Ten digit dialing
- Thread starter Rex R
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I only remember 7 digit dialing... my childhood phone number was AT8-8715. The "AT" was for "Atlantic"... probably the Alhambra exchange.
You guys are young. For our town we dialed four digits
Well there was a time when you just turned the crank, spoke into the funnel, and asked the operator to connect you to Vern Estes....
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Yeah, but you didn't live in the Los Angeles metro area... we probably had area code dialing back when you still had 4-digit dialing. Now there are so damn many area codes I have no idea what they all are.
heada
Well-Known Member
NA29000. Lincoln Carpeting....the jingle is still stuck in my head some 4 decades later. Talk about a good marketing team
MClark
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Steve used Jungle Drums.
Scott_650
Well-Known Member
For a few months after we bought our first house in the mid-80s we had a party line. Then our little rural local phone company was bought by a bigger regional one and the last of the party lines were gone. And our bill went up, of course.
The worst part is editing all your contact #s to include the area code.
We dialed five digits when I was in elementary and junior high school, seven through high school and college, but shortly after that Ohio (which previously had four area codes for the entire state) doubled or tripled the number of area codes so all the major cities got their own, plus a few. We've been dialing ten digits since that happened in the early 90s (and we've added more area codes since then).
BEC
Well-Known Member
We moved from the Denver area to Santa Fe, New Mexico late in 1963. At that point we went from 7 digits to 5 (for a little while). Now even in NM it's 10 digits, I think. Here when the western Washington area code (206) was split into four pieces (206, 360, 253 and 425) we moved to 10 digits for most calls and went from 206 to 253 for our own landline number. I think 10-digit dialing only became mandatory when they started with the overlaid area code business only a few years ago.
CoyoteNumber2
Original San Diego High Power Rocketry
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Yep. If you live in or near Los Angeles, ten-digit dialing is just a fact of life.
310, 323, 562, 714, 949, 626, 909, 951. And that's just the common ones.
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We have it here in the Florida Panhandle. With everyone, kids included, having cell phones, it was inevitable.
Scrapmaster87
Well-Known Member
I remember the bug stunk when we went from 7 to 10 digit dialing in my area (I was still in middle school at the time). Once cell phones started to really become popular we then had 2, 610 and 484. Now they'res 610, 484, 215, 267, and I think 445.
Anyways, when I went to school in western PA, they were all still using 7 digits. I tripped up so many people with a 10-digit number I lost count. The shock went both ways though, cash was/is king out there. By 2005-06 I was already moving toward going cashless. I had to put up with hitting the ATM almost every time I wanted to go out. It's a rarity for me to carry actual dollar bills anymore (outside of paying my range dues).
Anyways, when I went to school in western PA, they were all still using 7 digits. I tripped up so many people with a 10-digit number I lost count. The shock went both ways though, cash was/is king out there. By 2005-06 I was already moving toward going cashless. I had to put up with hitting the ATM almost every time I wanted to go out. It's a rarity for me to carry actual dollar bills anymore (outside of paying my range dues).
beeblebrox
8 C6-0, 12 D11-9, 20 D20-0, 20 E5-0, 3 Cinerocs
Look at the bright side... No long distance dialing charges. I remember having to pay LD fees to dial Coatesville from West Chester, only 15 miles away...
heada
Well-Known Member
For 2 years I lived in an area code where it was possible to call in the same area code and be charged long distance fees. IntraLATA LD was a pain. That was 25-ish years ago and was mostly done away with when cellphones became popular.
Maybe it is due to the fact once you dial a number on a "regular" corded phone that digit has now been dialed and "no one" ever consider the fact that a cordless "landline" phone is not dialed until you hit the "talk or send" button.
Okay, but that could be changed, I would think.
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That would definitely get annoying.
I remember those days too.
You would have to call the operator to make a long distance phone call.
Back in the day when dialing 5 digits took 5 times longer than push button on 11 digits for long distance now.
That is...if anyone still has a land line.
Most people I know these days don't bother with a land line as cell phones are cheaper for us old folks than a land line.
And you can take it with you where ever you go.
Our neighbors had a 3 way party line, 2 farms and a homestead. They had a one number dial to call each other on the party line.
1,2 or 3 rings determined who was getting the call.
I'm not even sure if a party line is thing anymore?
Our phone number in the phone book right up until I canceled the number was listed at TE-####. Even after full digital was conversion was made.
That was in 2013. I always thought TE stood for my Fathers first and middle name initials.
Until I figured out there were letters on the dial with the numbers.
There is much I miss in the old, more simple days of my youth.
Depends on the phone and service, I suspect. On our landline I can type in the number and backspace as needed...however, backspacing doesn't erase, it just moves the cursor. Retype (type over) with the corrections, then press 'Talk" and the phone dials.
When we were first married our landline cost about $20 a month for unlimited local calling, 10 cents a minute plus fees for long distance. Since all in-laws were long distance our LD bill ran about $60 a month. Total $80 in 1981 dollars, or $240 in 2021 bux. Today $25-40 can buy a month of unlimited talk and text, plus some data. Of course you also have to put up with lots of spam calls and texts. Progress...sorta.
dr wogz
Fly caster
If I recall, the need for new area codes happened when fax machines became a 'thing'.. then pagers, then cell phones..
And yes, i can remember when it was long distance, just to call the next municipality (Greater Montreal Area).. Then long distance charges were dropped for 'after 7:00pm & week-end calls, then cell phones pretty much made country wide 'free' calls (no long distance). I can call my sister in Vancouver, but I am charge (hefty bit) to call my club president (In VT)
Of course, I also remember a few years ago, in Burlington VT: to check into the hotel, we had to call the number provided.. So, international cell phone fees applied.. Wasn't happy about that.. I do wish CAD & US would start to share their towers, so we (and you) can use our phones without "international" roaming fees..
The big peeve these days, is the spoofing of numbers.. And done soo often by the bad guys.. Telemarketers too.. so now we all are starting to ignore unknown numbers..
And some poor hikers didn't know they were being looked for..
And yes, i can remember when it was long distance, just to call the next municipality (Greater Montreal Area).. Then long distance charges were dropped for 'after 7:00pm & week-end calls, then cell phones pretty much made country wide 'free' calls (no long distance). I can call my sister in Vancouver, but I am charge (hefty bit) to call my club president (In VT)
Of course, I also remember a few years ago, in Burlington VT: to check into the hotel, we had to call the number provided.. So, international cell phone fees applied.. Wasn't happy about that.. I do wish CAD & US would start to share their towers, so we (and you) can use our phones without "international" roaming fees..
The big peeve these days, is the spoofing of numbers.. And done soo often by the bad guys.. Telemarketers too.. so now we all are starting to ignore unknown numbers..
And some poor hikers didn't know they were being looked for..
Lost hiker ignored phone calls from search team because they didn't recognize number
A person who went missing during a hike last week in Colorado ignored multiple phone calls from search-and-rescue because they didn’t recognize the number, according to authorities.
www.ctvnews.ca
Yes cheap phone calls either unlimited cellular or VOIP landlines as generated telemarketing hell. I get 5-10 spoof phone calls a day. All because phone calls do not cost the telemarketer s any money.
Back in the late 60's we had a party line. That was in Michigan. A real small town. We had 10 digits then. About 69-70 no more party line. The only reason we still have a land line is for our alarm system. I had a girl friend in high school that live 15 minutes away and was a long distance call. She moved about 30 minutes away and it was a local call.
... remember, everyone was getting a second home line for the computer modem. Dial up, ahhhh. My first modem was 300 baud. 8 years later, 1200. then 9600, 14.4k, then suddenly we had 56k baud. wow
jbsommerfeldt
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It all had to do with mechanics and the electric equipment that ran the original Stromberg & Carlson telephones. We did not have electronic signaling, digital code ~ de coding, nor anything like VOIP back then.
The national switching equipment was ablt to tell a long distance code because all area codes were required to have a 0 or 1 as the middle digit. You could not mix, area codes with office codes. After area codes and office codes were local exchange. ie Empire 2300. gosh im old. So if you picked up a handset and dialed 4 digits only, Mary in her bedroom, waited to see if you dialed anything else, if not she patched your call through. Later, equipment listened and knew, again by area code middle digit, if you were calling LD or not.
That doesnt even factor in party lines. (again why Mary knew every thing going on in town)
How my gosh, dont keep me goiong.
Wana know the differnce between a land line, POTS (which doesnt exist anymore i dont care what you think), T1, PRI, ISDN, Bonded channeling, DSL, ADSL. DONT CALL THE FCC BECAUSE THE HAVE NO CLUE! and they are in charge of it. hahahahaha idiots.
The national switching equipment was ablt to tell a long distance code because all area codes were required to have a 0 or 1 as the middle digit. You could not mix, area codes with office codes. After area codes and office codes were local exchange. ie Empire 2300. gosh im old. So if you picked up a handset and dialed 4 digits only, Mary in her bedroom, waited to see if you dialed anything else, if not she patched your call through. Later, equipment listened and knew, again by area code middle digit, if you were calling LD or not.
That doesnt even factor in party lines. (again why Mary knew every thing going on in town)
How my gosh, dont keep me goiong.
Wana know the differnce between a land line, POTS (which doesnt exist anymore i dont care what you think), T1, PRI, ISDN, Bonded channeling, DSL, ADSL. DONT CALL THE FCC BECAUSE THE HAVE NO CLUE! and they are in charge of it. hahahahaha idiots.
