You may have heard some interesting and already common facts about mobile phones on occasion. But what about the phone numbers that give you that unique mobile identity and make using your phone possible. Here’s ten great facts that you may have never heard before:
10. Invention of Phone numbers
Before their invention, phone calls were made by dialing the phone service first and requesting a phone operator sitting on the other end with various lines used to connect us to the person we wanted to contact. This was all fine and dandy until the process was questioned by Alexander Bell’s (the inventor of the phone himself) friend Dr. Moses. Because the town was infected with an epidemic of measles, the doctor advised initiating a new system without involving these operators for if any one of them fell ill, the others would find it difficult to understand the system and keep it running. Hence, the system of names was replaced by numbers dialed directly by the callers themselves.
9. The very first Area code
The very first area code to be established was in New Jersey in 1951, which was labeled 201. The area codes in use now are an advanced and evolved version of the “North American Numbering” plan, in which the areas were numbered according to the ratio of their population. The one having the largest was given the simplest dial code for a rotary phone and it started with codes for 90 areas. Urban areas like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago got the codes 212, 213, and 312, respectively, and whereas more rural areas were given codes like 915, 913, etc.
8. The Most Expensive phone number
666-6666 holds the record for most expensive number after being sold in Qatar for $207 million to raise money for charity. This number blows away the previous record held by 888-8888 sold in China for $280,000.
7. Apple related to 888-8888
It is said that Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, had a thing for repetitive digits. It was because of his fondness for such numbers that he sold the Apple I for $666.66.
This fondness, as legend has it, also led him to buy the second most expensive number in the world. The only drawback to the fantastic phone number was the hundreds of prank calls it received every day. While most of them were not of a malicious nature, there some particularly spiteful ones that may taken a toll on any man.
6. Emergency Numbers
Different countries have various emergency numbers, for example 911 is the standard emergency number used in U.S. It was first pronounced as “nine eleven”, however the confusion of many users who searched for the “11” key on the dialer, led to it being changed to “nine one one”. In U.K, the number is “nine nine nine”; whereas Europe, you would dial 112 in emergency.
Before the system of a single number for emergency calls was introduced, people used to call the operators to direct them to the relevant emergency service. There are still some fire services in the U.S which can also be reached by dialing “3 4 7 3”, which spells “F-I-R-E”.
5. Movies ignoring the 555 trend
Usually, when you see a phone number in a movie it will begin with “555″ because no such number exists with that pattern. Although it is not recommended, some movie production companies have their own numbers that appear in their movies, like Universal Studio. If you were to call the number, it would just continually ring on the other end.
One such movie faced some trouble for using a real phone number, supposedly belonging to God, and they had to change the number in the DVD release in order to resolve this issue.
4. Numbers and codes set aside for fictional purposes
Many of us would have tried to dial the numbers our favorite T.V or movie characters dial in various scenes, but to your surprise you would find that those numbers are specially generated for these fictional purposes.
“KL” exchange was the very first phone exchange used to generate such numbers for American movies. Currently, the prefix “555” is being used in U.S to set aside numbers for purely fictional purposes. In the U.K, the code “01632″ is used the same way but it also provides non-working suggestions for some other cities.
3. Phone Numbers in Music
Like movies, numbers are also used in songs but they haven’t been set aside for this purpose especially. The most famous of all is that of Glenn Miller’s Pennsylvania 6-5000, which is still in use by the hotel mentioned in the song. The Hotel Pennsylvania (whose number was used) still boasts to have the number of the longest continuous use.
It annoys all those who have the same number with a different area code as it appeared in song; 867-5309 is the catchy musical number belonging to Tommy Tutone. A very recent addition to this list is the number Alicia Keys claimed to be hers in her song Diary; after which, many of her fans attempted to give her a call.
2. Phone number magic Trick
This trick is fairly self-explanatorys so give it try and impress your peers. The trick goes as follows:
Take a seven-digit phone number, for example, 941-7990 and multiply the first three digits by 80. Then add one, multiply by 250 and add the last four digits of the original phone number. Finally add the last four digits again, subtract 250, and divide by two.
Maths can be so miraculous at times, huh?
1. Personalized Phone words: How to find one for you?
Just like the number spelling “F-I-R-E” is used to call fire brigades, chances are that your number might have a similar phone-word combination as well. In order to find out what it actually is, you can utilize the services of “PhoneSpell”. Along with just being interesting, they may be useful in making you remember a variety of different numbers.
source: http://www.gizmocrazed.com/2011/12/top-10-phone-numbers-facts/#ixzz33HaQdZrE
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