phone numbers in Ecuador are 7 digit and outlook wants 6

[Paul Ehmig]

Outlook does not recognize 7 digit local numbers in Ecuador.
It still recognizes only 6 numbers.
In the past we used only 6 digits and now we use 7 digits.


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[homeLAN]

Please elaborate on what you mean by "does not recognize". If you enter a
properly formatted Ecuador number, that is +593 nnnnnnn (where nnnnnnn is the
7-digit subscriber number), then Outlook will handle it correctly.

 

[Paul Ehmig]

Hi, let me please explain the steps you need to do to reproduce the error:
593 is the country code for Ecuador, and all area codes are 1 digit long.
Let me remark that in the year 2001 Ecuador changed local phone numbers from
6 to 7 digits
First, set up phone and modem options in control panel to the following:
Edit or create a location and specify Ecuador as a country.
Area codes in Ecuador are 1 digit long.
Try "2" for instance.
Create a new area code rule: if you dial area code "2" don't dial anything
else.

Leave everything else at defaults.

Then enter the following phone number as a phone number for a given contact
in outlook:
(2) 250-5233
double click on the phone number.
the check phone number dialog box appears.
Verify that the country/region is set to Ecuador
the local number appears as:
(2) 250-5233
then close the dialog box
now outlook shows
+593 22505233
and if you double click again, the check phone number dialog box shows:
22505233

the area code does not show in the correct textbox.
if you try instead to write the correct area code "2" in the area code text
box
(at the check phone number dialog box) and the 7 digit number (2505233) in
the textbox below then it appears as +593(2) 2505233; but if you again click
on it:
the following appears in the local number dialog box.

If you try with 6 digit local numbers, none of this nonsense happens, and it
works the way it is supposed to work:
either type +593 (2) 250-523
or (2) 250-523
or 250-523
and when you double click, everything appears where it should:
Country displays as Ecuador
Area code shows 2
and the local number shows as 250-523

Therefore it seems that either windows or outlook have this old behavior
hardwired.
I already looked for it in the registry, but none of this was found.

To be honest, things like this should be user-configurable to avoid
"undocumented features" like this.

Thanks for your help.

 

[homeLAN]

Well, it may depend on the version of Outlook. What version are you using?
For Outlook 2003 SP2, it seems to work properly, for me at any rate.

Using the example phone number you gave, Outlook will format it correctly as
+593 (2) 2505233
whether you enter the number directly in the phone number field; or use the
"Check Phone Number" dialog box and "manually" enter the country, the area
code 2 and the subscriber number 2505233 (note that Outlook formats the
7-digit subscriber part of the Ecuador number without the "-", unlike the way
it does US 7-digit numbers).

 

[Paul Ehmig]

I'm using the same version 2003 SP2.

Double click on the phone number a second time and you will notice the
problem:
thie first time it appears as:
+593 (2) 2505233
then it appears as
+593 22505233 (no area code)
and it shows later as
22505233 (again no area code)

Again, if you try with 6-digit local phone numbers it works fine.
I'll try to reproduce in a clean install on a Virtual Machine.

 

[homeLAN]

I can't seem to reproduce the problem as you show it. In my case, Outlook
always formats the number correctly as +593 (2) 2505233, no matter how many
times I double click on the number to open the "Check Phone Number" dialog
box.

But, I looked again at your original statement of the problem, and I'm
wondering if you have actually set up your dialing properties correctly:
- You set up the country as "Ecuador"; correct, of course.
- Then you set up an area code rule for area code "2". This is not correct.
You just need to enter **your own** area code ("2", if you are actually in
that area code) in the "Area Code" box, next to "Country", on the "General"
tab. You shouldn't need an area code rule at all -delete it.