Zenith number

A Zenith number is a special type of toll-free telephone number in the United States and Canada that was introduced prior to the development of WATS toll-free service. It allows a calling party to call the number's owner at no charge by dialing the operator and requesting the specified Zenith number. In some places the name Enterprise or the letters WX are used. Some organizations continue to keep their Zenith numbers (the California Highway Patrol continues to use the same single number it has for decades, "Zenith 1-2000"), but with the low cost of incoming WATS service, Zenith numbers have nearly disappeared, and telephone companies in most service areas no longer offer new Zenith numbers.

The operator handles the call by looking up the regular number corresponding to the Zenith number, typically in a paper book kept at the switchboard, and completing the call as if it were a collect call to the regular number.

The reason the name Zenith is used is that the letter Z did not, at that time that the service started, appear on the telephone dial; the only way that one can call a 'Zenith' number is to dial the operator.

Examples of Zenith Numbers

* Ontario Provincial Police Detachment Search 50-000
* Ambulance Dispatchers - Ontario Zenith 80-000
* Town of Winchester, Ontario ambulance dispatcher Zenith 9000
* City of St. Catharines, Ontario ambulance dispatch Zenith 90000
* Nevada Highway Patrol Zenith 1-2000
* Rand Corporation Zenith 9-0740
* System Development Corp Zenith 9-0740
* UCLA Campus Computing Network Zenith 9-0740
* UCLA Network Measurement Center Zenith 9-0740
* University of California at Santa Barbara Zenith 9-0740
* University of Southern California Zenith 9-0740
* University of Utah Zenith 9-0740
* NWT Health and Social Services - Health Insurance Zenith 06025
* Northern States Power Power-Line Emergency number Zenith 7000
* Orange County Transit District, a Southern California transit authority, whose phone number was 714-547-3311, had the number Zenith 7-3311 for areas of Los Angeles and Orange Counties to which their number was a toll call.
* BC Ministry of Children and Family Development Helpline for Children Zenith 1234
* Forest fire reporting in BC Zenith 5555
* CKOC, a Hamilton%2C Ontario radio station request and contest line Zenith 5500
* Orange County Fire Department (California) Zenith-6000

References

* [http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/TELECOM_Digest_Online2006-1/1390.html Remembering Old Zenith Numbers]