I remember well, when I was a wee lad, that you only ever used your area code to make long distance calls, and long distance calls meant reeeaaaallllly far away. Then one day, while I lived in Melbourne, ten digit dialing became needed. I got used to that. No issues. When I ask many of my customers for their phone numbers now, they give me their area code with the 1 in front, as though it were part of the area code. example: 1(234) 555-6789 Has something happened while I have been out of the states? Has it become necessary in some areas to now include that silly 1?
Depends on the phone you're using. Ex. If you're using a land line, the 1 is necessary. But if you're using a cellphone, the 1 is not necessary. If you don't include a 1 when using a landline the phone says something like "Please enter a 1 or a 0 before dialing this number. Please call again."
That part was always like that (for long distance). My customers are giving their phone numbers as if that 1 for long distance were a regular part of the number. Strange....
It messes me up, especially because Latinos do not give single digits. That means that the phone number 1 (234) 555-6789 is given as follows: twelve - thirty four - five hundred fifty five - sixty seven - eighty nine. Except, of course, they say it in Spanish.
In short, the incerease in area codes, and in exchanges within area codes, have made it necessary for the leading '1' to be provided. Some areas still allow a 7 digit local number be dialed, others require a full ten digit code. For that reason, ten digit codes require the leading 1 to make it clear that a ten-diigit code is following. Then there are country codes...
Ok, this 'splains it for me. I'm forced to wonder if one day the population will become such that each state will have its own state code, similar to a country code???
that's nothing!... when i was a kid, there were no area codes and you needed a long distance operator to make calls outside your local area... even into my early teens, we had only 4 digits to our smalltown number and a party line, to boot!... we didn't live out in the boonies, either, but in a suburb of nyc... in the city, they had words for the first part of the number... like 'plaza' [or 'pennsylvania 6-5000'... anyone here old enough to know what that's from?]... and you dialed the first 2 letters, then the number...
I've heard these kinds of phone numbers more than once in movies. Never understood how the system functioned. Thanx, Maia!
Glenn Miller, wasn't it? Even as late as college, our fraternity house had a 'Circle 7' Boston phone number (247). In high school, in a small town in upstate New York, we had a party line and a live operator at a plugboard. Each house on the party line had a different ring pattern, sent by the switchboard operator.
It could be worse. http://api.ning.com/files/grovAlkKFbhMkNKsE*SkxSCIY-cOltm3mcB6WJBvzAcPGn0NH8iB9m5sTjh7foN4100fp2HlQgkC*QZtwI1LadbFs051EPHg/NaFaFo.jpg And some hilarious Kevin James standup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SKJ2wHgfRw
OMG! That Kevin James bit is priceless. And I deal with exactly that every single day. And he's right. There is a convention, an agreed upon rhythm, in which certain types of numbers are given. In my native culture, there is no such convention. The number 1(234) 555-6789 can be given as: twelve - thirty four - five hundred fifty five - sixty seven - eighty nine. or one thousand two hundred thirty four - five - fifty five - six - seven hundred eighty nine or well, you get the picture.
When I worked for ATT, I heard that one customer said that he wanted to change mobile phone providers because ten digit dialing had been introduced in his area. Like it has anything to do with the companies that make the phones work.
Irrationality ~ The last thing that truly separates human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom.
It's the principle. The same reason I make a three hour trial at traffic court when I know I'm guilty and can't dig myself out of the fine. If I'm going down, you can bet you're wasting more than $120 because of it.
cog... it was [and still is!] the main number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC... they've had the same number since 1919 and miller, whose band often played there, wrote the lyrics...
Oh wow, Maia. I knew the song )and it has kept slipping into my head the last few days for some reason...), but I never knew the story behind it. I also now remember that song playing in an episode of Twin Peaks, with <oh what was his name, I can ALMOST remember it> Leland dancing stiffly with a stupid grin on his face.
I think I've figured it out. 1 is actually the country dialing code for the US and Canada. My mom explained this to me the other day, because when we used to live in Germany, we'd have to dial 49 each time before we called out of the country. Or something. I dunno.
