ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

E.161

Okay kiddo, do you know what a phone number is? It's a bunch of digits you dial to call someone on the phone.

Well, the people who decided how phone numbers should look and how they should work made a set of rules called E.161.

These rules make sure that phone numbers are easy to remember and easy to understand. They also make sure that phone numbers work the same way all over the world.

Just like you have rules at school to keep everyone safe and to make sure things run smoothly, E.161 has rules to keep phone calls running smoothly all over the world.