An automatic number announcement circuit (ANAC) is a special telephone number that is meant to be used by phone company technicians and

other telecommunications technicians to determine the phone number of a particular line. Calling this special number gives a pre-recorded announcement indicating the caller's own number. The ANAC number is useful primarily during the installation of landline telephones to quickly identify one of multiple lines.

Contents

1 Operation o 1.1 958 local test exchanges o 1.2 Tollfree numbers 2 ANAC numbers o 2.1 United States o 2.2 Canada o 2.3 Toll-free ANACs o 2.4 United Kingdom o 2.5 Ireland o 2.6 Israel o 2.7 Australia o 2.8 New Zealand o 2.9 South Africa 3 References

Operation
A technician will call a local ANAC's phone number. This number connects to a computer at a local central office, which uses a voice synthesizer or digital samples to "speak" the phone number of the line calling in. The main purpose of this system is to allow phone company technicians to identify which telephone line they are connected to. Because this system is based on automatic number identification (not caller ID) and meant for phone company technicians, the ANAC system works with unlisted numbers, numbers with caller ID blocking, and numbers with no outgoing calls allowed. Installers of multi-line business services where outgoing calls from all lines display the company's main number on call display can use ANAC to identify a specific line in the system, even if CID displays every line as "line one". Some ANACs are very regional or local in scope, while others are state-/province- or areacode-wide: there appears to be no consistent national system for them. Every telephone company, whether large or small, determines its own ANAC for each individual central office, which tends to perpetuate the current situation of a mess of overlapping and/or spotty areas of coverage.[1] No official lists of ANAC numbers are published as telephone companies believe overuse of these numbers could make them more likely to be busy when needed by installers.[2]

958 local test exchanges

Under the North American Numbering Plan, almost all North American area codes reserve telephone numbers beginning with 958 and 959 for internal local and long distance testing (respectively), sometimes called plant testing. (One exception is Winnipeg, which reserves 959 only). Numbers within this block are used for various test utilities such as a ringback number (to test the ringer when installing telephone sets), milliwatt tone (a number simply answers with a continuous test tone) and a loop around (which connects a call to another inbound call to the same or another test number). ANAC numbers can also appear in the 958 range, but there is no requirement that they reside there. In some area codes, multiple additional prefixes had been reserved for test purposes, in addition to the standard 958 and 959. Many area codes reserved 999; 320 was also formerly reserved in Bell Canada territory. As widespread inefficiencies in numbering (such as the assignment of entire blocks of 10000 numbers to every competing carrier in every small village to support local number portability schemes) have created shortages of available numbers, these prefixes are often "reclaimed" and issued as standard exchanges, moving the handful of numbers in them to one standard test exchange (usually 958). Some carriers have been known to disable payphone calls to 958 or 959 test lines, such as Bell Canada's system-wide ANAC line at 958-2580 or (area code) 958-6111. Conversely, a standard line on which voice service has been unsubscribed (such as an ADSL dry loop) may still accept calls to the 958 test exchange but not allow calls to standard numbers. This "soft disconnect" condition is intended to allow calls to 9-1-1 emergency services and to the telco business office to order telephone service, but to no other numbers.
Tollfree numbers

Some large telephone companies have toll-free numbers set up. In most cases, these numbers remain undisclosed to prevent abuse, but MCI maintains this widely published, toll-free ANAC: 1-800-437-7950. This is distinct from technical support and other lines which use ANI so that a computer can automatically display the customer's account on a "screen pop" for the next available customer service representative: the MCI number is intended specifically for ANAC use. Formerly, some companies changed their ANAC number every month for secrecy; this is still the case with a few numbers. In one example of this concern, most payphones in the United States are assigned a telephone number and can ring if the number is called. The phone can then be used to make and receive calls by anyone, making it a potential tool in anonymous criminal activity such as narcotics trafficking. Where a payphone does not have any number listed on the unit, the number can be discovered by calling an ANAC service. Late in the 20th century, caller ID and prepaid cellphone service became commonplace. These services being more easily exploited for criminal purposes, this type of abuse of payphones faded from concern. In Canada, this behaviour has always been more difficult. As a matter of course, incoming calls to payphones are disabled; furthermore, the Bell ANAC number is also disabled (although the telephone number is marked on the payphone itself as it is needed to report a non-working coin 'phone to 6-1-1 repair service).

There are some private national toll-free numbers that use ANI and then have a computer read back the number that is calling, but these are not intended for use in identifying the customer's own phone number. They are used in order for the agent in the call center to confirm the phone the customer is calling from, so that a computer can automatically display the customer's account on a "screen pop" for the next available customer service representative; they are distinct from purpose-made toll-free ANAC numbers. Regardless, if one were to call one of these numbers, listen for the number confirmation and hang up, they would in effect be using this system as if it were an ANAC. One such toll-free service is one owned by MCI - 1-800-444-4444. This number is easy to remember and, when called, will read back your number after a very short message.[3] It is noteworthy that a suspended or out of service line or an incoming only line would not be able to reach any toll-free numbers.

ANAC numbers
For easier reference, the list is presented by area code. In some regions, there are several numbers, depending on the telephone company and/or the area you are calling from as there can be several central offices serving some areas. All are local numbers. Information is presented in the following form: Area code: ANAC approximate geographic region