Are you old enough to remember letter prefixes for phone numbers?

[1srelluc]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

 

[Darkwind]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

I do remember it. I don't know what the prefix was as I was like 5 and four years later, we moved to California.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

.

Yep. I still remember my grandma's number from 65 years ago -- ED2-5815

And she's been dead for almost 40 years!

CH (for Cherry) was our prefix when I lived in a Seattle suburb as a teenager. For most of our married life, hubby and I lived in the prefix of AT (Atwood).

.

 

[martybegan]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

Not that old, But I do remember when you didn't have to dial the area code when you made calls in NYC.

I think we are up to like 6 area codes now.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

Just from a commercial or two.

HUdson 3-2700

 

[dblack]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

BR-549

 

[1srelluc]

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Not that old, But I do remember when you didn't have to dial the area code when you made calls in NYC.

I think we are up to like 6 area codes now.

.

Making the move from Western WA was weird -- we had like five area codes there, 6 in the whole state of WA, but all of South Dakota is the same area code!

Yet we still have to dial the area code, just to call across town in a small town of 1,000 people.

.

 

[martybegan]

.

Making the move from Western WA was weird -- we had like five area codes there, 6 in the whole state of WA, but all of South Dakota is the same area code!

Yet we still have to dial the area code, just to call across town in a small town of 1,000 people.

.

When they first added 718 you didn't have to use the area code when you dialed within 718. Once they added 917 due to the cell phone/pager surge, you had to dial the area code even within your area code.

I remember the old people bitching about it.

 

[progressive hunter]

Telephone exchange names - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ours was ME5-2275.

You just dialed (5- and the four digit number) for a local call in the exchange.

Back then if the firehouse siren went off police and fire personnel could dial a number and it would tell them where a fire/emergency was.

LOL....Usually it was the local dump was on fire....Again....So everyone would show up with .22s for a "rat shoot", then put the fire out.

LO1-5996

my stepdad has an old phone book with the last 3 digits of his current 10 number,,

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

When they first added 718 you didn't have to use the area code when you dialed within 718. Once they added 917 due to the cell phone/pager surge, you had to dial the area code even within your area code.

I remember the old people bitching about it.

.

Remember having to call "long distance"?

.

 

[80zephyr]

The prefixes were short for a word. Why, I don't know. When I was a kid, if someone asked my number I would say "DIamond 4". First two letters were "DI" so it was 344

 

[martybegan]

.

Remember having to call "long distance"?

.

Yep. I also remember in college the guys with the handheld units that could phreak the system and get them free calls.

 

[1srelluc]

When we got area codes in the late 60s or early 70s, half of Virginia was 703, the other half 804.

Virginia has 10 area codes now.

Like I have maintained all along, the 1970 population was the "sweet spot" in America.

 

[the watcher]

There was also a number you could call and get the correct time. 1212?

 

[1srelluc]

There was also a number you could call and get the correct time. 1212?

Yep, but I don't recall what it was.

 

[task0778]

Anybody here remember BR549? Hint: Junior Samples.

It's amazing sometimes what you can remember from so many years ago, and what you can't from 10 seconds ago.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

.

Making the move from Western WA was weird -- we had like five area codes there, 6 in the whole state of WA, but all of South Dakota is the same area code!

Yet we still have to dial the area code, just to call across town in a small town of 1,000 people.

.

I remember when WA only had 2 area codes. One for the west side and one for the east side.

.

Remember having to call "long distance"?

.

Just dialing one, then the whole 10 digit number.........but on a rotary phone, if you screwed up would have to start all over again

 

[1srelluc]

Anybody here remember BR549? Hint: Junior Samples.

It's amazing sometimes what you can remember from so many years ago, and what you can't from 10 seconds ago.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[Concerned American]

LOL, I was scrolling down to post that when I saw your post. I remember.