers were 211 for telephone repair service and 411 for local directory assistance.)

As of late 2007, 911 services are virtually universal (except for some rural areas), 311 is in use in New York City and a few other locations, and 211 service is being implemented nationally. Four-one-one is still used for directory assistance, and *611 is used by many cell service providers for customer assistance.

Here is a comprehensive list of three-digit numbers:

• Community Information and Referral Services
  • see 211.org
  • for New York State see 2-1-1 New York

• Non-Emergency Police and Other Governmental Services
  • see 311Service.org
    • see also "311 Non-Emergency Systems" from Dispatch Monthly Magazine.
  • for New York City see NYC 311

• We all know that 411 is the "Local Directory Assistance" number

• Traffic and Transportation Information
  • see America's Traveler Information Telephone Number (from the Federal Highway Administration)
• (differs in Canada)

• Repair Service
  • 611 is used by many wireless and landline providers for customer and repair services

• Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS)
  • see Dial 711 for Telecommunications Relay Service
  • and 711 Access to Telecommunications Relay Services
    • both from the from the FCC

• Access to One Call Services to Protect Pipeline and Utilities from Excavation Damage
  • As in call before you dig holes in the ground and blow up a gas line or electrocute yourself by cutting an electrical line!
  • see call811.com
  • for New York State see Dig Safely New York
• (differs in Canada)

• Emergency
• 911 is the national emergency number in the United States and Canada (but off the coast of Canada, on Saint Pierre and Miquelon, it is 15 Medical/17 Police/18 Fire, but we don't really need to know that; in Europe it is 112). For a list of global emergency numbers see Emergency Telephone Numbers in Wikipedia; see also
  • The National Emergency Network
  • Voice over IP and 911 Services
    • both from the FCC
  • National Emergency Number Association (NENA)

Several of these services are not all fully implemented. The 211 service is still early in its development in New York State; 311 service is implemented only in a few urban areas nationwide (and may not be implemented beyond that due, in no small part, to the patchwork of governments outside of urbanized areas); and 511 is also only implemented in part of the country, but that should continue to be developed nation-wide.

Technically, only the 211, 311, 511, 711, 811 and 911 numbers are nationally assigned by the FCC. The 011 and 111 are not unavailable for use because the leading "0" and "1" are used for switching and routing purposes; although not able to be assigned for any purpose in the United States, 111 is used as the emergency number in New Zealand. The 411 and 611 usages are a traditional usage.

For full details of these and other number assignments see the North American Numbering Plan Administration.

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