Operator assistance refers to a

telephone call A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network A telephone network is a telecommunications network that connects telephones, which allows telephone calls between two or more parties, as well as newer features such as fax and interne ...

in which the

calling party The calling party (in some contexts called the "A-Number") is a person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call. The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the called party (or callee or B-party). In some countries, it is ...

requires an operator to provide some form of assistance in completing the call. This may include telephone calls made from

pay phone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

s, calls placed station-to-station, person-to-person,

collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among oth ...

, third number calls, calls billed to a

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

, and certain

international call International telephone calls are those made between different countries. These telephone calls are processed by international gateway exchanges (switches). Charges for these calls were high initially but declined greatly during the 20th century d ...

s which cannot be dialed directly. The telephone operator may also be able to assist with determining what kind of technical difficulties are occurring on a phone line, to verify whether a line is busy (Busy Line Verification, or BLV), or left off the hook, and break in on a phone line to request for the caller to clear the line for an incoming call ( Busy Line Interruption, or BLI). The latter service is often utilized by emergency police. In addition, operators are often a first point of contact for the elderly wanting information on the current date and time. Before the advent of

emergency telephone number Most public switched telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number (sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or the emergency services number) that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assista ...

s, operators identified and connected emergency calls to the correct

emergency service Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...

Directory assistance In telecommunications, directory assistance or directory inquiries is a phone service used to find out a specific telephone number and/or address of a residence, business, or government entity. Technology Directory assistance systems incorporate ...

was also part of the operator's job. Operator-assisted calls can be more expensive than direct dial calls. In the

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundr ...

, an operator-assisted call had a 50% premium, but only on the initial period, usually three minutes. A person-to-person call is an operator-assisted call in which the calling party requests to speak to a specific party and not simply to anyone who answers. The caller is not charged for the call unless the requested party is reached. This method was popular when telephone calls were relatively expensive. The alternative, in which the

agrees to talk to whoever answers the telephone, is known as station-to-station. Since the introduction of direct dial telephone service and the subsequent drop in the price of

long distance telephone call In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call (also known as a toll call in the U.K. ) is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate ...

s, person-to-person service has virtually disappeared. This service may still be used if the calling party wishes to remain anonymous to whoever answered, and wishes to have the operator initiate contact with the desired person. A messenger call has been used in countries in which home telephones are unusual, and before the boom in

cell phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

in the early 21st century. A messenger, usually a boy, would go to the recipient's location to advise him or her to come to a central location at a designated time to receive a phone call. An operator-assisted conference call is one in which the

conference call A conference call is a telephone call in which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call or set up so that the called party merely listens into ...

is managed by an operator. The telephone operator will greet each call participant, gather specific information from each participant, introduce key speakers, and manage questions and answers, all from the telephone. A third number call or third party call is an operator assisted telephone call that can be billed to the party other than the calling and called party. The operator calls the third number for the party to accept the charges before the call can proceed. Time and charges was a service often requested of the operator before a call begins. After completion of the call, the operator calls back and specifies the length of the call (in minutes) and the charge for the call. While it was used by guests in a residence or business to compensate the host for use of the phone, it was almost always requested by hotel switchboards so that they could bill the room occupant for the charges before the occupant checked out. Modern telephone systems in hotels make this unnecessary, as the calls are rated automatically by the hotel or by a service provider the hotel has contracted with. (Hotels often contract with resellers that charge unusually high rates, with the profit shared between the reseller and the hotel, thus helping the hotel defray the cost of the telephone system.)

List of active operator assistance numbers

* Australia: 1234 * Hong Kong: 10010 (national), 10013 (international) * United Kingdom: 100 (national), 155 (international)

List of historical/withdrawn operator assistance numbers

* Ireland: 10 (national), 114 (international). Service withdrawn in 2007. * North America (

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international callin ...

): 0 (local), 01 (national non-local), 011 (international)

List of active operator assistance numbers

List of historical/withdrawn operator assistance numbers

See also