Why Phone Numbers Are 10 Digits

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

When we first moved to this house, 46 years ago, a local call only required those last four digits. After a few years, the phone company added another exchange and we had to dial all seven digits.

 

To make a call within our “area” required dialing seven digits and to call outside the “area code” required dialing ten. We still didn’t have to dial the number one.

 

Finally, it became necessary to dial eleven digits to call within the US and in some cases twelve to call overseas.

 

With the advent of direct dialing, we no longer have to dial eleven numbers because the service automatically dials the “1” for you unless you are calling outside of the US.

 

STILL, with all of the advances in “AI”, you’d think that they could fix it so that you could just dial, (nobody actually “dials” a phone anymore) the minimum number and add the exchange and area codes when calling outside the exchange or area, but since they now spread exchanges over entire cities and area codes and gerrymandered all over the state in some cases (you used to know what part of the town or state you were calling by the exchange number and area code) they won’t do that.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 18 by Blackwater 53393

[Rip Snorter]

https://dftcommunications.com/miscellaneous/important-notice-mandatory-10-digit-dialing-coming-to-multiple-states-area-codes/

[Eyesa Horg]

We now have to dial the whole 11 digits including the 1 unless using a cell phone, then you can drop the 1

[Cypress Sun]

"Wait, cell phones can call someone too"?    What a 16 year old says upon finding out that cell phones can be used to actually talk to another person.

[Blackwater 53393]

We ditched our “land line”, finally, last year. We’d only kept it this long because our internet was tied to it! When that became slow and balky, we switched to a new fiber optic network that was much faster, much smoother, and way more reliable. It’s also handled locally and is serviced far more promptly if there is an issue.

 

I don’t reckon I’ve dialed, (punched in) a one in a few years because I hadn’t made a call on that landline since the Christmas Bombing here in Nashville a few years ago.

 

I WILL say that while cell service was down for a bit more than a day after the bombing, the land line continued to work. The internet, however, didn’t!

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

I don't think I've had a "land line" for 20 years or some such.  I don't actually remember how long ago it was, although there is still a "princess" phone hanging on the wall inna basement.  It (the princess) doesn't do anything.  It's very very dead but it's a pain to take it offa wall so I just left it there.  Where was I going . . . . oh yea, haven't had to dial a "1" in about 20 years.

 

In fact I haven't had to dial an actual number in years.  Just tap the name in my "contacts" and my cell does the dialing.  Inna car I just tell Siri to call whomever.  Presto!!  Bluetooth is some marvelous.  Don't leave home without it!!  Burma Shave

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I still remember when our party line number was 47B.  Then it became 2147b, SKyline 2 (SK2)-2175).....No longer a party line..... and finally, 752-2175.

 

When area codes came along ours was 801...Utah.

 

I  also remember "Number please."

"Miss Alice,(or which ever operator was there) this is Tom Taylor.   Can you ring Mom's number so I can let her know I'm home?"

"I sure can, Tommy.  Hey, did your  sister get over the measles okay?"

"Yeah, she's back to being a pest.  I'll let Mom know you asked."

"Thanks.  See you in church."

 

I also  remember "Number  please."

"I cut myself real bad.  Can you  call Doctor Malouf?" and having operator stay on the line talking me  down, telling me to wrap a towel around the cut and keep pressure on it, asking questions until the doctor was on the doorstep inside of 20 minutes.  One of the  other operators had called the doctor and Dad and  Dad got there about 5 minutes after the doctor did.

 

I really, honestly miss those days.

Edited April 20 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Jimmy Reb, SASS #54804]

As a kid, my family did not have a party line. My dad's job depended on his phone. I remember prefixes had letters. Ours was PR6. Much later when we moved from Maine to Wyoming I got my first cellphone. 

The provider couldn't get us wy 307 numbers, so my wife and I both have Utah prefixes. Different ones. 

So a 4 digit dialing wouldn't work well for us.

[Frontier Lone Rider]

When our family 1st got a land line, you had to listen to how many times the phone rang to know if it was your number or the call was for a neighbor.

 

I don't do cellphones, but my wife does.  I do not initiate any telephone calls, but I email like crazy.

 

Using a switchboard to complete a call was still used in the Army when I commanded Medical Units.  My last assignment was as XO of a 400 Bed field Hospital.  I designed the Hospital's Layout and set-up the medical facility in the field.  We used a switchboard to call around inside the hospital and could connect to outside lines via a Mag Drop.

 

I printed out the Hospital's Layout and put a copy by the switchboard and other intersections as there were not any windows, just a series of corridors.

[Stump Water]

1 hour ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

STILL, with all of the advances in “AI”, you’d think that they could fix it so that you could just dial, (nobody actually “dials” a phone anymore) the minimum number and add the exchange and area codes when calling outside the exchange or area

 

Overlay area codes "fixed" that.

[Trailrider #896]

We still "dial" a number using pushbutton phones. The knowledge of how to use a true dial phone is becoming a lost art. When we visited the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, my SIL lifted our 3-year-old granddaughter up and showed her how to dial the wallphone in the exhibit. She is now in college, but every once-in-a-while I ask her if she remembers how to use a dial phone. She says she does. Why bother? Because you never know when she might find herself in a situation where it might be necessary to use one in an emergency. 

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

I am only old enough to remember 7 digit numbers.

The first three were for the town, the last 4 were your personal numbers.
 

So that was 7.

If you wanted to call a number that was still in your area code, but a "toll call" then it became 1+7, or 8.

If you wanted to call outside your area code, it was 1 +3 for the area code +3 for the town + 4 for the person, or 11.  This was what was termed "long distance."

But then, they started running out of numbers within the area codes.   So, they added started adding the area code for even local calls in some areas.  People complained.   But a side effect of this was that toll calls, and eventually long distance, ceased to be a thing.

 

And then, there is "international calling."  

0+country code, (1 or 2 digits) and then whatever local standards exist.   Interestingly enough, the "Country Code" for nations that are on the Bell System, US, Canada, Mexico, and Panama,  is 1.   So you dial them just like people in the US would, except you put a 0 in front of it.  I am not sure if a US call to Canada is actually considered an international call, some sort of legacy long distance, or just the same as any other number in the system.

Fascinating.  

 

[Stump Water]

1 hour ago, Trailrider #896 said:

Because you never know when she might find herself in a situation where it might be necessary to use one in an emergency.

 

While I'm sure there's a few telco COs out in the sticks that still have legacy equipment, support for pulse (rotary) dialing is pretty much a thing of the past - even for telcos that still support copper.   

 

[Sedalia Dave]

18 minutes ago, Stump Water said:

 

While I'm sure there's a few telco COs out in the sticks that still have legacy equipment, support for pulse (rotary) dialing is pretty much a thing of the past - even for telcos that still support copper.   

 

 

I can remember when push button phones had a switch that allowed the phone to emulate pulse dialing.

 

I also remember ringer equivalency numbers on newer phones. Telcos would charge extra if you had too many phones on one line as it took too much current to power the ringers on all those phones. By switching to phones with electronic ringers you could add more phones without having to pay extra.

 

Another trick was to use one central loud bell and disable the individual bell in each phone.

Edited April 18 by Sedalia Dave

[John Kloehr]

37 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

I can remember when push button phones had a switch that allowed the phone to emulate pulse dialing.

I can remember locks on phone dials to prevent dialing out, I also remember dialing out anyway by rapidly pulsing the "hook" a proper number of times for each number with a pause between each number.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

IMHO if calling within the area code of your phone number you should only have to dial the Seven numbers and outside of your area code you need to add the are code your trying to call.

But hay Im not incharge  YET !

[Rye Miles #13621]

We had 7 numbers as well. Area codes came in maybe 40 years ago. We also had names like Kenmore, Redwood, Ivanhoe etc. KE 1 7655 was our number when I was a kind. That’s, 531-7655. When we moved in 1959 our number was Andrews 1 0512 which was An 1 0512 or 261-0512 

Those numbers now would have a 216 area code in front. 440 area code for the next county or area  and 330 for another county/ area etc.etc.

 

Note: Ohio got area codes in 1947 but you didn’t have to actually use them until around 40 years ago. If you live in the 216 area code you don’t have to dial it before the number but you have to dial the area code for the next county or area that’s a different area code. 440, 330 etc. 

Edited April 18 by Rye Miles #13621

[DeaconKC]

8675309

 

Someone had to do it.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I bought a "dial phone" a few years ago.  It  DID NOT have push buttons in a dial -looking thing but a real dial....but....when you dialed you had to move your finger all the way around and make sure you pushed the crescent-shaped stop gizmo.  When  you took your finger out to go to the next number the  dial turned back to the starting  point, dialing the proper number.  I even found a 1960 phone book  from Logan, Utah to go with it and I  put Mom's old phone number, SK2-2175, in the  center window.

 

It was a perfect copy of the old black Western Electric 500 "saddle" series  phones and was fun for awhile....but  you had to have a land line (I used it as the kitchen phone in a five unit set.  I hid the base in a tin breadbox.)  When my provider went to a different system and did  away with land lines, I gave it to my daughter-in-law who still uses it.  She  found a place in Las Vegas that still supports land lines.

[Seamus McGillicuddy]

18 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

8675309

 

Someone had to do it.

Is that the phone number for 442 Glenwood Avenue?

 

Seamus

[watab kid]

i remember our basement still having a crank phone - could answer but not call out , my grandparents had a party line 

[Rye Miles #13621]

When I was a kid in the 50’s we had a party line. I would pick up the phone very carefully and listen in to their conversation. My mom caught me one time and scolded the heck out of me. That stopped me from doing that! 🙄

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

On 4/18/2026 at 9:27 PM, DeaconKC said:

8675309

 

Someone had to do it.

I recognize it...  But don't remember from where.   I can even hear the jingle...

How about....

Call number 1.   800  54 Giant!

Or how about how EVERY toll free number was 1-800-228-xxxx

[Rye Miles #13621]

32 minutes ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

I recognize it...  But don't remember from where.   I can even hear the jingle...

How about....

Call number 1.   800  54 Giant!

Or how about how EVERY toll free number was 1-800-228-xxxx

It was a song 

 

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

53 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

It was a song 

Nope, that's not what I remembered it from.   And the number wasn't even close.
 

The second of the two commercials is what I remembered for some reason.

And this is the 1 800 54 Giant one...

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

1 hour ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

Nope, that's not what I remembered it from.   And the number wasn't even close.
 

The second of the two commercials is what I remembered for some reason.

And this is the 1 800 54 Giant one...

 

you said you didn’t remember 8675309  so that’s the song I posted. I did not post about this 1800 54 giant! I’ve never even heard of this. 

[watab kid]

23 hours ago, watab kid said:

i remember our basement still having a crank phone - could answer but not call out , my grandparents had a party line 

in those days it was a local call you only needed six digets but long distance was nine , there were no 800 or 900 numbers and life was a lot less stressful , the p=hone was attached to the wall not in your pocket