who the hell started the area-code shoutout thing?
h:
åhhhhh
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,992
Likes: 0
From: Toronto, Canada
did you know that if your area code started with a low number (2 or 3) you were considered more important than people with high first #'s? the middle digit also signified how important the area you lived in is.... this was because back in the days when we used those old-school phones.. low numbers like 212 would dial so much faster than high numbers like 609 or 905 ...
:nerd:
:nerd:
The deer had to die!
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 39,835
Likes: 0
From: Fussa, Japan
did you know that if your area code started with a low number (2 or 3) you were considered more important than people with high first #'s? the middle digit also signified how important the area you lived in is.... this was because back in the days when we used those old-school phones.. low numbers like 212 would dial so much faster than high numbers like 609 or 905 ...
:nerd:
:nerd:
åhhhhh
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,992
Likes: 0
From: Toronto, Canada
Area codes were assigned based on the length of time a rotary dial phone took to dial the area code. Densely populated areas like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles had huge call volume and were assigned numbers (212, 312, 213) that could be quickly dialed from a rotary dial phone. On a rotary dial phone low digits (1, 2, 3, 4) could dial quickly as the time the rotary dial took to return to the home position was minimal. High digit numbers (7, 8, 9, 0) on rotary dial phones took much longer to return to the home position and were usually used in less densely populated areas like Vermont (802), rural Texas (915), Tennessee (901), and the Canadian Maritimes (902). This system became unnecessary when touch-tone phones arrived, as the tone allowed instant entry of digits.
