Comments on: Twilight of the Area Code Master

By: Flack

Flack — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:49:32 +0000

Nor Parsley-like, Rosemary-like, or Thyme-like, for that matter.

By: don't worry

don't worry — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:34:57 +0000

there’s never been anything ’sage-like’ about you.

By: Peter Coffin

Peter Coffin — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:19:44 +0000

On the other hand, with 10-digit dialing and overlays so common these days, more people think area codes … if they have to actually dial the number at all and not pick from a list.

I used to have a Boston number like 633-3333. The phone rang ALL THE TIME – crazies would call and leave rants about the local spa and babies would call us several times a week leaving long babbling messages – all that stopped when 10-digit dialing started being required.

By: Flack O'Hara

Flack O'Hara — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:59:32 +0000

As I covered in an old blog posting (which spam protection seems to be preventing me from linking to) I discussed how this knowledge skill was lost now that I can Google for an area code when my phone begins to ring, and have the information in front of me before the answering machine picks up on the fourth ring. If that isn’t what the Internet was invented for, I don’t know what is.

And speaking of arcane talents, I used to be able to whistle a “sweeping tone” that would turn off a modem. Back in the days of modems and BBSes, many times a modem would spit out a tone when the two parties had intended a voice-to-voice call. I found that a loud enough whistle, sweeping from low to high, would trick a modem into turning itself off. I have no idea what the tone was or technically what was going on behind the scenes, only that if done loud enough, the modem would shut up. There aren’t a lot of social situations in which one can show off that particular trick off anymore.

Speaking of which, I knew dozens (and still knew a few) of “payphone tricks” that could be done to win and influence friends. Now that AT&T has announced that they will be phasing out payphones at the end of this year (2008), I suspect those tricks will go out of vogue as well.

By: Matt Reynolds

Matt Reynolds — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:13:09 +0000

So, I work for a company that processes large amounts of telephone data and this data is, amazingly, still relevant. It’s relevancy is slowly dying (maybe faster now that my 60 year old parents recently ported their numbers to cell phones, which I consider a sign of the apocalypse), but I await the coming reorganization of all phones not based on geography, since, like IP addresses, it’s increasingly wrong when used for that purpose.

By: steph

steph — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:18:04 +0000

While my history is somewhat the same as yours (numbers geek first, phones later), I don’t know any valid phone numbers anymore, except my own mobile and my partner’s. I back up the phone book from my mobile most of the time. I expect one day I’ll be seriously caught out, but not yet.

I live in Amsterdam, and I’ve got my voip incoming lines in +44 and +1 360

I wrote real letters to real people once too.

By: Jason Scott

Jason Scott — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:06:57 +0000

I did know that. Covered in detail here: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_283.html

By: thomas

thomas — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:06:56 +0000

great post… 234 is supposed to be coming to northeast ohio, which would make the number 1-234, that is if we still used 1, as that seems to be going by the wayside too. i worked for an isp briefly during the 216 split with 330, and irate customers would call in that had put a 1 in front and were subsequently charged the full inter-lata long-distance rate for their multiple hours of time online. this gave me a dark feeling in my stomach about phone companies (and other companies) that hasn’t gone away. think of the profit from the float of those mistakes, alone.

By: en_dash

en_dash — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:59:52 +0000

You know also that the original area code schema was based on rotary phones, so that more ‘important’ places would have less ‘clicks’ on their rotary phone than less important places (e.g., 212 for NYC = 5 clicks; 307 for Wyoming = 20 clicks). I’ve always used this to prove that my home state of NH (603) was considered more important than our rival, Vermont (802) by 1 click.

By: Andy Baio

Andy Baio — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:34:07 +0000

I was born in 818, grew up in 805, went to college in 510, and my son was born in the 310. And like you said, that was my last area code. I moved from Santa Monica to Palo Alto to Portland, keeping my cell phone number along the way. We don’t even have a landline anymore.