Phone numbers in the USA

[qbawl]

Exchanges from my 'yoot'!
REdwood
ELmhurst
MElrose
AXtel
SYcamore
LInwood
You know it's fly over country due to all the trees.

[mojosapien]

ELmhurst
JAckson
....still in the 401 area code
Thanks to all for not trying to claim my old phone number.
Even though my old work # is still there and may forever will be.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Not old enough to remember per se, but my first job that I was on a payroll (ie, excluding typical teen gigs like babysitting and yard work) was at the same company as my bio-father. The exchange originally was TRinity, according to my mom, and is how I still think of it to this day.

[MN-Skeptic]

In Wisconsin, our prefix was VIctor, so when we went from five digits to seven digits for our phone numbers, our phone number became 843-2341. (V=8 on the phone dial, I=4 on the phone dial). I just googled our old phone number and it doesn't appear to be in use.

[mojosapien]

[sugar magnolia]

Please, just stop.

[raison de arizona]

I remember growing up using only 7 numbers to dial someone. Then we moved to Germany. I think it was 6 numbers to call someone. Not too long after moving back stateside you had to start using the area code too.

It's been awhile. Memory is very fuzzy.

Growing up when I went to spend summers with my grandpa on the farm in Illinois, we only had to dial the last four digits for local calls. He could remember the party line special ring tones, but they were already past that by the time I came around.

[Reddog]

We had a party line on the farm. We moved to town when I was 3, so I don’t really remember. My older siblings said the ring was something like 3-longs and a short.
In town our number was ADams 2-8517.
We only had a a few exchanges, that I remember, at first.
ADams 2
ADams 3
ADams 8 (south enders still call themselves 238ers)
BRidge 9
Later a 364 exchange was added but I don’t remember what the mnemonic was for 36

[noblepa]

We had a party line on the farm. We moved to town when I was 3, so I don’t really remember. My older siblings said the ring was something like 3-longs and a short.
In town our number was ADams 2-8517.
We only had a a few exchanges, that I remember, at first.
ADams 2
ADams 3
ADams 8 (south enders still call themselves 238ers)
BRidge 9
Later a 364 exchange was added but I don’t remember what the mnemonic was for 36

3 = D, E, F
6 = M, N, O

So, the possible combinations are:

DM
DN
DO (DOmain, DOg, DOnut, DOstyevski, DOorknob)
EM
EN (ENtry, ENter, ENcyclopedia)
EO
FM
FN
FO (FOx, FOrest, FOgbow,FOrum)

Any of those ring a bell?

When my dad retired to Florida, his phone number was 767-6626, which my brother pointed out, spelled PORNMAN.

[tek]

Recommended (but not required) names: http://www.trbo.org/pub/tenp/MaBell.pdf

[humblescribe]

Recommended (but not required) names: http://www.trbo.org/pub/tenp/MaBell.pdf

Pretty cool, Tek.

Scanning through all those suggested names brought several back that I had originally omitted. The El Lay area code of 213 had a lot of telephone exchanges that had to be carved into toll and toll-free areas.

Our prefix was not among those listed as recommended for 241, 242, 243, 244, 246, and 247: CItrus. CHurchill was for 248 and 249 while CHase was the special exchange for 245 that allowed toll-free calling to parts of Los Angeles proper.

[Reddog]

I got curious. Went to library and looked through city directories.
1968 directories stopped using abbreviations.
Original 234(AD4) exchange converted to 364 in 1973. There were no letters for 364

[mojosapien]

401

[mojosapien]

401

[mojosapien]

theyl'l fuck you up

[mojosapien]

I grew up as Jackson1...referred to the first ex-Prez more than Andrew but don't you quote me on that.

[SamsOvar]

You've got a good memory! The idea of running out of phone numbers did pop up with the growth of VOIP and mobile devices. Fortunately, the system has adapted to things like area code splits and overlays. IPv6 had its own journey, but it's still in use. It's amazing how tech keeps evolving, right? Nowadays, we can even use free SMS receive for business, to not use our real numbers. I find that amazing.