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10 Fascinating Facts about Phone Numbers
Mashable (tip o'the hat NRO's The Corner) ^ | 07/05/2011 (approximately) | Amy-Mae Elliott

Posted on 07/20/2011 6:44:18 PM PDT by jocon307

You probably dial a few of them every day, but do you ever stop and think about the history behind a phone number? When were the first numbers introduced? How did you end up with a particular area code?

We’ve got the answers to these quandaries and more in our collection of 10 fascinating facts that you might not know about the common phone number.

(Excerpt) Read more at mashable.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: areacodes; phonenumbers; telephones
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To: mware

VI6, Victor 6


61 posted on 07/20/2011 8:00:10 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (In loving memory of Abraham Lincoln, 1809 - 1865)
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To: buccaneer81
It made dating interesting ;-)

My dating was so successful that I moved into my own apartment during high school.

62 posted on 07/20/2011 8:02:56 PM PDT by ansel12 ( Bristol Palin's book "Not Afraid Of Life: My Journey So Far" became a New York Times, best seller.)
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To: OldPossum

“The Office” did just that - they revealed a phone number on one episode, and if you called it, you heard a recording of Dwight advertising his Camaro for sale.


63 posted on 07/20/2011 8:04:59 PM PDT by scott7278 ("...I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked..." - BHO)
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To: Revolting cat!

Re: Running out of numbers.

Actually, number portability did a lot to free up nmmbers. In the late 90’s and before, number blocks were assigned to a specific carrier. They were assigned in 10,000 number blocks. All switch software recognized this. However, it was very wasteful due to so many unused numbers in a block. The carriers dictated who got what numbers. Today, if you moved from, say, Rochester NY to NYC, you can take your old phone number with you. Prior to NP, that number blonged to Rochester Telephne and that was that. Virtually millions and millions of numbers became available because of NP.

Nowadays, wireless has taken over and there is very little danger in the US of having to go to 12-digit translation on landline phones.


64 posted on 07/20/2011 8:05:10 PM PDT by CTOCS (I live in my own little world. But, it's okay. They know me there....)
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To: freedumb2003

Good point.

We also settled on ‘1’ because we were the biggest dog in the pack!! We (the US) sort of wrote the script for the international dialing codes back in the day.


65 posted on 07/20/2011 8:08:14 PM PDT by CTOCS (I live in my own little world. But, it's okay. They know me there....)
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To: buccaneer81

I still remember my dad’s old office number. Melrose (ME)4-3245. Back then you could just dial 0 and say it to an operator.

Today, I don’t know anyone’s number(I still remember the old out of service/reassigned numbers). I can just hit and hold home on the iPhone, and voice control comes up, and you tell it to call John Doe mobile, and it does.

It’s a blessing and a curse. But it works, and quite well.


66 posted on 07/20/2011 8:19:09 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: clashfan

Thank you for playing! You win! :)


67 posted on 07/20/2011 8:24:39 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: clashfan

“I never personally spoke to a male operator though I suppose there were some”

I remember my mom telling me that the phone companies were very leery of male operators. They were afraid that if things got dicey the men would lose their cool and curse out the callers.

I have no idea if this was based on actual experience or just fear.

Yet I think we can say that telephone operator jobs were area that moved women into the vanguard of technological jobs.

I wonder if anyone has studied this, and NO I do not want to or mean to sound like some women’s studies awful person here!


68 posted on 07/20/2011 8:30:19 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: whd23

Very cool. My grandma’s phone will always be the ‘real phone’ to me.

Of course, the invention of the cordless phone is one of the greatest things evah! Right up there with the TV remote control.


69 posted on 07/20/2011 8:33:00 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: clashfan

‘By order of the Prophet we ban that Boogie Sound!’

*SMIRK*


70 posted on 07/20/2011 8:36:08 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: ansel12
I moved into my own apartment during high school.

LOL! I split my time...home and my other address...1974 Plymouth Gold Duster.

71 posted on 07/20/2011 8:37:37 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: freedumb2003

“Telcom lore is a lot of fun and more arcane than people know”

I know that in NJ at least there are a bunch of “telephone pioneer” clubs, I guess they are made up of folks that were in “telecom” before it was “telecom”!


72 posted on 07/20/2011 8:42:20 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: OldPossum

I totally agree with you. I also get bothered by how often people will dry-swallow medication in the movies. I mean, get a drink to wash it down. And how many main characters are named Jack or Jake in movies these days? Probably about 80%?


73 posted on 07/20/2011 8:50:04 PM PDT by Two Kids' Dad ((((( )))))
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; clashfan

‘By order of the Prophet we ban that Boogie Sound!’

LOL! It IS a rocking tune!


74 posted on 07/20/2011 8:53:56 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: buccaneer81

A friend of mine owned a property in rural Ontario and had a party line there in the late 1980s. The telcos recycled the technology and packaged it as “distinctive ring” where an customer could have multiple phone numbers on a single line.


75 posted on 07/20/2011 8:58:19 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (Tories in- mission accomplished)
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To: All
Mine was FRontier 4 - 4537
76 posted on 07/20/2011 9:08:57 PM PDT by troy McClure
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To: 23 Everest
TW32938 I was 5 years old. I’m 58 now. Lived in Westminster, CA at the time.

MI8 1578 I was 9. 73 now. San Francisco, CA, Church St., near 28th.

77 posted on 07/20/2011 9:14:21 PM PDT by Publius6961 (My world was lovely, until it was taken over by parasites.)
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To: OldPossum

Perhaps they should reserve 867-5309. :-)


78 posted on 07/20/2011 9:15:19 PM PDT by Immerito (Reading Through the Bible in 90 Days)
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To: MARTIAL MONK

Hey, that was my parent’s phone number too. This was 1951 in SW Virginia.


79 posted on 07/20/2011 9:17:10 PM PDT by miele man
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To: jocon307

BTTT


80 posted on 07/20/2011 9:33:08 PM PDT by knews_hound (Credo Quia Absurdium--take nothing seriously unless it is absurd. E. Clampus Vitus)
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