Why did old phone numbers start with letters? (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why did old phone numbers start with letters? (2015)

#141

Post by lxgr » Fri, Sep 01, 2023, 5:43 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #85

zw123456 wrote: post #63

One other fun fact about numbering, the most frequently dialed exchanges, those for big cities would use the lowest numbers, e.g. downtown would be 223 for the exchange and big cities area codes 212 and so on. The reason was not for the convenience of the dialer, remember it was rotary dial way back when a lot of those first got assigned, it was because the signaling was in band so the longer it took for the dialing…

That also explains why European emergency numbers are often 11X, including 112 which is the universal emergency number in the EU and the GSM standard (so it will work on your mobile phone too). It doesn't explain Britain using 999 or Australia using 000.

Emergency numbers would rarely go onto trunk lines though, so in that case, I suppose speed of dialing was actually the main concern.

Re: Why did old phone numbers start with letters? (2015)

#142

Post by therein » Sat, Sep 02, 2023, 12:48 AM UTC

acheron wrote: post #6

dools wrote: post #3

They even had this in the Simpsons in the 90s, so not even 50s era! Mr Plow gives his phone number as Klondike 5 3226 and the jingle says "KL5 3226"

Pretty sure Seinfeld gave a KL5 number once too.

Twice. I hate that I know this.

Klondike5 had caught me by surprise so I looked into it. Also Jerry's phone number changes in between the two episodes.

Re: Why did old phone numbers start with letters? (2015)

#143

Post by sophacles » Sat, Sep 02, 2023, 3:21 AM UTC

saurik wrote: post #75

sophacles wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a kid when Seinfeld aired originally and didn't find it that weird. My grandmother would often give her phone number to older people as SHerman-2xxxx. She stopped doing that after Chicago and the suburbs split 312 and the suburbs became 708 in ~1990. I can see it still being common among older people in the 90s in Manhattan until more area codes were added towards the end of the decade (there was also some rest…

I liked this video I recent watched, which covered the history of this, centered on Seinfeld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viLVO46FQX0

Good video, thanks!

Re: Why did old phone numbers start with letters? (2015)

#144

Post by dang » Sat, Sep 02, 2023, 3:56 AM UTC

Luc wrote: post #117

iso1631 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With pulse dialing "1" is one click, "3" is 3 clicks, "9" is 9 clicks You can't have zero clicks, so "0" would have to be 10 clicks

Yes, dialing 0 sends 10 pulses.

Sorry for the offtopicness but can you please email hn@ycombinator.com? I want to send you a repost invite.

Re: Why did old phone numbers start with letters? (2015)

#145

Post by bobthepanda » Thu, Sep 07, 2023, 5:26 PM UTC

ThrowAway1922A wrote: post #52

Scoundreller wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes it’s just implied. At the pizza place where our cabin is (ok, it’s like a 25 minutes drive), you can just give them your last 4 numbers and they assume the rest.

> Sometimes it’s just implied. Like in Nova Scotia/PEI. Technically there are two area codes, but no one actually knows what the second one is. The other one is undesirable because if people see it they often won't even answer, assuming it's scam or such. That's how unknown it still is 902 was introduced in 1947, making it one of the first area codes used in Canada and it's been completely ingrained in the region sin…

That’s interesting.

In the US spam calling is so prolific I assume anyone using my area code is a spammer spoofing. Though it helps that I don’t live where I got the phone number anymore.