diff --git a/ast_expr2.fl b/ast_expr2.fl
index 452d28f3cd12cdbd98c229dc055c28673bc281be..55dffd5d8df598217c4f4ebc4a5d259e688ab6fd 100755
--- a/ast_expr2.fl
+++ b/ast_expr2.fl
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ struct val {
 
 #define SET_COLUMNS yylloc_param->first_column = (int)(yyg->yytext_r - YY_CURRENT_BUFFER_LVALUE->yy_ch_buf);yylloc_param->last_column = yylloc_param->last_column + yyleng - 1; yylloc_param->first_line = yylloc_param->last_line = 1
 #define SET_STRING yylval_param->val = (struct val *)calloc(sizeof(struct val),1); yylval_param->val->type = AST_EXPR_string; yylval_param->val->u.s = strdup(yytext);
+#define SET_NUMERIC_STRING yylval_param->val = (struct val *)calloc(sizeof(struct val),1); yylval_param->val->type = AST_EXPR_numeric_string; yylval_param->val->u.s = strdup(yytext);
 
 struct parse_io
 {
@@ -74,10 +75,8 @@ struct parse_io
 \"[^"]*\"   {SET_COLUMNS; SET_STRING; return TOKEN;}
 
 [\n]	{/* what to do with eol */}
-[0-9]+		{   SET_COLUMNS; 
-				yylval_param->val = (struct val *)calloc(sizeof(struct val),1);
-				yylval_param->val->type = AST_EXPR_integer; 
-				yylval_param->val->u.i = atoi(yytext); 
+[0-9]+		{   SET_COLUMNS;  /* the original behavior of the expression parser was to bring in numbers as a numeric string */
+				SET_NUMERIC_STRING;
 				return TOKEN;}
 [a-zA-Z0-9,.?';{}\\_^%$#@!]+	{SET_COLUMNS; SET_STRING; return TOKEN;}
 
diff --git a/ast_expr2.y b/ast_expr2.y
index 14c84e856874712728550e90abf5d362eea87faf..dc0a37528bc04b4ceb9e32b84f3f9b203864b9b0 100755
--- a/ast_expr2.y
+++ b/ast_expr2.y
@@ -296,10 +296,11 @@ to_integer (struct val *vp)
 
 	/* vp->type == AST_EXPR_numeric_string, make it numeric */
 	errno = 0;
-	i  = strtoq(vp->u.s, (char**)NULL, 10);
+	i  = strtoll(vp->u.s, (char**)NULL, 10);
 	if (errno != 0) {
+		ast_log(LOG_WARNING,"Conversion of %s to integer under/overflowed!\n", vp->u.s);
 		free(vp->u.s);
-		ast_log(LOG_WARNING,"overflow\n");
+		vp->u.s = 0;
 		return(0);
 	}
 	free (vp->u.s);
@@ -433,8 +434,15 @@ op_eq (struct val *a, struct val *b)
 		to_string (b);	
 		r = make_integer ((quad_t)(strcoll (a->u.s, b->u.s) == 0));
 	} else {
+#ifdef DEBUG_FOR_CONVERSIONS
+		char buffer[2000];
+		sprintf(buffer,"Converting '%s' and '%s' ", a->u.s, b->u.s);
+#endif
 		(void)to_integer(a);
 		(void)to_integer(b);
+#ifdef DEBUG_FOR_CONVERSIONS
+		ast_log(LOG_WARNING,"%s to '%lld' and '%lld'\n", buffer, a->u.i, b->u.i);
+#endif
 		r = make_integer ((quad_t)(a->u.i == b->u.i));
 	}
 
diff --git a/doc/README.variables b/doc/README.variables
index 3a8a7b48be2338bd8e8085173195bd65e3172fea..1bf900798350129142ab706c90335ba8b6b99f68 100755
--- a/doc/README.variables
+++ b/doc/README.variables
@@ -310,7 +310,13 @@ Of course, all of the above examples use constants, but would work the same if a
 numeric or string constants were replaced with a variable reference ${CALLERIDNUM}, for
 instance.
 
- 
+__________________________
+NUMBERS VS STRINGS
+--------------------------
+
+Tokens consisting only of numbers are converted to 64-bit numbers for most of the
+operators. This means that overflows can occur when the numbers get above 18 digits.
+Warnings will appear in the logs in this case.
 ___________________________
 CONDITIONALS
 ---------------------------