[HN Gopher] "555" and related telephone prefixes
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       "555" and related telephone prefixes
        
       Author : miles
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2021-02-21 05:27 UTC (17 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (computer.rip)
 (TXT) w3m dump (computer.rip)
        
       | reaperducer wrote:
       | 555 had another use. When I had service from Bell of
       | Pennsylvania, you could call 800-555-xxxx (I forget the last
       | four, but it wasn't 1212) to get connected to billing customer
       | service.
       | 
       | The author also mentions the 500 area code. But he missed its use
       | by AT&T for roaming numbers (before "roaming" meant cellular).
       | 
       | I had 500-674-9845. It could be programmed to ring you at
       | different phones at different times of the day. For example, it
       | could be set to forward all calls to your office Monday through
       | Friday 9am to 5pm, then to your club from 5pm to 7pm, and then to
       | your home from 7pm to 9am.
       | 
       | It was very useful, but these were the days of the PBX wild west
       | when cost-reduced computers made poor quality PBX companies
       | attractive to small and medium-sized businesses. The list of
       | valid area codes and prefixes came in quarterly from your rep via
       | sneakernet. Two places I worked over two years didn't have very
       | good PBX vendors, so in both cases people at my work could not
       | call me on my 500 number. One boss became particularly irate
       | about not being able to reach me after hours.
        
         | Sniffnoy wrote:
         | He does talk about that use of 500s:
         | 
         | > In 1993, NANP allocated the 500 NPA to Personal
         | Communications Service (PCS), not to be confused with Personal
         | Communications Service (PCS). ... [T]he former refers to...
         | EasyReach 700 all over again, except for now it's called True
         | Connections.
        
       | rachelbythebay wrote:
       | 1-700-555-4141 used to tell you who was set up as your primary
       | interexchange carrier. It might still if you're on a truly old-
       | school land line.
        
         | jcrawfordor wrote:
         | There's a slightly interesting history to this feature, which
         | should still work on a conventional land line. It was mandated
         | as a partial solution to a scam called "slamming," in which a
         | disreputable long-distance carrier would inform a customer's
         | local exchange carrier that they had 'requested' that their
         | default long distance carrier be changed... without their
         | knowledge.
         | 
         | "Slamming" is not to be confused with "Cramming," another
         | common telephone billing scam of the post-breakup period,
         | because all of these got fun rhyming names.
        
           | rachelbythebay wrote:
           | Yup. PIC locks for the win.
           | 
           | Also, it was neat to use the equal access codes to dial
           | around and see what numbers mapped to what carriers, and what
           | their "welcome to XYZ" recordings sounded like.
           | 
           | Ah, being a kid and being bored.
        
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       (page generated 2021-02-21 23:01 UTC)